Happy Thursday!
Happy Spring! As soon as that snow started to melt... weeks ago... WILD RIDE! Shapes! Colors! Blooms and bulbs! Frogs and fog! Shoots and roots! People come and people go! Flowers and fiddleheads! Critters cruising. Rain! Wind! Snow! Bears! Loons! Business! Hikers, bikers, canoes galore! Pleasure! Busy weekends, quiet weekends... Rangers! DANGERS! Oh my! WOW! It's daunting work to keep track of it all and every week report it back to you here... we've done it in the past... but this year we simply enjoyed it! SOAKED IT IN! Changed with the change! It's been a lovely spring! And there's still nearly a couple months of it left! We hope you are able to take time to enjoy this overlooked and undervalued time of year! In other news... In honor of the BRAND NEW Wanakena Historical Association Website (and in-lieu-of wildflower photos...) we took a quick jaunt around the Wanakena Historical Association's J. Otto Hamele Walking Tour of Wanakena earlier today! DIG IT! Learn more here: www.wanakena.com Thanks for reading Wanakena Weekly! Spread the sauce; pass it on to a friend, will ya! And don't forget there are FIVE YEARS of archived editions RIGHT HERE on this website! Stay tuned folks! We are entering the SUMMER SEASON! BUCKLE UP AND LETS GOOOOOOOO!!!!
NEW ART SHOW SOON! OPEN MIC AND MEET THE ARTIST MAY 24TH! MEMORIAL DAY SATURDAY! (THAT IS ALSO RANGER SCHOOL GRADUATION DAY) DOWN AT OTTO'S WE'RE STOCKED UP SO STOP IN! COME ON DOWN AND FIND WHAT YOU'RE LOOKIN' FOR AND PERHAPS WHAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW YOU NEEDED! WAY AT THE BOTTOM OF ST LAWRENCE COUNTY! WAY UP IN THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF THE ADIRONDACKS! RISE AND SHINE CLIFTON FINE! GRAB AN UMBRELLA AND C'MON DOWN AND POKE AROUND TOWN! WE WELCOME YOU TO STOP IN, CHECK US OUT AND WARM UP! WE LOVE SHARING OUR KNOWLEDGE OF LOCAL TRAIL CONDITIONS AND INFO AND KEEPING RELEVANT AND IMPORTANT MAPS, BOOKS AND SUPPLIES IN STOCK FOR YOU! SHELVES FILLED WITH FRESH PRODUCE AND GROCERIES GALORE! OUR WALK-IN COOLER BRIMS WITH BREWS! ENJOY HOT COFFEE AND TEA, COLD DRINKS, SNACKS, ICE CREAM, CANDY! GIFTS, GOODIES, ART, MUSIC, NECESSITIES AND MORE! WEE-KENA LIBRARY ON THE PORCH! SNOW CROQUET IN ZPARK! ART AND MUSIC EVENTS AND MORE! THANKS FOR SHOPPIN' AND HANGIN' LOCAL AND KEEPING YEAR-ROUND INCONVENIENCE ALIVE! HOPE TO CATCH YOU AROUND DOWNTOWN OVERLOOKING THE OSWEGATCHIE IN THE HEART OF WANAKENA NEXT TO THE POST OFFICE! OPEN TIL 7PM! OPEN TIL 5PM ON SUNDAYS AND CLOSED ON TUESDAYS! WANAKENA! AND DONT FORGET ABOUT FRIDAY HANNAH'S HOMEMADE SOUP! AND OF COURSE... CROQUET ALL YEAR LONG, BABY!!!! THANKS AS ALWAYS, FOR THOSE WHO ARE ABLE TO AND CHOOSE TO TAKE TIME OUT OF YOUR DAY TO GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO DIVERT A PORTION OF YOUR HARD-EARNED CASH TOWARDS SUPPORTING SMALL AND LOCAL BUSINESSES! YOUR SUPPORT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE! CHEERS! LIVE LOCAL! SHOP LOCAL!
HERE'S A LIST OF SOME UPCOMING EVENTS HAPPENING AROUND THE AREA!
****UNDER CONSTRUCTION****
MAY 11TH - 4-5PM LINE DANCE AT THE LEGION!
