August 26th, 2024

Good mornings folks,

      I’ve used the saying many times over the years…"children are our investments and grandchildren are the dividends”…. but this past weekend I had the privilege of kidnapping my seven year old grandson, Rocco and spending the weekend with him in Penn Yan. He asks SO MANY QUESTIONS! 

"Grandpa, why do you live so far away?"   Well, at this point in my life, I like the peace and quiet of a small town.

"Grandpa, why do you walk with a cane?"     Well I’m afraid to fall down because sometimes the older you are, the harder you fall. 

"Grandpa, why don’t you work?"       Who told you I don’t work? I have a store! I go there…. sometimes… ha ha…

"Grandpa, how long do you think you will live?"   Whoa… I I do think about that one from time to time. 

"Grandpa, what are Mennonites and why do they have horses to take them around?"…Well, they are people who live a simple life, mostly as farmers or woodworkers. They are follower’s of a Catholic priest from Holland named Menno who lived 100s of years ago. He believed that people should not fight in wars for kings and he moved his people from Holland to Switzerland, and eventually they came to America so they did not have to fight in a war. 

And some of those questions, I have no answers….

"Grampa, why do people fight wars?"….

well, maybe some people have hatred in their hearts….."but why, Grampa?"….

maybe misinformation, maybe hunger for power or maybe the power of the hungry…….

"but why Grampa?"

..so many questions that I don’t have the answers. He is the bright and brilliant eyes of the future….what future will he inherit…it’s time to just go fishing.

Spending time with a seven year old is the stuff of poetry…it is at ethereal and at the same time as down to earth and gritty as one can imagine.

 With peace,

John Bernunzio

The cataloging continues…. We look at each instrument and determine whether it can be repaired or whether it should be sold as found. It’s an enormous task.

Fix or flea, that is the question?