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Just a quick reminder today that you and your kids can still take part in the Easter-themed scavenger hunt being hosted by the homeowners on Curtice Park in the village.

The socially-distanced Easter-themed hunt was designed by Curtice Park resident Jennifer Cave. She heard about it from an email she received, and thought it would be a great way to give kids something fun to do, and help them get a little exercise.

Here’s how the hunt works: with scavenger hunt card in hand, participants walk up and down Curtice Park and look for different Easter pictures displayed in the houses’ front windows. Most of the homeowners are participating, so it should be easy to find a lot of pictures.

Last Saturday and Sunday, the first few days of the scavenger hunt, several neighbors even put some Easter treats at the end of their driveways for the kids. Jennifer was able to snap a few photos, and reported that she saw more than 40 kids walk by on the hunt.

Just print off the scavenger hunt paper you see below and you’re good to go. The pictures will be up through Easter. This is a great activity for the kids on spring break!

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Just like Little Free Libraries, and most recently the Little “Puzzle” Library I wrote about a few weeks ago, Free Food Stands are popping up all over Webster and throughout the city, providing food and personal hygiene items to families in need. And one Webster family is doing its best to see that at least some of them never go empty.

Jamie Buss and her husband Mike first heard about the stands back in January and decided they wanted to help out.

“We went and filled one one day,” she said, “and saw the incredible need there was. We started promoting it on Facebook…. It was incredibly well received by our friends alone.” Donations started coming in, which allowed Jamie and Mike to start filling more and more pantries.

Right now there are 27 Free Food Stands scattered throughout Rochester, in the city as well as suburban towns including Greece, Penfield, Perinton and Phillips Village in Webster. Jamie and Mike fill six to eight of them every week, with donated items and ones they’ve purchased outright.

After a stop at the Public Market to purchase fresh produce, “We make a weekend of it,” Jamie said. “Every stand we fill on Sundays is empty when we get there.”

Jamie and Mike’s efforts received a huge boost recently when the food pantry project was taken under the wing of The Goodness Initiative, a Rochester-based grassroots organization which Jamie co-founded several years ago with Colleen Bedford. Now that the Goodness Initiative is involved, Jamie said, they hope to be able to expand the program even farther.

But they’ll need more volunteers and more donations to do that. This is where you come in.

Donations of food, toiletry and cleaning items are needed to keep the food stands stocked. Fortunately, there are a couple of easy, no-contact ways you can help out. For starters, check out The Goodness Initiative Facebook page for a wish list of needed items, and a list of where all the free food stands currently are located.

Now, here’s how you can help:

• Purchase any items on the wish list and bring them to 839 Bridle Lane, Webster. There are bins on the front porch for contactless drop-offs 24/7.
• Purchase items from their Amazon Wish List and have them delivered directly to them.
• Make a monetary donation and they’ll purchase the items they need most. Click here for a paypal link.
• Schedule your own donation drive! You can either drop the collected items off, or fill any of the listed stands on your own.

Rest assured, your donations will go where they are most needed. That might not be Webster (the Phillips Village pantry is often full), but as Jamie explains, that really shouldn’t matter.

“It’s a community effort of helping out your neighbors,” Jamie said. “When you see a need you fill that need. It doesn’t matter what stand you fill. As long as people are doing the work there are others that are not going hungry.”

“We are happy to drive all over to do the work, because all people are worthy of basic necessities, no matter their zip code.”

The Free Food Stand in Phillips Village is not the only Little Free Pantry in town. Four others, hosted by church congregations, are located at the Webster Baptist Church on South Ave, Immanuel Lutheran Church on West Main St., the United Church of Christ on Klem Rd., and St. Martin’s Church on Bay Rd. Like the Free Food Stands, these pantries encourage a “take what you need, leave what you can” philosophy.

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter.

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A few weeks ago, I posted a blog about the creative ways our middle and high schools have come up with to stage their spring plays this year. Here is an update straight from the district:

COVID restrictions have created inherent problems for Webster CSD’s theater groups as they seek to share their love of theater with the community. But, as they say… The show must go on!

The first to tackle the challenge this school year was the Webster Thomas Drama Club. How did they overcome it? They created an original production that allowed performers to social distance. The Webster Thomas Radio Hour revives the feel of old-time radio shows of the 1940s; however, instead of listening in on a radio the Titans are inviting everyone to tune in on their electronic devices. Go online to News at websterschools.org to see “The Case of the Missing Mallets,” “The Adventures of the Time-traveling Athenians,” “The Return of Professor Z to the Planet of the Beyond,” “Murder on the Rochester Express,” and “Francis Fisher — Ghost Hunter.” The roughly two-hour production also includes student scripted sketches and commercials.

