We here at Kendal often have the same taste in literature, music, art, even politics. But in flannel? Seems Debbie Bell and Bob Root flock together—at good ol’ LL Bean, no less.
Photo by Cathie Campbell
Photo by Carolyn Reiss
Photos by Carolyn Reiss
Photo by Carolyn Reiss
Yakov Smirnoff is a Jewish Ukrainian-American comedian, actor, and writer. He was born in 1951 in Odesa, Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. He was an art teacher in Odesa, as well as a comedian. As a comedian, he entertained occasionally on ships in the Black Sea, where he came into contact with Americans who described life in the US to him. That was when he first considered leaving the country.
After two years of attempting to leave, he came to the US with his parents in 1977, arriving in New York City. His family was allowed to come to America because of "an agreement between the USSR and America to exchange wheat for Soviet citizens who wished to defect."
In 1985, on the Johnny Carson Show, he finished his act with the following reminder of how lucky we are to live in the USA.
This following column by Art Buchwald, originally written in 1952, was published every year at Thanksgiving by the Herald Tribune until the paper’s demise. Simone sent it along to continue the tradition:
Le Jour de Merci Donnant
One of our most important holidays is Thanksgiving Day, known in France as Le jour de Merci Donnant.
Le jour de Merci Donnant was first started by a group of Pilgrims (Pelerins) who fled from l’Angleterre before the McCarran Act to found a colony in the New World (le Nouveau Monde) where they could shoot Indians (les Peaux-Rouges) and eat turkey (dinde) to their hearts’ content.
They landed at a place called Plymouth (now a famous voiture Americaine) in a wooden sailing ship called the Mayflower (or Fleur de Mai) in 1620. But while the Pelerins were killing the dindes, the Peaux-Rouges were killing the Pelerins, and there were several hard winters ahead for both of them. The only way the Peaux-Rouges helped the Pelerins was when they taught them to grow corn (maïs ). The reason they did this was because they liked corn with their Pelerins.
In 1623, after another harsh year, the Pelerins’ crop were so good that they decided to have a celebration and give thanks because more mais was raised by the Pelerins than Pelerins were killed by the Peaux-Rouges.
Every year on the Jour du Merci Donnant, parents tell their children an amusing story about the first celebration.
It concerns a brave capitaine named Miles Standish (known in France as Kilometres Deboutish) and a young, shy lieutenant names Jean Alden. Both of them were in love with a flower of Plymouth called Priscilla Mullens (no translation). The vieux capitaine said to the jeune lieutenant: “Go to the damsel Priscilla (allez tres vite chez Priscilla), the loveliest maiden of Plymouth (la plus belle demoiselle de Plymouth). Say that a blunt old captain, a man not of words but of action (un vieux Fanfan la Tulipe) offers his hand and his heart, the hand and the heart of a soldier. Not in these words, you know, but this, in short, is my meaning. “I am a maker of war (je suis un fabricant de la guerre) and not a maker of phrases. You, bred as a scholar (vous, qui etes pain comme un etudiant), can say it in elegant language, such as you read in your books of the pleadings and wooings of lovers, such as you think best adapted to win the heart of the maiden.”
Although Jean was fit to be tied (convenable a etre emballe), friendship prevailed over love and he went to his duty. But instead of using elegant language, he blurted out his mission. Priscilla was muted with amazement and sorrow (rendue muette par l’etonnement et la tristesse).
At length she exclaimed, interrupting the ominous silence: “If the great captain of Plymouth is so very eager to wed me, why does he not come himself and take the trouble to woo me?” (Ou-est-il, le vieux Kilometres? Pouquoi ne vient-il pas aupres de moi pour tenter sa chance?”
Jean said that Kilometres Deboutish was very busy and didn’t have time for those things. He staggered on, telling what a wonderful husband Kilometres would make. Finally Priscilla arched her eyebrows and said in a tremulous voice: “Why don’t you speak for yourself, Jean?” (Chacun a son gout.)
And so, on the fourth Thursday in November, American families sit down at a large table brimming with tasty dishes and, for the only time during the year, eat better than the French do.
No one can deny that le Jour de Merci Donnant is a grande fete and no matter how well-fed American families are, they never forget to give thanks to Kilometres Deboutish, who made this great day possible.
Enjoy! (Prenez plaisir a lire)!
(And, thanks, Simone!)
In 2000, musician Dave Soldier and conservationist Richard Lair co-founded the Thai Elephant Orchestra, a group of elephants who live—and make music—at a conservation center near the city of Lampang in northern Thailand. Back in 1957, scientist Bernhard Rensch posited that elephants could remember melodies and distinguish between basic scales. This inherent musical ability inspired Soldier (who also goes by David Sulzer in his professional life as a neurobiologist) to give elephants a chance to perform music of their own. He developed the concept with Lair, who believed it would be a great way to raise necessary funds and interest for elephant conservation.
