Summertime, Summertime, Sum, Sum, Summertime . . .

As soon as the thermometer hits 80, we start humming, then singing, “Summertime.” No, no, not the glorious song from Porgy and Bess, but the teen hit of 1958. Who, once they’ve heard it, could ever forget the “It’s summertime, summertime, sum, sum, summertime” beginning? And so we include it below

CLICK HERE for Summertime, Summertime

Meanwhile, a bit of information about the song and its songsters . . .

The Jamies

"Summertime, Summertime," the group's 1958 single for Epic Records, reached #26 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Both "Summertime" and its b-side, "Searching for You," are often described as doo-wop because of their time period and their a cappella harmonies. However, both songs may also be described as pop versions of Sacred Harp styles, as the group started as church singers, or possibly as an early example of baroque pop.

Several singles followed "Summertime, Summertime" (many written by Tom Jameson), but none of these were hits. In 1962, "Summertime, Summertime" was re-released and became a hit again, this time peaking at No. 38.

The song's fame far eclipsed the band's; The Fortunes, the Doodletown Pipers, Hobby Horse, Jan and Dean, and Sha Na Na all covered the tune, and it was used in commercials for Buick, Ken-L Ration Burger Time Dog Food, Applebee's and McDonald's. It was also featured in the 1978 film Fingers.

Members:

Thomas Earl "Tom" Jameson (1937-2009)

Serena Jameson (Thomas Jameson's sister, who sang alto

Jeannie Roy

Arthur Blair (1937-2020)

Sherman Feller (1918-1994) (Group manager, later became more famous as the public-address announcer for the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.) He did not co-write "Summertime, Summertime,” as is commonly thought, but took co-writing credit, half of the songwriting royalties, and the publishing rights, as was common practice by managers at the time.

Tom Jameson was the sole writer/arranger of "Summertime, Summertime."

Contributed by Peter Sibley

Special Observances, July 24 – 30

JULY 24: TELL AN OLD JOKE DAY

“Knock-knock!”

“Who’s there?”

“Boo”

“Boo who?”

Don’t cry! National Tell an Old Joke Day is here! A day for keeping old jokes alive and kicking. Like every endangered species, old jokes need to be periodically revitalized. Spread cheer, share laughter, and reminisce about those old jokes everyone loves.

Some people say the joke was invented in Greece. Others even believe it originated in mythological legend by a person called Palamedes. Since he was also credited with inventing numbers, the alphabet, lighthouses, dice, and the practice of eating meals at regular intervals, we won’t hesitate to adopt this particular theory as the truth. Facts verify that the Greeks, were, in fact, a humorous lot. In the Athens of Demosthenes, there existed a comedians’ club called the Group of Sixty. They met in the Temple of Heracles and traded wisecracks. Apparently, Alexander the Great’s father, Philip II of Macedon, commissioned a book of their jokes. The very first joke book ever found was also from Greece. Titled “Philogelos,” or “Laughter-Lover,” it contains 264 jokes. The jokes in this book are famously spare and include gems like, “How shall I cut your hair?” a talkative barber asked a wag. “In silence!” the wag answered. The Ancient Romans, too, had their ‘jestbooks.’ The playwright Titus Maccius Plautus often referenced these in his plays, while the Roman historian Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus mentions a professor of the emperor Augustus, who compiled more than 150 jokes anthologies. “Philogelos” was misplaced during the Dark Ages and humor was kept alive only in the Arab world. As they spread around the world, so too did their satirical folktales and humor. As these folktales reached Europe, they split into two: one, the novel; the other, a shorter, more humorous anecdote. The early Renaissance brought the joke back with the help of one man — Poggio Bracciolini. Secretary to eight popes, this Italian humanist was a passionate bibliophile, traveling throughout Europe in search of lost works. This influenced his satirical writing, which was compiled in a book called “Facetiae.” Filled with 273 jests, bons mots, puns, and humorous anecdotes, this book was heavily influenced by another club called the Bugiale, which functioned as a jokes club of sorts. The first English jestbook even had a sample of Poggio’s jokes and, by the time Shakespeare came around, jestbooks were very popular. One more nudge was all the world needed to turn funny tales into a joke. It came when 28 jokes from “Philogelos” were accidentally published in an edition of “Commentary on the Golden Words of Pythagoras.” This mistake meant the ancient jokes soon circulated throughout Europe. Thanks to their popularity, jokes became shorter and punchier. The Georgian era brought gems like “Joe Miller’s Jests” — based on a notoriously gloomy London stage actor. By the 19th century, joke books began to be cleaned up and ribald language was removed. They became fillers in older forms of printed books and provided a source of enjoyment for anyone who read them.

