Sept. 15, 2025 - I’M JUST A WORKING GUY
It’s not a frown you see it’s just a guy exhausted after talking all day. I had rest my jaw.
On the way home on Friday I did something that I haven’t done in years. I stopped at Abbott’s ice cream…an institution in the Rochester area since 1902. I had their famous chocolate almond ice cream and it still is delicious as ever.
Mom and son are studying at Eastman Community School. They have been coming by the store since this guy was a toddler!
We had a visit from this guy who I consider to be the future of the banjo. He is playing all over the country in just about every style. He’s got a gig in Switzerland this October. He simply never ceases to amaze me.
My twin granddaughters Scarlet and Olive started preschool this week. They are just simply darlings.
The bluegrass jam this week was led by Kyle Sinden, substituting for Trudy Fagan…. there was great attendance and some great music pouring from the back room.
The big find of the week was this cat tree that Julie pulled off the street. She brought it to our daughter Grace‘s house. Grace has three dogs and a cat and, as you can see, they are enjoying immensely.
It’s that time of the year again and caponata will be packed away for tasting in a few weeks. Most of the ingredients were from our garden. We’ve had an eggplant bonanza!
I’M JUST A WORKING GUY
September 15th, 2025
Well, I was a working guy this week. I spent all day Friday and Saturday at the store and it was a whirlwind of activity. I was actually exhausted by the end of the day on Saturday, but I was exhausted from good wholesome, fun and activity. I’ve always had the idea that anybody walking through the doors of our store represented a chance to make a new friendship. This is something that I’ve ingrained in my staff. We are a store for the people, and I hope that eventually we will be open more than three days a week. We had a great bluegrass jam on Saturday with all kinds of new participants. We had people coming to the store from all around upstate New York to try out banjos, guitars, mandolins and ukuleles. I believe we have the best stock in the Northeast. Additionally, many people came to sell their instruments. We make the process simple. We tell them what they have and what it is worth and then quote them a cash price or a trade price. It is a formula that has worked for us over the years.
Julie and I are headed to our "tin cottage" in Branchport this week as the weather looks like it’s going to be superb and we’ve only spent a couple nights there all summer long….it is still summer you know….so this week’s John’s Corner is a assembly of pictures from the week. With all the political mess that is riling through our country, I need to take a break from the news and from the vitriol. Violence is never the answer. Recently I had someone post a comment on Facebook that said "we are locked and loaded and ready to fire upon your kind". I reported it to Facebook and they said it had nothing to do with violence and allowed the comment to stay. If that doesn’t, qualify as violent, I don’t know what does.
I’ll just leave you this poem that I read in college and made it lasting effect on me:
No Man Is an Island by John Donne
No man is an island,
Entire of itself;
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were.
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
With peace,
John Bernunzio