March 2011
Murder mystery dinner theatre: 'Swingland'
Murder, mayhem & lots of laughs at Hurleyville Museum, 6pm, $20 suggested, $30/couple. Benefits Rivoli marquee. 845/434-5371.
Email this pageConcert: Neil Sedaka
Featuring the NJ Symphony Orchestra at Bethel Woods, 7:30pm, $19-$79.50. 800/745-3000.
'Festival of the Arts'
Entertainment (Fred Miller Pavilion), car cruise, craft vendors, parade, quilt show & more on Main St., Sat. 10am-5pm, Sun. 10am-4pm. Vendors wanted. 570/253-1926 or 253-5492.
'Play Golf America Day'
Country Club, Hemlock Farms, 10am-3pm. Free to general public. RSVP: 570/775-7325, ext. 3.
Winter epilogue
By RICHARD A. ROSS
SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY — March came in with a mighty roar in the high school sports championship cavalcade. Lions revel in their pride and now so do the 18-1 Lady Bears of Tri-Valley, who won their first-ever Section 9 championship by defeating Millbrook 40-27 in the Class C finals on March 6 at SUNY New Paltz. Read more
Sad news
Several friends contacted me in February to say that Richard Talleur had passed away. Next, the newsletter of the Pike-Wayne chapter of Trout Unlimited arrived with the news that Fredrick Eck had died. Mr. Eck had operated fly fishing shops in the Honesdale, Scranton and Starlight areas. His then wife, Patti, had been an excellent ambassador of good will at his stores. She had an uncanny knack of remembering the names of even those who were only sometimes customers. Rick also gave freely of his time to the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum. Read more
The fishing dog
Years ago I used to fish a beautiful little trout stream, the West Branch of the Croton, where it flows between West Branch Reservoir and Croton Falls Reservoir. Being self employed, I was able to steal away at times for a long lunch hour and do a little fishing. I would park my car up at the property of the Putnam County Fish & Game Association. From there it was a short walk down a steep ridge to the brook and some of my favorite pools. The club caretaker owned two dogs. One was a large brown mutt, the other a spaniel type breed. Read more
A killer fly
I was pleasantly surprised to discover on Wednesday, December 29 that I have inadvertently tied a most miraculous fly for catching sand bass.
On the 28th, my fishing partner Mark Froelich phoned, suggesting we try for sand bass at the Elm Fork of the Trinity below the Ray Roberts Dam. His friend Jerry, a local fishing guide, had told him the sand bass were running in the Elm Fork. Sand bass is Texas talk describing a white bass. Read more
‘The Word Police’
I have acquired a new nickname. The other night at dinner my family bestowed upon me the new moniker of “The Word Police.” As in “What are you anyway—the word police?” (I picture tickets, sirens and flashing lights.) All for pointing out the juvenile overuse of the word “gross.” For despairing of children’s voices in an over-zealous shout of the phrase “boo-yah.” Read more
Francis
There is an African saying from the Fang tribe: “When an old person dies we say a library has burnt down.”
So it could be said for my uncle, Francis Dirig, who died just before Christmas, at the age of 86.
His obituary reads simply: “He was a logger and farmer all his life…” But within this spare line lies a whole world of life and work and knowledge that tells of a vanishing time and place. Read more
