Chrono--Caterwauling

Projects such as Catskill’s Cat-n-Around show, in the estimation of art critic Beth E. Wilson, “represent a formulaic, utterly lowest-common- denominator surrender of aesthetics to commerce and to marketing.” Ms Wilson is accustomed, she says in Chronogram magazine (“Touch Not the Cat. The Problem with the ‘Cat-n-Around Project,” 7/1/08), to review mid-Hudson “exhibitions and other artistic efforts” that “I find interesting, positive, noteworthy”; shows that “bring some sort of benefit; efforts that “raise the bar or otherwise contribute to the general advance of humankind.” Catskill’s “painted or otherwise decorated” fiberglass cat figures do not qualify.

Such “’sculptures’” bear “approximately the same relationship to ‘art’ that McDonald’s has to real food” and are “just about as detrimental.” They offer “the illusion of creativity” while deterring “real thought.” Although they seem to be “enormously popular,” “popularity alone is not a proper gauge for the success or failure of a public art project.” “Even if you think they’re just fun, a mere diversion, they do positive damage as [sic] they become the sole representation of ‘art’ in the community.” -------Because those cats (and Hudson’s dogs, and similar “animal projects”) are “slaps in the face to…more significant” local “artistic projects,” then Arts Councils that co-sponsor these “dumbed-down” projects betray their trust. They “abdicate” their “responsibility” to “active, engaged serious artists” as well as to “the public [they are] supposed to serve.”

Ms Wilson’s most painful moment while viewing the Catskill cats came when she encountered “two women…who commented to me, ‘We love them, they‘re so creative. Every one is so different’.”

Local response to Ms Wilson’s disquisition has been, well, acerbic. “That woman,” says a respondent, “would stop kids from sketching.” “Wilson’s tirade,” says another, “is to art criticism what the Catskill cats are to ‘serious art.’ The difference is that although the artists who decorated the cats may take themselves seriously as artists, they understand that the cats project is all for fun.”

To those sentiments we venture to add a few points:

*Abdication. Included in “Touch Not” is a photograph of a cat. Not included is a picture of a Catskillian cat, or a cyber-link to the whole collection (www.cat-n-around.com or www.catskillcatsandhudsonhounds.com). That omission marks, on the part of the reviewer and of her editor, an abdication of responsibility.

*Tunnel Vision. While damning these “animal projects” as sell-outs to “commerce and marketing,” Wilson does not hint at how the “artistic efforts” that she normally covers manage to escape that corruption. After all, the exhibitions are held by gallery owners with clients who hope to make money from selling the stuff.

*False Target. Much of the Wilsonian tirade consists of asserting that the Catskill cats, and their animal ilk on main streets in other towns, do not pass muster as “real” or “serious” art. That thesis might be worth propounding if the contrary claim had been asserted (and thus exemplified false advertising) and if the delusion it fostered were consequential. In the words of a local sponsor, the project “was never intended to be a fine art project” even though many estimable artists participated, it “brought enjoyment to thousands” of visitors,” it will bring “financial benefit to many good not-for-profit organizations,” and it made “an art form available to those who might otherwise be intimidated by a gallery or museum exhibit.”

*Evasion. Passages in “Touch Not the Cat” argue, alternatively, that shows like Cat-n-Around sabotage art (or “serious” or “real” or high art). That causal proposition would surely engage people who think of themselves as partisans of art. Those people might well expect Ms Wilson then to develop her thesis. She could start, perhaps, by working out, instead of just spitting out, her Big Mac analogy: that McDonald’s fare is (i) not “real food” and is (ii) “detrimental” to real food. Do Big Macs block the availability, the acquisition, or our appreciation of real food? ------In the absence of solid counter-evidence, it seems plausible to suppose that projects such as Cat-n-Around contribute a mite to the cause of Serious art. Prospective participants are invited to imagine various ways of ‘dressing’ a given raw material: a fiberglass feline, in this case, rather than a slab of marble, a log, or a bucket of wet clay. They are incited by the prospect of material reward as well as of recognition for an unusual kind of public service. They undergo learning experiences in the course of implementing a chosen design. They also get to see, along with other spectators, the variety of ideas, materials, colors, and finishes that eventuate in response to the challenge of starting from a common base. Meanwhile, children are invited to join the game by carrying out their own designs with Flat Cats and Kittis.

