A Word from the Publishers

As spring approaches each year I feel as though I suddenly wake up from hibernation. I'm excited about my modest vegetable gardening endeavors in my hassle-free earth boxes, and my not so modest flower gardens. The flower gardens that I so enthusiastically planted over the past 20 years have gotten so out of control that they grow in the stones of my driveway. Soon there will be no place to park. Last year, out of desperation, I dug up dozens of echinacea plants and left them at the top of my driveway in buckets. It tickled me to watch as people stopped and loaded them in their cars. One person even knocked at my door to ask how to care for them. I don't seem to learn from experience though, because this year I will plant some seeds for tall sunflower plants with my three-year-old grandson. I remember how delighted my children were about these giant flowers when they were around his age. Look for the buckets of sunflowers at the top of my driveway.

On another note I'm very excited about trying out two new restaurants opening in Rhinebeck this spring. Puccini Ristorante will feature authentic Italian fare prepared by a native Italian and is located on Garden Street. Momiji is a Sushi Bar and Hibachi restaurant with a sophisticated interior, located in the courtyard behind Bread Alone.

— Gail

The national economic crisis of the last two years, coupled with the rise of the internet and electronic media, have driven a stake into the heart of traditional print journalism. While the crisis is greatest at the national level, local newspapers are not immune. Almost exactly a year ago, the Journal Register Company went into bankruptcy after discontinuing publication of Rhinebeck/Red Hook's local weekly, the Gazette Advertiser. In our area, no true substitute has stepped in to fill the void in coverage of local government, either in print or on the web. The regular news about town and school board meetings and the minutiae of citizen involvement has simply gone missing. Worse than that, apart from some fellow writers and editors, hardly anyone seems really to care. True, one former town official told me recently of feeling we were "losing the touch of democracy at the local level." Given the rancorous nature of national political discourse today, no doubt many of us are thankful not to feel confronted weekly by local "issues" that may well divide us. But it does make you wonder about the "democratic process" at its most basic level.

— Paul

In mid-February, both of us were particularly saddened by the death of our friend Ernie Erber, the father of one of the original founders of AboutTown, Elena Erber.

Guest Artist
For this issue, painter Jim McFarland has sketched a series of farm scenes from his home in Livingston. Jim worked in New York City for 30 years as an advertising art director and graphic designer before retiring upstate in 1999 with his wife Lyn. Together, the couple has published four children's books with Lyn's stories and Jim's water colors.