Out and About

‘Tis the Season

Voting: it’s at the core of our democracy. And one of the core activities of the League of Women Voters (LWV). The LWV of the Rivertowns hosts voter-registration tables all around our area, at schools, stores, and municipal events. Maria Harris, a Rivertowns LWV member, is often there, decked out and inspirational to citizens who wish to register—or reregister if they have moved—to vote. She’s picture perfect for the mission.

Wandering ‘round Stonecrop Gardens: a Kendal Trip

Barbara Wallach recently led a Kendal trip to Stonecrop Gardens in Cold Spring. Originally the joy of a private home, Stonecrop became a public garden in 1992. It’s stated mission is to “uphold and demonstrate the highest standards of horticultural practice and to promote the use of such standards among amateur and professional gardeners through aesthetic displays and educational programs.”

After a stroll around Cold Spring, the group lunched at Hudson House River Inn before meeting up with a Stonecrop docent who led the way around the plantings. Flowers are arranged by color, brought in off season, and replanted every year. Each plant is identified by a number by which a visitor can reference all 400+ plants.

Lunching at the Hudson House River Inn

Kendalites in the News

Muriel Fox helped make history in her critical role in the fight for women’s equality and rights in the US. This year she’s been back in the news with her new book The Women’s Revolution: How We Changed Your Life, which Kirkus Review called both “revealing” and “inspiring.”

Recently Muriel spoke with WPIX’s Ben Aaron about the book and her life’s achievements. You can listen to it by clicking on the button below.

Join the Soft-Plastic Brigade!

Spearheaded by Teddy Pulerwitz, the signs have been up and Kendal residents have responded: collect your soft plastic! Teddy also has an agreement with CTown and CVS to donate their soft plastic, along with ours. Given all that, we already have 497 pounds logged in (and Teddy is striving to get those final 3 pounds in, too) for this week’s load. The end goal: 1,000. The end result: a bench to enhance our surroundings.

All this “stuff” is light-weight and easily handled, but it requires 2 steps:

Sorting

Transporting

Once sorted, the plastic is bagged (see picture below), tossed into the back seat or trunk of a car and driven the 5-ish miles to the Ossining Stop-and-Shop for delivery at their information booth (aka Customer Solutions).

Teddy among Kendal’s soft-plastic contributions.

Teddy’s looking for volunteers for sorting, transporting (the number of bags is up to you), or both if you are so inclined.

Any questions, contact Teddy (x 1902).

Want to volunteer, contact Teddy (x 1902).

Made In NYC: Brands, Trends, and Inventions That Began in the Big Apple

The Donut Machine

The US sells 10 billion donuts every year, but they might not sell so quickly were it not for this Manhattan-born invention. Russian immigrant Adolph Levitt came up with the first donut machine, based on his experiences at his bakery on 125th Street. There were previous patents for a similar device, but it's Levitt's Doughnut Corporation of America that turned the treats into the cultural force they remain today.

Home Security Systems and CCTV

Over 12 million Ring-style video doorbells are sold every year. They owe their existence to Jamaica, Queens, where homeowners and innovators Marie Van Brittan Brown and Albert Brown patented the first video home security system. They installed the first system in their home at 151–158 135th Ave. and received their US patent on December 2, 1969. Their idea is also the forerunner of the CCTV that now encircles the globe.

Corrugated Cardboard

175 million tons of corrugated cardboard are produced globally every year. The innovation came from a New Yorker, Albert L. Jones, who patented it as an improvement for packing (it provided more cushioning and opened up the world of Amazon boxes that we live in today). December 19, 1871 was the beginning, with Jones’ patent. It’s hard to imagine how we ever lived without it.

Source: “Made In NYC,” by Ethan Wolff, March 2024, City Guide New York

Contributed by Bobbie Roggemann

What's So Punny?

I once dated a guy who broke up with me because I only have 9 toes. Yes, he was lack toes intolerant

I’ve started telling everyone about the benefits of eating dried grapes. It's all about raisin awareness.