JULY 25: MERRY-GO-ROUND DAY

Merry-Go-Round Day spotlights the fun ride known as a merry-go-round or carousel. A highlight of amusement parks, these circular rides are still widely popular not only across America but the world. The word carousel originated from the Italian Carosella and Spanish Carosella ("little battle"). The modern carousel emerged from early jousting traditions in Europe, introduced at the time of the Crusades from earlier Arab traditions. Knights would gallop in a circle while tossing balls from one to another, an activity requiring great skill and horsemanship.

By the 17th century, the balls had disappeared. Instead, riders had to spear small hanging rings from poles overhead and rip them off. Commoners began to play the game. Carousels soon sprung up at fairgrounds across Europe. At the Place du Carrousel in Paris, an early make-believe carousel was set up with wooden horses for children. By 1803 John Joseph Merlin had a carousel in his Mechanical Museum in London, where gentry and nobility liked to gather on winter evenings. It was connected to a "big musical instrument that played a fully orchestrated concerto." By the early 18th century carousels were being built and operated at various fairs and gatherings in central Europe and England, often powered by animals walking in a circle or people pulling a rope or cranking.

With large-scale immigration to America, the carousel came to the US. Mass production of carousels boomed with the Industrial Revolution, and they quickly spread around the country. Another benefit of this revolution was the extra leisure time people now had, making having fun on a carousel ride possible. Steam-power fully replaced animal power in the 19th century. Merry-go-rounds got bigger and heavier.

By the next century, carousels were being manufactured for amusement parks by many industries. The Great Depression put a lot of them out of business. As World War II came around, all resources were directed for war efforts, pushing the carousel to the wayside. They rebounded again as the economy improved, and units began to be made from synthetic materials.

JULY 26: BAGELFEST DAY

Okay, Bagelfest Day. Now, we usually rely on the good old Internet to describe a “special observance” day. For July 26, we take exception. We were delighted that July 26 is Bagelfest Day, but then learned it began with the folks from Lender’s Bagel. Hold on! No, no, no, no, no. No bagel should be frozen. Ever. Those people who have introduced the mass-produced, frozen, homogenized hideous object bearing the otherwise near-holy thing called a bagel have, yes, expanded the world of bagel-eaters while, at the same time, dealing the world of bagels a dastardly blow. We will include here the basics on Bagelfest Day. However, we also include a serious—and timely (July 11, 2023, no less) article from the “Serious Eats” website entitled “The Good Bagel Manifesto.” ( We encourage you to go above and beyond the usual and read this excellent piece, which celebrates the true bagel, rather than that thing pushed relentlessly and cynically  on the bagel-eating public.) Okay, that’s our rant. (Now click here for the link to the article we suggested).

And on to Bagelfest:

National Bagelfest Day is celebrated on July 26 to recognize the scrumptious bread that is light and tasty. Did you know the bagel is the only bread that is boiled before being baked? Well, it’s facts like these and more that National Bagelfest Day is all about. All you need is an empty stomach, caffeine, and an endless interest in bagels. But first, a bit of history. Bagels are a bread product that originated in the Jewish communities of Poland. The spread of bagels across the world took time. Bagels did not reach England until the 19th century. They were brought to America by Polish Jews who immigrated. It is also important to note that the sizes of bagels have evolved over time and have greatly increased. For instance, an average bagel was three ounces in 1915 but weighed around six ounces by 2003.

JULY 27: BAGPIPE APPRECIATION DAY

Bagpipe Appreciation Day celebrates an ancient musical instrument that dates back thousands of years and has become a part of Scottish tradition. Bagpipes have been used during battles, funerals, parades, weddings, and royal occasions. Although central to Scottish identity — like kilts, haggis, and whiskey — bagpipes did not originate in Scotland. Rather, they have an ancient history tracing back to Mesopotamia, where shepherds were said to play them for leisure. There are speculations the pipes were in ancient Egypt, but no supporting evidence exists. A Hittite wall carving from around 1000 BC displays a bagpipe, suggesting that bagpipes were used in western Asia, too. Since the Hittites traded with Egypt, the instrument could have been passed on to them from the Egyptians. That leaves the Egyptians and the Hittites as the two possible inventors of the bagpipe.

