PLATTSBURGH — "A Rocky Mountain Grizzly" 1,000-piece puzzle by Hautman Brothers was a couple of hundred pieces shy of completion on an unoccupied table at the Senior Center in Plattsburgh.
This torrid Thursday, seniors gathered for an open house sponsored by the Senior Citizens Council. Roswell LaPierre and Earl Macey racked up Brooklyns and spares as they Wii bowled.
"I like it," said Macey of Beekmantown. "It's something to do. It's fun."
"It's something old men can do," said LaPierre of Wallace Hill.
"Instead of sitting around at home, we come down here and Wii bowl," Macey said. "I never bowled before this."
A retired truck driver, Macey drove tractor-trailers before he hauled fuel oil.
"I worked for the Town of Beekmantown my last 18 years," he said.
LaPierre is a former employee of the Diamond Paper Mill in Plattsburgh. He and Macey met at the center.
"We come down three or four times a week," LaPierre said. "We usually start off playing pool."
George Douglass sauntered over to watch. Holding a penny-filled sandwich bag, he was in search of his fellow stud-poker players.
"Maybe it's too hot," said Douglass of Plattsburgh. A retired corrections officer, he said his luck has been back and forth this summer.
"We don't take it too seriously," he said. "We do a lot of kibitzing."
The center sent announcements out into the community about the event.
"It's open to everyone," said Jennifer Pavone, the center's program coordinator. "Someone may be new to the community and have a parent who is older. We want to let them know we're here. Many people don't know about the activities and services we provide here in Clinton County."
On Sept. 10, the council sponsors a trip to Upper Canada Village, where seniors can explore 40 heritage buildings and encounter 19th-century period-dressed interpreters, ride on a horse-drawn tow scow (a flat-hulled barge) and lunch on homemade soup and desserts at the village's Harvest Barn.
Artist Bryan Briscoe teaches two watercolor classes, "Beginning Watercolor Painting Techniques" from Sept. 17 to Nov. 5 and "Intermediate Watercolor Studio" from Sept. 20 to Nov. 8.
On Sept. 30, the center sponsors a visit to the Babbie Rural & Farm Learning Museum. Weekly activities include mah jongg, advanced French class, tai chi, poker, pinochle and an osteoporosis class. Monthly activities include an eight-hour AARP Defensive Driving course for people 50 and older and the Senior Citizens Computer Club, which meets the first Monday each month. The RSVP Band performs the last Tuesday of each month.
Dot Perry and a trio of sisters, Dot Giroux, Lillian Cayea and Edna McCabe, watched while this day's entertainment, the Castaways, sound-checked their equipment. The four met to play pinochle.
"We just lucked out it was open house," said Perry, who retired from the Marriott Corporation at Plattsburgh State. "We love the Castaways."
Giroux also retired from food services at the college.
"We decorate the tables," she said.
She and her sisters grew up in Altona in a brood of six. Their parents were farmers.
Cayea formerly worked at Northern Adirondack Central School, and McCabe retired from IBM in Burlington.
"Everyone is so friendly, and you meet a lot of people here," Giroux said.
E-mail Robin Caudell at: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com