------- With friends like Wilson, real food, real thought and real art don’t need enemies.

How Tweet It Is!

----Open it anywhere, and you’ll be cackling. Hop among the pages, and you’ll find flocks of facts, funny lines and bright, clever pictures. Reach the end (“…and crown thy good with birdyhood…”) and start capering again through of United Tweets of America (Putnam). ----This new work by GreeneLand’s Hudson Talbott is touted, like his other 16 titles, as a book for children. That pigeon-holing may serve to legitimatize the use of secondary material and the elevation, to equal status with words, of illustrations. But the designation also can mislead. While it’s great fun indeed for kids, as proved abundantly by raucous empirical tests, United Tweets is apt to be even greater fun for grown-ups ------------------------- (Click on picture to enlarge) They will appreciate the special knowledge-tapping jokes. Thus, the Garden State’s American Goldfinch is said to be noteworthy for “the male’s bright yellow summer plumage color and a flight pattern that looks as if he’s weaving through traffic on the Jersey Turnpike.” Oklahoma’s official insect, game bird, mammals, and reptile all shout “OK!” on the Sooner State page of United Tweets, and its Scissortail Flycatcher reportedly “catches insects in midair, does spectacular aerial displays and aggressively defends his territory when he’s not singing show tunes.” On the South Dakota page, Talbott adds the State’s Ring-Necked Pheasant pictorially to the heroic figures on Mount Rushmore. Colorado’s Lark Bunting is shown hunting, punting (a football) and, of course, bunting. (Do we call that graphic punning?). Connecticut’s American Robin trills the official State song with new lyrics: “Yankee Doodle” went to town, followed by a chicken. If that bird won’t shut his beak, he’s gonna get a lickin’.” Among surprises provided by United Tweets is the fact that the book promises less (cluck) than it delivers (cluck cluck). While the sub-title promises “50 State Birds, Their Stories, Their Glories” the contents deliver 51 stories, the bonus being The District of Columbia, with its Wood Thrush who “pecked his way” to “the lawns of power,” achieving an “appointment” which is permanent although “Some in Congress are now calling for term limits.” ----- Similarly, United Tweets hatches a lot more than State bird pictures and stories. It names capitals, flowers, mottos (Canyon/Natural/Peach/Sunshine/Golden/Sooner/Volunteer/Show Me State) and, in various cases (determined, we venture to guess, for the fun of it) the State sport (dog sledding in Alaska), insect, vegetable, musical instrument (in Arkansas, the fiddle), mammal, tree, gem, necktie (“bolo tie” in AZ), dance (in South Carolina, the shag) and other distinctions. Alaska equals 11 Alabamas or 425 Rhode Islands. Maine supplies 90% of U.S. lobsters and toothpicks. Chicago is home to the world’s biggest cookie factory while Stuttgart, Arkansas, hosts the world championship duck-calling contest. Abraham Lincoln’s nose on Mount Rushmore is bigger than the head of the Sphinx in Egypt. In Iowa, for every human there are five hogs. . The Western Meadowlark reigns in six States, including Wyoming, where it exhibits “jackaloping skills,” the reference being to an elusive animal that may be “a cross between an antelope and a killer jackrabbit.” Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Minnie Pearl, Tina Turner and Ernie Ford are “famous Tennessingers.” Georgia’s Brown Thrasher, known for its “rich variety of songs and beautiful voice,” suits the homeland of Ray Charles, Gladys Knight, Otis Redding, Little Richard, Jessye Norman, Brenda Lee, Amy Grant, Travis Tritt, Trisha Yearwood. Wisconsin’s “unofficial motto” is “Where Cheeseheads ride Harleys.” And so on. ----------------- ---------- (Click on picture to read text!) --with thanks to John Shadley for help with graphic inserts.

Hot Greenews

IN PROSPECT: a new GreeneLand performing arts complex, in a building that once was a flourishing performance site. An offer has been made for, yes, the Athens (or Brooks) Opera House, on Second Street. Opened back in 1893, it has been the site at various times of Vaudeville shows, silent movies, Odd Fellows, basketball games, bowling alleys, high school dances and graduation ceremonies, Major Bowes-type amateur hours, a kosher meat market, antiques stores, and dress-making (1943-83, under the brothers Brooks, as distinct from the Brooks Brothers). Harvey Durham, who attended high school in Athens before the construction of today’s Coxsackie-Athens High School (and who taught history at the latter), recalls playing basketball there on the second floor, under beams that made it hazardous to attempt high-arc shots, thereby handicapping visiting teams. The prospective buyers, who are negotiating with owner Don Fontaine, are theatrical veterans Rita and John Carver, of Bear Fly Designs (“designers, consultants, doers for the visual arts”). The Carvers moved recently from Dutchess County to Earlton, and proceeded to launch an instructional venture (various stage techniques, for various age groups) called Dragon Fly Performing Arts.

