You can take the girl out of Cooperstown, but you can’t take the Cooperstown out of the girl.

Until last week, I never knew people could watch games from Cooperstown Dreams Park on the Internet. I learned this while sitting in the Albany International Airport for several hours the night of June 28.

While waiting for a perpetually delayed flight, I sat in an airport bar reading a book for a graduate-school class and eating dinner. I really didn’t pay attention to the man who pulled up a stool next to me until he turned on his computer and went to the Dreams Park website.

"I left the game early to sit at an airport," the man said as he explained that one of his sons had been at Dreams Park for the previous week.

The family was from North Carolina, and as the man waited for his delayed flight back home, he was watching the activities in Cooperstown.

Technology really is amazing. As this man watched the event on his laptop, he talked with his wife, who was still in Cooperstown. She was able to describe what was happening on the field as he watched. It was pretty neat _ and was almost enough to completely distract me from my environmental-health textbook.

And then the call dropped. The father explained this had happened before. Thinking of no better explanation, I apologized for the spotty coverage in the area.

Well, we can’t have everything.

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I think my mother would like me to learn how to knit.

In theory, knitting sounds like a great idea. I could make my own blankets and gloves and could make gifts for my two godsons. I know, though, that I’m not going to become a knitter any time soon.

For those who do knit, however, local businesswoman Nancy Nash has started a project that lets knitters and sewers help children in need in the community.

Nash, the owner of Knitting It All Together, is the local coordinator for Project Linus, which gives blankets to children who are seriously ill or going through some sort of trauma.

"People knit blankets that are going to hospitals and places like that," Nash said recently.

The blankets go to children 18 years old and younger.

Blankets should be machine-washable. There are guidelines for the blankets at www.projectlinus.org.

People can take the blankets to Nash at 175 Main St. in Oneonta. She said she will give a gift certificate to everyone who brings in a blanket.

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Parents, your children do appreciate everything you do for them.

I’ve had the opportunity over the past few weeks to attend two graduations and an Eagle Scout ceremony. At each of these events, students who addressed their class or an audience mentioned the influence their parents have had during their high school career.

Sarah Evelyn, the salutatorian of the class of 2007 at Oneonta High School, told graduates and their families how she lived with another family in Oneonta after her parents moved to Ithaca last year. Evelyn said she packed her own lunch and spent time waiting for repairs at a local car dealership. Students don’t realize how much their parents help, Evelyn said in her address.

"Parents do a lot to help us through all the day-to-day challenges," she said.

Zak West, who received Eagle Scout rank at a ceremony at the Aldrich Baptist Church in North Franklin, said his parents shuttled him around to things, but their help didn’t stop there.

"It’s a lot more than that," West said during the ceremony. "I couldn’t do half the stuff I did without you."

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Staff Writer Amy L. Ashbridge covers health and business.