In and Around Kendal

October Kendal Birthdays

Photo by Harry Bloomfeld

A Presidential Visit to Rockwood Park?

Carolyn Reiss and Allie were strolling through our neighboring park when what should they spy but the presidential limo—complete with insignia. They looked around for secret service and golf clubs, but saw none. What was going on?!

Presidential Seal

Turns out an episode of the Netflix show The Diplomat is being filmed there November 18 and 19, with the helicopter and the whole shebang. Who knew?

Photos by Carolyn Reiss

Autumn Comes to Rockwood Park

Reaching to the skies, by Edward Kasinec

Photo by Ed Lannert

Out and About

Anticipating Winter’s Frosty Blasts

Joe Bruno sent news from Quebec, where folks really know winter. Joe ventured into a department store and discovered how Canadian gentlemen prepare for winter temperatures—right down to their skivvies . . .

Photo by Joe Bruno

Easy-Going Sightseeing in Bentonville, Arkansas

Barbara and Al Wallach found sightseeing easy in Bentonville, Arkansas . . . when grandson Sebastian is available, that is.

Kendal Trip to the Hammond Museum and Japanese Stroll Garden

Adventurous Kendalites recently traveled to The Hammond Museum and Japanese Stroll Garden, in North Salem, NY, a museum with Japanese art and a 3.5-acre Japanese stroll garden.

Museum grounds photos by Bob Abramovitz

Phelps’ Serenity Garden Debuts. . . Hmmmm

Photo by Edward Kasinec

Icon's New Bulletin Board

Need a ride? Have theater tickets you can’t use? Looking for  new dentist? Need to borrow a spring bake pan?

 Did you know that you can use ICON’s  Bulletin Board feature to reach out to Kendal residents with such practical questions? It’s easy to do.

Check the ICON Menu (left side of the ICON screen).

Scroll down to and click on Bulletin Board. You’ll see a listing of “topics.”

Click on the small “New Topic” box (on the far right directly over the Topic list). A new screen appears.

Give your message a brief name in the “Topic Subject” space. In the “Description” box right below it add your question.

All finished? Just click the small green “Create” box in the far right side beneath the “Description” box. As simple as that.

Give it try!

With thanks to Mimi Abramovitz for this advice.

Raising the Roof

The Big Day came—and so did the Big Crane. The Terrace Room got its roof and Res Web’s photojournalists got the pictures.

The Day Before—and the photojournalist Gerry Mahoney asks, “Are we building an ark?” Well, it does look like it might rain . . .

Ah ha! Not an ark at all . . .

Photo by Philip Monteleoni

Ready to receive the new roof as the sun sets on the day

Photo by Ellen Ottstadt

The next day begins . . .

It began in the early morning: Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane. No! It’s the Super Crane!

Photo by Edward Kasinec

The crowd awaits . . .

Photo by Carolyn Reiss

Photojournalist Harry Bloomfeld takes over

With the frame in place, now comes the “filler”

Ready on the grid

That section’s done . . .

Philip Monteleoni helps out as the first section is completed. . .

What next?

And Harry Bloomfeld picks it up from there . . .

Steady as she goes . . .

The beginning of the end . . . of the beginning

Revelry Redux

Last week featured two amazing events: Oktoberfest and the Spelling Bee. Res Web documented both, but since then we’ve received a few more for the memory book:

First off: Oktoberfest—in motion, no less! With thanks to Ellen Ottstadt for the video.

And now a reminder of the thrills and spills of the Spelling Bee:

Not only were the spellers there, so was the audience! The house was packed!

And the winning team was delighted!

Grow Old Along With Me

Profound advice and observations for our Kendal Years . . .

Continued from last week . . .

It’s weird being the same age as old people.

 When I was a kid, I wanted to be older . . . this is not what I expected.

 Life is like a helicopter. I don’t know how to operate a helicopter either.

 It’s probably my age that tricks people into thinking I’m an adult.

Marriage Counselor: Your wife says you never buy her flowers. Is that true?

Me: To be honest, I never knew she sold flowers.

Continued next week . . .

 Contributed by Beverly Aisenbrey

I Never Knew That

13 Thrilling Facts We Bet You Didn’t Know About Halloween

By Isabelle

Get your adrenaline pumping in a haunted house, carve pumpkins by the bonfire and eat your yearly allotment of candy in one sitting. It’s easy to see why Halloween is one of the most beloved holidays of the year–especially in the US. Let’s look at 13 hair-raising facts about October 31.

1. Once upon a time: Believe it or not, the birthplace of Halloween is not a sugar factory. The holiday has been around for about 6000 years. It is believed to have originated around 4000 B.C. in Ireland.

2. Dead or alive: Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival of “Samhain”—the celebration of the end of harvest season. Back then, the Gaels believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead got a little blurry and the dead would come back to life and wreak havoc among the living. One way to scare the dead? Wear costumes and masks.

 3. Ka-Ching!: Right behind Christmas, Halloween is the second most commercial holiday in the US. Americans spend about $6.9 billion on Halloween—most of it for candy, costumes, and parties. A surprisingly big chunk is also invested in Halloween costumes for pets.

4. What does the Titanic have to do with it?: Out of the $6.9 billion spent annually in the US alone, $2.08 billion are spent on Halloween candy. How many sweet treats can you buy with that money? Roughly 600 million pounds–which equals about 6 Titanic ships. 

5. Candy breakdown: The average American eats about 3.4 pounds of Halloween candy—the weight of a small chihuahua in a Halloween costume!

6. Let’s talk about sugar: Trick-or-treating, aka dressing up and asking the neighbors for candy, can be a deliciously successful endeavor. Kids consume about 7000 calories on Halloween. (You would have to eat 66 bananas to reach 7000 calories.)