152 = number of Kittis sold at auction Saturday in downtown Catskill. The ceramic figures, painted by children and then fired by Lillian Johnson of Imagine That! (“come on in and paint a piece”) fetched between $10 and $170, with $30 being the average. Champion bidders, in number of Kittis acquired—13 apiece--were Pamela Howard and Village President Vincent Seeley. The top sellers were made by Athena McIndoo, aged 10, and by Tristan Arg, aged 4 (!). The artists get 25 per cent of gross sale price. Sales, according to Ms Johnson’s account, came to about $4600. Most of the money will sustain the Community Center’s burgeoning programs.

DEEP DIVISION? While most school board trustees agree in their votes most of the time, a different pattern evidently prevails in the Cairo-Durham district. As reported by David Gordon (Daily Mail, 7/12), the Cairo-Durham trustees divided 5 to 4 in votes for board president (August Freemann over Susan Kusminsky) and vice-president (William Alfeld over, again, Ms Kusminsky).

SWINGER ALERT I. The former Saint Bridget’s Church, next door to The Inn At Leeds, is now Catskill Sportsplex, an indoor practice facility for batters (hardball and softball) and golfers, as well as, eventually, for socceroos and laser tag snipers. The proprietor, Chris Quinn, is a State Trooper when he is not playing or coaching. The Sportsplex stands about mid-way between alternatives in Albany and Saugerties. Use of a cage, with its hand-fed pitching machine (so: bring a partner), costs $20 per half-hour. 947-0611.

SWINGER ALERT II. The new golf course called The Lazy Swan, on Old Kings Highway north of Saugerties, gets high marks from recent GreeneLand visitors. “Even though it’s only nine holes,” says K.A., “it’s worth a visit. Excellent design [by Barry Jordan], lush fairways, appropriately placed traps, daunting contoured greens that are fast but true.” “Best physical condition of a new course that I’ve ever seen,” says well-travelled A.O. “But the price,” adds D.O., “is steep.” Indeed, the greens fee per cart-riding adult for 18 holes is $58. Discounts for juniors and seniors (weekdays) are trifling. Annual memberships, according to the rate card, cost $1850 for singles, $3000 for couples. Members are entitled to discounts in the Pro Shop; but that facility remains to be built. Members also, presumably, have the right of access to the club house—once it gets built. Information about rates is not given on the Lazy Swan’s web site, which is semi-literate and variously touts “The Lazy Swan Golf and Country Club Resort” and “The Lazy Swan Golf and Country Club Village.”

LAYOFFS, substantial ones, have affected employees of GreeneLand automobile dealers. As one would expect.

NEWS NOTES. Two recipients of Rotary International awards were joined in a ceremony by previous winners of “the distinguished award.” “Heavy flooding in recent years have altered” a stream. A fiberglass cat “rest’s in the window of her shop…waiting for it’s time to return to the street.” An “ingenious training implement was first used to train Jose Torres before his 1965 bought against;…Pastrano.” “In portions of the county…water quality and preventing soil erosion is a top concern.” “Free hots and refreshments were provided, along with inflatable rides for children.” “In other business, trustees discussed setting guidelines for groups wishing to use Athens Riverfront Park with their attorney’s representative suggested they might want to check with their insurer regarding village coverage for liabilities.” “’We wouldn’t be here today without the support [of the town council]. We’re very gracious of that’” versus “’We would not be getting grants, donations or fund raising if it were not for the town’s support. I cannot underscore that enough.’” Senator Seward “secured $100,000 in capital funding for Greenville’s wastewater treatment plan—the sticky widget that has been a thorn in the side” of officialdom. Rene Van Schaack joined the Greene County Soil & Water Conservation Agency “under a newly created title…and he was there ever since.”

