Southwoods Magazine: A Journal for Country Living January 2013

SOUTHWOODS MAGAZINE JANUARY 2013 PAGE 1

PAGE 2 SOUTHWOODS MAGAZINE JANUARY 2013

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this month’s cover:Birch treeS by 10-year oldJonathan Demyon,a student at Woodland Elementary in Southwick, MA.He enjoys country music, math and the Titanic!

January thoughts By Bernadette Gentry ....................................... 3

Apple Pie By Cooley Buy........................................................................ 4

the life of a Snowflake By Carol G Leonard .............................. 7

Goat magic By T.J.Banks...................................................................... 10

January 1953 By Clifton J. (Jerry) Noble Sr ........................... 12

country cooking By Christy Cox .................................................. 14

retirement doctor By Enrique J. Alvarez. ................................. 15

destination local - maple corner Farm By Christy Cox .. 16

learning the Game of Basketball By Frank Houlihan. ....... 19

town crier ............................................................................................... 20

little Visitors By Cindy Champiney. ........................................... 22

classifieds ............................................................................................... 27

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By Bernadette Gentry

It’s only January, but already my heart longs for spring.

Yet, as I watch the birds, faithful companions on winter

days, I find joy in their happy presence.

From them I learn to persevere in days that are not always

warm and sunny.

I note the beauty of the red cardinals, the bright blue of

the blue jays, and the cheerfulness of the chickadees who

seem to thank me for the seeds I put out.

Of course, there’s seed and bread to share with the crows and

squirrels who also visit throughout these winter days.

Because of them, I venture out on the most cold and snowy

ones to see that all are fed.

In these birds and squirrels, I find inspiration

and great delight--their gifts to me.

And so, in January’s cold, I find the warmth that will, in

God’s time, lead me to another spring.


P eople cry over spilled milk, I cry over apple pies. Not a

sad cry, but a cry of happy memories and lessons learned.

Papa (my dad) asked me if I could make an apple pie for him recently be-cause it’s a well known fact that I inher-ited the apple pie gene in the family. As for other cooking genes one sister in-herited the baking gene, cookies, cakes, cheesecake etc., The other sister got the dinner and derv’s (hors d’oeuvres) gene. Me, I do soups, salads & apple pies.

Growing up with a stay at home mom and a grandmother right next door we were exposed to a lot of home cook-ing. Rarely did we go out to dinner or heaven forbid hit a fast food restaurant. Going out to dinner was something my parents did with their friends. As for us kids, eating at restaurants was only done on vacation. We didn’t even order pizza. IF we had pizza, and it was a really big deal. My mom would buy a frozen one, bring it home and ”doll” is up with extras.

About the only time I really remember going out to eat was our annual December 24th shopping and lunch tradition when Papa took us Christmas shopping for my mom. We always went

to Friendly’s, which is his idea of fast food. I don’t believe he has ever eaten at a McDonald’s or Burger King in his life.

My mom was a fantastic cook with the ability to make a three course gour-met dinner out of whatever was in the pantry. She also had a gift for eating something somewhere, then would come home and recreate it without a rec-ipe, more often than not improving the dish. My grandmother, hindered by my grandfather’s extremely limited tastes buds and sweet tooth perfected the art of baking cookies, pies and puddings. Throw in our exposure to Aunt Betty’s “fancy” cooking, sinful holiday baking and special birthday cakes; Aunt Dolly’s “Dolly donuts”; Aunt Ethel’s down home

cookin’ of meat and potatoes; church supper delights from the women of Granville and the assortment of pot luck leftovers from moms Y lady friends after one of her lady’s luncheons as-sured we three girls have a taste for great food.

I’m not sure when I took on the apple pie, I think it was sometime in college. I don’t even remember the first pies I made or how they tasted. What I do remember is presenting that first pie to my mom & grandmother. Having watched them make pies my whole life I knew the basics of a good pie.

Crust – golden, waffled edges with a hint of apple caramel-izing oozing on the crust. If the top crust was solid perfectly placed air vents must be present, if a lattice top strips are equal size and distance from each other.

Apples – goes without saying apple must be from Gran-ville. A mixture of Mac, Cortland and North Spy. NEVER red delicious apples. Okay to use one or two granny smith green apples to add a little tartness but if you use only them you have to use way too much sugar to sweeten the pie which is not ac-ceptable.

Filling – apples are sliced thin giving the filling more of an apple sauce consistency after its been baked at 350° for one hour.

Misc stuff – approx ½ cup of sugar darkened with cinna-

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mon, a pinch of cloves and dash of allspice. If not using granny smith green apples a cap full of real lemon juice to give a little tartness, 2 or 3 teaspoons of butter.

Presentation – pie served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and/or two wedges of Granville Store cheddar cheese medium sharp.

Like it was yesterday I remember bringing a hot apple pie over to grandma’s kitchen, cutting it into eight perfect slices, adding the ice cream and serving it to my grandparents and mother. Grandpa dove right in while Mom and Grandma not so quietly inspected it. Grandpa, being one of my forever big-gest fans, declared something along the lines of “didn’t know you could cook!?” (I think he thought of me as his workshop buddy, fishing partner, or when needed manning the busy end of a shovel). My Mom told me the pie was very good however grandma’s smile and tinkling eyes sent me over the top with pride! I had her stamp of approval – YEE HAW!!!

Fast forward a few years and I’m helping her with bridge party preparations. She’d asked me to make a pie for her so I did. When I brought the pie over she asked me to stick around to help serve and clean up, something we had all been called to duty to do over the years. We knew it was grandma’s time to boast about us and for us be on our best behavior. Grandma boasting always came with a price, just in case her boasting should go to our heads. I think she liked to keep our egos in check. Mine was usually being introduced to her new friends

as “my hefty granddaughter Cooley”. Gotta love New England bluntness. But that day the usual introduction was replaced with “this is Cooley my granddaughter who makes the best apple pies, wait until to taste her crust.”

“Oh, no!” I thought. Grandma has no idea I use Pillsbury store bought crust and there is NO WAY I could tell her that now after she made such a bold declaration to her friends.

Talk about a generation gap. I had watched both my mom and grandmother make from-scratch pie crust probably be-cause there was no other choice. I had a choice so why not use the pre-made. All you have to do is unroll it then thin them out a little. She also never told me why she thought my pies were good so how was I to know that it was the crust that she was going to praise me on.

