Greetings to the faithful readers of the Kenoza Lake News. What a tremendous thunder and lightning storm that we had earlier today! Lasting for several hours.

The peepers are done peeping for the year. Turtles are still attempting to walk across our roads. Yesterday afternoon I escorted a box turtle across Pucky Huddle Road. Soon we will see lightning bugs. I need to go to the Matt Burns farm today and buy some fresh strawberries as it is strawberry season. The Tuesday night full moon was the Strawberry moon. Mary Heinle called me after my recent Kenoza Lake news column and told me that I should put out some grape jelly and maybe I would get some rose-breasted grosbeaks back. Alas, I did that and voila! I now have a pair of Rose-breasted gros­beaks feeding at my feeders. This year there is a lot of bear activity on Pucky Huddle Road. Mother bears with triplets and twins as well as solo bears.

On July 2nd, there will be a chicken barbeque at the Reformed Pres­byterian Chur­ch in White Lake from 4:00 pm until 6:30 p.m. Call 845-583-7082 for advance tickets. Save the date, Kenoza Lake Firemen’s annual chicken barbeque will be held on July 23rd.

Pastor Bridgette LeConey will be in the Kenoza Lake United Methodist Church pulpit on Sunday, June 19th. This will be her last Sunday at the Kenoza Lake United Methodist Church in her role as our head pastor. A fellowship will follow at the Kenoza Lake Firehouse. Bud LeConey will continue to be Kenoza Lake’s primary pastor and on July 1st, Jocelyn Jordan will be assuming Pastor Bridgette’s responsibilities.

I know that it is a challenge to follow everything that is going on with elections this year, however, the bottom line is that there will be a gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, June 28th. You must be a registered member of either the Democrat or Republican party to vote. I don’t believe that there is a primary for registered conservatives. I don’t know about any other parties. However, if you are “registered” as a “blank”, I do not believe that you can vote. Early voting starts on Saturday, June 18th at the Sullivan County Board of Elections in Monticello. I watched the Republican primary the other night. There were some fireworks, for sure. The next Republican primary will be on June 21 at 8:00 pm in Rochester. I don’t know yet how one can watch that primary.

My favorite flower is the peony and what is currently in bloom? Peonies! When I got married 15 years ago today, June 16th, the Kenoza Lake United Methodist Church and the Villa Roma was adorned by peonies.

Faithful readers of this column know that I am a Mets fan and my husband Ray, a Yankees fan. The Mets lead over the hot Atlanta Braves is only 4. Yikes! Let’s hope their two big pitchers return soon. I can’t believe how well the Yankees are doing. Maddening to Mets fans.