SMITH: Letters from the Island arrives

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April 6, 2009

By Doug and Polly Smith The Niagara Gazette Mon Apr 06, 2009, 12:23 AM EDT

Dear Mainlanders

Greetings from The Island. Wish you were here. Some nit-pickers say we don’t even qualify as an “island,” since we’re connected by bridge to a Mainland we can see from every shore, but some days we’re so “Island-y” that we oughta wear grass skirts. (Well, maybe not ’til it warms up.)

Last Monday was one of those days. For the 40th straight year, the Lions Club threw a spaghetti dinner at the Holiday Inn and for three hours we were all connected by the strands. It’s to Islanders what the Hibernians’ St. Patrick’s gathering is to Mahoneys or what a Little Italy St. Joseph’s Table is to Ferraros (that’s Italian for Smith, in case you didn’t know.)

Even politicians who AREN’T running for office show up, trying to not look too hungry. Business is conducted; Martha Bojarski dispatched a courier to the Mainland for a new-logo Bisons T-shirt. Old acquaintances are renewed — last time we saw Tom and Ellie Zarbo, the toll was 50 cents.

Some regulars had excused absences, notably Jean Davern, in Lakewood Health Center. We enjoyed meeting some new arrivals, though their names have since evaporated into the fog of later years.

Things seemed a little quieter this year. It’s not quite the same without the late Bruce Kaiser bounding about hawking everything but the light fixtures. The vast Chinese auction brought a certain quiet decorum but we missed the chaos.

More than 500 joined the pastathon, according to Dick Crawford, and Island merchants donated some 50 auction items. It underwrites the Lions’ unique July project, bringing legions of disadvantaged youngsters to the Launch Club for a day of fun in the sun. That new movie they’re making, “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”? Monday they coulda’ shot it here.

Few other notes. Gone from our midst is Shirley Kustich, who went to join husband Tony on March 13. Google “good neighbor” and you’ll see their picture. Son Rick about wrote the book on local fishing spots — in fact, he did. Also, a dinner regular, Trinity Pastor Emiritus Jim Lange. More about him in the next mailing ...

Well, gotta go train for the big Town Hall Easter Egg Hunt Friday morning at 11. Oops, nobody over 8, that’s why God invented grandchildren. Maybe we’ll have to bring our own eggs for the decorating at the Library next Saturday at 2.

Come visit, or at least keep in touch.

’til next week, then ...

Polly & Doug

E-mail “Letters from the Island” to pollyndoug@hotmail.com

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