Blanche Paris, our next-door neighbor, will be 100 years old on Oct. 6. Blanche has lived in her home on Garfield Avenue for more than 60 years. She was active in the Leisure Club and Corpus Christi Parish. Her many friends and neighbors will hold an open house at her home from noon to 4 p.m. on Oct. 6. Mayor Martins has issued a proclamation declaring Oct. 6 as Blanche Paris day in the village. Congratulations to a fine lady.

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At the new Panera Bakery we met Walter and Ruth Glenn of Krug Place. Walter was once president of the board of education.

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Tom Cooke of Columbus Parkway has sold the building at 35 E. Jericho Turnpike, which he bought from us, to Matt Smith, the realtor and appraiser and son of former Mayor Ed Smith. The site was the home of this newspaper for 30 years. Tom, by the way, has serious medical problems which were contracted while he was working on construction projects at the World Trade site.

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Anna Lamm of Linden Road has worked at the Seacrest Diner for the past three years. Before that she worked at a German restaurant in Ridgewood where she and her husband Edward lived. Anna also works on the hospitality committee at Corpus Christi Church. Also at the same diner we met Lynne who used to work at the Dorian Diner now the Jericho Diner. She and her husband Don, who has retired from DuPont, live on Fairfield Avenue. Among the diners that day were Lucy and William Fortcher of Linden Road. He was formerly with the Transit Authority.

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Those green hitching posts downtown in Mineola look pretty classy. With the price of gas these days can old Dobbin be far behind?

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Dennis Sullivan of the Irish-American Society was enjoying morning coffee at the Jericho Diner.

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The Nassau County Museum of Art in Roslyn has a fine exhibit of depression works. During that dark period when nine million Americans were standing on bread lines, President Franklin Roosevelt commissioned artists to work on paid projects under the WPA program. Some wonderful works were produced. Walking around the grounds you can see many sculptures. They are fascinating to look at even though I really can't make heads nor tails out of most of them.

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A visit to Clark Botanical Gardens is very worthwhile. Free of charge, you can wander the extensive grounds seeing many beautiful flowers, bushes and trees. There are several ponds with bridges across which you can walk and observe ducks, fish and turtles.

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Corpus Christi Pastor James Bowman and Father Paul Dolan breakfasted at Sparta Diner.

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Tim Warnecke of Mineola broke his arm playing football. Worst yet, it was a cheap shot from behind after the play had been called. Tim is one of the sextons at Corpus Christi.

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Julia O'Brien of Maple Place is back in circulation after an eight-month siege with a number of illnesses.

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Kerry and Geoff Tice and children Mary and Aidan of Wellington Road had breakfast at Panera's Bakery.

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Gavin and Irene Duffy and sons Cody and Tyge of Beebe Road visited their former neighbors Mike and Chris Taylor who now live in the Saratoga area. Gavin is a sergeant with the New York Police Department.

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Mayor Martins made a wise choice when he selected former Town Clerk John DaVanzo, former Mayor Bob Hinck and leading citizen Candy Maia to heads the upcoming 100th anniversary celebration of the village.

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Couple of hard baseball questions. Who were the two winningest pitchers in Brooklyn Dodgers' history? Dazzy Vance, who some old-timers may remember. He played in the '30s and the other is Brickyard Kennedy, whom I'm sure nobody has heard of as he pitched in the 1890s. The other question is what team had the longest winning streak and when? The 1916 New York Giants won 26 straight.

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Members of the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce, of which I am one, read some of the names of the victims of the September 11 tragedy in the day-long reading of names at Memorial Park.

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