7. Boo!: Are you afraid of Halloween? Then you might suffer from Samhainophobia—the fear of Halloween.

8. Which witch?: Try wearing your clothes inside out and walk backwards on Halloween. According to traditions, this will make sure you see a witch at midnight.

9. A big ol’ pumpkin: The world’s heaviest pumpkin grew in a Swiss garden. It weighted 2,096 pounds—as much as a small car.

10. Jack O’Lanterns: Pumpkins and Halloween go together like candy and. well, Halloween. Carving pumpkins on Halloween is not only fun, it’s also believed to scare away evil spirits. So carve away!

11. Follow the rules: Trick-or-treating is really only for kids. Some cities in the US have even gone as far as banning kids over the age of 12 from trick-or-treating. In some places, teenagers who cheat and trick-or-treat can face a fine up to $1000. (7,000 calories worth of candy is surely not worth the fine!)

12. Itsy bitsy spider: Don’t be scared if you see a spider on Halloween. This is believed to be the spirit of a deceased loved one who is watching over you.

13. You (probably) spelled it wrong all along: The correct spelling of Halloween is actually Hallowe’en.

According to Meriam-Webster.com, the spelling of Halloween derives from its earlier name All Hallows Even (or eve) which took place the night before All Hallows Day, now known as All Saints Day. All Hallows Even was shortened to Hallowe'en, and later to Halloween.

Source: Creativecommons.org

Image by Nomadic Lass, Flickr / Creative Commons

Art by Hart

Grammy had fretted over Olive’s adventures for 37 years

Celia’s magic act was full of suspense, but the ending was a sigh of relief

Halcyon-Rudge carried a lot of baggage

David had grown tired of all his toys

Wilford, a disappointingly drab maple leaf, decided to hibernate and try again next year

Art and photos by Jane Hart

Out and About

It’s the Spooky Season!

As you no doubt know—or, if you’re new, you’re learning fast—Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown take Halloween seriously. Decorations have been going up since the first of the month. One that caught Ed Lannert’s eye was a display in the wonderful Bakehouse that now occupies the Tarrytown train station.

Bakehouse is Halloween-devoted along with the rest of the towns. They are offering pumpkin-shaped cookies that come with do-it-yourself frosting apparatus and a slew of Halloween-oriented cookies of myriad shapes, sizes, and decoration.

Kendalites Conquer Kykuit

Recently a sturdy band of Kendalites toured the mansion, art galleries, and gardens of Kyuit, the Rockefeller home in Pocantico Hills, built by old John D. and lived in by his children and grandchildren, including Nelson Rockefeller, longtime governor of New York.

Photo by Barbara Wallach

The tour was led by Barbara Wallach.

Photo by Ruth Dinowitz

Grow Old Along with Me . . .

Profound advice and observations for our Kendal Years . . .

Continued from last week . . .

I love being old, I learn something new every day and forget 5 other things. 

A thief broke into my house last night. He started searching for money, so I got up and searched with him.

I think I’ll just put an “Out of Order” sticker on my forehead and call it a day. 

Just remember, once you’re over the hill, you begin to pick up speed. 

Having plans sounds like a good idea until you have to put on clothes and leave the house.

To be continued . . .

Contributed by Beverly Aisenbrey

Spelling Bee

It was dog-eat-dog on Friday night, October 17—or, rather, dog-spell-dog—as seven teams of expert spellers competed for 1st place in the very first Kendal Spelling Bee. Chris Mitchell served in the dual role of Word Announcer and Pronouncer. Pam Mitchell—doing her best Vanna White impersonation—served as the Provider of All Answers with each new word. Shamya Walker was Emcee, providing both humor and scores. The judges were Llyn Clague and Jan Maier. Ellen Ottstadt watched the clock as time-keeper.

Round 1 saw the teams of The Stellar Spellers, CVS (so named for the first letter in each team member’s name), and The Spell Demons competing . . .

followed by Round 2 in which the competing teams were: Ten Thousand Words, The Websters, The Wanna-Bees, and The Schzzeleppy Szzpellers (no, no one there, other then the team members, could pronounce it).

The winners of Rounds 1 and 2 then went on to the Big Spell-Off. The two finalists were teams CVS and Ten Thousand Words.

The teams battled it out unstintingly, as Pam Mitchell provided the answers.

And the winning team—with the word yttrium—was . . .

Team Ten Thousands Words, shown here happily admiring their handsome trophies.

An exciting evening—and one of great fun! Stay tuned . . . maybe there’ll be another soon. Start practicing now.

Photos by Harry Bloomfeld

Bethany Arts Community Features "Faces of Ossining"

The drawings, created by artist Jack Berkowitz, include store owners, seniors, children and their parents, teachers, community leaders, barbers, restaurant workers, politicians, librarians, artists, members of many different cultural communities, and more. The 50 original portraits depict the real people and rich culture of the very vibrant population of Ossining. 

GALLERY HOURS (Starting November 6)

Monday – Friday, 10am-4pm

Late Night: Friday November 7, 10am-8pm

Select Saturdays: November 8, 10am-4pm

Select Sunday: November 9, 10am-4pm

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday November 6, 6:30-8:30pm

SUNDAY SUPPER: Sunday November 9, 5-7pm

Join us from November 6-18 at Bethany Arts Community to reflect, share, and celebrate the people who call Ossining home and make Ossining great. 

NOTE: OUR OWN AMANDA SLATTERY IS A FRIEND OF THE ARTIST. SHE IS OFFERING TO DRIVE ANYONE WHO WOULD LLIKE TO ATTEND THE SHOW’S OPENING ON NOVEMBER 6. GIVE HER A CALL OR SEND AN EMAIL.