Special Observances, April 17-23

April 17: International Bat Appreciation Day

International Bat Appreciation Day is a chance to show our flying and mostly nocturnal friends some love. There are over 1,400 different bat species and, contrary to popular opinion, they aren’t blind. Bat Conservation International (BCI) was founded in 1982 by a group of concerned scientists who recognized the importance of protecting bats. Bats contribute towards controlling pests, create rich fertilizer for landowners, and pollinate fruit and flowers. BCI aims to conserve bats and their habitats through a combination of education, conservation, and research. 

April 18: National Animal Crackers Day

Who can resist the iconic treats of our childhood on National Animal Crackers Day? They have been part of American childhood memories since the late 1800s when brought from England where animal crackers were invented. Animal crackers are one of the best-recognized food products on the planet today. Who knew that the little menagerie of zoo and circus creatures that delighted us as children would later become one of our fondest childhood memories – and a simple guilty pleasure for us as adults?

April 19: National Banana Day

National Banana Day takes place on the third Wednesday in April. Have an amazing day doing the best thing with bananas . . . eating them! Bananas are one of the oldest cultivated fruits in the world. The edible berry fruit that grows in fingerlike clusters, there are thousands of banana varieties, with world-wide popularity. Bananas are beneficial and versatile, and can be used in puddings, muffins, pies, sandwiches, bread, cakes . . . and more.

April 20: National Lima Bean Respect Day

The Andes’ Inca Empire considered limas one of its most common and basic food. Though famously referred to as “butter beans,” lima beans have many more names than any other bean, including the wax bean, chad bean, sieva bean, double bean, Rangoon bean, Burma bean, and Madagascar bean. Lima Bean Respect Day, however, was created to give recognition to the wonderful, tasty, nutritious legumes, lima beans. People observe this day by making delicious lima bean recipes and enjoying them with friends and family.

April 21: Thank you for Libraries Day

Thank You for Libraries Day is celebrated to appreciate the contribution of libraries to society and their roles in transforming lives. The first systematically organized library in the world dates back to the 7th century B.C. According to historians, the birth of libraries marked the end of prehistory and the start of history. The first libraries were nothing more than archives for commercial transactions or inventory records. Now, libraries are a collection of materials, books, or media that are accessible by the public. In most communities, they are the center of art and culture and help drive creativity and innovation. There are currently over 110,000 libraries spread across the United States.

April 22: National Jelly Bean Day

Who can resist sweet jelly beans on National Jelly Bean Day? While similar candies existed before the jelly bean, confectioner William Schrafft made them popular during the Civil War. With their firm exterior, jelly beans were the first candies sold by the pound. Schrafft encouraged customers to send them to Union soldiers. In the 1930s, jelly beans became closely associated with the Easter holiday thanks to their egg-like shape. Now, jelly beans are available all year long.

April 23: Spanish Language Day

Spanish Language Day celebrates the second most spoken language in the world. Currently, there are more than 450 million native Spanish speakers in the world. Spanish is also the third most studied language in the world, behind English and French. Our own Harriet Barnet teaches Spanish here at Kendal (along with English to those whose first language is Spanish). Spanish is also one of six official languages of the United Nations. 

For Your Funny Bone . . .

Know Your Mate, contributed by Jeff O’Donnell

A man and woman were married for many years.  Whenever there was a confrontation, the old man would shout, “When I die, I will dig my way up and out of the grave and come back to haunt you for the rest of your life!”

Neighbors feared him.  The old man liked the fact that he was feared.  One evening, he died.

After the burial, her neighbors, asked, “Aren’t you afraid that he may indeed be able to dig his way out of the grave and haunt you for the rest of your life?”

The wife said, “Let him dig.  I had him buried upside down…and I know he won’t ask for directions.”

Art By Hart

At 13, Chester was embarrassed by every single word his mother said

Rena made all her colleagues happy

Vernon needed to feel seen and heard 24/7

Nat's Lotto was entirely unregulated, but Leona felt lucky

Medusa finally found a pet-friendly senior residence that took her COBRA insuranc

Photographs and art by Jane Hart

An Old Joy Returns to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

The Washington Irving Chimes in the chapel at the Sleepy Hollow cemetery have not rung in decades. Shelley Robinson led the charge to change that and, on Sunday, April 2, the village came together on a beautiful day to hear them ring for the first time in a long time. Shelley led the day and other Kendalites were there to see it all — and some to actively participate in the ceremony. Pictures follow, but first a new Legend of Sleepy Hollow for the Sleepy Hollow Cemetary Chapel:

Story written and illustrated by Shelley Robinson — and provided for photographing by Peter Sibley.

Girl Scouts and other village volunteers set the tone for the ringing of the chimes . . . and, yes, that’s Nick Robinson on “bass”

Washington Irving stopped by to hear his Washington Irving Chimes after a very, very long hiatus. And he told the audience some pretty tall tales, too.

Who better to bring the 100-year-old Washington Irving Chimes back to song for the first time than 104-year-old Bill Rakower?