DOINGS this weekend in GreeneLand include bluegrass music, classical music, Irish music, a crafts festival, a Wacky Raft race, a play (“Amadeus”), a theatrical funding celebration, a big antiques auction, a movable feast, an art galleries tour…. Details at www.greenetourism.com, www.catskillmtn.org, www.greyfoxbluegrass.com, www.catskillgalleryassociation.com , www.carlsengallery.com, www.thomascole.org, www.welcometocatskill.com

Busily Greene

ECO DOG is the title of a book by GreeneLanders Jim Deskevich and Corbett Marshall that is all about environmentally friendly dog-rearing. It sold out (12,500 copies) after its release last March (by Chronicle Books) and is in process of its second printing. Its authors, who touted Eco Dog nationally last Saturday on the CBS “Early Show,” are better known locally as proprietors of Variegated, the fabric design store and studio in Catskill. The store recently underwent a major makeover, and the proprietors are launching a new line of pet bedding and accessories that are made, says Jim, “of eco-friendly fabrics printed with our newest original designs, ‘Herringbone’ and ‘Houndstooth,’ graphic plays on the traditional patterns.”

RE-OPENED, after a vain quest for a buyer or a lessor: Catskill Point restaurant & bar. It’s open on Thursdays, Fridays (happy hour with free buffet, 5-7pm) and Saturdays until 9, with live jazz on Sundays. 943-3173

CLOSED, after 13 years in Catskill: Begnal Motors (Chrysler; Jeep). Company president Larry Begnal (in 7/9 Daily Mail) candidly ascribes the decision to shortage of customers—a condition shared by all automotive dealers this year. Everything has been moved to the Begnal dealership in Kingston ([845] 331-5080). Which reminds us of:

“BUSINESS STINKS!” says a newspaper advertisement by Nappa’s Tile & Wood Flooring on Route 23. That condition is the stated reason for price reductions.

SOLD by Duane and Patricia Esposito, to Geoff and Melanie Baker: Catskill Glass Company. The thriving business has been located since 1950 at 80 Maple Avenue, Catskill, and will remain there, with some diversification of offerings (kitchen and bathroom counters, vanities).

SERVING beverages & camaraderie on Wednesday nights now, as well as Thursday through Saturday nights, is the Doubles II party room in Catskill.

FORECLOSURES in Greene County, says reporter Emily Rittman, are “going through the roof.” Cases in June (78) were 45 per cent higher than in June 2007 (37 homes). The number of foreclosures has nearly doubled every month so far this year compared to last year. In Greene County, Missouri. UNEMPLOYMENT in Greene County reached a level of 8.3 per cent of the work force. That is an increase from April’s 7.2 per cent, and a higher figure than the State-wide rate of 5.9 per cent and the nationwide figure of 5.2 per cent. The jobless rate was the highest it has been in seven years--in Greene County, Tennessee. HERVEYS. Robert the screenwriter, of Catskill, is not Rob, of Catskill, the musician (dijeridoo &…). Neither man is Harvey, the rabbit. “GREENE STUDENTS OUTSHINED COLUMBIA STUDENTS” says a Daily Mail headline (6/24). The reference is not to shoe-shining or to car- or apple-polishing, but to elementary pupils’ test scores. The report cites State Education Department figures on incidence of meeting State standards of performance in English Language Arts and Mathematics. Among 3289 GreeneLand pupils who took the tests, 82.5 per cent met or exceeded the prescribed learning standards in math. That percentage exceeded the Columbia County score (75.3% passing) and the State-wide average (81%). In English, 67.2 per cent of GreeneLand kids did passing work for their respective grade levels, while 66% of Columbia County kids did so. The State-wide average for English was 69 per cent. (In other words, about one out of three elementary school pupils, in GreeneLand and elsewhere in New York, is a poor reader and writer). TOO LATE? Although the announced deadline has passed, Bob Beyfuss of Cornell Co-Operative Extension might still be receptive to calls (622-9820) from prospective trainee volunteers in trail maintenance, bird-counting, ginseng research, program management…. TOO MUCH TOMORROW? Riverside Farmers’ & Artisans’ Market, with music by Paul Sluzar, at Catskill Point warehouse. Athens Street Festival , day & night. First summer tour of Hudson-Athens Lighthouse. In Acra, at the Agroforestry Research Center: a workshop on “Forests and People, a Long-Term Relationship; 622-9820. At the Mountain Top Arboretum, plant expert Ray Rogers will teach mini-worshop on designing container gardens. In Windham’s Performing Arts Center, pianist Simone Dinnerstein plays Bach’s ‘‘Goldberg Variations.” In Hunter, Catskill Mountain Foundation events include a music recital by Amati students, a concert and workshop of/on Japanese Taiko, and then “From Toga to Tux,” with feasting and quaffing and bidding and music in the Red Barn, celebrating the Foundation’s tenth birthday. In East Durham at the Irish Cultural Centre, the D.I.R.T. performs “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” Saturday and Sunday. And back in downtown Catskill, Second Saturday festivities include an auction (at 397 Main St) of ceramic “kittis” decorated by local kids, and an outdoor demonstration of Cus D’Amato Gym-connected boxing, along with a display by Assemblyman Peter Lopez of (so says The Daily Mail, 7/8) of “his marital arts skills.”