A few years later she figured out I was a fraud, called me on it but start buying them, too.

Years go by and Grandma is an old lady both in age and physique. I come over to make the apple pies for her. She has terrible arthritis in her hands, her knuckles and fingers twist-

Continued on next page


ed and swollen, pain-fully so. Handing me an apron she perches on the round stool next to the counter and we talk away as I start the pro-cess of making the pie. She gives instruction on where things are and on how to do things all of which I know but do as she says without comment. As I’m peeling the apples and slicing them thin she asks me for a paring knife and keeps our conversation going. I give her the knife and for a second feel offended when she reaches into the bucket and pulls out a slice she has deemed not thin enough. The feeling is quickly replaced as I realize she really just wants to help and has a hard time sitting in her kitchen without her hands being busy. With-out a word I occasionally drop slices that are too thick so she can pick them up to fix as she feel necessary.

More years go by, Grandma is gone and I’m in the same

kitchen with my Mom who is sitting in the same spot on the same stool for the same reason with a paring knife in hand as I drop slices just a little too thick into to the bowl for the same reason. She is nowhere near as old as grandma was but still un-able to stand long enough or hold a paring knife strong enough to make a pie. She too will be gone in a few months.

We talked about pottery, the boy, gardening and much more. It was our last real alone time together before she went into the hospital, just us making an apple pie for no other rea-son than that’s what we do in the fall.

Fast forward three years and I’m standing in my kitchen happily making three cranberry apple pies. I drop a slice in the bucket, realize it’s a little too big, reach in and am flooded with the spirit, love and presence of my mom and grandmoth-er. Aunt Dolly and Aunt Ethel are probably there as well since this kitchen was once theirs, too. I started to cry because I miss them so much and can finally appreciate all that they did to give me the tools to be me. I think you all can understand that I’m not writing of the physical tools because it really is so much more. I am who I am because of them. I think about my son and wonder if I’m giving him good tools.

As I cry I have to laugh (which is kinda hard to do togeth-er). My son really doesn’t eat sweets. He’s allergic to chocolate and feels sick eating eggs. My mom always made an apple pie for him when serving other desserts to the rest of the family so he wouldn’t be without. Often the pie would be a single serv-ing pie just for him, making him special vs. “weird” because he didn’t like or couldn’t eat what everyone else did. And now I realize apple pie is pretty much the only thing that he ever requests from me, all too aware that I’m the mom who rarely cooks. Is it possible that the key to the best tools I can leave him is to make him feel special and loved over something as simple as apple pie? I think perhaps it is.

APPLE PIE continued from page 5

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It was a bitter cold night and the snowflakes continued to cascade silently with ominous consis-

tency, falling from the darkness above onto a blanket of their predecessors.

By the light of dawn, the landscape was transformed into a surrealistic sculpture of white; trees, buildings and cars outfit-ted in a glistening coat of pure white snow.

It was just an ordinary New England snowstorm that started with an extraordinary snowflake.

The life of a snowflake or “snow crystal” is a mysterious and fascinating one. To the naked eye a snowflake looks, well, “pure as snow”, yet the beginning of the life of a snow crystal begins and ends in dust.

A snowflake is actually an airborne “dust particle” com-posed of many tiny individual crystals of snow. Each crystal forms separately in the sky and then, on its journey down to earth, merges into a bundle of fellow crystals.

Snow crystals cannot exist without seeds of dust on which to grow. This was proven in 1946 by meteorologist Vincent J. Schaefer. He showed that a snow crystal cannot grow by itself inside a cloud without a particle of something to grow on, a nucleus.

Schaefer took to the sky over Schenectady, New York in a small plane to test his idea. He dropped three pounds of pow-dered dry ice into the center of a four-mile-long cloud; the re-sult was an immediate snowstorm.

A ripe cloud is made up of free water vapor molecules mixed with microscopic flying droplets of water. The flying droplets cannot form into ice crystals because they are un-stable. The constantly slip and slide past each other, not able to keep still long enough to form a crystal. Schaefer’s dry ice worked by attracting the water molecules and turning them

The Life of anowflake

into snow crystals.Earth’s atmosphere is abundant with

dust to serve as ice nuclei. Dust rises into the atmosphere when farmers work the land, when oceans expel salt flakes, when volcanoes erupt or as the winds blow.

Yet only certain kinds of dust will make snow. A yellow-brown topsoil called “loess” contains a high proportion of the right kinds of clay particles needed to make snow.

The different shapes that snow takes are causes by the slightest change of air temperature. A single snowflake can change in appearance drastically if it passes through tempera-ture changes.

The standard chart used by meteorologists to classify snow crystals contains eighty different categories of shapes, among them hexagonal tubes, small bullets, needles, pyramids, hexagonal prisms, six-cornered platters, knurled wal-nuts, wheels with axles, and three, four, six and twelve pointed stars.

Nature is a magical inventor and continuously challenges us. Though there are eighty different categories of snowflake design, the inevitable category was that labeled “miscella-neous”, for that one design never seen before; that one snow-flake not yet created.

December 1984

By Carol G. Leonard

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From Sketch People, Stories Along the Wayby T.J. Banks

She has gone from being a geology major and a Mas-ter Gardener to living a totally corporate lifestyle to

making and selling goat’s-milk soap, and this incarnation is her happiest. “I have goats! I live on a farm!” she chortles. “I learned to drive a tractor! I can milk a goat!”

That one short speech says a lot about how Butler tackles everything. Whole-heartedly. Thoroughly. Her business, Lyric Hill Farm in Granby, Connecticut, has been in operation for a little more than a year. But there were about six months of trial

and error, she admits: “Of course, I couldn’t do it the easy way and use somebody else’s formula. I had to make up my own formula. I wanted certain qualities that certain other soaps didn’t have – I didn’t want to have exactly the same soap as every other goat-soap maker around.”

The more you talk to her, the more you realize that all those disparate strands in her life aren’t so disparate, after all. A geology major at Cornell University with a minor in civil en-gineering, Butler loved working with nature. “Geology was in the engineering department and in the arts department,” she explains. “Geology allowed me to spend time outdoors. Ithaca is a beautiful place. And I got to travel to lots of places to do fieldwork – Wyoming, Montana….And it was absolutely beau-tiful.”

