Vine Valley Revisited

04/08/2022

Greetings all. I keep forgetting to write something in response to all the notifications on this page. It is probably time to send you to the REAL Vine Valley Store page. I know there was confusion last year about how to contact the Vine Valley Store as I am not the owner any longer. If you are looking for the store, the page is simply Vine Valley Store, not this
“ Revisited Page”. I did not want to lose the record of my three years at the store, so I renamed my page and changed the photo. I hope all of you folks out there had a peaceful winter, even if it was frigid. I am looking forward to my return to beautiful Upstate New York, but I will be missing an important part of Vine Valley as Leigh Williams will not be there to greet me. He was such a help with the store and was always good company. I miss his presence. If anyone is looking to live in Indian Village, I have just the place for you. Take care and visit the Vine Valley Store whenever you are able. Blessings to all. Beth Armitage Muller

06/10/2021

Greetings Vine Valley. There is still some confusion about how to get information about the store. This is NOT the page for the store any longer and it seems that I may have to delete this entirely. If you want the store to see hours, products, etc. go to

VINE VALLEY STORE ( do not use “General”).
I have deleted the phone number associated with this page and hope it helps you get in touch with the store.

Right now, I think this entire page may have disappear. I suppose there is not a purpose for it any longer. Will see if I have managed to point people in the right direction in order to make all of you happy. I have missed many people already and know some of you are eager to know if we are going or staying in Indian Village. It has yet to be decided. Thank you.

05/07/2021

Greetings from the sunny south-still. This time last year I would have been packing to return to the store in Vine Valley. Today, I am just enjoying time with my girls and my sister-in-law, who was finally able to take a few days off since Covid hit last January. I trust, hope, you have found the new store page, which is just Vine Valley Store, without the “general”. They have many items for sale that you did not see last year such as more tshirts, Heart of the Finger Lakes glasses, pizza, hot dogs, bread and bagels from a local source and donuts sometimes. I do not think the deli is open yet, but it will be Memorial Day weekend. Fred and I have offered services to help them get the subs going. I believe they are also having a chicken barbecue on Memorial Day. So many good things happening at the store that, I confess, I did not have the energy to accomplish. The salads and baked goods were all I could keep on my plate. (Speaking of salads, I told a few people I would be willing to make some potato/tuna Mac salads for an event they may have during the summer, but I do not believe I will be supplying the store with salad this summer, although asked. )
I know you are as happy to have the store open as I am and I know you will support them to the best of your ability. Last summer was a hard one for all, so spread this wings this year and Eat! Drink! Swim! Hug!
We will be around. Thank you.

04/05/2021

Greetings Vine Valley. I have had Facebook gurus here trying to help copy and paste the Fox’s Vine Valley mine so you can find one another. No luck. In any case, here is her address. Hoping you link so you know what is happening at the store. I may just have to cut you loose and close this account. new address:
https://www.facebook.com/Vine-Valley-store-1040369817878401

Good luck. Will check back later to see if successful. Beth

Vine is an entertainment community where things happen fast. Sign up for at videobeta.vine.co

03/25/2021

Greetings Vine Valley. I have been trying to pass this website over to the new owners, unsuccessfully as it turns out. My brother-in-law set up this account as the manager with me as a co-manager. For some reason, he has been dropped as the manager and I have been unable to add the new owner as a manager. I will continue to try, but probably need someone more electronically knowledgeable than I to fix the situation. In any case, the update about opening as I know it follows.
Tonya Fox, the new owner, plans to open weekends in April and May, with the full opening by Memorial Day. I believe she is trying to get her feet wet prior to Memorial Day and also needs to be open for a few days before she can acquire the liquor license. I am not quite sure what she plans to have available, but know she has contacted the deli salesman, has a handle on Cuba Cheese, Coke/Pepsi maybe, and other vendors. I think the deli will not be fully open until Memorial Day weekend, but other staples in the store will probably be available. When I know more, I will let you know. I probably will not have this page situated until after I get to NY in late May. Bear with me, please. My niece, Mackenzie, the potter of the mugs we sold last year, is a Facebook wizard. I hope she can help her poor aunt. Actually, my 6 year old granddaughter frequently chastises me. “Mimi, why did you leave all these Apps open on your iPad?!” I am sure I am quite a trial to her!
We have fared well this winter. So far, no visits to the emergency room for Fred, which has been a yearly occurrence for the past several years. I probably should not tempt fate by mentioning this. We are all vaccinated and hope all of you have managed to secure at least your first shot. I know that we feel much less vulnerable now than in January prior to vaccination. In any case, I need to sign off as I am running on low power. My NY children coming to visit next week so we will all be together again. I am a blessed woman. Take care. I shall be back soon.

