Greetings, Friends
With apologies to Roger Angell and “The New Yorker”
Greetings, friends, the time is long nigh
To bid ’22 an exhausted goodbye
And to greet ’23 with great joy and cheer
We’ve high hopes it will be a much better year.
We’ve been frozen and burned, both not so much fun
We have more EV cars, whoever wants has a gun
Fires have raged in the West, water’s trickling away
In Europe and China COVID’s still making hay.
The pound’s down across England, Parliament’s got a bad ring
They have lost their dear Queen, now it’s God save the King.
Not to mention Ukraine, hard for them we are routin’
They’d be better than fine if it weren’t for Bad Putin.
Back home in Otsego we’re muddling along
We’ve got HABs in our lakes, we can’t figure what’s wrong
But then no one else can so we’ll watch closely this mess
With help from OCCA, OLA, CLIA and the BFS.
Here’s to you, Mayor Tillapaugh, and to Mark Drnek, too,
To Dave Bliss, Margaret Kennedy, the Otsego Town crew
Have a nice day dear Becky, the Queen of the Chop
Who reigns at the checkout to see we don’t flop.
Hurrah baby bald eagle, she somehow got hurt
And was whisked off to Cornell on the eagle alert
She came back to Brookwood, all fixed, to be free
And she flew, like the wind, back to her family tree.
To our realtors, to Springbrook, to Brooks’ Barbecue
To our soldiers and sailors, old and young warriors true
Who stop by every evening at the Veteran’s Club
No wonder that place is a proverbial hub.
New Year’s cheers to Dan Sullivan, of Richfield renown
He helps in the pantry, he runs the whole town.
To the Amish among us who fish, build and farm
Ommegang, Council Rock and Red Shed, they do us no harm.
Hooray to the Halls—Templeton, Baseball and Hyde
To the Glimmerglass Festival, to ’Cesca’s long ride
To the Grady kids’ voices, sounds of music so sweet
And welcome, Rob Ainsley, a good guy to meet.
Bassett’s more than the best, and the biggest, Bravo!
It’s all over Otsego and some points below.
The helmsman is Ibrahim, Tommy’s his first
He’s got a fine staff, and we’re very well nursed.
To the Hawkeye and Bocca, Nicoletta’s and Mel’s
To the Rose and the Kettle, the Diner and Sloan’s
To Doubleday, Autumn Café, Toscana and more
Hail Origins and Stagecoach, Fly Creek General Store.
To our parks—Pioneer, Farkle, Neahwa and Dreams
Three Mile, Fairy Spring, all the high school teams
To the USPS, Copy Shop Plus, all the banks
Our law firms, car dealers, Southside Mall—many thanks!
There’s a distillery here, next to Spurbeck’s, so handy
For New York State Cheddar, scarf it up, it’s like candy
A donut from Schneider’s, Church & Scott for a pill
And quick, get a sweater from Ellsworth & Sill.
We love our new shelter, the SQSPCA
A safe place for four-leggeds, day after day
And the Clark, our beloved sports center, yahoo!
We two-leggeds salute you, Jim Jordan’s there too.
Willis Monie, Bruce Hall, LJ’s Sassy Boutique
The Hospice Thrift, Kate’s, Danny’s, all very unique
The Otesaga’s quite special, and so is the trolley
Otsego 2000, OLT, Henry Horvath’s Denali.
Leatherstocking, Otsego, and the Meadow’s links too
Are groomed, mowed and raked for a good round or two
Despite ducks and geese on the fairways, no perk
We’ll play right on through ’cause we’re told by Tim Quirk.
Congratulations, Val Paige, for your Fetterman boost
Same to you, Maureen Kuhn, 40 years on your roost.
Ellen Pope, Gregory Farmer, Amy Wyant, Paul Lord
Kiyoko Yokota, Jim Seward, the Library Friends board.
To Fenimore and Farmers, dear old Zeb, Little Joe
To Foothills, the Green Toad, and Country Club Auto
And Five Star and OAR, to the coaches who teach
The kids how to row, to hit, run—and to reach.
Elaine’s Oneonta Theatre is now well on its way
We hope Cooperstown’s Smalley’s will follow someday
And hurrah, Dave and Ellen, at Natural Foods
You greet us with cheer, put us all in great moods.
Love to the dogs on our sidewalks, wagging tails, smiling faces
Thank you policemen and firemen, and EMS aces
To Faith Gay and Drew Downie, Chip, Harry Levine
Their critiques and suggestions are ever so keen.
To Oneonta, Otsego, to America’s “perfect village”
To our hills and our lakes, to our farms and our tillage
We really do think we’re the best in the nation
And we’d be better still with a Tesla charge station.
Iron String Press thrives, thank our hard-working staff
Not a story away from five stars-and-a-half
’22 adieu (Wordle’s best, we agree)
Happy New Year to all. Please, a smart ’23.