The instrument was later introduced to the Greeks by the Romans when they conquered Greece. The bagpipes became popular in Britain after the Roman invasion. The first reference to the Scottish Highland bagpipes is from French history that mentions their use at the Battle of Pinkie in 1547. By the 18th century, they had become an icon of Scottish national identity. Bagpipes were for communication during battles to signal movements, attacks, and retreats. They were also played before a battle to inspire the army. When the Scottish uprising of 1745 failed, military training was banned, and bagpipes were no longer used for war. However, they were kept for other uses.

There are many types of bagpipes today. The most popular is Scotland’s Great Highland bagpipe. On Bagpipe Appreciation Day, we celebrate all variations of bagpipes and their contribution to culture and music. Though bagpipes are perhaps most commonly linked to the Scottish, the largest producer in the world of this aerophone instrument is Pakistan.

JULY 28: NATIONAL TALK IN AN ELEVATOR DAY

On the last Friday in July, National Talk in An Elevator Day encourages us to strike up a conversation with someone in an elevator. While many use this time to check a smart devices, this day points us in another direction. Whether we ride with a stranger or someone familiar to us, start a discussion. You might meet someone new.  If you’re riding with someone you know, try to learn something new about them. Riding in an elevator can be a short, mundane experience inside a box. From another perspective, the short vertical trip could be a laughter break. Try out your stand-up comedy. Share your udderly moo-tivational cow puns you’ve been saving up. If comedy isn’t your style, break the silence with a miniature spelling bee. For example, see if you can get a consensus on how to spell consensus. Does everyone spell it with the correct number of Ss?

The best way to strike up a conversation in an elevator is to mention the national day. Did you know that elevators have been around since 200 B.C.? Elevators were invented by Archimedes, the famous Greek mathematician, scientist, and engineer. His invention included the usage of pulleys that were operated by either people or animals. Almost 800 years later, Ibn Khalaf al-Muradi, an Andalusian scientist, wrote about elevators in his book called “Book of Secrets.” The book described the anatomy of an elevator and how it can be used to lift animals to great heights. The modern-day elevator wasn’t invented until the 1800s. Elisha Graves Otis established the Otis Elevator Company in the mid-1850s. He debuted his invention in New York City at the Crystal Palace Convention. Before Otis’ invention, many avoided using an elevator due to safety concerns. The cables/ropes hoisting an elevator up and down would at times snap, bringing all of the elevator’s occupants down, too. This safety hazard was soon solved by Otis’ ingenious idea of installing spring technology into the elevator.

JULY 29: NATIONAL LASAGNA DAY

You don’t have to be Italian to celebrate National Lasagna Day. Tomato sauce, cheeses, meat, and vegetables — all separated by wide flat noodles: what’s not to love? Lasagna first showed up in Naples, Italy, during the Middle Ages and made it to America in the 19th century. Since then, Americans have made it all their own.

The word “lasagna” originated from ancient Greece. Essentially, the name stems from the word “laganon,” the earliest form of pasta: flattened sheets of dough sliced into thin strips. Of course, the original form was very different from the assembled lasagna dish we enjoy today. Layers of pasta slathered with sauce were present but without the essential Italian ingredients. A similar dish was commonly prepared in ancient Rome, called “lasanum,” which means pot or container in Latin. So, the word ‘lasagna’ actually comes from the method of cooking it, not the ingredients. 

The lasagna cooked in Northern Italy uses flat noodles, while the noodles used in Southern Italy are rippled. The ingredients Italians use in the recipe depend on their family’s tradition and heritage.

JULY 30: PAPERBACK BOOK DAY

Paperback Book Day is an ode to the paperback bookend the journey it’s made since its inception. Many people think of the English publishing house Penguin when they think of paperback history. While it is true paperbacks’ popularity on a large scale took place when Penguin started with the idea in the 20th century, the history of paperbacks goes further back to the 17th century. European countries like Germany and France were already publishing stories and papers in the paperback-like format then. James Fenimore Cooper published frontier stories in a similar style. The publishing world’s “dime novels” and “penny dreadfuls” are, in fact, products of the same business phenomena.