I’ve started investing in stocks: beef, vegetable, chicken. One day I hope to be a bouillianaire.

If you boil a funny bone, it becomes a laughing stock. Now that’s humerus.

I accidentally rubbed ketchup in my eyes. Now I have Heinzsight.

Contributed by Mimi Abramovitz

I Didn’t Know That

The Oldest Recorded Customer Complaint Is From 1750 BCE

Customer dissatisfaction is far from a modern phenomenon; in fact, the oldest recorded complaint dates back 3,773 years. The grievance was etched into a tablet that was rediscovered during excavations of the Sumerian city-state Ur in the early 20th century. Dating back to 1750 BCE, this tablet was written by Nanni, a dissatisfied customer whose ire was directed toward a copper merchant named Ea-nasir. In the complaint, Nanni expressed dismay over the quality of copper they received, accusing the trader of poor treatment and demanding money back. The translated text includes exasperated statements such as, “Who am I that you are treating me . . . with such contempt?” Nanni also wasn’t the only customer who felt slighted by this Ea-nasir — there’s archaeological evidence of other Sumerian individuals who expressed frustration over the quality of copper from the same merchant.

 The complaint tablet was one of several fascinating discoveries uncovered during British archaeologist Leonard Woolley’s excavations of Ur between 1922 and 1934. Woolley and his team dug out 1,800 burial sites, including the spectacular tomb of Queen Puabi, one of the few female rulers in ancient Mesopotamia. Much like the Egyptian tomb of King Tut, Puabi’s tomb was largely intact and included a headdress worn by the queen, made of lapis lazuli (a blue gemstone), ribbons, and gold. Woolley also uncovered layers of water-laid clay, which likely formed during a great flood. Some theories suggest that this ancient flood may have influenced writings about the deluge of water described in the Bible’s Book of Genesis, though these theories are difficult to confirm.

Source: historyfacts.com

Contributed by Jane Hart

In and Around Kendal

A Morning’s Walk in Rockwood Park

The morning moon

Photo by Carolyn Reiss

Rockwood Path

Photo by Carolyn Reiss

An Olmsted vision

Photo by Edward Kasinec

Photo by Mimi Abramovitz

September Birthdays

Photo by Harry Bloomfeld

An Alida Visitor

Photo by Mimi Abramovitz

Goats on the Loose

Just sauntering around as if nothing is unusual

Stopping for a nosh

And, inevitably . . .

Photos by Mimi Abramovitz

A Gardener’s Reward

Peter Roggemann’s sunflowers grew taller than Peter Roggemann himself! And with an 11” diameter, that’s sunflower success.

Hudson Cameo

Photo by Edward Kasinec

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

A California Birthday: A Bottjer Tradition

For the last several years we have celebrated my birthday in California, where 2 of my sons live. We spent a weekend at The Inn at the Mission in San Juan Capistrano. It’s delightful. You can walk to the mission and all kinds of restaurants.

The picture of the Mission was taken by my daughter-in-law Sarah, who is married to my eldest son David. They live in Los Angeles.

The mission is also near the home of my son John. His house has a viewing spot on the top of it where you can see the Pacific Ocean and where he took the pictures below of the sunset and moon rise.

Sunset over the Pacific

Turn south from the sunset and there is the Hunters’ moon rising over the Pacific

Usually, my Eastern son Paul, who lives in Connecticut comes with me, but he injured his back and couldn’t make it this year. It’s a small family but we have fun together.

Marilyn Bottjer

Westward Ho! with Carolyn Reiss

Carolyn Reiss’s trip to Seattle was expanded to a visit to Victoria, British Columbia.

We spent hours in the Butchart Garden of Victoria

The Butchart Garden dahlias

A walkway from our AirBnB led into town and to Beacon Hill Park, a major bird sanctuary.

At Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, a park within city limits, along with the bird sanctuary

Another bird sanctuary is only a short drive outside Victoria.