02/17/2021

Good morning Vine Valley. I will probably have to sign off from this page at some point and let the new leasers make their own footprint, but not quite yet. Just in case you want to know, the Fox family have finally been able to satisfy the town and have moved on to file for a liquor license. Nothing can be finalized in the liquor area until the store is open for the season because the liquor authority requires interior pictures of the merchandise for sale to assure them that you have goods to sell in addition to alcoholic beverages. I can’t recall the percentage, but I believe 75% of your floor space must be grocery products with the rest alcoholic beverages. There is your “learn something new every day” tidbit. Moving on.
The reason you have been on my mind has to do with potato salad. Yes, the first batch has been made and consumed. As usual, it is all about the potatoes. To you snow birds or to anyone who is able to escape the polar regions of New York, if you have not discovered Detwilers farm market in and around Sarasota/Venice region, look them up the next time you are here. They are a family owned business, Amish, so not open Sundays, and they have outstanding fruit/veggies/ fresh fish. Anyway, the last time I was in there they had the most beautiful Yukon Gold potatoes I have ever seen. Oh, here is tidbit number two: use the Yukon’s for potato salad. None better. Consequently, I made potato salad, my first batch since September when the store closed. Tidbit three, as some have asked for my “secret” recipe. No secret- potatoes, eggs (maybe 6 for small batch), onion, celery, mayo, miracle whip ( just a blob), grain mustard (another blob), onion powder, salt, pepper. No, I do not measure as I am, as Alan Williams said, just a “throw it in kind of a girl”. As I told some people who asked, I will be happy to make you a batch of salad if you need for some occasion in the summer. Or once a week? Or maybe you will be happy with what the store will sell when it opens. I am quite thankful that all will be well at the Robeson general store.
We still have our place in Indian Village, but we are not sure if we will keep or sell. Even if we do sell, I am never far away.
Speaking of thankful-both vaccines have been administered and tolerated. Because it is Florida, there are few mandated restrictions so, up to this point, we have been fairly secluded except for daughter and family. Now we can just cut loose if we choose. I see a West Coast Auction Company auction in our near future. Take care. Try to get warm. Blessings to all.

12/24/2020

Holiday Greetings Vine Valley. I promised myself that I would send a Christmas message and would have forgotten to do so were it not for the Cuba Cheese. I was prepping the breakfast casserole for tomorrow by pre-cooking the sausage and onion and shredding the cheese. Bam! Yes , exsharp Cuba Cheese is the only cheese suitable for a casserole, mac and cheese, etc because it can hold its own with the other ingredients. There you have my culinary tidbit for the end of the year, 2020! I do not want to wish my life away, but this year has been long and full of suffering and I am ready to be done with It!
Last year on Christmas Eve, I was sitting in the Methodist Church in Vine Valley with my Florida daughter and granddaughter. No visitors this year from Florida. No visits from my older daughter and family either as she was quarantined last Friday. She has had 2 negative Covid tests, but is still isolated from family, especially us old ones. She works as a social worker in a maximum security prison, assigned to su***de watch recently. Consequently, I had to voice my concerns when some folks were appalled by the prospect of putting prisoners on the list for Covid vaccines. Even if your unchristian self thinks prisoners should all rot and die, they are a confined population who require many people to treat them in some fashion. These workers are essential and are exposed throughout everyday all day . Have a little mercy.
So, these are my thoughts tonight. I was going to tell you a story about ice skating on West River, on Clare and Alvy Slacks pond after mass on Sundays, about snowstorms on Christmas and putting riding toys together for the younger ones after midnight mass on Christmas eve-sometimes until 3am, about my brother wearing my moms skates after stuffing the toes with socks so they would fit him, about traveling through fields behind Charland's house in search of monstrous snow drifts- but I think this is long enough. I ill save the stories for another day.
I have not left you, but I have been working on my wellbeing. Merry Christmas to all. May peace fill your heart. Bless you and yours.

09/23/2020

I know I just wrote my swan song, but I have a couple of things on my mind. I try to do the right thing, guided by my parents’s teachings. Anyway, it has been brought to my attention, by more than one person, that I was crabby all summer, and even part of last summer. I can’t deal with last summer, but I do wish to offer my apologies to all those who received less than my best. Apology #1- to all those I said, “ shut the door, please” followed by a “thank you”, I hope. If I was harsh, i am sorry. It was a hot summer and the AC was working at top cool. Some days the front of the store was over 88 degrees and I had to escape to the walk-in cooler for relief. I am not excusing myself, just explaining. Also, the flies!
Apology #2- if I sounded like a shrew when I stated you needed to wear a mask, I am sorry number 2. I have doctor daughter, scientists for siblings, son, nieces working on the Covid vaccine, etc. I am old and nervous. I did not mean to offend. (I do not apologize, however to the young man who said “I do not wear masks” and I refused service. I am sorry he was offended, but by Labor Day I had had his attitude and his unmasked face up to my eyeballs.)
Apology #3- if I did not appear eager to make your sandwich, I am sorry. I have no excuse. I should have kicked myself in the butt! I do have a “however” though. The lady who lectured me on my “poor customer service”, took her sub and ate it because she was “starving”, but then returned and demanded her money back because I did not make the kind of sub she ordered, gets no apology.
I know many days I was in the “survival mode”. I apologize if I did not have time to talk. I did have time to be nice, so if I have offended you, I apologize. It was not my intent. One of my mother’s favorite sayings was , “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions”. Sigh! Sorry Mom.
I don’t want my failings to generate ill will toward the new operators of the store. They will need all the good will you have in you, which I know is abundant.
So, I have confessed my sins and beg for forgiveness. Please.
I still need to pack myself and pack my car. Time for some R & R. Take care. I‘ll be baaaaaack!