She did her stint in the corporate world, working for 10 years as an environmental and safety engineer at The Travelers in Hartford, Connecticut. “It was kinda like OSHA [the Oc-cupational Safety & Health Administration] from an insurance company’s point of view,” she explains. “I loved it – I was inter-ested in how things were made.”

And then there was her passion for plants. In 1995, Butler took a Master Gardener course, working as a garden advisor at the White Flower Farm in Litchfield and as a horticulturist at Westmoor Park in West Hartford. She and one of her friends at White Flower Farm were, she recalls, “such confirmed planta-holics, I knew we had reached an all-time low when I was hold-ing her by her ankles while she was rooting, no pun intended or” – she looks up from the Belgian linen washcloth she’s knit-ting, clearly re-thinking this – “intended, in the dumpster for

Goat Magic: Nancy Butler & Lyric Hill Farm


plants. This arm comes out – she holds it [the plant] up and goes, ‘Tree peonies!’” Butler laughs. “It was like the Holy Grail.”

The goats butted their way into the picture later on, part of her son Austin’s “4H project run amok.” Lyric Hill Farm came about because they had a surplus of goat’s milk: “My kids were getting sick of goat cheese, and they said, ‘This has got to stop.’” Butler had always wanted to make soap, so she set up shop in the kitchenette off the front of their circa-1895 house. She prefers keeping the business small, she says, adding, “I don’t ever want to have large batches because I like the feel of it be-ing hand-made and not a mechanized process. I would rather have multiple small batches that I can make by hand than have a large vat done by machine.” Butler has even begun knitting her own washcloths to sell along with the soap because she refuses to purchase cheap washcloths made in China “on ac-count of their labor practices”; besides, she likes the rougher texture of the linen. And, of course, plant person that she is, she appreciates “the botanical connection. It comes from a plant[, flax,] so it kinda comes full circle.”

But that botanical connection comes into play in more ways than that. “I am very committed and tied into the sus-tainability of plants and farming and keeping as low a carbon footprint as possible, at least in my everyday life,” Butler main-tains. As a cancer survivor, she is intensely concerned about what ingredients go into her soap. Not only does the milk come from the family goats, but the herbal infusions are from her own plants. She does use some “tried and true” essential oils, but everything is food-grade -- excepting, of course, the

lye, which is needed to saponify the oils and turn them into soap.

She even uses rain water off the roof to dissolve the lye rather than run the risk of possibly offsetting the process with minerals from well water. “I used to come home from work with my suits and my laptop,” she laughs, “and here I am now with my buckets, getting rain off the roof.”

But it has all come together for Butler. She talks frankly about her bout with can-

cer – “It shook my world” – but she doesn’t allow it to define who she is. Her garden has helped with her healing. “I don’t have to smell them or ingest them,” she says regarding her flowers and herbs. “They’re just lovely to look at. For me, working in the garden is very spiritual.” And the goats have become part of that healing spell as well. “There’s some-thing very magical,” Butler says thoughtfully, “about looking out on your pasture of goats, and the next day, you’re milking them, and it’s turning into milk for making soap, for making cheese.”

Related links: http://www.LyricHillFarm.com.


by Clifton (Jerry) Noble, Sr.

Perhaps it was occupation but my journal-keeping stopped for a few years after 1952 and I have only job and account re-cords to jog memory.

As a result of Civil Service Examination I had started work as rodman in the Survey Section of Massachusetts Department of Public Works in October 1947. My first party chief was Louis E. Johnson, who was as kind to me as my own father.

April 30, 1949, my widowed mother, Minnie E. Noble, and I moved into an abandoned schoolhouse which we had pur-chased for $800 from the town of Montgomery. It lacked run-ning water, drainage, and electricity, but it was far above river flooding (which we had experienced New Years Day 1949 in West Springfield) but I remodeled it and made it liveable.

By the end of 1952 I had progressed by examinations to

chief of my own survey party. Three cents a mile by expense account reimbursed me for carrying crew and equipment in my 1949, black Plymouth. I had acquired experience survey-ing highways and setting line and grade control for moderate-sized bridges and structures. Then I got a surprise.

Construction on the tunnel under the West Springfield ap-proach to North End Bridge began the end of 1952. The pump-ing station whose west wall would stand against the tunnel was first to be constructed. Thickness of tunnel walls depended on width of vertical steel beams casing the tunnel every five feet along with horizontal beams. My friend, Louis Johnson staked offsets for the pumping station and it was built.

Unfortunately Louis misread beam widths from the steel book and got pumping station walls a couple inches too close to centerline. Resident Engineer, Dave Baker, was wild and wouldn’t have Louis on the job. To my surprise, January 21, I was sent to replace him. Dave wanted me to move centerline two inches west. I explained that it and its highway curves were all tied in and couldn’t be moved.

Supervisor for Berke Moore Construction, the contractor, suggested moving steel frames west a couple inches and mak-ing their concrete cover thinner in the area of the pumping sta-tion. This satisfied Dave and I began laying out footings for the tunnel which also had to meet new wingwalls from the North End Bridge. Need for construction control lines at this site fi-nally became a full time job taking me away from Route 5 in West Springfield and Route 57 in Southwick where I had been working. Time-sheet account number for this project which I would use was 024-9534-526500060. 024 denoted construction. I believe the next number indicated source of funds and the last nine digits described location of the project.

Once, when I had Ernie Rapisarda and transit set up for the southwest wingwall of North End Bridge, a man jumped off bridge center to commit suicide. Immediately Ernie focused

transit telescope on the man in the Connecticut River and was later able to verify identification for legal purposes. The body was never recovered.

Ernie was proficient at thinking up nicknames for people. When we worked with Louis on the Cape he called our fellow roomer at Provinc-etown’s Anchor and Ark, “Kid Doofli-cker.” His nickname for District 2 su-pervisor, Jack Tattan, was too vulgar for me to record. It’s well that no one was brazen enough to tell Tattan.