Spry Middle School Drama Club will also share their One Act Play Festival online after performing it live March 18-20 for studio audiences comprised mostly of family. The performance includes “Pajama Party,” “Four Little Words,” “Goldilocks on Trial,” and”Not so Grimm Tales.” Plus, soloists and small group ensembles will entertain the audience during intermission.

Once streaming of the One Act Play Festival becomes available, the district will announce it on its website and through its social media: Facebook (@WebsterCentralSchools) and Twitter (@WCSDProud). The same is true for Webster Schroeder Musicals’ upcoming production of the Addams Family.

Coming to Webster Schroeder High School April 23 and 24 for small audiences and live stream, The Addams Family is a creepy, kooky comedy musical about a ghoulish family that loves all things macabre. Daughter, Wednesday, has fallen in love with a “normal” boy that her parents have never met and who she secretly plans to wed. When the two families gather at for a get-to-know-one another dinner at the Addams’ home hilarity ensues.

As this time, Willink Drama Club is in the planning stages for a musical revue utilizing songs and dances from some of their past productions. Again, students will perform it for intimate audiences (mostly family), May 14 and 15, and then share it virtually.

I was pleased to be a part of the audience when Webster Thomas presented their production back in January. You can read that blog here.

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Today, believe it or not, marks the 30th anniversary of the 1991 ice storm.

It began with rain on the afternoon of March 3. Overnight, the rain turned to ice, and many of us woke up to the gunshot sounds of limbs breaking and falling into the yards and streets. More than 200,000 homes lost power, many for as long as two weeks.

I was living in the city at the time, on Bedford Street just off of Bay. I have vivid memories of that day. Mostly I remember what a beautiful scene Mother Nature had painted, bathing everything in sparkling ice. And I remember how much devastation it brought to our street. Broken branches and fallen trees made the road impassible.

I also recall how everyone on the street came out to help clean up the mess. Several chainsaws showed up seemingly out of nowhere, and neighbors from up and down the street who rarely spoke to one another worked together to drag detritus into yards. As often happens during tragedy, community members came together without even being asked, to help one another out.

We never lost power, or even cable, that day, so we were one of the lucky ones. The following year, however, the city came by and removed a significant number of trees that had been severely damaged by the storm. Our beautiful tree-lined street looked almost bare.

I realized that day that the storm was a unique event, so I took several photos, which you see here. I wish I’d taken many more.

How about you? Were you living in Webster then? What was it like here during the ice storm of ’91? If you have any memories or photos from that day that you’d like to share, please send them along, or post a comment here or on my Facebook page.

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter.

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This last year has been awful. There’s no two ways about it. Covid-19 has brought sickness, death, separation and financial ruin to millions.

Our world has been put through the wringer. But while it’s really hard to see past all the terrible things that have happened and are still happening, if you look closely enough, it’s possible to see some positives that have come out of this experience.

I was chatting about this the other day with the nurse at school. In a normal year, children would often come to her office complaining of stomach bugs or with random (non-Covid) fevers. But thanks to the fact that everyone is wearing masks, she’s seeing those routine viruses a whole lot less. Kids are just not getting sick as much.

And that goes for us adults, too. I’ve usually contracted two or three colds by this point in the school year, but I haven’t gotten sick once. It’s not unusual for a stomach bug to run through the family as well, but not this year. Masks have reduced transmission, and since I’m not seeing family members as much, so they can’t infect me.

I realized there must be other ways in which our lives have changed for the better as a result of Covid. Here’s what I came up with, and maybe you can add some more:

• Zoom. Like most people, I was totally unfamiliar with this program until the pandemic. But it quickly became an outstanding tool to stay connected with friends (like my regular Friday night virtual euchre game), family (playing Jackbox with family from as far away as Texas), and old school buddies (my husband’s old college friends’ happy hours). Over Christmas I also connected via Zoom with family members I hadn’t seen in years. None of this would have happened if we didn’t have a virtual way to gather.

• Homeless animals are much happier. Many animal shelters were cleaned out by families who wanted to adopt a pet during shutdown.

• We’ve rediscovered the outdoors. Shutdown meant that we had to find other ways to entertain ourselves aside from going bowling or to the movies or pubs. So we started walking and hiking and riding our bikes.

• We’ve reconnected with our neighbors. Now everyone says hi when they pass by on their after-dinner walks. This was especially true in the early months of the pandemic. Everyone was just overjoyed to see other faces, even if you did have to move out into the street to pass by.

• We’ve rediscovered hobbies. I have been reading more books and doing more jigsaw puzzles.