09/21/2020

Good Monday, Vine Valley. Well, that’s a wrap. I have not been in New York at this time in September since I retired from teaching here and went to teaching in Florida. That was 2008. I am usually in Florida by this time, but we are still removing personal items from the store. What I am going to do with my aunt’s dry sink, the church pew, and the spinning wheel is anybody’s guess. I saw many of you in the past couple of weeks and appreciated your thanks and good wishes. The final days were a bit of a let down as the weather was not too cooperative and families were preparing for this years configuration of school.
I hope the Town Board of Middlesex approves the lease proposal from the Fox family soon so they may get things settled and can begin to plan for next summer. They are enthusiastic about this opportunity and have way more energy then I at this point. I believe you will welcome them and support them as you have done us. Right now, I am not sure what I feel. As we are still moving things, I am exhausted. And I am happy that I am not cooking and baking before and after work. I am cold and ready to get some time sitting and reading by the pool. I need to sew even though I know of only one show I am signed up for that has not been cancelled. I will miss waking up in Vine Valley and driving the roads of my youth. I remember talking to my former neighbor, Dave Charland, about opening the store before I took the plunge. I am still not sure why I had to reopen the store, but I am glad we did. The building was built to be used: to be filled with children buying candy, with people looking for a forgotten item needed at the lake cottage, with Cuba Cheese, and with talk. I have seen people from my childhood, some of them recognizable, some not (apologies). I have been blessed with new friends as well. I am a thankful woman.
And just because I am who I am, you can check out now because I am going to get literary. When Thoreau went to Walden Pond, he had a purpose, a reason. It was not solely the beauty of his surroundings that taught him, but also his time spent in reflecting on his life and purpose. I feel a bit like Thoreau at this point in my chain of being. My return to the countryside of my youth was an essential step in my life’s journey. I am glad to have done it, but, like Thoreau, it is time to begin moving once more. We still have the place in Indian Village, at least until Spring. Then we will see.
Take care. Stay well and safe. God bless. See you in the Spring.

09/04/2020

Salad. That is what is on my mind. And 🐶 s.

It is the weekend for my Salad Extravaganza!
Cowboy Caviar (aka, Corn) ( for #1 granddaughter)
Fruit
Pasta
Broccoli Slaw
Plus the usual- Macaroni, Tuna Macaroni, Potato
Baked Beans tomorrow with the 🐕

Tuesday I will be sitting, hopefully not canning tomatoes.
Which reminds me-Should you wish to can tomatoes, I have a deal for you. 25 pounds of “canners” for $8. Wahoo. Please do not resist, because if you do, I will be up to my armpits in tomatoes on Tuesday. Help!

09/03/2020

Greetings on what should be a produce post Thursday. Alas, no new produce. No melons, no cukes, no corn, no spaghetti squash, no bananas either, not lettuce, nor onions. We do have, however, plenty of tomatoes for $2 basket and a few peppers at 4/$1. Unbeatable, I would say.
On a begging note, last year I begged you to come buy beets or else I would have to bake Beet Muffins. I actually had someone waiting, in anticipation, for my first batch (Mr. Bubday)! Now I am just straight out begging everyone to come buy just 4 gourds each. They are amazing to see. I know you cannot bake them, boil them, chop them, or dice them. You cannot even freeze them or eat them or can them, but they are unique and great for fall decor. Actually, Camden and I thought to hollow some out to use for water vessels. I, personally, have one behind the counter that resembles a cudgel, which I just may use on the next man who gives me a hard time about wearing a mask. ( yes, it has been only males who have been snarky about the mask requirement).
I almost forgot, rather than produce Thursday, it is salad Thursday. I have not made a corn salad all year, but it is here, almost. It is called Cowboy Caviar and is my number one granddaughter’s favorite. It will be ready tomorrow. I have also made a fruit salad, which has been a requested item that I partially ignored as it is so time consuming. Pasta salad ready tomorrow as well. Plus, if I do not mind saying so, I make a really good pot of beans to accompany my Dogs on the Beach. After all this chopping, baking and mixing, I am going to lay down my spoon for a good length of time.
My Middlesex History Group came for lunch yesterday for what was their “last luncheon” with me at the Vine Valley Store. As they were partially the reason I began this journey initially, I owe these wonderful people a debt. I am thankful to know them and will continue meeting with them on Wednesdays, and, perhaps, even become a functioning member! Although we will be closed the week after Labor Day, we will reopen Sept. 12 and 13th for some final sales. After that, we will be done. Thank you for supporting us so well. Now just be as supportive to our succcessors, please. 🙏😍🐶