Autumn beauty is free in the Hilltowns

DELANSON — Ahhhh, Indian Summer: A short, wonderful period of warmer-than-normal, dry, weather that usually occurs after the first frost or freeze. To have this happen right now when the fall foliage is at, or just a little past, peak color, is perfect.

This was a popular topic around the tables at last Tuesday morning's OMOTM breakfast at Gibby's Diner in Delanson/Duanesburg. The warm weather is Mother Nature's gift to all of us this week, at least through Wednesday, and to couple this with the best show of autumn colors in a very long time makes it, well, just great to be alive up here in the mountains and Hilltowns outside of Albany, New York.

I asked my old friend, Mr. Google, exactly where that phrase, Indian Summer, comes from. Turns out, it comes from right here, New England, and not that long ago, late 18th Century. We all know what it is, but no one really knows how it got its name.

One thing for sure, it is not a derogatory term; it is a universally positive term used to describe sort of an unexpected few days of really nice warm, dry weather that usually occurs after the first frost or freeze.

At any rate, just about everybody had a favorite place to view this terrific show. In fact, just looking out the window at Gibby’s Diner was just as spectacular an autumn view as you will find anywhere.

People pay money to go on a bus tour through areas like our Hilltowns. We are so fortunate to live here. It’s our backyard, and we don't have to spend money to see it!

Part of what contributes to the beauty of just driving along our roads is the fact that they are mostly clean of litter by the side of the road.

Regular readers of the OMOTM column in this paper will recall a short series where the volunteer fire departments and rescue squads are so necessary and are always looking for volunteers to help them help their communities. One of those organizations, the Kiwanis Club of the Helderbergs, does many, many projects in and for the betterment of our communities.

I recently joined the club, and found that several members of the OMOTM are active in this Kiwanis Club as well. One of the projects that we do is to pick up the litter alongside a particular stretch of road.

In our case, this stretch is about two-and-a-half to three miles long. So about 10 of us met last week to pick up the litter. Nine out of 10 of us arrived with a wonderful device called a grabber.

This device allows somewhat older folks to pick up stuff without having to bend over each time to grab or pick up a McDonald’s food wrapper that accidentally flew out of a car window and landed by the side of the road.

Notice that I said nine out of 10? Would you care to guess who the 10th person was? I'll give you a hint, he “recently joined the club.”

So there I was, feeling somewhat naked without a grabber, not naked/nude, like the good folks who went for a stroll over at Howe Caverns a couple of weeks ago — I wrote about that, you can look it up. At any rate, off I went to my assigned section of road thinking how hard can this be? There's not too much stuff to pick up.

Let me tell you something, when you really only bend over to put on your shoes in the morning and then once more to take them off at night — it is now five days later and I can still feel each and every time (much, much than two times) I bent down to pick something up!

I was at the OMOTM breakfast this morning and was telling my tale of woe and I started out at each table by asking the question, “Do you know what a grabber is?” Not only did everybody know what it was, but nearly all of them owned one or more!

No one had any sympathy for me. One thing I know for sure, I hope we, at the Kiwanis Club, get a new member who wants to help pick up litter by the side of the road. Do you think I’m going to tell them about the grabber? Not a chance!

On the other hand, it sure did make me feel good to be a part of a volunteer organization, Kiwanis, in this case, that is doing its best to make a positive impact on the people and community where we live, work, and play.

I also felt a little sad that so much litter and stuff accidently flies out of the car window while driving along. I guess the good news is that my fellow volunteers said this fall there was much less litter to pick up. Maybe we are winning.

Next week, I get to write about some of the other topics heard ’round the room, like hunting, pictures of serious fish that were caught over the weekend, the World Series, sports cars, and where were Harold and Wally Guest? So think of them as you read the attendance for this week. Those who were here; Ed Goff, George Washburn, Wm Lichliter, Frank A. Fuss, Ted Feurer, Wyne Gaul, Frank Dees, Jay Williams, Russ Pokorny, Jim Gardner, John R. Williams, Marty Herzog, Jake “Ditto” Herzog, Mark Traver, Glenn Patterson, Joe Rake, Ken Parkes, Roland Tozer, Lou Schenck, Warren Willsey, Jack Norray Dick Dexter, Gerry Cross John Jazz, John Dab, Paul Guiton, Herb Bahrmann, Elwood Vanderbilt, Bob Donnelly, Dave Hodgetts, and me.