Previously field offices for Depart-ment road projects had been little more than a shack with a stove. However, this contract with Berke Moore Con-struction called for three neat, house-like buildings about twelve by sixteen feet in size. One with desks and telephone was for the Resi-dent Engineer and staff. One with drafting tables and elec-tric calculator was for survey personnel. The most northerly one was connected to sewer for sanitary use. All had pot-type oil burners for heat. The contractor used a house trail-er. These were set up on the east end of West Springfield’s green between Park Avenue and Park Street.

I wore sneakers, slim-line jeans, and blue cowboy shirts (or none) with snaps from Fred Mueller in Denver, Colorado. Hard-hat helmets were not yet required. I ran almost every-where, and, seeing me “tiptoe” along the top of a four-inch shield wall and jump off, Ernie nicknamed me the “Gleep.” No one on the job used that term, but I told my cousin, Lester Emerson, who was helping build my new house. It struck his fancy, and he started calling the pool in Bear Den Brook where we cooled off the “Gleepy Pool.” Charlie Nickerson, the labor foreman from Maine, used to call me “Jerrah,” and Ernie en-joyed imitating him.

Supervisor Tattan could see that the tunnel and traffic circle over it was a lot of work for one surveyor. He couldn’t spare any help from District Survey personnel, so he sent me a “hired” party. Gordon Ainsworth, from South Deerfield, had

January 1953

Partially complete Route 5 tunnel in West Springfield.

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transit telescope on the man in the Connecticut River and was later able to verify identification for legal purposes. The body was never recovered.

Ernie was proficient at thinking up nicknames for people. When we worked with Louis on the Cape he called our fellow roomer at Provinc-etown’s Anchor and Ark, “Kid Doofli-cker.” His nickname for District 2 su-pervisor, Jack Tattan, was too vulgar for me to record. It’s well that no one was brazen enough to tell Tattan.

Previously field offices for Depart-ment road projects had been little more than a shack with a stove. However, this contract with Berke Moore Con-struction called for three neat, house-like buildings about twelve by sixteen feet in size. One with desks and telephone was for the Resi-dent Engineer and staff. One with drafting tables and elec-tric calculator was for survey personnel. The most northerly one was connected to sewer for sanitary use. All had pot-type oil burners for heat. The contractor used a house trail-er. These were set up on the east end of West Springfield’s green between Park Avenue and Park Street.

I wore sneakers, slim-line jeans, and blue cowboy shirts (or none) with snaps from Fred Mueller in Denver, Colorado. Hard-hat helmets were not yet required. I ran almost every-where, and, seeing me “tiptoe” along the top of a four-inch shield wall and jump off, Ernie nicknamed me the “Gleep.” No one on the job used that term, but I told my cousin, Lester Emerson, who was helping build my new house. It struck his fancy, and he started calling the pool in Bear Den Brook where we cooled off the “Gleepy Pool.” Charlie Nickerson, the labor foreman from Maine, used to call me “Jerrah,” and Ernie en-joyed imitating him.

Supervisor Tattan could see that the tunnel and traffic circle over it was a lot of work for one surveyor. He couldn’t spare any help from District Survey personnel, so he sent me a “hired” party. Gordon Ainsworth, from South Deerfield, had

the contract to supply these parties for $80 a day. I got Eu-gene Martin who commuted from Turners Falls. His tran-sitman was John Dwyer and one of his rodmen was his son-in-law, Ralph Miller.

March 27 I purchased a fifteen-dollar guitar and case from Sears Roebuck. At noontime while my helpers went to lunch I practised chords and singing with Gene Autry song books from Fred Mueller of Denver. October 8, Gene offered to sell me his guitar for fifteen dollars. He said, “It’s got a crack in the back where I hit my wife in the ass with it.” I bought the guitar and used it to sing for Walter Allyn on his farm Saturday nights. It also got used with puppet shows. It even turned out to be valuable.

There was increasing demand for survey work outside Department hours from owners of private property as well as contractors. May 1 I bought a second-hand Keuffel and Esser transit of my own from New England Blueprint in Springfield for $175.

In August the tunnel was complete and curve lines for edges of overhead traffic circle and ramps needed to be staked on five-foot offset lines so curbing could be set. Figuring deflection angles for these short, sharp curves was facili-tated by the Marchand electric calculator

in the office, and I became familiar with the value of pi to nine decimal places, namely “3.141592654.” One noon Uncle Ralph Emerson stopped with my mother. I took her in my black Plym-outh, so Hester was the first woman to see the inside of the tunnel.

Above, the “Gleep”, Right, Ernie

Rapisarda

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By Christy Cox

Two-Minute Chocolate & Salted Caramel Mug Cake

4 tablespoons all purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 4 tablespoons sugar 1 egg, beaten3 tablespoons of unsweetened 3 tablespoons skim milk cocoa powder 1 tablespoon vegetable oil1/4 teaspoon baking powder 2 salted carmels

In a small bowl add: flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, salt, egg, milk, and vegetable oil. Mix to combine.

Pour mixture into a regular sized coffee mug. Drop cara-mels into centre of mixture one at a time.

Microwave on high for one minute and 30 seconds. If need-ed (if cake batter is still gooey), microwave on high for up to an additional 30 seconds.

blogs.babble.com/f

1 tbsp. butter, melted pinch of salt1 tbsp. white sugar 1 egg yolk1 tbsp. brown sugar 1/4 c. flour3 drops of vanilla 2 tbsp. chocolate chips

In a bowl, mix together the butter, sugars, vanilla, and egg yolk. Add in the flour and salt. Mix until combined. Add in the chocolate chips.

Put the dough into a smal micorwavalbe bowl, ramekin, or coffe cup. Microwave for 40-60 seconds or until the cookie looks done. Best served warm... Enjoy. www.number-2-pencil.com

Single ServingDeep Dish

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chicken Veggie Risotto1 Tbsp vegetable oil 1 can (10 ½ ounces) reduced-1 pound boneless, skinless sodium chicken broth chicken breast, cut into ¼ cup water small pieces 1 ½ cup instant brown rice,1 tsp garlic-herb seasoning uncooked (salt-free) 1 ½ cup grape tomatoes, ½ tsp black pepper halved ¼ tsp red pepper flakes 4 cups baby spinach leaves, 1 small onion, thinly sliced washed and patted dry

Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle chick-en pieces with seasonings. Add chicken pieces; cover and cook about 10 minutes, stirring frequently until chicken is done.