MAY 24TH - 6-7PM MEET THE ARTIST JOHANNA KINGSLEY
MAY 24TH - 6-9PM OTTO'S ABODE OPEN MIC
JUNE 4TH - CRANBERRY LAKE HUB BOAT RIDE TO BIO STATION
JUNE 14TH - WANAKENA HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 60's FOLK FEST ZPARK
JUNE 20TH - ZPARK WANAKENA SUMMER SOLSTICE WITH WINDIER LIVE
JUNE 21ST - WANAKENA HISTORY CENTER SEASONAL OPENING
JUNE 25TH - CRANBERRY LAKE HUB BOAT RIDE TO BIO STATION
JUNE 23RD - BOAT RIDE FROM CRANBERRY LAKE HUB FOR SUNY ESF BIO STATION TOUR
JUNE 29TH - 7PM - ROUST - ZPARK WANAKENA
JULY 4TH - CRANBERRY LAKE BOAT CLUB FIRECRACKER 5K
JULY 4TH - WANAKENA 4TH OF JULY PARADE
JULY 5TH - 7PM SUMMER SERIES CONCERT 1/5 FOOLISH PRIDE
JUY 8TH - 1:30PM SUNY ESF LED LOST POND NATURE WALK
JULY 10TH - BETH DAUT'S FORESTER PRESENTATION AT CRANBERRY LAKE HUB
JULY 12TH - CRANBERRY LAKE BOAT CLUB'S POKER PADDLE WANAKENA
JULY 18TH - CLFD AUXILIARY BACKWOODS CRAFT FAIR 9 - 4PM
JULY 19TH - CLFD AUXILIARY BACKWOODS CRAFT FAIR 9 - 4PM
JULY 19TH - 7PM SUMMER SERIES CONCERT 2/5 THE LIVING ROOM
JULY 20TH - 1PM KNOTTY PADDY LIVE AT THE CRANBERRY LAKE HUB
JULY 23RD - NCPR/ACW HOWL STORY SLAM ZPARK WANAKENA
JULY 24TH - DAVE SCHRYVER WATERFALL RESEARCH AT CRANBERRY LAKE HUB
JULY 26TH - 7PM HIGH ON THE HOG LIVE ZPARK WANAKENA
JULY 31ST - EMILY DEAN CRANBERRY LAKE FISH RESEARCH AT THE CRANBERRY LAKE HUB
AUGUST 1ST - SUMMER SERIES CONCERT 3/5 - DENNIS STROUGHMATT & CREOLE STOMP
AUGUST 3RD - CHRIS COLE LIVE AT THE CRANBERRY LAKE HUB
AUGUST 9TH & 10TH - CRANBERRY LAKE ART SHOW
AUGUST 14TH - MARK HALL PRESENTATION AT CRANBERRY LAKE HUB
AUGUST 21ST - JACKIE AND KEVIN WOODCOCK PRESENTATION AT CRANBERRY LAKE HUB
AUGUST 23RD - CRANBERRY LAKE BOAT RACE
AUGUST 23RD - 7PM SUMMER SERIES CONCERT 4/5 - ORQUETA LA MURALLA
SUGUST 23RD - PRESBYTERIAN PICNIC ZPARK WANAKENA
AUGUST 30TH - 7PM SUMMER SERIES CONCERT 5/5 - SOULSHOT
SEPTEMBER 27TH - OPEN AIR OPEN MIC ZPARK WANAKENA
OCTOBER 31ST - OPEN AIR OPEN MIC HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR ZPARK WANAKENA
RISE AND SHINE CLIFTON-FINE... Starting from the west... Historic Fine Town Hall Building in Fine Village seeking input for its use and future! Fine Volunteer Fire Dept THANK YOU! Lodge at Dodge Pond OPEN. UBs Mercantile and ADK Rustics in Oswegatchie (Home of The Bargain Hunter!) are OPEN! Around Star Lake: Star Lake's ADK Holy Grail gift shoppe OPEN with A GIANT LOON out front!! ADK Pharmacy OPEN. Clifton Fine Central School GO EAGLES! Fitness Center at the school is open M-F 5-8am & 5-10pm and weekends 5-10pm! Community Bank OPEN! Clifton Fine Hospital OPEN and HOPIN' you're healthy! They raised enough money to expand - check out their live construction camera! And look out for Food Truck Thursdays and Farmers Markets in the summer! Dollar General OPEN! Twin Lakes OPEN! CF Arena HAD A GREAT WINTER! Golf Course CLUB GRUB at the CLUB HOUSE has LUNCH AND DINNER coming soon! CF Golf Course OPEN!! Star Lake Volunteer Fire Department THANK YOU! SOS Adirondack Exhibit Center EVENTS HAPPENING... stay tuned! Every Friday Night, open meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous at the Schoolhouse 7PM. Clifton-Fine Community Center and Food Pantry & Free "Community Meal" Wednesdays! Todd Hardware OPEN and FOR SALE!!!!!! Coffee Fever SOLD? Circle Jays OPEN! What's The Scoop CLOSED FOR THE SEASON but opening SOON with new management! American Legion OPEN and REFURBISHED with LOTS OF EVENTS! Newton Falls Giving Box & Post Office & Community Church OPEN. Newton Falls Volunteer Fire Department THANK YOU! Mountain Gate Plaza Bottle Hometown General Store, Deli and Redemption Center OPEN! Down in Wanakena Packbasket Adventures Lodge and Event Space in Wanakena OPEN... with NEW OWNERSHIP! Mary holds down 13695 Wanakena Post Office - Clifton Community Library Book Drop Box and Lost and Found and MORE out-front on