this just in from a former rondack native now living in Alaska. kin anybody help him out ? I’d like to know where Dale is myself.
On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 5:39 PM, b b <alaskanodyssey@yahoo.com> wrote:
Hi Alex,
I found your copious notes on the ‘Ads’ [see the Dispatch : Notes on the Dialect and Culture of the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York] via a google search for Dale Burdick. Trying to find out where he is so I can get in touch just to say hello. That was 11 pm and I read until I could no longer stay awake at 2 am, and finished this morning.
I live in Alaska now, but grew up in a hamlet known as New Sweden (evidently named for the many immigrant miners who settled there in the 1800’s), which is one mile west of Clintonville on Rt 9N. Stayed in that general area until I was 40.
I know quite a few of the people you referenced, including the Purdys and Smiths. I worked on a construction job with a Mike Smith, one of Berton’s nephews I believe. Knew Dale Burdick well and loved hanging out at the shop. M&M diner is run by guys (twins actually) I went to school with. I used to drop newspaper bundles to Brian Ashe, Warren’s grandson. And on and on…..
Reading your commentary brought back many memories, and triggered a lot of thoughts about jokes, stories, word ‘isms’, etc. Some of it reminded me of the ‘Reverence For Wood’ series by Eric Sloane, in which he discusses a lot of language related history.
Anyway, just wanted to thank you for an entertaining read, and say that I would be happy to contribute random recollections if you ever do put together a book on the area. I would love to do so myself, just on the basis of general human interest stories.
I love the internet, but bemoan the loss of a time that will eventually vanish from memory once my generation passes on.
sincerely,
Brian Bashaw
Palmer, AK
hey brian, great to hear from you. please do send any Rondack isms and recollections you might have. I been living in Montreal since l999 but still have the camp in Keene, tho I don’t get there much any more and the taxes are so high I don’t know how much longer I can hang on to it. Dale’s lawn mower repair operation, as I think I mentioned in the Dispatch was shut down by the IRS cuz he’d never paid any taxes. I heard he was working in some factory, but not sure where. you could try facebooking Nathan Farb. He might know. if he doesn’t ask how to get in touch with the garage in jay that’s become the new culture center.
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