The Thai Elephant Orchestra released their eponymous debut album in 2001, featuring six young elephants performing improvisational music. The band went on to release two more albums: 2004’s Elephonic Rhapsodies, and 2011’s Water Music. The tunes usually revolve around local Thai music traditions and incorporate giant, steel-enforced drums specially built for the elephants to whack. Some elephants can even play the harmonica by blowing air through their trunks. According to Soldier’s website, the orchestra features as many as 16 elephants at any time, and a group of four elephants performs for several minutes each day for guests at the conservation center.
These elephants are so musically gifted that, in 2012, a human orchestra performed an arrangement of their original compositions for a live audience in New York City. After the performance, when asked to guess the composer, audience members speculated that the music had been written by such great talents as John Cage or Antonín Dvorák. To the delight of everyone, the geniuses behind the music were later revealed to be a group of elephants.
Source: Interestingfacts.com
Contributed by Jane Hart
For a good chunk of the 20th century, Chef Ettore Boiardi was one of the most famous chefs in the world. His eponymous products are still sold around the world today, but Boiardi (aka Boyardee, which he thought would be easier for Americans to pronounce) made his start in New York City. The Plaza Hotel is where he received much of his training as he worked his way up to head chef.
Tom and John Kiradjieff were Macedonian immigrants who started out selling hot dogs in New York City. They would top them with a Tex-Mex chili before shifting into a version that reflected Greek/Macedonian influences. They moved to Cincinnati and the rest is midwestern culinary history. But it began in NYC.
A Hungarian immigrant with the unlikely name of Max Kiss founded Ex-Lax in 1906. The brand proved popular (he’d had the genius idea to flavor it with chocolate, which found a much more receptive public than castor oil). Kiss built a factory on Atlantic Avenue which is a landmark today, although it no long manufactures laxatives. It’s co-op apartments, and no longer houses grumpy test-animal monkeys on its roof.
Source: “Made In NYC,” by Ethan Wolff, March 2024, City Guide New York
Contributed by Bobbie Roggemann
Don’t pull dad’s finger when he tells you to. Emily, 10
When your mom is mad at your dad, don’t let her brush your hair. Taylia, 11
Never allow your three-year-old brother in the same room as your school assignment. Traci, 14
Don’t sneeze in front of mom when you’re eating crackers. Mitchell, 12
Puppies still have bad breath even after eating a tic tac. Andrew, 9
Never hold a dust buster and a cat at the same time. Kyoyo, 9
You can’t hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk. Armit, 9
Contributed by Bob Abramovitz
Art and photos by Sheila Benedis
Reg tried to keep Florrie in his rearview mirror
Marvel always had to be top dog
The new puppy chow was giving Alvin weird dreams
It was little Giblet’s first ride in a decommissioned gravy boat
Afraid of flying, the Chinch sisters practiced with an old airline seat and a therapy kangaroo
Art and photos by Jane Hart
The annual Pocantico Hills Marathon: a challenging and beautiful course begins and ends at the Rockwood Hall portion of the park overlooking the Hudson River and the Palisades. Both the half marathon and marathon are single loop courses almost entirely on wide-groomed carriage roads. The course climbs a lot, rocking and rolling past fields, stone walls and bridges, grazing livestock, rivers, forests and lakes. There’s an 9 hour time limit for the marathon, which capped at 500 runners this year. Walkers are also invited, starting an hour before the runners. Proceeds this year will support land conservation in the Hudson Valley.
Here they come . . .
. . . and there they go!
Photos by Carolyn Reiss
Photo by Greg Lozier
Photo by Cathie Campbell
He arranges a walk in the park. They stroll hand-in-hand. She wonders, “Will he ever ask?” He worries, “Will she say Yes?” He drops to one knee. “I love you. Wil you marry me?” Through tears of joy, she gushes, “Oh, yes! Yes!!” Not so much anymore, it seems. Marianne Bloomfeld came across the process of staging “the moment.” She’s all dolled up with shoes that do not speak to a walk in the park, knowing full well what’s afoot. The neon sign may just have given it away. How much did they practice beforehand? The rose petals are artistically spread. The sky dims to sunset. As choreographed, he drops to one knee. And—FLASH!—the moment is preserved for coming generations. Just as if it had just happened at the spur of the moment. Uh huh . . .
Photo by Marianne Bloomfeld
Photo by Bob Abramovitz
Friday night we witnessed the last supermoon of the year. Jeff O’Donnell was there to watch its rise:
6:54 pm
7:18 pm
A supermoon—aka a Beaver moon—is a full moon or a new moon that nearly coincides with perigee—the closest that the Moon comes to the Earth in its orbit—resulting in a slightly larger-than-usual apparent size of the lunar disk as viewed from Earth. The technical name is a perigee syzygy or a full Moon around perigee. Jeff O’Donnell captured in the morning sky: 6:45 and 7:18.