Add onion and stir-fry for about 1 minute. Stir in broth, water, rice, tomatoes, and spinach. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer about 10 minutes.

Turn burner off and let stand for 5 more minutes or until rice absorbs most of the liquid. Serves: 4www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org


By Enrique J. Alvarez, The Retirement Doctor®, Suffield, CT

Question:What is the “Fiscal Cliff” and how will it affect me? Tommy D.

Answer: Part IWhen someone is referring to the “Fiscal Cliff” they are talk-

ing about the expiration of the Bush tax cuts as well as spending cuts to certain government programs.

So if you are a married couple, on your first $17,800 of ad-justed gross income the following will apply:

• Taxes will go up from 10% to 15%• For a married couple whose adjusted gross income is from

$60,350 up to $72,300 taxes will go up from 15% to 28%• In addition standard deductions for couples will decrease

from $12,100 to $10,150• Expiration of the child tax credit• The current dividend tax will go from a maximum of 15%

to your ordinary income tax rate of up to 39.6%• Estate tax exemptions will go from $5,120,000 to $1,000,000• Estate tax highest rate will go from of 35% to 55%• Ordinary income tax brackets will be increasing• There will be a new tax called Health Care Surtax for high

income earners of 3.8% which will be imposed on long term capital gains and investment income

• There will be a new Medicare tax of .9% on couples earn-ing in excess of $250,000 adjusted gross income

Anytime you pay more money in taxes it leaves less discre-tionary income for you and your family and more money for the Government. Many individuals and families will have to defer purchases of cars, home improvements, appliances, higher education for your children, 401 (K) contributions, and etc., all of which will affect the economy.

With regards to inheriting money, the Government will be

getting a large part of this money, as estate taxes will be applied after only $1,000,000. If you work for a small company there is a good chance that that company will be liquidated to pay estate taxes should the business owner die. 401 (k) and IRA accounts may go down in value as many people will be looking for alter-native investments to defer, eliminate or reduce taxes.

Sequestration:• Medicare payments will be reduced to providers;• There will be cuts to the defense budget;• Graduate and professional students will not be eligible

for interest subsidized loans; • Expiration of Federal Emergency Unemployment Insur-

ance; and• Other major cuts which are not specified at this time.Recently my wife and decided to change medical providers.

The new provider informed us that they would not take Medicare patients. I cannot blame them, as physicians are business people and they have the right to choose what patients they take. So if you are approaching Medicare age, you should contact your doctor to see if you can retain him or her when you reach Medi-care age. The Fiscal Cliff may make it quite difficult to change doctors in the future.

Because each individual’s situation is unique, please speak with your financial advisor with any questions or concerns. Or, you may reach the Retirement Doctor at [email protected] or 1-800-406-1595.

Securities offered through Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a Broker/Dealer, Member FINRA/SIPC, Investment Advisor Representative, Retirement Doctor, LLC a Registered Investment Advisor. Cambridge and Retirement Doctor, LLC are not affiliated.


We have snow! And that means we can enjoy some local outdoor activi-ties. There is a great local

farm that offers Cross Country Skiing and Snowshoeing locat-ed in Granville, MA.

Maple Corner Farm Cross Country Ski Center, a work-ing family farm since 1840, has a friendly atmosphere that the

By Christy Cox

whole family can enjoy. The Center is located in the foothills of the Berkshires in nearby Granville. A large ski warm up area with beginner trails is located right behind the ski lodge. There are 20 kilometers of marked ski trails from beginner to expert, machine groomed for traditional and skating styles. They also have 10 km. of snowshoe trails. Scenic ski trails lead you through pastures and meadows, along mountain streams, and into the forest and hills beyond.

Skis and snowshoes are available for rent. Ski lessons are at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm. Group and private lessons are also available.

Warm up and relax by the cozy wood fire at the lodge, and a snack bar is available for sandwiches, soup, chili, hot and cold drinks, and snacks.

Maple Corner Farm is open for skiing from 9:00 am through 5:00 pm weekends and holidays, and 10:00 am through 4:00 pm weekdays. Maple Corner Farm is run by Leon & Joyce Ripley.

Maple Corner Farm, 794 Beech Hill Road, Granville, MA 01034, Phone: (413) 357-8829, Snow Conditions: (413) 357-6697, E-Mail: [email protected]. www.maplecornerfarm.com.

While looking up the information on Maple Corner Farm, I came across some other Western Mass cross country skiing areas I’d like to share with you. I found information at www.xcskimass.com/ski-areas/.

If you are planning to visit Maple Corner Farm or any oth-er Cross Country Ski center, please call first to find out condi-tions and hours or operation.

I hope that some of our readers will try cross country ski-ing this winter or even snowshoeing. It is a wonderful oppor-

Cross Country SkiingMaple

Corner Farm


tunity to support our local seasonal businesses while getting out of the house and enjoying the outdoors!

Stump Sprouts is a small rustic

resort on a 450 acre mountain top farm just south of the Mohawk Trail. 25 KM of trails designed primarily for clas-sical skiing and snowshoeing wind through the property and out into the adjoining state forest. The unique trail system features wooded glades and landscaped intersections connected by a variety of trails. A large boulder stands guard near a clearing at the highest point on the land where four trails meet.

Stump Sprouts Cross Country Ski Center and Guest Lodge, 64 West Hill Road, Hawley, MA 01339. Phone: (413) 339-4265, www.StumpSprouts.com

Canterbury Farm is nestled high in the Berkshire Hills, 1650 feet elevation. Their trail system was specifically designed for cross country skiing with 32 km of trails. They groom and track the majority of trails daily with beginner, intermediate, and advanced terrain. Some trails are wide for skating, and a few backwoods trails are ski tracked only. New rentals of skis, snow shoes and ice skates are available for one low daily price. Lessons for all snow sports are available. Open 9-5 every day

Canterbury Farm, 1986 Fred Snow Road, Becket, MA 01223, E mail: [email protected], Phone: (413) 623-0100, www.

Canterbury-Farms.com

Hilltop Orchards – a 200 acre property which is home to one of the region’s largest apple orchards and the Berkshire’s First Farm Winery -- has a Nordic Ski Center. Trails are groomed within the orchard for both classic and skating-style skiing and snowshoeing - great for beginners and intermediates. The 4 miles of wooded country trails will challenge more experienced skiers.