IMMINENT On Thursday (7/17), the Grey Fox bluegrass festival begins in Oak Hill. On Friday at 8pm comes the opening of “Amadeus” as performed by director Joseph Capone’s Classics @ The Point ensemble. 943-2680. On Saturday, the Athens Community Garden Club’s tour begins from the Cultural Center at 10am. Meanwhile, visitors are invited to a day’s events at Peace Village including picnic, games, tour, kites, “spiritual horoscope” and art-making for juniors qua “Peace Pals”. In Windham, guitar virtuoso Jorge Caballero will strum up a storm at the Performing Arts Center. And the global socio-financial event of the millennium—well, of the week, in southern GreeneLand—begins at 5pm at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site. It’s the annual Pic-Nic, starting with cocktails and munchies and music and shmoozing at the Site, followed by dispersal of guests, movable feast-wise, to assigned host homes on both sides of the Hudson. A few spots, very few, remain to be filled: 943-7465 extension 4. Under-priced at $100-$125.

Independently Greene

FIREWORKS will soar and scatter and sputter above Dutchmen’s Landing in Catskill on July 4^th (Friday night), following music by the Watt 4 Band (www.catskillny.org ); over Angelo Canna Park in Cairo, following a parade from the elementary school; above Windham Mountain (www.windhamchamber.org) and Hunter (www.bearcreekrestaurant.com) VIEWSHED news. A 104-acre parcel of land along the ridge of Mount Merino in Columbia County, much of it facing GreeneLand from across the Hudson, will not be subdivided. It will not be cleared or developed. It will be preserved. It has been acquired for just that purpose by Scenic Hudson. The acquisition brings to 1248 the number of Mount Merino acres that have come to be protected since 1992 by conservation easements. The significance, as Scenic Hudson president Ned Sullivan said in a news release, is that “people will continue enjoying this iconic scenery for generations to come. That is the crux of our campaign to Save the Land that Matters Most.” (Another part of that awesome program is—in partnership with Audubon New York—GreeneLand’s iconic RamsHorn-Livingston Sanctuary. Which should be seen by everybody. An excellent way to do so is provided by guided interpretive paddles led by Larry Federman. (518)678-3248.

WATERSHED NEWS. On the other hand, some Windham residents fret about land acquisitions made by the State Department of Environmental Protection, acquisitions of buildable sites whose relation to water quality preservation is disputed. According to Daily Mail correspondent Michael Ryan (6/30) the DEP owns about 1800 Windham acres and may be eyeing another 500. The acquisitions are products of agreements with willing sellers and are related to State and Federal mandates to preserve water quality in upstate reservoirs as an alternative to establishing huge filtration plants. Windham Planning Board member Tom Poelker casts doubt, however, on the consistency of the purchases with the stated water-conservation criteria. No residential or other development is permitted on DEP lands.

RESORT NEWS. Ulster County Legislature Chairman David Donaldson has voiced the hope that skiers will boycott Hunter Mountain and Windham Mountain this winter. Mr D objects to the fact that the operators of those private GreeneLand resorts object to facing increased competition from a State taxpayer-funded expansion of the public Belleayre resort, an expansion which would draw still more sales tax-paying visitors to Mr D’s county. The Hunter and Windham owners support the creation of a Blue Ribbon commission that would examine unfair competition in the outdoor recreation. ”RATATAT CATSKILL” is the title of a newspaper article published in Australia’s leading newspaper, The Age. It’s about a rock duo whose sound “seems based around a clash between machine-made beats, baroque-inflected classical music and the joys of hair-metal guitar.” Composers Evan Mast and Mike Stroud say they recorded the new album, LP3 (Remote Control Records), while living in an old Catskill house that serves as home for Old Soul Studio, run by a fellow named ‘The Wolf’” and stocked with antique instruments. This “amazing place” is “out in the country in a really small town with not much going on there at all. You can't find a good meal anywhere in Catskill really. We ended up having to cook at home in the studio every night.” According to the reviewer, the lads cooked up a stylistic “feast” of “disco, Tejano and reggae, as well as pychedelia, hip-hop and their stock baroque virtuosity.”

