At Home in the Huddle 2009: Lots of New Bits & Pieces!

It's Garbage Day.

46 degrees and clear. It's going to be a nice day!

LOOKING AHEAD

FROM WKTV: "Chilly this morning, with widespread 40s across the area. We'll warm up quicky this morning, with plenty of sunshine. Temperatures this afternoon expected to be in the low 70s with a light breeze.

Clear skies, light winds, and a cool air mass in place will mean another chilly night. Overnight lows tonight are expected to be about 5 degrees cooler compared to this morning, with low to mid 40s across much of the area.

As we head closer to the weekend, it will turn towards the unsettled side. For tomorrow, starting out with some sunshine, but clouds will increase as we head through the day. Showers will begin to develop as early as the evening.

Tropical storm Danny looks to pass close to the east coast, and will not directly affect our weather for the weekend.

A cold front will attempt to drop in from Canada, along with a surge of tropical moisture coming in from the Atlantic. Rain looks to be a good bet Friday night into Saturday morning. Showers and clouds are expected to linger through most of Saturday. The cold front itself will cross the area Saturday night into early Sunday, giving us more showers and thunderstorms Saturday night and early Sunday.

Drier weather expected late in the day Sunday, with much cooler weather as we head into next week.

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Yesterday afternoon it looked as if Michael and Duke were supervising the husky helpers carrying out one of the last things to go - the monster refrigerator.

Everything else was already in place and, without missing a single day ...........

......... at the corner of Routes 12 & 20 in Sangerfield!

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BACK IN THE PARK

The mottled gray and black shingles on the roof of the Bandstand seem to blend right in to the park scene, echoing the shades of gray in the granite of the Watering Trough and the many tree trunks.

From Park Place you can now see how a slightly graded paved walkway will lead from the street to the circular area where the Monument will be placed and then up another bit of grade right to the rear of the Bandstand.

If you wonder - as I did - where the railings and balusters that we saw in a place a few days ago have gone ---- they've all been assembled but have been removed and put in Mike Tower's garage for safe-keeping until the installation of light fixtures and panelling the ceiling have been completed.

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At the other end of the village, a monster crane is parked on the side lawn of St. Bernard's Catholic Church.

Fr. Tom Servatius had the Building Permit right in his hands, and I imagine that any day now the crane will lift a crew to the towers and restoration work will finally begin!

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IN THE MAIL

Tracy Lynn Olivera

BROADWAY BOUND!

Tracy will appear in the revival of the musical "Ragtime" at the Neil Simon Theater in New York City. The show opens on Broadway for previews on October 23rd and the opening night is scheduled for November 15th.

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Hank Gardner sends a Thank You to Gil Condon for the picture of "Frankie Cowen!"

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And while we're at it: HAPPY 50TH ANNIVERSARY TO FRANK AND ELAINE!

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Jeff Reynolds has been having fun photographing the late-season flowers: top; cone flower or Echinacea and, bottom, Sunflower.

For those of you who have ever tried to figure out or draw the pattern of sunflower seeds - a Mr. H. Vogel offers this formula (which didn't help me, but might interest you!)

"Where θ is the angle, r is the radius or distance from the center, and n is the index number of the floret and c is a constant scaling factor. It is a form of Fermat's spiral. The angle 137.5° is related to the golden ratio and gives a close packing of florets. This model has been used to produce computer graphics representations of sunflowers."

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HERE'S A MYSTERY!

Not until a few days ago had I ever paid any attention to the tall trees in front of "Illahee" - the Mack residence on Berrill Avenue, but, one day when the sun was shining just right, I saw red: at least reddish-looking blobs here and there on the tree. What strange fruit or seeds! Nothing I'd ever seen before!

The closest I can come to identifying the tree - which must be a hundred years old and is at least 60 feet tall - is some variety of Magnolia. I'm going to send these pictures to Phillip Sexton: he'll help, I'm sure!

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Red and green political posters are decorating lawns throughout the community. It's a seasonal thing, but not Christmas! Democratic legislator Edward C. Stephenson is being challenged by former State Agriculture Commissioner then State Director of USDA Rural Development in New York, Patrick Brennan. An Ice Cream Social Fund Raiser in support of Brennan will take place on Saturday from 1:00 - 3:00 at the Clifford J. Fulmer Post of the American Legion on Route 20.

ALSO ON SATURDAY