The Farm Winery Store features hot cider/hot cocoa, fresh baked goods and cheeses. Open Daily 9am-5pm. They have snowshoe rentals on-site and new Rossignol cross country skis available to rent.

Hilltop Orchards welcomes skiers and non-skiers alike, the Barrel Room has comfy leather couches, a huge natural stone fireplace and LCD/ TV. Warm up with some hot chocolate or cider after you ski or just relax by the fire with a glass of wine.

Hilltop Orchards, 508 Canaan Rd / Rt 295, Richmond, MA 01254, Phone: (800) 833-6274, www.HilltopOrchards.com

Notchview offers trails for all skiers from the sheltered Kinderloop for kids, to groomed skating trails, to a wide variety of backcountry trails. Each season they groom up to 28 km of our 40 km of trails that wind through 3100 acres of scenic forest

continued on next page

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and open meadow. Two trailside shelters offer not only pleas-ant rest stops but also spectacular views across the surround-ing Hilltown countryside. They have a wood stove burning in the toasty warm Arthur B. Budd Visitor Lodge, which offers comfortable picnic areas and our ever-popular hot chocolate.

Notchview is a property of The Trustees of Reservations which was founded in 1891 to preserve for public use and en-joyment exceptional scenic, historic, and ecologically signifi-cant properties within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Notchview Reservation, 83 Old Route 9, Windsor, MA 01270 Phone: (413) 684-0148, www.notchview.org

Northfield Mountain Cross Country Ski Area, on Route 63 in Northfield, is open for great cross country skiing. At Northfield, you can ski a gorgeous sweep of the mountain on 25 miles of trails groomed for classical and free style skiing. These carriage-width trails vary from rolling beginner trails, to scenic intermediate circuits, to the demanding 800 foot vertical climb of the Tenth Mountain Trail.

Northfield has 200 sets of rental skis, 40 sets of snowshoes, a professional full-time staff, a cozy base area yurt, a large lounge lunch room, weekend trailside warming hut, and ski instructors available to teach lessons to the novice as well as the seasoned skier. The Northfield Mountain trail system is open Wednesday through Sunday from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm (not open on Monday and Tuesday). At Northfield you can also rent snowshoes and head out on six miles of scenic trails. For great, local cross country skiing, come to Northfield Mountain--just 2 1/2 miles north of Route 2, on Route 63 in Northfield.

Northfield Mountain, 99 Millers Falls Road, Northfield, MA 01360. Phone: (800) 859-2960, Web site: http://www.firstlightpower.com/northfield/ccski.asp

DESTINATION LOCALContinued from page 17

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When the basketball season of 2010 was approaching my two grandsons ex-pressed an interest in learning the game.

Before the season began, meetings were held where players were chosen for various teams, coaches were assigned, and the days and times of games were scheduled.

When the league was assembled the teams were co-ed with players between the ages of seven and nine years.

Games were played on Saturday and Sunday mornings and it was easy see the different levels of experience among the teammates. Some had obviously played before, some never held a basketball in their hands and there were those that I could tell would rather be playing with their i-pods or Black-berry units at home.

The uniform shirts were very tight on some of the players and on others were much too large... you could put a second player inside the same shirt. Not that the players cared. Uni-form shirts were the least of their worries.

My grandsons happened to play on the same team and were coached by my son. I wonder if some nepotism was in-volved in that decision.

As I sat watching some of the games I could see that some of the girls held their own quite well with the boys.

I assume the premise of the league was to teach these

youngsters some of the fundamentals of basketball. Three ba-sics of learning to play the game are passing and dribbling the ball, and being able to take some shots at the basket.

Other facets of the game they would learn later, such as having the knowledge of when a player or the ball is out of bounds, what causes a jump ball, how to shoot foul shots, how to look for the open teammate to pass too, the pick and roll (us-ing a teammate as a defender as you dribble around him/her heading for the basket), etc.

Game scoring during these matchups was irrelevant. The youngsters would keep the ball in play for as long as possible, whether it was on the court or out of bounds. The size of the court to these players was infinite, and boundaries were not a worry.

As the season progressed, family, relatives and friends of the players found the games to be most enjoyable.

It was most interesting watching the youngsters dribble with one hand, two hands, or if befuddled, giving the ball a good kick. They might pass the basketball to anyone, either a teammate or defender who might take a shot at one of the bas-kets and end up having the good fortune to sink to ball. As most shots never hit the rim or backboard, it was not important.

On occasion there were time-outs for the players to take a rest and enjoy some water, soda or a donut if available. Dur-ing the games you might some of the players ask “are we done yet?” They were looking forward to the after game visit to a local restaurant for more donuts, ice cream, soda, or maybe a pizza.

When the season ended, league standings of the teams was like the scoring, irrelevant. Teams had their pictures taken, tro-phies were awarded and everyone involved had a terrific time. They would all be back again to play the next year.

Learning The Game of

Basketball

By Frank Houlihan

DESTINATION LOCALContinued from page 17

























Non-perishable food donations can be dropped off at: Southwick Post Office, Southwick Big Y, or Southwick Food Pantry.

Items Always Needed:• Pasta • Pasta Sauce • Cereal

• Canned Tuna • Peanut Butter & Jelly • Canned or Fresh Fruits & Vegetables

Please Help Us Feed Our Community!

Southwick Food Pantry

All donations are greatly appreciated!For More Info: 413-569-9876


Non-profit news and events for area communities. Please send information by the 20th of the month in order to have it listed in this section. We will print as many listings as space allows. Our usual publication date is within the first week of the month.

Send to: Town Crier, Southwoods Magazine, P.O. Box 1106, Southwick, MA 01077, Fax: (413) 569-5325 or email us at [email protected].

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Happy New Year!