Otto's Porch! OTTO'S ABODE OPEN ALL YEAR DOWN HERE! Wanakena Ranger School!! Wanakena Historical Association Walking Tour UP AND RUNNIN' FOR SEASON and the History Center OPENS JUNE 20TH and are every sat and sun though summer 11-4pm... NOW CLOSED! Don't forget about the Wanakena Walking Tour and Labyrinth AND MORE! Clifton-Fine Summer Series in ZPARK SUMMETIME check it out CLIFTON FINE ARTS. Common Thread Quilt Fest Labor Day Weekend! Out in Harewood: Wooden Fish Hathery OPEN! Coyotes Den SOLD and CLOSED but listed on AirBnB for rentals! Billy's BLACK LIGHT ART SHOW this past Halloween! Cranberry Lake Volunteer Fire Department THANK YOU! Birch's Lakeside CLOSED FOR SEASON! OPENING SOON! Tilly's? Cranberry Lake Art Show 2025 GET READY!! Cranberry Lake North Shore Hub hosts space use, dock use, summer concerts and summer lectures! Clifton Community Library OPEN! Cranberry Lake Boat Club summer events ON THE WAY! CHECK OUT THE Cranberry Lake DEC Campground! Cranberry Lake Mountaineers Snowmobile Club, check 'em out! THEY HAVE A GREAT LISTING OF LOCAL YEAR-ROUND RENTALS ON THEIR WEBSITE! Grasse River Railway, anybody? Sevey's Point at Sevey's Corner OPEN. Thirsty Moose Childwold OPEN and FOR SALE!! Childwold Presbyterian Church though September 15th! And don't forget... Back West: 2E's, Edwards Opera House, Jim's Auto in South Edwards OPEN! Plum Brook Cafe in Russell OPEN! Jockos in Degrasse OPEN and re-painted and hosting SUNDAY FUNDAYS!! CLIFTON-FINE RT. 3 CORRIDOR ROLL-CALL ROUND-UP! We're Southern St. Lawrence County. We're Northwestern Adirondacks. We're BOTH. We're NEITHER! WE'RE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE-LESS! WILD WEST! GREAT SOUTH WOODS WAY SOUTH OF THE ROCK! ALL THAT STUFF! OH YEAH! (Who's missing? What's stale? Les us know! Zoom Zoom!) Also... if you appreciate the work put into these newsletters (and Otto's Abode in general) consider donating something extra to the cause! We're on VENMO as Otto's Abode. Or as Click and Clack used to say: Write our address on a twenty-dollar bill and mail it to us!
“I am for an art that is political-erotical-mystical, that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum.
I am for an art that grows up not knowing it is art at all, an art given the chance of having a starting point of zero.
I am for an art that embroils itself with the everyday crap and still comes out on top.
I am for an art that imitates the human, that is comic, if necessary, or violent, or whatever is necessary.
I am for all art that takes its form from the lines of life itself, that twists and extends and accumulates and spits and drips, and is heavy and coarse and blunt and sweet and stupid as life itself.
I am for an artist who vanishes, turning up in a white cap painting signs or hallways.
I am for art that comes out of a chimney like black hair and scatters in the sky.
I am for art that spills out of an old man’s purse when he is bounced off a passing fender.
I am for the art out of a doggie’s mouth, falling five stories from the roof.
I am for the art that a kid licks, after peeling away the wrapper.
I am for an art that joggles like everyone’s knees, when the bus traverses an excavation.
I am for art that is smoked like a cigarette, smells like a pair of shoes.
I am for art that flaps like a flag, or helps blow noses like a handkerchief.
I am for art that is put on and taken off like pants, which develops holes like socks, which is eaten like a piece of pie, or abandoned with great contempt like a piece of shit.
I am for art covered with bandages. I am for art that limps and rolls and runs and jumps.
I am for art that comes in a can or washes up on the shore.
I am for art that coils and grunts like a wrestler. I am for art that sheds hair.
I am for art you can sit on. I am for art you can pick your nose with or stub your toes on.