But back to Penguin. During the Depression, its owner, Allen Lane, was going bankrupt in his publishing business. While waiting for his train, he browsed a station stall for something to read, but found nothing good except for magazines and low-quality paperback fiction. Aha! He came up with the idea of high-quality paperbacks, which would automatically raise profits by allowing more people to access good fiction at lower prices. From then on, paperbacks became a favorite with publishers and readers. Paperback Book Day is celebrated on July 30 because that was when Penguin published its first paperback. Paperback books became very popular during World War II. They were easy to carry around, and they were cheaper. After the war, paperback books became even more popular. Today, paperback books are still very popular.

Who I Am, Poem and Sculpture, by Sheila Benedis

Who I Am    

a wrinkled orange peel

a soft smooth aromatic pear

 

I’m sinuous

a delicate fragile dandelion

carried by the wind

carried by the spirit

 

a gentle breath

planting seeds of life

planting seeds of hope

 

tough as nails

tenaciously forcing through rock

growing roots in crevices

surviving

 

going round and round

inside becoming outside

turning twisting on the road of life

wanting to find love

wanting to belong

 

being a creative person

seeing challenges as opportunities

as gifts

 

needing a solitary quiet space

for an aesthetic impulse

to become an intuition

to make art

to write poetry

 

showing the world and myself

who I am

I am wabi sabi

healing repairing

transforming

In and Around

Surprises in and around Kendal

Whoa . . . Mom! What’s that ?!

Photo by Hubert Herring

Are those . . . Yes they are! A house wren sets up a nursery in a prime spot (under a rubber tree leaf) on Ginny and Bob Bender’s patio. Stay tuned for the next chapter!

Photo by Ginny Bender

The Magical Beauty of the Mushroom, by Emil Bahary

The Magical Beauty of Kendal Sunsets, by Laura Burkhardt

Food for Thought

  1. I'm responsible for what I say, not for what you understand. 

  2. Common sense is like deodorant. The people who need it the most never use it.

  3. My tolerance for idiots is extremely low these days. I used to have some immunity built up, but obviously, there's a new strain out there. 

  4. It's not my age that bothers me. It's the side effects. 

  5. I'm not saying I'm old and worn out, but I make sure I'm nowhere near the curb on trash day. 

  6. As I watch this generation try and rewrite our history, I'm sure of one thing: it will be misspelled and have no punctuation. 

  7. As I've gotten older, people think I've become lazy. The truth is I'm just being more energy-efficient. 

  8. I haven't gotten anything done today. I've been in the Produce Department trying to open a stupid plastic bag. 

  9. If you find yourself feeling useless, remember: it took 20 years, trillions of dollars, thousands of lives and four presidents to replace the Taliban with the Taliban. 

Contributed by Barbara Bruno

Special Observances, July 17 – 23

JULY 17: WORLD EMOJI DAY

Internet-age Communication now goes far beyond pressing send on a simple text message. Check your social media feeds or text messages. How many smiley faces, flying hearts, avocados, and unicorns do you see? These iconic little images, known as emojis, are more popular today than ever before — so, naturally, they have their own special day: World Emoji Day. While sometimes they may seem silly, according to various psychologists and researchers, they may play a vital role in the way we communicate today. In fact, Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2015 was the 😂 emoji.

Before the emoji, there were emoticons (emotion + icon), developed as an expression of emotions in cold hard texts. “Emoji” was coined by Shigetaka Kurita in 1990 while working for the Japanese telecom company NTT Docomo. It is a Japanese expression, roughly meaning “picture word.” The first Apple iPhone (2007) had an emoji keyboard to nab the Japanese market. While not intended for US users, Americans quickly found it and figured out how to use it. Every year new emojis are developed. Over 1800 emojis cover much more than just emotions. From transportation, food, an assortment of wild and domesticated animals to social platforms, weather, and bodily functions, emojis virtually speak for themselves.

JULY 18: WORLD LISTENING DAY

Shhh . . . hear that? It’s the sound of World Listening Day. World Listening Day is hosted every year by the World Listening Project, a nonprofit organization “devoted to understanding the world and its natural environment, societies, and cultures through the practice of listening and field recording.” They explore acoustic ecology, a discipline that studies the relationship between humans and the natural world as mediated through sound.

Listening is indeed an art that requires undivided attention and patience from a person and benefits another who is in need of it. Listening is also beneficial for the listener, improving their listening skills and sharpening their awareness of their surroundings. As important as our sense of hearing is, we often don’t use it effectively, blocking out most sounds and voices, and not really listening to the message.