PRESCHOOL SCREENING SOutHwICk-tOLLaNd-GRaNvILLE

3-4 yEaRS Of aGEThe Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District

wishes to announce a screening for children who are three and four years of age. This free screening will be held on Friday, January 11, 2013 at the Woodland Elementary School, 80 Powder Mill Road, Southwick, MA. Any child, who resides in the towns of Southwick, Tolland or Granville is eligible to participate in this free screening. The screening is a brief survey of a child’s growth in several different areas (i.e. readiness skills, speech/language, hearing and vision). This screening is provided for several reasons:

1. to provide families with information on how a child is

developing in relation to other children of similar age,2. to help identify children who may need additional

assistance in one of the above developmental areas, and3. it’s a prerequisite for enrollment as a peer partner in the

Public School’s Preschool Program.Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District

offers a high quality integrated preschool program that is a language-based educational program for children. It is reasonably priced and has a payment plan. If you are interested in placing your child in this preschool setting, please sign up for a free screening and make an appointment to visit our program.

PLEASE CALL 569-6598 FOR AN APPOINTMENT before January 4th, 2013

SOutHwICk HIStORICaL SOCIEtyJaNuaRy mEEtING

The Southwick Historical Society is pleased to host at our Jan 24th meeting, Sarah Michel. Ms Michel is a noted fiddler who’s work incorporates classical, blue grass and celtic sounds. She has played with numerous orchestras, bands and theater groups throughout New England.

The free concert will be held at the Southwick Senior Center at the Town Hall, 434 College Hwy on Thursday the 24th at 12:30 PM. Please join us.

“StEP uP tO tHE LINE”BaSkEtBaLL fREE tHROw COmPEtItION

SPONSOREd By fatHER SHEa COuNCIL kNIGHtS Of COLumBuS

All boys and girls ages 10 to 14 are invited to participate in the local level of competition for the Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championship. The local competition in Southwick Massachusetts will be held on Wednesday January 16, 2013 at Powder Mill School, with a start time of 2:30 pm. Snow date will be on the following Wednesday January 23,2013 at the same time and same location.

The Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championship is


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sponsored annually with winners progressing through local, district, and state competition. International champions are announced by the K of C international headquarters based on scores from the state level competitions. All boys and girls 10 to 14 years old are eligible to participate and will compete in respective age divisions. Last year more than 120,000 sharpshooters participated in over 3,600 local competitions.

All contestants on the local level are recognized for their participation in the event. Participants are required to furnish proof of age and written parental consent. For entry forms or additional information, please contact: Past Grand Knight Al Matos and Free Throw coordinator for Fr. Thomas Shea Council 11178 in Southwick Ma. 413 - 569-6914 Or your physical education teacher at Powder Mill Middle School.

The Knights of Columbus is an international Catholic family fraternal service organization with more than 1.8 million members in more than 14,000 local councils worldwide. Last year, Knights donated 70 million volunteer service hours and $154 million to charitable and benevolent causes, sponsoring projects to benefit their church, councils, communities, families, and youth.

tHE NOBLE & COOLEy CENtER fOR HIStORICaL PRESERvatION

JaNuaRy 2013 uPdatEThanks to everyone who donated to NCCHP as part of

Valley Gives Day! The event was an incredible success and raised over $1,174,000 in just 24 hours for participating non profits in Western Mass. NCCHP placed an amazing 10th out of 139 non profits competing in the “most unique donors” category! We ranked 29th out of 139 (another great showing) with $3750 collected in the “total donations” category. In addition, 26 new members joined NCCHP during the Day of Giving event. Thank you all for your continued support and


By Cindy Champiney Flitting quickly amongst the barren trees,Are birds of many species, a colorful variety. Gray and plump are the gently cooing morning doves,Who move aside for the bright red cardinals that I love. So fast and perky I watch from my window with quiet glee,The antics of the dark-eyed junco and black capped chickadee. Seeking refuge in the tangled branches of the forsythia bush,I spot a pair of birds play happily as they nudge and push. The winter months are harsh for these little feathered friends,Returning daily to my birdfeeders for a meal on which they depend. The cold wind is blowing as the tall hemlock begins to sway,Catching a glimpse of indigo, it is a pair of brave blue jays. They swoop into place on a perch full of seed,Causing the smaller birds to quickly flutter and flee. It is a pastime which gives me such simple pleasure and delight,Spending a few moments viewing my little visitors hurriedly eat and take flight.

Little Visitors



belief in the museum and our mission, “Keeping the Drumbeat of History”!

Mark your calendars! The 5th annual Ice Harvest at the shop pond will be held on Saturday, Feb. 2 from 12 – 3. Dennis Picard, director of Storrowton Village Museum, will organize the harvest. Visitors may participate anytime between those hours. A video on ice harvesting in New England will also be shown continuously in the NCCHP Museum. The museum will be open for tours that focus on the skills and art of drum making. We hope to bring people together to rekindle the community spirit of the farm communities and industrial villages that were common in most of New England. The Noble & Cooley Center for Historic Preservation invites everyone with an interest in “living history” to join us at the museum. There is no charge for the event or for refreshments but donations will be gratefully accepted. For last minute information on ice conditions and the status of the harvest check the www.ncchp.org website or call 860-668-2928 after January 31, 2013.

The NCCHP museum at the Drum Shop is located at 42 Water Street in Granville and is open during winter months for tours by groups of ten or more by appointment (call 413-357-8814). Museum admission is free for NCCHP members; $5 for adults and $3 for children for non-members. The Gift Shop is open weekdays year round from 9:00 – 4:00 as well as whenever the museum is open for tours and features hand crafted items made by local artists, potters, woodcrafters, quilters, authors and more!

CItIzENS SCHOLaRSHIP fOuNdatIONCELL PHONE COLLECtION dRIvE

Citizens Scholarship Foundation of Southwick (Dollars for Scholars) will be holding a cell phone collection drive during the month of January, 2013. Collection boxes will be in the Woodland, Powder Mill and STGRHS office. All types of cell phones are accepted. No chargers are needed. All information will be deleted from the phones. The collected phones will be sent to schools4recyling (www.schools4recycling.com). Any money raised will be used to provide scholarships for Southwick students.

For further information contact Deb Patryn @ 569-2299.

13 aNNuaL EdwaRd GOGOL SPaGHEttI dINNER

The Lions Club of Granville-Tolland will be having their 13th Annual Edward Gogol All You Can Eat Spaghetti Dinner on Saturday, February 23rd from 5:00 pm - 7 pm. at the Granville Federated Church, Granby Road, Granville, MA Donation: Adults $7, Seniors $3, Kids 6-12 $3, Kids 5 & under FREE, GVS Students Eat FREE.

