Ovid Library Expanding into New Spaces

Except for a pile of bricks sitting behind the library and a few outside projects, the major components of the capital project to restore, expand and update the Edith B. Ford Memorial Library in Ovid are complete.

The project got board approval in late 2006 and began fundraising in the summer of 2007, said Barbara Gerlach, treasurer of the library’s board of trustees.

“It’s totally amazing what’s gotten done in two years, we wouldn’t have believed it ourselves,” she said.

Writers’ Group Enlivens Library

On Sunday afternoon at the Ulysses Philomathic Library a boy was “bitten” by a couch cushion while retrieving a baseball, a man got his fortune told with complete accuracy and another man had his foot amputated after an accident in a train yard.

Three members of the Ulysses Writers’ Group read from their short stories at the library’s first Sunday Afternoon Speaker Series of 2009. The group’s other three members will read on Sunday, January 25.

Mary Blake formed the writers group when she moved to the area about four and a half years ago. At one point the group had eight members but has since settled down to six writers.

TCSD Foundation to Make Teaching Grants

The Trumansburg Central School District (TCSD) Foundation has sent students to Street Survival Driving School, sponsored special speakers for both students and parents and brought a brain gym program to Trumansburg. After reaching the $10,000 mark during the summer, the foundation is back to fundraising and is soliciting grant proposals for its 2009 winter awards schedule.

Lindsay Hart, foundation board member and public relations chair, said the foundation gives out three types of grant throughout the year: teaching grants, blue and gold grants and new technology initiative grants. A grants committee awards the money during each cycle. The committee decided to focus on teaching grants this time around.

“That’s open to anybody in the area that teaches or instructs, so it doesn’t have to be a teacher per se,” Hart said. “It can be a dance instructor or a blacksmith who wants to do a class on blacksmithing.”

It’s Not Too Cold for Ice Cream

he ice cream cone cutout has disappeared from the Not My Dad’s sign for the winter and the benches are stacked up in front of Trimmer’s, but Cayuga Lake Creamery in Interlaken still has its doors open for those seeking ice cream.

The creamery, which opened five years ago this April, has shortened hours and is closed a few days a week during the winter but remains open all year long. Judy Gonroff, owner, said things definitely slow down during the colder months but people still come in, especially on sunny days. Local wineries help by sending people who are looking for food to the creamery, she said.

“Even though it’s not tourist time they still come,” Gonroff said. “On the weekend Route 89 is still fairly busy.”

Cayuga, Seneca Wine Trail Host Winter Party

Events where people can hop from one winery on the Cayuga Wine Trail to the next for a day or weekend aren’t out of the ordinary. But an event that doesn’t require a ticket and includes wineries on the Cayuga Trail, the Seneca Wine Trail and vineyards not affiliated with either trail only happens once a year. The seventh annual Between the Lakes Winter Wine Party will be held from 11 am until 5 pm on January 10.

The party is partly the brainchild of Kip Kalfs, manager of the tasting room at Sheldrake Point Vineyard, and isn’t an official Cayuga Wine Trail event.

“It started about seven years ago when me and the former manager at Knapp Winery were talking and saying that there’s nothing [in the winter] to let the people know that we’re still open and the wineries still exist,” he said.

The party now features 31 wineries along Cayuga and Seneca Lakes. Kalfs said every winery between Ventosa Vineyards and Atwater Estate Vineyards on the Seneca Trail and between Montezuma Winery and Americana Vineyards on Cayuga is participating this year.

An Eye for the Camera

Photos of flames, sunsets and trees; close ups of spiderwebs on a fence corner; dramatic lighting hitting martini glasses and crystal balls give patients in the Trumansburg Optical waiting room something to look at. Like most art displayed in local shops, the 11 photographs on the wall are for sale and three have already been claimed. Unlike most local artists though, this photographer is only in high school.

Sara Oros, a junior at Charles O. Dickerson High School, began taking photographs three years ago but said things really took off in the past year. Oros opened her first show in early December in Trumansburg Optical on Main Street.

“I’ve really been enjoying photography and thought it’d be fun to share [it],” she said.

Stella’s Barn Expanding

Terry Ferrara originally opened Stella’s Barn, on Route 13, as a county gift shop to see if the location would draw traffic. Now that she has a steady flow of customers stopping by. Ferrara is shifting Stella’s focus from gift shop and restaurant to more of a calm place for food and a few drinks, complete with dining rooms, a new bar and lounge and a private party room in the works.

“It will be more of a full service restaurant, which is what the customers have been saying they want,” Ferrara said.

About three months ago Ferrara added a Sunday brunch menu to Stella’s line-up. The country buffet has classics like sausage and gravy but the restaurant also serves savory items like stuffed French toast. Ferrara said she never planned on serving breakfast but it has been a hit.

Schools to Share Software

Underlining text in Microsoft Word is simple, you just click the U button. But what if you want the line to be green and dotted? The Atomic Learning software now available through the Newfield Central School District teaches that skill and thousands of others through quick video demonstrations.

Last month the district subscribed to the online tutorial service that covers 110 popular computer programs with more than 35,000 video lessons. The company is designed specifically for students and teachers but “anybody who pays taxes in Newfield” can use the site. Paul Lutwak, director of informational and instructional technologies at the school, said community availability is an extra perk.

“[Atomic Learning] said when you buy it for the school they’d throw it in for the community also,” he said.

Student Drivers Learn Street Survival

A teenage driver speeds down the road, going 60 miles an hour. She suddenly switches from the left lane to the far right; overshooting the lane she takes out four or five bright orange cones, sending some flying and dragging others under the car. Luckily, this time instead of hitting cars or construction equipment, people laugh, put the cones back and she gets another chance. Thirty young drivers, ranging from the just-licensed to 21-year-olds, attended a Street Survival driving school on November 8 at Watkins Glen International.

Street Survival was founded by the BMW Car Club of America (BMW CCA) Foundation to teach kids how to handle their own cars in high-pressure situations, said Seth Berlfein, of the Genesee Valley Chapter.

“Basically it’s a car control clinic,” he said. “Whereas drivers ed teaches students how to drive a car, we teach them how to handle a car and avoid accidents.”

Stilwell Makes Skateboard History

Nick Stilwell saw the Guinness World Record for longest stationary manual on a skateboard set at only 49.09 seconds and knew he could do better. On Saturday, Stillwell broke the world record and his personal best by balancing on a skateboard on two wheels for 34 minutes and two seconds.

Stilwell, a senior at Charles O. Dickerson High School, said he didn’t grow up planning on setting a world record, but a series of events led him to the high school gym this past weekend.

“[My English teacher Neil Clifford] had us do a paper about goals we wanted to accomplish and one of my goals was to break a world record,” he said. “So that really got me going.”