I am for art from a pocket, from deep channels of the ear, from the edge of a knife, from the corners of the mouth, stuck in the eye or worn on the wrist.
I am for art under the skirts, and the art of pinching cockroaches.
I am for the art of conversation between the sidewalk and a blind man’s metal stick.
I am for the art that grows in a pot, that comes down out of the skies at night, like lightning, that hides in the clouds and growls. I am for art that is flipped on and off with a switch.
I am for art that unfolds like a map, that you can squeeze, like your sweetie’s arm, or kiss like a pet dog. Which expands and squeaks like an accordion, which you can spill your dinner on like an old tablecloth.
I am for an art that you can hammer with, stitch with, sew with, paste with, file with.
I am for an art that tells you the time of day, or where such and such a street is.
I am for an art that helps old ladies across the street.
I am for the art of the washing machine. I am for the art of a government check. I am for the art of last war’s raincoat.
I am for the art that comes up in fogs from sewer holes in winter. I am for the art that splits when you step on a frozen puddle. I am for the worm’s art inside the apple. I am for the art of sweat that develops between crossed legs.
I am for the art of neck hair and caked teacups, for the art between the tines of restaurant forks, for the odor of boiling dishwater.
I am for the art of sailing on Sunday, and the art of red-and-white gasoline pumps.
I am for the art of bright blue factory columns and blinking biscuit signs.
I am for the art of cheap plaster and enamel. I am for the art of worn marble and smashed slate. I am for the art of rolling cobblestones and sliding sand. I am for the art of slag and black coal. I am for the art of dead birds.
I am for the art of scratching in the asphalt, daubing at the walls. I am for the art of bending and kicking metal and breaking glass, and pulling at things to make them fall down.
I am for the art of punching and skinned knees and sat-on bananas. I am for the art of kids’ smells. I am for the art of mama-babble.
I am for the art of bar-babble, tooth-picking, beer-drinking, egg-salting, in-sulting. I am for the art of falling off a barstool.
I am for the art of underwear and the art of taxicabs. I am for the art of ice-cream cones dropped on concrete. I am for the majestic art of dog turds, rising like cathedrals.
I am for the blinking arts, lighting up the night. I am for art falling, splashing, wiggling, jumping, going on and off.
I am for the art of fat truck tires and black eyes.
I am for Kool art, 7UP art, Pepsi art, Sunshine art, 39 cents art, 15 cents art, Vatronol art, Dro-bomb art, Vam art, Menthol art, L&M art, Ex-lax art, Venida art, Heaven Hill art, Pamryl art, San-o-med art, Rx art, 9.99 art, Now art, New art, How art, Fire Sale art, Last Chance art, Only art, Diamond art, Tomorrow art, Franks art, Ducks art, Meat-o-rama art.
I am for the art of bread wet by rain. I am for the rat’s dance between floors. I am for the art of flies walking on a slick pear in the electric light. I am for the art of soggy onions and firm green shoots. I am for the art of clicking among the nuts when the roaches come and go. I am for the brown sad art of rotting apples.
I am for the art of meows and clatter of cats and for the art of their dumb electric eyes.
I am for the white art of refrigerators and their muscular openings and closings.
I am for the art of rust and mold. I am for the art of hearts, funeral hearts or sweetheart hearts, full of nougat. I am for the art of worn meat hooks and singing barrels of red, white, blue, and yellow meat.
I am for the art of things lost or thrown away, coming home from school. I am for the art of cock-and-ball trees and flying cows and the noise of rectangles and squares. I am for the art of crayons and weak, gray pencil lead, and grainy wash and sticky oil paint, and the art of windshield wipers and the art of the finger on a cold window, on dusty steel or in the bubbles on the sides of a bathtub.
I am for the art of teddy bears and guns and decapitated rabbits, exploded umbrellas, raped beds, chairs with their brown bones broken, burning trees, firecracker ends, chicken bones, pigeon bones, and boxes with men sleeping in them.
I am for the art of slightly rotten funeral flowers, hung bloody rabbits and wrinkly yellow chickens, bass drums and tambourines, and plastic phonographs.
I am for the art of abandoned boxes, tied like pharaohs. I am for an art of water tanks and speeding clouds and flapping shades.
I am for US Government Inspected Art, Grade A art, Regular Price art, Yellow Ripe art, Extra Fancy art, Ready-to-Eat art, Best-for-Less art, Ready-to-Cook art, Fully Cleaned art, Spend Less art, Eat Better art, Ham art, pork art, chicken art, tomato art, banana art, apple art, turkey art, cake art, cookie art…”
-Claes Oldenburg (1961)