ADVERTISING as cultural force is being celebrated currently at the New York City Public Library’s Science, Industry and Business section on (appropriately) Madison Avenue. The show, titled “The Real Men and Women of Madison Avenue and their Impact on American Culture,” is of interest here because GreeneLander Ann Cooper (former creative editor of Adweek, founding editor of Creativity, former associate editor of Marketing, free-lance writer, lapsed Caledonian) is co-curator.

DONATED to Catskill’s Community Center, by the Catskill Women’s Softball league, at the season-opening game last Sunday: $600. That generous contribution is especially noteworthy as evidence of recovery from the trauma of 2006, when founding president Dolores Gallagher rifled the league’s treasury.

ENTRIES INVITED for (i) photographic celebrations of Hudson Valley beauties, and for (ii) a “Beautiful Greene” picture show. Sponsoring the former, with prizes awarded in several categories, is Scenic Hudson. Sponsoring the latter, with a view to exhibiting pictures made of six prescribed GreeneLand spots, is the Greene County Council on the Arts.

GRANTS, in sums up to $5000, also are available, for worthy arts-related projects to be carried out in 2009. For particulars: www.greenearts.org

GENDER NEWS. The brain power shown by boys among this year’s Catskill High School graduates did indeed mark a departure from recent years as well as a contrast with other schools. While seven of the top ten CHS grads were boys, only three boys made the top ten at Cairo-Durham, and the valedictorian and salutatorian were girls. At Coxsackie-Athens, however, two boys, Anthony Ardito and Tyler Herwick, shared valedictorian honors, with Gabrielle Margiotta as salutatorian. At Greenville and Hunter-Tannersville High Schools, girls snagged both of the valedictorian and salutatorian honors; they are Corinne Smith and Erin Ricci (Greenville) and Sheera Hinkey and Keida Harrison. At Windham-Ashland- Jewett HS, Caitlin Morrison hit the top academically, with Karl Goettsche as salutatorian. (BTW, isn’t it time to give our schools better names than just place names?)

CASTING CALL. For a movie titled “Taking Woodstock,” extras are needed--or were-- to be “college kids, hippies, townspeople, police, etc.”; and “LONG HAIR A PLUS.” Also sought are “cars circa 1969 and earlier.” Local advertising invited candidates to audition last weekend at specified Hudson and Albany sites. No telephone number, web site or e-mail address was given. The putative producers are “Focus Films” and “Tuxedo Terrace,” but the former (in contrast to Focus Features) seems to be a periodical and the latter is an avenue in Hollywood. Anyhow, a Google search indicates that the touted film would be a comedy based on the Elliot Tiber memoir wherein “A man working in his parents’ motel in the Catskills inadvertently sets in motion the generation-defining concert” of 1969. Filming allegedly will commence in August in Columbia County (!) under the direction of (fanfare!) Ang Lee.

CLOSING “with great agony and sadness,” on August 31^st, except for private banquets: Anthony’s Restaurant, in Leeds. Until that time, says a display advertisement, the restaurant will continue to open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings and on Sundays from 3pm to 8pm. The Gjergji family’s other restaurant, Tatiana’s, will remain open as usual. “We look forward to continuing to serve Greene County and beyond on a larger scale.”

DAILY MAUL. The Flat Cats “each are each uniquely different….” “As soon as one enters the arched entrance into the foyer, a sense of sophistication emanates from the marble flooring.” “Contractor Gordon Wohlfahrt said preserving the ‘nooks and grannies’ of the original brickwork provided an interesting avenue for creativity on behalf of the future owners.” “…the hardships of heating Catskill homes did not become as large an issue as it surely will be this year.” “Everyday there are reminders of the energy crisis in our midst, the shock of which has seemingly become lost to triteness.”