Not long ago we sent an e-mail off to a friend who is wintering in a location far to our south. In the e-mail we wrote: ``The winter doldrums have officially descended. We are sick of the snow, not that we have a lot. We are sick of the cold, which we certainly do have.’’ In response we were told to get ``...more exercise. It releases happy stuff into your system...’’ This was followed by a suggestion to ``Keep up the exercise. The happy stuff increases the more you do.

We have learned as we have traveled the road of life, that there are many, many things which we simply cannot explain.

We are most pleased to announce the arrival of Abigail Gilpin Ellsworth, a.k.a. Boo. Abby arrived on Monday, Jan. 18, 2010 at 8:13 p.m., weighing in at six pounds, seven ounces and measuring 19.25 inches in length. On hand for her arrival were her mother Annie, something which no doubt goes without saying, her father, Christopher, and her maternal grandmother, Judy Higby.

The Ellsworth family has paid school taxes on the property at 105 Pioneer Street in Cooperstown for just shy of one hundred years. And while we rather doubt that is a record for the longest run by a single family, we feel it is not an insubstantial record.

The Christmas of 2009 will go down as the first Christmas since 1971 that we have not celebrated the holiday in Cooperstown. Instead we found ourselves with the Christopher and Annie in Mount Vernon, Ohio. We were, of course, dubious that Christmas could actually be celebrated anywhere but Cooperstown.

At the end of each year we tend to become somewhat reflective about the previous twelve months, making note of those events which we hope to see repeated in the year ahead.

...with apologies to "O Little Town of Bethlehem’’

We note that this Sunday, Dec. 20 will be the last opportunity to partake of the Alternative Market held at the Presbyterian Church from noon until 1 p.m.

The next meeting of the Literary Discussion Group, sponsored by the Women’s Club of Cooperstown, will be held on Thursday, Dec. 17 at 2:30 p.m. in the Village of Cooperstown Library.