#catskill mountain squares

[martynorthrup-blog]

Old Joe

Joe and Dottie Todd were loyal and faithful dancers in the Catskill Mountain Squares, a square dance club in Arkville, NY. Although Joe had all appearances of being a little frail and hunched over, I clearly recall him jumping up with both feet in the air along with Seager “Sig” Fairbairn. Dottie was a very mild-mannered lady. She continued to dance even though she had a stroke. It was a pleasure to have them attend my dances.

If you've ever danced to me, you've probably realized that I enjoy talking with the dancers. Sometimes, it's a difficult task to talk with everyone at each dance. The Catskill Mountain Squares danced at the Arkville Fire Hall in Arkville, NY. The hall had a stage at its far end and chairs formed a horseshoe shape around the exterior.

Joe Todd was sitting at the first available chair near the stage. During the first break, I looked at Joe and said, “Joe how are you doing?' He replied, “OK”. I proceed around towards the back and talked to some other dancers, and I returned to the stage to do the next tip.

Once I completed that tip, Joe once again was seated in the same seat as before. I again acknowledged Joe's presence, and I talked to others in the hall. As the break ended, I went back to the stage. This scenario was repeated several times during the dance.

The dance ended, and I went home with my family as usual.

The next Friday evening, we had the Catskill Mountain Squares dance once again. The crowd again had our friends Joe and Dottie. As usual, Joe was seated in the first seat near the stage. After the first tip, I proceeded to walk and talk to the crowd. I looked at Joe and started to ask him, “How ...”

Joe stopped me from completing the sentence.

I waited to see what was going on. Joe responded with the following,”I know you were going to ask me how I am.” He told me that I asked him about 8 times the week before, and he went to look in the mirror figuring I might have seen a health issue he didn't know about.  He didn't have any health issues, so he figured I was just being awkward.  I was.

We both had a chuckle and the dance went on. From that point forward I made a concentrated effort to have a full conversation with Joe early each evening.

[martynorthrup-blog]

Who has that number?

For many years and several miles of travel my Dad, Neal, traveled with me. I recall one night traveling back from the Circle 8's Square dance club in Poughkeepsie, NY like it was yesterday. Route 9 in that area of NY splits around the Poughkeepsie, and it looked totally different than it did on the way in. Of course, we got lost, and it took us an eternity to get home. We were both so tired that it was not safe for either of us to drive. Somehow Dad found the strength to do the job.

Flash back about a week. Dad absolutely hates being late for anything. This included Friday night dances with the Catskill Mountain Squares. Dad took pride in being the first one to sign in on the dancer sign in sheet, and this night was no exception.

Earlier that day I came up with a brilliant idea. The idea was to raffle off calling responsibility to a dancer that night. As we had approximately 40 people attending each Friday evening dance, I carefully prepared about 40 slips for the drawing and placed them in the bag. As the first tip had ended, I announced my plan. Sometime later in the evening, a dancer drew the slip from the bag. The number drawn would coincide with a number on the sign in sheet.

Low and behold, the number one was drawn. Dad was selected to perform the singing call. The look on Dad's face was sheer and utter panic. He reluctantly came forward. Attempting to redeem Dad and being the good son, I told him that since it was obvious he really did not want to call a dance that I willing let him draw another number from the bag. He took that option. But that slip was also number one.

Actually all the numbers in the bag were number one. I know it was a cruel trick, but, Dad took it in good stride. This set the tone for all the dancers to pick on him just a bit. But even after all that, Dad always signed in on the number one line of the dancer sign in book.

[martynorthrup-blog]

Coffee and Refreshments

One of the things that kept the dancers of the Catskill Mountain Squares coming back each night was the shared finger food snacks. Each dancer brough a dish. And I was responsible for drinks, plates and cutlery. But since this was when I was young, my parents helped out—providing the hot tea, coffee, plates, cups and silverware.

Alice Nichols was a very independent senior citizen and dancer with the Catskill Mountain Squares. As a token of her mobility, Alice would boast that she was a proud holder of a free deer hunting license. This was a benefit of being over 70 years old. Alice was also a good cook, and I recall one night Alice invited all of the Catskill Mountain Squares to her home for homemade clam chowder. Most dancers that liked clam chowder raved on how good it was, but unfortunately, I am not a fan of clam chowder. One bowl and about 750 crackers later, I finished it.

During a break at one of the Catskill Mountain Squares' regular Friday night dances, I was about to get a cup of coffee. I saw Alice, and I started to talk to her. A puddle of coffee was forming near her feet, and it was coming from her cup. As I was responsible for the condition of the hall at the end of the dance, I was nervous as to what the coffee might do to the waxed wooden floor. I excitedly blurted out, “Alice your hole has a leak.” OOPS!! Score one for the caller with a big foot in his mouth.

[martynorthrup-blog]

Please Help Me Bud

A while back, a club in NY had a square dancing fun weekend in Canojoharie. I drove my souped-up, red 1976 Chevy 'Vette there early to meet many of the Catskill Mountain Squares members. I should be a little more careful, the car was actually a 1976 Chevy Chevette. Since I was still young at that point, I had not driven my car long, and when a dancer, Bud Barnes, stood in front of my car giving me assistance backing it into a tighter-than-usual parking spot, I was grateful. We twisted the car into the spot—a little left, back to the right a hair, back to the left, a touch, a little right. This went on for a minute or two. I smiled and waved in appreciation to Bud.

As I went to open my car door, it opened up about an inch and a half. That was it. The door wouldn't open any more than that because with Bud's help, I parked the car about two inches away from a tree. I must have had quite a look of amazement on my face because Bud and a few other dancers were just about doubled over with laughter.

There were no hard feelings. Peg and Bud Barnes were long-time members of the Catskill Mountain Squares. I recall watching Peg and Bud do a number of very difficult round dance demonstrations. They danced so gracefully. Peg also enjoyed quilting, and Bud enjoyed driving his classic car around town. They both were members of a local bagpipe group that performed all around the Catskill Mountain region of New York state.