Source: Wikipedia
Contributed by Jeff O’Donnell
The Oxford English Dictionary, also simply known as the OED, is a massive reference book containing not just words—including obsolete ones—and their definitions, but also detailed information on the words’ history and usage.
The project was born in 1857, when the Philological Society of London, a group dedicated to the history of literature and words, established a committee to collect words that didn’t appear in existing dictionaries at the time. Their goal was to document the English language going back to Anglo-Saxon times, which ended around 1000 CE—so quite a lot of territory to cover.
Work started in earnest in 1879, after Oxford University Press signed on to finance and publish the dictionary, at the time called the New English Dictionary (NED). The staff buckled down and got to work reading and researching; editor James Murray estimated the dictionary would take about 10 years to compile.
In 1884, after working on the dictionary for 5 years, the first fascicle (meaning a part of a book) came out. It only covered the words “a” through “ant.” The project was clearly more ambitious than the Philological Society had originally imagined. Murray started working on the dictionary full time, and over the next several years he was joined by another editor and two co-editors, as well as a large group of amateur word-hunters.
The last fascicle was published on April 19, 1928, nearly 50 years after work began. The original plan was for the dictionary to contain 6,400 pages over four volumes; ultimately, the first edition of the NED contained 12 volumes with 15,487 pages, covering a whopping 414,825 words. Today, the OED continues to document the growing English language, and includes more than 600,000 entries, with new words and meanings added regularly.
Source: historyfacts.com
Contributed by Jane Hart
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection has issued a drought watch for its water customers, which includes the Tarrytown Water System. A drought watch is the first of three tiers of warnings. In addition to the scant rainfall over the past month, the DEP is repairing an important aqueduct.
Please do what you can to conserve water.
Turn off the faucet while shaving, washing up, brushing teeth, and washing dishes.
The average person uses 10.9 gallons of water from the faucet a day.
Fix dripping and leaking faucets and toilets.
A faucet leaking 30 drops per minute wastes 54 gallons a month. See the USGS Drip Calculator.
Don't run the tap to make water cold or hot.
Instead, keep a pitcher of water in the refrigerator.
Put a plastic jug filled with water in the tank of conventional toilets.
You'll save that much volume in water each time you flush.
Throw used facial tissues into the waste basket instead of using the toilet as a waste basket.
You'll save up to 6 gallons of water each time you don't flush.
Wash only full loads of dishes and laundry. The average dishwasher uses
8-12 gallons whether or not it's a full load.
Install water-saving plumbing fixtures. A low-flow shower head saves up to 7.5 gallons a minute.
Take shorter showers or fill the bathtub only part way.
The average person uses 15 gallons a day in bathing and hygiene.
You can find more helpful tips on the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation website.
By Hennem08 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
Although associated with the South, the standard recipe for this classic dessert actually originates with the Waldorf-Astoria. Red velvet cake was a staple at the hotel in the 1920s (that’s their version of it pictured above).
64 million Tootsie Rolls are made every day. Legend has it that each daily batch picks up from the leftovers of the day before, meaning there’s a trace of the 1907 original in every Tootsie Roll sold today. Like so many New York stories, it began with an immigrant in Brooklyn. Leo Hirschfield came up with the concept, borrowing his daughter Clara’s nickname for its branding. Over a century later, it’s still one of the world’s most popular candies.
The Avengers have a place of origin, and it’s New York City. Moe Goodman was born immigrant parents in Brooklyn and went on to found Timely Comics in 1939. From offices in the McGraw-Hill building, and later the Empire State Building, a franchise empire was born. In October 1939, Marvel Comics #1 was published. MCU. movies have gone on to gross more than $29 billion, “making the franchise the most successful in entertainment history,” per a recent New Yorker profile.
Source: “Made In NYC,” by Ethan Wolff, March 2024, City Guide New York
Contributed by Bobbie Roggemann
Never trust a dog to watch your food. Patrick, age 10
When your dad is mad and asks you, “Do I look stupid?” don’t answer him. Michael, 14
Never tell your mom her diet’s not working. Michael, 14
Stay away from prunes. Randy, 9
Never pee on an electric fence. Robert, 13
Don’t squat with your spurs on. Noronha, 13
Contributed by Mimi Abromovitz
Contributed by Barbara Bruno
Daniel’s underwater hair salon served a niche market
Pendleton felt safer with the full moon watching over him
Florrie’s files were almost all miscellaneous
Roy had planned to get a canary or a parakeet, but Hazel’s blue eyes won his heart
It was hard to recognize Rubber Ducky after his beak surgery
Art and photos by Jane Hart
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Photographs of life at Kendal on Hudson are by residents.