Greetings to all. It looked like were going to have a real early spring, but things have slowed down here this past week with the snow and frigid nights. Is it January or April?

Community Pride shout out to my sister Nancy Neumann and Missy Slater, who planted Renaissance flower bulbs last fall at the Kenoza Lake Post Office. The next time you go to the Kenoza Lake Post office or drive through town, take a look and see how nice they are. Thanks Nancy and Missy for caring.

Last weekend those pesty May flies were out buzzing around. Soon the hummingbird, rose breasted grosbeaks and Baltimore Orioles will be arriving. I do not want to say this too loud, but it seems that there are fewer deer ticks out there, as Lyme season will soon be full steam ahead.

Get ready to garden and plant your flowers. Lisa Schick of L & M Farmstand in Bethel tells me that she will be open for Mother's Day. Lisa will have vegetables and flower plants. Call 583-6072. Bonnie Cunningham's Le Petit Jardin is now open, call 482-4949 for more information.

Betty Snedeker of The Fosterdale Café (formerly the Chicken Coop) hopes to reopen around May 15, selling ice cream and fried chicken. Keep your fingers crossed that they open then, yum, yum.

I do not know if you watch the daily press conferences that President Trump has almost every day, at the end of the afternoon, early evening. If you have, you are of course familiar with Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx. One of my absolute favorite people to watch is the general in charge of the Army Corps of Engineers, Todd Thurston Semonite. Wow! No wonder these temporary hospitals that were built in the Jacob Javits Center went up so fast. If you missed watching him do an interview, google him and I am sure you will be able to find a clip or two of some recent interviews he has done.

Belated Happy Earth Day to all. I can recall, 50 years ago, the first Earth Day. I remember picking up soda and beer cans along Old Taylor Road with my childhood friends and neighbors, Kathy and Denise Brey. We didn't have any eagles then; we were spraying for gypsy moths. And water was very polluted. We have made tremendous progress these past 50 years.

Earlier this week I read an email communication from the Bishop of the Hudson Valley United Methodist Church, Thomas Bickerton saying that we will not have church in the Kenoza Lake United Methodist church building until at least May 24. We already ordered some special supplies for the glorious day when we can re-open the church, so that we will be ready to attend church again, in person.

I love ducks and the other day; my husband Ray and I went on a ride around Western Sullivan County and were looking for a place that had several wood duck boxes and wood ducks. In fact, the person who has these wood duck boxes and wood ducks called me a few weeks ago and said he had 22 wood ducks, 11 pairs. Wow! What a gorgeous sight. I was so excited to hear from and speak with this faithful reader of this column.

I understand that the Mullallys have purchased the Lutheran Church property in Jeffersonville, as well as the parsonage. They are busy beautifying the property. It is so sad to have watched the decline in the Lutheran Church building for the past decade. Glad to see that things seem to be turning around for the property.

April 12 was the 75th anniversary of the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Last Saturday I watched part of the PBS special about Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor Roosevelt. One part of the PBS special was about how FDR came down with polio, which is caused by a virus.

Later that day, I read a small article about polio, dimes, and vaccines. The article asked if one knew who was on the dime, I did not. Answer, FDR. What was the March of Dimes originally involved with? Raising money to find a vaccine to stop the polio virus.

My curiosity took over, and I did some fascinating reading about Dr. Salk, the polio vaccine, how long it took to get a vaccine. I know you have to discount a tiny bit what you find on Wikipedia, however if you go from one topic to the other, you may be fascinated to learn or refresh your memory, about the polio virus and the efforts to get a vaccine to eradicate the virus. This is especially fascinating with the COVID-19 crisis that we are dealing with.

There are so many Chief Seattle quotes that are appropriate at this time of the 50-year anniversary of the first Earth Day. I share one of them that strikes a chord with me:

“We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumes flowers are our sisters; the deer, the horse, the great eagle; these are our brothers. All things are connected like the blood which unites one's family.” Chief Seattle.