• I learned the word “smize.” It means a playful expression with your eyes, or smiling with your eyes. We all do it, but now we’ve learned to recognize it, and know what to call it.

• Pollution is down a lot. I read that the canals in Venice are clear, the reduction of pollution in China has saved thousands of lives, carbon monoxide emissions are down significantly, and the air is so clear near the Himalayas that the mountains are visible for the first time in decades.

• We’ve developed a newfound respect for our essential workers, something which has been sorely lacking.

But I think the best thing that has happened in this last year is that we’ve all increased our generosity and connection to community. We’re supporting local businesses and restaurants. We’re donating to food cupboards and reaching out to community members who are struggling financially. We’re dropping off care packages, offering to shop for our older neighbors, checking on the health and welfare of family members. We’re looking after one another.

Basically, we’ve rediscovered our sense of community. When this pandemic finally leaves us all for good, let’s hope that sense of community does not. We must never forget this time when we really needed one another.

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We kind of lucked out the first few months of winter, but we all knew it was only a matter of time before we got any measureable snow. Now that we do, we might as well take advantage of it. Here’s a good place to start:

The Webster Parks and Recreation Department will host a Family Winter Fun Day on Saturday Feb. 20, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Rec Center, 1350 Chiyoda Drive.

All sorts of family-friendly fun-in-the-snow events are planned, including

• ice skating at the rec’s outdoor rink (bring your own skates)
• an outdoor ice fishing game,
• a polar bear station where kids can learn about polar bears, make a craft and read a polar bear book
• hiking along the paved Chiyoda Trail (bring a flashlight or headlamp)
• cross country skiing with the Rochester Cross Country Ski Foundation

If you don’t particularly like the cold, you can warm yourself by some fire pits, enjoy free hot chocolate and popcorn, or head inside to the gym to try out the Gaga Pit.

More details will be coming soon, especially about the cross country skiing. You can check them out on the Webster Recreation Center webpage or their Facebook page.

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter.

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

Thank you to everyone who’s already sent along some additions for my Webster Bucket List.

I wrote about my list last week (you can see that blog here). It’s a comprehensive list, but so old it’s out of date. For example, a few of the places on it don’t exist anymore, and a few of the events no longer happen.

So I’m looking for additions. Once I have a final, updated list, I’ll re-post the entire thing so that everyone can print it off and see how many places or events you’ve already checked off, or would like to.

So check out the list, then let me know what I need to add! Email me or send me a message via Facebook.

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter.

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

A few weeks ago I wrote about how our area is being visited by a few flocks of Pine Grosbeaks, who have come unusually far south from their breeding grounds in Canada. It’s such a rare occasion that birdwatchers from as far as Pennsylvania were heading to Webster Park and Mendon Ponds Park to catch a glimpse of the beautiful bird.

Little did anyone realize that some people only have to look out their back window to get a look at the plump, colorful finch.

Since that blog posted, I’ve heard from three people who have seen a Pine Grosbeak in their neighborhoods. The first was Denise Bonney, a Plank North Elementary School colleague, who said she didn’t realize right away what she was seeing, then remembered my blog and recognized it. Then I got an email from Karen Terp who said she and her husband had seen one while they were taking a walk.

And a few weeks ago I got another email, this one from Ruth Caves, who lives in West Webster. She not only saw one at her feeder but was able to get a photo, which you can see above.

Keep those sightings coming!

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter.

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

I was going through some very old blogs a few days ago and stumbled across one about my Webster Bucket List.

The bucket list was something I first came up with more than 10 years ago. It was shortly after I started writing this blog, a time when I was becoming more invested in the community. The list back then included more than 80 items from Webster and near-Webster (Penfield). A lot of them I was able to come up with on my own, but since I was just getting to know Webster, I had also solicited reader suggestions for must-see Webster places or must-do Webster activities that I wasn’t yet familiar with.

Even after all this time, I still haven’t checked everything off that list. Given that, I thought it was time to revisit my Webster Bucket List, update it, and get cracking at it again.