“NEw ENGLaNd SCENES” aRt SHOw at SPLPaintings of local scenes and other New England vistas by

award-winning Southwick artist Carolyn Avery will hang at the William LaPorte Gallery in the Southwick Public Library for the month of January.


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The local scenes include one of Sunnyside Ranch when it was Hall’s dairy farm. It is now The Ranch Golf Club.

Avery is known for her simple shapes and creative use of color. “I like to find essence of what I see, leaving out distracting details. I want people who view my work to find a sense of peace in the flow of colors and shapes, “ she states.

Avery accepts commissions to paint people’s pets, horses, homes and favorite scenes and more. Her studio is open by appointment by calling 413-569-0348 between 10 am and 4 pm.

The artist also shows her work seasonally, from Memorial Day weekend through Columbus Day weekend, at Shore Road Gallery, 294 Shore Road, Ogunquit, Maine.

SPL hours are Mon. and Tues. 10 am – 8 pm, Wed. 1 pm – 8 pm, Thurs. - Fri. 10 am – 5 pm and Sat. 10 am – 1 pm. The library telephone number is 413-569-1221.

taG SaLE dONatIONS NEEdEdThe Westfield Homeless Cat Project is collecting items for

its upcoming tag sale in February. Items can be dropped off at any time at 1124 East Mountain Road in Westfield. For info call 568-6964 or mail at [email protected].


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CLASSIFIEDSJanuary 2013

Happy New Year!

The 188th General Court of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts was sworn in on January 2nd. My family joined me for the day at the State House and I had my son, Grey, with me while taking the oath and it was one of the proudest moments of my life. It was a long day filled with the usual and cus-tomary pomp and circumstance of the

General Court. Members re-elected Robert Deleo as Speaker of the House and Brad Jones as Minority Leader. The Speaker and Minority Leader addressed the members of the General Court with their vision and goals for the upcoming session. I was honored to take the oath of office and I’m looking forward to continue representing Agawam, Granville & Southwick at the State House.

The last several months have shed further light on welfare fraud and theft, rampant abuse of MassHealth benefits and most recently 19,000 ‘missing’ welfare recipients. There’s still a lot of work to be done! This type of waste and fraud is com-pletely unacceptable. People are out of work and struggling to pay their bills, yet money is being taken out of their paychecks to fund this waste. The Governor recently stated that the 19,000 ‘missing’ people receiving benefits equal about 4% of the popu-lation receiving public assistance. Well, if 4% of the state’s pop-ulation stopped paying their income, sales and property taxes it wouldn’t be swept under the rug. It’s time to stop the waste and put these much need funds into educating our children, repairing our roads and getting people back to work.

In the upcoming session new and higher taxes are on the table. Working-class people, that opened their paychecks this week, saw their pay decrease with newly raised taxes. I just outlined an incredible amount of waste and abuse in our sys-tem that needs to be eliminated before any discussion of higher taxes is put forward. I will continue to work on reforming our system and make sure working-class people can take care of themselves and their families.

Thank you for allowing me to proudly serve as Your Rep-resentative. Please call me with any concerns. My home tele-phone number is (413) 569-5188. I’m always available!

Sincerely,

Nicholas Boldyga, Representative

Please visit my website www.NickBoldyga.com for more information

By State Representative Nicholas Boldyga

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fIREwOOd avaILaBLE fROm tROOP 114

Troop 114 has firewood available at self service boxes on Powdermill Rd., South Longyard Rd., and Granville Rd. All Monies from the sales have supported uniforms, equipment and summer camp for the past five years. Firewood is sold for $5 per bundle or 5 bundles for $20.

The scouts run this operation with their leaders and have learned entrepreneurship, time management, team work, safety, and countless other work ethics and life lessons.

Thanks for supporting Southwick Troop 114. For more information about scouting or firewood call Andy 413-348-7650 or Todd 413-222-6885.

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GOODS & SERVICES

trAProck drIvewAys built & repaired. Gravel, loam, fill deliveries. Tractor services, equipment moved, York Rake. Bill Armstrong Trucking. 413-357-6407.

bAsebAll cArds - Old, Mint Condition. Great gift for kids & grandkids for collecting. 1000 cards $20.00 Call 413-998-3248.

GUtter cleANING & PowerwAshING or any home improvements you may need. DELREO HOME IMPROVEMNT - We are here all winter long - Snow Plowing Available - Southwick - Agawam - Westfield. Call Gary Delcamp 413-569-3733 www.delreohomeimprovement.com, gdel888@aol .com-Excel lent References.

GOODS & SERVICESAvoN cAllING - Looking for an AVON representative? Contact Christy Cox by email at: [email protected] or call 413-568-8082 evenings.creAtIve crItter cUts: Southwick, MA. Certified by the National Dog Groomers Association of America. Call for appointment 413-569-0391.shAw loGGING & fIrewood For all your Firewood needs, cut-split & delivered or Log Truck Loads & 1/2 Log Truck Loads (4cd +) 413-357-8738

Art sAle At stUdIo of cArolyN Avery. Oil, acrylic & watercolor paintings, from huge to small! View by calling 413-569-0384. Also some crafts & houseplants.

ART

RENTAL

tollANd, Gorgeous Home for Rent 3 bed & 2 bath w/ finished basement, approx 1900 sq ft. Furnished Year Round $1000 in Wildwood, waterfront community. Call Bobbi-Jo Girroir, Realtor, First Choice Real Estate 413-519-5636.

brANd New reNovAtIoN Small 2 bedroom House, 200 yards from Congamond Beach, $900 per month, Patio & Nice Yard, No Pets, No Smokers. 413-525-1985

• Kitchen Installations• Bathroom Remodeling• Window & Door Replacement• Custom Cabinets and Built-Ins

• Drywall, All Phases• Acoustic Ceilings• General Carpentry• Ceramic Tile

413-569-0247 • 413-530-2515HIC #165775

All Types of servicesfor The Homeowner & General contractor

TENEROWICZ

CONSTRUCTION

SERVICES

• HOME IMPROVEMENT SPECIALIST


Documents

Southwoods Magazine: A Journal for Country Living January 2013