World Listening Day falls on July 18 to honor the birthday of Raymond Murray Schafer, a Canadian composer and environmentalist who is the founder of acoustic ecology. Born on July 18, 1933, he developed his World Soundscape Project, laying the fundamental ideas and practices of acoustic ecology in the 1970s. Established in 2010, each year the holiday has a specific theme tied to it. Past themes include “H2O,” “Sounds Lost & Found,” and “Listen to You!” The theme for World Listening Day 2023 is “Listen to the Sounds of Nature.”

JULY 19: NATIONAL HOT DOG DAY

National Hot Dog Day celebrates a summertime staple on a bun. Enjoy one piping hot and add some relish and mustard to go! This day pays homage to the frankfurter, the footlong or wienie, wiener, wienerwurst or even “red hot.” It tastes just as great no matter what we call it. And Americans love it. Each year, over 25 million hot dogs are sold at baseball stadiums, alone.

We make them a variety of ways. They’re portable and easy to make. While many of us prefer them grilled or toasted over a fire, we also boil, pan-fry, and rotisserie-cook them. The list of toppings is numerous – from the basic ketchup, mustard or relish to onions, mayonnaise, cheese, bacon, chili and sauerkraut. And the list keeps growing. Adults and children love them.

JULY 20: NAP DAY

Humans are monophasic sleepers, meaning they devote one part of the day to sleep, and the other part to being awake. The one exception: naps! Nap Day was invented by William Anthony, Ph.D., and his wife Camille Anthony in 1999. The couple wanted to help educate people about the power of a good nap and how getting just a little extra rest could be important to health.

Naps provide numerous benefits, as long as they aren't too long. Naps that are about 10 to 30 minutes in length improve mood, alertness, and performance — both mentally and physically. The alertness that naps provide can last for a few hours. Naps of 10 minutes in length provide the most benefit of improved cognitive performance and reduced sleepiness. Naps also provide relaxation and rejuvenation.

Not all naps are beneficial, though. If the length of a nap is too long, it can make a person groggy or disoriented. This may last up to a half an hour, and be particularly bad for those who need to do a task immediately after waking up. Naps that last too long can also negatively impact nighttime sleep, as can naps that are taken too late in the day.

JULY 21: INVITE AN ALIEN TO LIVE WITH YOU DAY

Get ready to boldly go where no human has gone before on Invite an Alien to Live with You Day! This quirky and fun holiday was created to celebrate our curiosity about extraterrestrial life and the possibilities of intergalactic relationships. It's a great opportunity for science fiction fans to have a bit of fun, but also serves as an important reminder that there may be more out there in the universe than we can imagine.

Invite an Alien To Live With You Day is celebrated every year on July 21 to remember the four-year-long Pam Dawber and Robin Williams show “Mork & Mindy.” The show is about an alien from the planet Ork named Mork, played by Williams, on a mission to Earth to study human behavior. Mork travels to 1970s Boulder, Colorado after his egg-shaped spacecraft lands there. Here, he meets up with Mindy, played by Dawber, who is a young journalism graduate who lets him live in her house. The episodes revolve around Williams’ hilarious portrayal of a bumbling alien trying to get a handle on Earth culture along with his frequent dispatches back to his home planet. Storylines are usually centered around Mork’s attempts to understand human behavior and American culture, while Mindy helps him adjust to life on Earth. Fifty-five to  sixty million people tuned in each week to watch it “Mork & Mindy”'s four year run.

JULY 22: SPOONERS (SPOONERISM) DAY

Spoonerism Day honors “Spoonerisms,” tongue slips that most of us make regularly. The term ‘spoonerism’ refers to the practice of switching the initial letters of words as you speak. Say swy flutter instead of a fly swatter, or runny babbit instead of a bunny rabbit. They earned their name from Reverend William Archibald Spooner — a prominent Oxford don and, eventually, Warden (or president) from 1903 to 1924. One of his most famous “Spoonerism” was "It is kisstomary to cuss the bride," which he apparently said while performing a wedding ceremony for a couple.

Long before Spooner was born, the Greeks had a term for this sort of impediment — “metathesis,” which refers to the act of rearranging items. So, Reverend Spooner is far from the only person who has made this mistake. It is, in fact, fairly frequent. Spoonerisms are often said by accident, just as they were done by Spooner, but nowadays they are often said on purpose as well, for their humorous effect. No matter why they are said, celebrate them today.