Over the last ten years, a lot has changed in the life of our village and town, so the list needs a LOT of updating, and I’ll once again need some help with that. But let’s look first at the items I was able to complete:

• visit the Webster Museum
• stop by the village offices and say hi to the ladies at the desk
• see a Village Band concert at Harmony Park
• see a Friday night concert at the gazebo
• grab a peach cobbler from the Order of the Eastern Star during Village Days
• hike the Hojack Trail from end to end (I did this one in pieces)
• buy some fresh vegetables at Joe Obbie’s Farmers Market
• smell some flowers at the Webster Arboretum
• get a snack from one of the sample ladies (or men) at Wegmans
• go to the Firemen’s Carnival
• walk all the way out to the Webster Park pier
• watch the sunset from the Irondequoit Bay outlet
• wave an American flag at the Memorial Day Parade
• donate blood at the Community Blood Drive
• catch a performance by the Chorus of the Genesee
• take a swim at the Webster Aquatic Center
• check a book out of the Webster Public Library
• take a stroll through the Webster Rural Cemetery and Webster Union Cemetery
• hike the trails behind the Bay View YMCA
• go bowling at Empire Lanes
• see a movie at Loews
• watch the Firemen’s Parade
• see the live aninals in Wilbert’s nativity scene
• shop at Hegedorn’s
• check out the student artwork at Community Arts Day
• grab a cup of coffee at Joe Bean (moved)
• start the day with breakfast at T’s Family Restaurant
• attend a Schroeder vs. Thomas athletic event
• spend a summer evening listening to music at the Bay Side Pub
• visit all the village parks: Milton Case, Wilmorite Recreation Area, Schantz Park, Harmony Park, Veteran’s Memorial Park
• wave at Santa during the Holiday Parade of Lights
• take a bike ride around North Ponds Park
• dance in the street at the Jazz Festival
• donate to Hope House to support our neighbors in need
• see a concert at the Harmony House
• donate to the Webster Food Cupboard (closed)
• attend the annual Fourth of July celebration
• hike all the town’s trails (Whiting Rd., Vosburg Hollow, Gosnell Big Woods, Finn Park, Midnight Trail, Webster Arboretum, Webster Park, Chiyoda Trail, John Ungar Nature Trail, Four Mile Creek, and the bike path
• relax on a bench at Veteran’s Memorial Park and admire the flowers
• buy something from a village business
• grab an ice cream cone at Hank’s
• see a middle school or high school music concert
• hike down to Irondequoit Bay at Abe Lincoln Park
• participate in the village’s Trick or Treat Trail
• drive down Lake Rd. from 250 to Bay Rd.
• attend Village Days (doesn’t happen anymore)

Whew. That seems like a lot of things. But I accomplished most of them through simple day-to-day enjoyment of all that our town and village have to offer. I could have checked off even more, but in my original list I had the nerve to set some rather specific requirements for many of the places I was to visit, like:

• sample a cinnamon sugar fried cake at Bauman’s Farm Market
• buy some cider and apples at Schutt’s
• stop by Flaherty’s on St. Patrick’s Day
• enjoy a soft-serve sundae at Abbott’s
• eat a Gloria Special at Maria’s Mexican Restaurant
• play a carnival game at the St. Rita’s Fiesta
• enjoy a cup of coffee on the beach by the White House at Webster Park
• view the frozen waves on the beach at Webster Park
• take a class at the Webster Recreation Center
• participate in an open skate at the Webster Ice Arena
• have a picnic in North Ponds Park
• go sledding in Webster Park
• swing on a swing in Webster Park
• climb to the top of the playground equipment at Ridge Park
• have dinner at Hedge’s

If I can count that I’ve actually BEEN to all of those places, then I could check them all off, too. But these last few? Well, I just haven’t done them at all:

• wander through the West Webster Cemetery
• order a garbage plate at Empire Hots (no thank you)
• grab a fettuccine alfredo at Streppa’s Bistro (can’t do that now, it’s closed)
• attend a Schroeder Warriors football game
• attend a Thomas Titans football game
• enjoy a Tuesday night movie in the park

So I guess in retrospect, I think I’ve done a pretty good job sampling many of the places and events that make Webster a great place to live and work. As you can see, however, the list is outdated. I’m hoping you all can help me with that.

What is this list missing? Are there any special events I am forgetting about, or special places that everyone should visit at least once? Email me your suggestions, or leave a comment here on the blog. Once we get a complete list, I’ll format it so that it’s easy to print, and perhaps you, too, can work your way through my Webster Bucket List (once life gets back to normal again, of course).

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter.

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Fifty years ago today, R.L. Thomas High School graduate David Semmler died in Vietnam at the age of 23.

I’m reminded of this anniversary by Jim Lanson, who wrote,

I believe David was a 1966 R.L. Thomas graduate. I also believe the Thomas building opened in 1962 which would have been his freshman year. David was one of three R.L. Thomas graduates who sacrificed their lives in Vietnam. Leonard Coles and Rex Daniels were the two others. Peter Kaulback, who was a 1962 Webster High graduate, the last year the high school was at the Spry building, was also killed in action.

David rests at White Haven Cemetery.

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email me  at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter.

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.