Community

Oysterponds: Saturday night concert at Poquatuck Hall

Rob Gessner, East Marioneer and OPU alumnus (Oysterponds University, as Greenport teachers used to call it), is a first mate for Norwegian Cruise Lines’ Pride of America. Recently, he approached a man working out in the ship’s gym who was wearing an East End Fitness Riverhead T-shirt and asked where he was from. They had some vague recognition, but it had been 20 years since Rob had seen former schoolmate Tommy Andrews. Tommy, grandson of Pep Kalin and son of Nancy, was on board circling the Hawaiian Islands on his honeymoon with his new bride. Congratulations to Tommy on his nuptials. It sure is a small world!

COURTESY PHOTO | Students at Oysterponds Elementary School and the Oysterponds Faculty Association recently participated in the Great Bedtime Story Pajama Drive. They collected 87 sets of sleepwear that will be matched with books donated by Scholastic Book Clubs and distributed to children living in group homes and shelters.

This Sunday’s 10 a.m. service at Orient Methodist Church will feature Lessons and Carols and encourage the children’s participation. At 10:30, OCC will hold a similar, always special, lessons and carols service. If you’re swift and wearing your sneakers, you might be able to start at one and scoot “upstreet” for the end of the other.

Don’t forget the concert this Saturday at 5 p.m. in Poquatuck Hall featuring accomplished cellist Andrew Smith and pianist Alexandria Le. Sponsored by OCA, the concert is free but a suggested donation of $10 will benefit the hall. Wine and cheese will be served.

Among the very talented children in the Congregational Church Christmas Eve Pageant this year are two recent Orienteers. Valerie Krueger and her cousin Rachel Hornstein, both sixth-graders, have jumped in with both feet to take advantage of what a small town has to offer. Both girls have outstanding singing voices and are talented sculptors, seamstresses and bakers. They are also an asset to the Congregational youth group and seem to be thrilled to be part of Oysterponds. We all give a big community welcome to these two special young ladies.

Anne Hopkins told me that Sarah Olmsted was getting quite the ribbing about my revelation that she didn’t own or have any interest in computers. That moved the conversation to the fact that some people still receive TV on rabbit ears, which Sarah admitted to. Then came the rumor that there are still a few Orienteers with rotary telephones. OK, that one’s hard for this queen of the telephone/Skype person to believe. So I’m tossing out the question here: Who else is still living in the technology dark ages?

Another question arose from a conversation with Pastor Ann Van Cleef in which I mentioned that I was “skipping Christmas” this year due to a myriad of unforeseeable happenings of 2010. She remarked that this holiday season seems to be a big one of change and wondered who else may be breaking serious holiday traditions and charting new waters. Is anybody out there willing to share?

Please note a change in schedule for this column for the next few weeks. My deadline for the Dec. 23 column is as usual: 9 a.m. Monday. There will be no paper on the 30th and no community columns in the Jan. 6 issue. So if I need to share something with Oysterponds before Jan. 13, please get to me ASAP.

Even though we’ve had a preview of Mother Nature’s frigid temperatures this week, winter officially starts next Tuesday, Dec. 21. Brrrr!