JULY 23: HOT ENOUGH FOR YA DAY

Summer is slowly reaching its peak, and so is everyone’s patience with the weather. Hot Enough for Ya Day is a way to make light of the balmy and muggy heat. Summer days and nights are usually filled with hot and humid atmospheres with very high temperatures. During this time, people tend to lose interest in their daily activities because of how over-whelmingly hot it is. As peak summer hits, heat stroke, suffocation, high blood pressure, and muscle cramps go on the rise.

But all is not doom and gloom. You can plan interesting activities that revolve around making the most of the summer, and you can start all this by asking the question, “Hot enough for ya?”.

It is uncertain who or when the first Hot Enough for Ya Day was started — it’s been around since 1989 — but one thing is clear: Someone somewhere was so fed up with the hot weather that they went around asking people “Hot enough for ya?” for the fun of it. You can start your day with things that will cool you down. It could be eating a bowl of ice cream [Editor’s note: it’s also National Vanilla Ice Cream Day] or drinking a cold glass of lemonade. Swimming is another great option. For centuries now, people have been making a beeline for water bodies to cool themselves down. A splash in the water does the trick when nothing else works. If all else still fails, do not worry, just do whatever floats your boat within the cool vicinity of your homes.

Epiphany Poem and Art, by Sheila Benedis

                 Epiphany

             asemic writing

  no specific semantic content

 

        calligraphic language  

            sinuous shapes

 

 a poem repeated compulsively

 renders itself partially illegible

 

         bypasses meaning

unlocks the power of the illegible

 

           viewer fills in

     his own interpretation

 

          words of a poem

                crawl in

 

               crawl out

        go round and round

 

    inside becomes outside

turning twisting road of life

 

    movement of words

       transformation                                                                     

 

            suddenly

 a lively gestural scrawl

 

    an aesthetic impulse

    becomes an intuition

 

         a form of art

an engine of quiet wonder 

 

         an epiphany

Epiphany Artist Books

Art by Hart

Mary's little lamb grew up, but not without significant psychic damage

Ralph made Minerva's morning exercise routine much easier

After a zillion dollars for MRI's, it turned out that Nellie had eaten a bad beetle

Rubber Ducky had followed Sandy from the bathtub to the bar

Art and Photos by Jane Hart

Living and Reading Large

Good news to all who have been struggling with the standard (and smaller) type in books. The Library has started a collection of LP (Large Print) paperback books in the carousel near the elevator on the second floor of Mary Powell. The books have an orange sticker on their spines. The collection is just at its beginning, but the hope is that it will grow little by little.  Any contributions are welcome, with thanks!

The Residents Herb Garden: A Bit of Give, a Bit of Take

Remember “Scarborough Fair,” the old song rejuvenated by Simon & Garfunkel? They sang, “parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.” Well, add garlic, onion chives, oregano, mint, lavender and nasturtium (nasturtium flowers and leaves are edible and have a mustard flavor), and you have the bounty of the Residents Herb Garden in the Terrace planter with the dragonfly hovering over it and the black sign: "Herb Garden." 

This planter — and only this planter — is open to all Kendal residents, thanks to the hard work of the Herb Garden Committee. You'll be surprised the health benefits and scent of these herbs. With the offer to snip as you please also comes the plea to please use plant shears or the scissors hanging in the planter to harvest herbs for your apartment.

Meanwhile, why not think about volunteering to water or to weed the herbs? A little take, a little corresponding give. It can be very therapeutic. Imagine the tender loving care you can give the herbs, and how you can release those pent up emotions on those weeds! To sign up, please contact Janet (x1857) or Maria (x1597)

Food for Thought . . .

01. If a bottle of poison reaches its expiration date, is it more poisonous or is it no longer poisonous?

02. Which letter is silent in the word "Scent," the S or the C?

03. Do twins ever realize that one of them is unplanned?

04. Every time you clean something, you just make something else dirty.

05. The word "swims" upside-down is still "swims".

06. Over 100 years ago, everyone owned a horse and only the rich had cars. Today everyone has cars and only the rich own horses. 

07. If people evolved from monkeys, why are monkeys still around?

08. Why is there a 'D' in fridge, but not in refrigerator? 

09. As I've grown older, I've learned that pleasing everyone is impossible, but pissing everyone off is a piece of cake!

Contributed by Barbara Bruno

© Kendal on Hudson Residents Association 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 all rights reserved.  Please do not reproduce without permission.

Photographs of life at Kendal on Hudson are by residents.