Back in Seattle, we discovered an unusual sculpture. Could you imagine a giant statue of Lenin in Sleepy Hollow—or anywhere here, for that matter?

Out and About

Kendal Trip to the Old Dutch Church

One of the new “quick trips” had Kendalites visiting one of Sleepy Hollow’s treasures: the Old Dutch Church, founded around 1685. A docent provided information and insights into the structure, which is still in the warmer months of the year, and its history. The church burial yard (as opposed to Sleepy Hollow cemetery) was also on the agenda.

Come Fly With Me . . .

Recently, Philip Monteleoni took (former) ace airman Bill Lyons and Carol Lyons to visit the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. The Aerodrome, a living museum in Red Hook, New York, owns many examples of airworthy aircraft of the pioneer era, World War I, and the Golden Age of Aviation between the World Wars. Philip used to volunteer there, so he and the Lyons had a royal welcome.

Bill had thoughtfully brought a present for them, a large poster of his WWII Mustang fighter plane, which was well-received.

At the Aerodrome, Bill and Carol were able to inspect—up close and personal—a beautiful and exact replica of The Spirit of St. Louis, the plane Charles Lindbergh famously flew solo across the Atlantic, New York to Paris, in 1927.

Made In NYC: Brands, Trends, and Inventions That Began in the Big Apple

Dr. Brown’s

You can find Dr. Brown’s at delicatessens all around the country (not to mention upscale grocery stores and even in English-speaking neighborhoods of Israel). Before it had a global presence, it was a New York City notion. Its invention goes back to 1869 and a nerve tonic formula, credited to the original Dr. Brown.

Dry Cleaning

Thomas L. Jennings (1791–1856) has the distinction of the first Black person to hold a US patent. That patent is for dry cleaning, a process he invented based on concerns from his customers at his Church Street clothing store. His patent was issued on March 3, 1821.

Diet Soda

The diet soda industry is good for $5 billion in annual sales, but 70 or so years ago it didn’t even exist. Credit for the innovation goes to New York City, Brooklyn to be precise and Kirsch Beverages, Inc. Hyman Kirsch had been selling sodas for decades when he noticed the need for sugar-free, non-alcoholic drinks for diabetic patients. With his son Morris, he came up with a formula, which soon enough was marketed for its calorie-free aspect. In 1952, they began selling the first diet soda, a ginger ale flavor that was soon followed by several others.

Source: “Made In NYC,” by Ethan Wolff, March 2024, City Guide New York

Contributed by Bobbie Roggemann

I Never Knew That

Believe It or Not: Alfred Hitchcock Was Afraid Of . . .

You wouldn’t think of the filmmaker responsible for “Psycho,” “The Birds,” and “Vertigo” as having any phobias, let alone one as rare as ovaphobia. And yet the Master of Suspense once admitted on the record that he was “worse than frightened” of eggs which he said revolted him — so much so, in fact, he refused to ever taste egg yolk, which he found particularly repulsive. “Have you ever seen anything more revolting than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid?” he asked in one interview. (Anyone who’s seen such lesser-known Hitchcock works as “Frenzy” and “Family Plot” might say Yes, but the point stands.)

The breakfast staple wasn’t the filmmaker’s only fear. As fate would have it, Hitchcock was as afraid of his own films as most of his viewers were. “I’m frightened of my own movies,” he said in a 1963 interview. “I never go to see them. I don’t know how people can bear to watch my movies.”

So if you’ve yet to muster the courage to watch “Psycho,” take solace in the fact that Hitchcock himself would understand your reluctance.

Source: interestingfacts.com

Contributed by Jane Hart

Art by Hart

The Gherkin-Spears met at the pickle ball club, and the rest is history

Kevin wondered if he really ought to fly to school on such a windy day

Bernie and Bettie were from different planets, but it seemed to work

The Patterson boy was never without his headset

Teague, always a fish out of water, found his true friend group

Art and photos by Jane Hart

© 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.