And Marianne Bloomfeld made the cover for the chimes’ keyboard

Photos by Peter Sibley

"Epiphany": Art and Poetry 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

 

      blank between words

           asemic spacing

 

         words of a poem

               crawl in

 

        words 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

            intuition

 

         a form of art

an engine of quiet wonder 

 

         an epiphany

For You Birders Out There . . .

Flaco vs. the Ornery Ornithologist

When Flaco the owl fled the Central Park Zoo,

Through vandalized mesh (yeah, so what else is new?)

The renowned ornithologist, Dr. Olive O’Duff,

Said, “We must capture that bird and I know my stuff.

What bird in his right mind survives in New Yawk?

He’ll get eaten and chomped by a rat or a hawk.

He will nibble on poison, sriracha and hoisin.

He’s nuts as a loon, thinks he’s out for a lark.

Get him back in his cage! Get him back before dark!”

But Flaco the owl, now as free as a bird,

Flew to places of which he only had heard.

Bergdorf’s and MoMA, the Highline, the Met,

Off on a flight he would never forget:

“It’s a hoot and a howl and a hot hootenanny,

Exploring Manhattan, each nook and each cranny.”

Ah, but Dr. O’Duff said, “I gotta be tough,

This Flaco is wacko, and enough is enough.

It’s for the bird, I’m his staunchest proponent,

I value his vigor, that worthy opponent.

Does he think he’ll survive outside of captivity?

Bait the traps, men, and damn his proclivity!

Flaco, meanwhile, was nothing but smiles,

Flying o’er rooftops and mocking gargoyles.

Bird watchers watched him and pointed and stared.

“You’ll never taste freedom if you haven’t dared.

You don’t need to be smart,

Just sharpen your claws,

Keep your hearing superb.”

He was met with applause.

When Olive O’ heard this, her feathers were ruffled,

She said to her minions in a voice soft and muffled:

“Flaco has taught me, better shoot for the moon,

Be brisk, take the risk, and owl’ll be seeing you soon.”

— Lou Craft, Metropolitan Diary, NY Times, March 26, 2023

In case you’ve missed The Adventures of Flaco, copy and past this into your browser (the thing you search the Internet with):

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/03/nyregion/flaco-owl-central-park-nyc.html

Contributed by Jane Hart

Special Observances: April 3 - April 9

April 3: Find a Rainbow Day

This special day was created to celebrate the beauty and wonder of the natural world. It's a chance to get outside, explore nature, and look for those colorful arcs in the sky.

April 3: International Carrot Day

The first annual celebration of this vibrant root occurred in the year 2003 with the pure intention of celebrating the staple salad ingredient. As of now, celebrations have been reported to occur in France, Italy, Sweden, Russia, Australia, Japan, and the U.K. Carrots are a rather hearty plant that can grow in many diverse conditions, though they typically come into harvest in the summer and fall. Be the first one on your floor to have a Carrot Party! (Hint for next year: National Carrot Cake Day is February 3.)

April 5: National Dandelion Day

On April 5, Dandelion Day, celebrate the benefits and beauty of this perennial plant many consider a weed. These beautiful flowers have not only been used as bouquets for mom and crowns for children, but have a long medicinal and edible history. In the early springtime, pollinators thrive on dandelions. The name dandelion comes from the French “dent de lion” meaning lion’s tooth, referring to the leaves with their jagged tooth-like edges.

April 6: National Teflon Day

National Teflon Day on April 6 each year honors the accidental invention of Teflon on April 6, 1938, by Dr. Roy Plunkett. While working in the E. I. du Pont de Nemours lab that April day, Plunkett and his assistant accidentally discovered polytetrafluoroethylene. Chemours registered the Teflon trademark in 1945. In 1985, the Inventors’ Hall of Fame inducted Dr. Plunkett into its numbers. 

April 7: International Snailpapers Day

International Snailpapers Day is celebrated on April 7. Snailpapers are newspapers. The term stems from a post that is written on a piece of paper and carried from one location to another as snail mail. International Snailpapers Day honors the good old days when printed newspapers were important before they were surpassed by internet editions. 

April 8: Draw a Bird Day

Draw Bird Day originated in 1943. It is said that 7-year-old Dorie Cooper visited her uncle at the hospital in the U.K. He had been wounded in the war. When Dorie came to the hospital, she asked her uncle to draw a bird to cheer him up. After seeing her uncle’s picture, she started laughing and exclaimed that he was not a good artist. Although the picture of her uncle was not very good, she hung it in her room, which lifted her uncle’s spirits mightily. Every time Dorie came to visit her uncle thereafter, other wounded soldiers also had their day brightened by the event and held drawing contests to see who could produce the best bird pictures. The entire ward’s walls were decorated with bird drawings within several months.

 

Three years later, Dorie was killed in a car accident. Her coffin was full of bird drawings made by soldiers, nurses, and doctors from the war. Draw a Bird Day is celebrated to express joy in the simplest of things in life and as a way to help soldiers to forget the war at least for a short time. Dorie helped her uncle to forget the war by something as simple as drawing birds.

April 9: National Name Yourself Day

National Name Yourself Day on April 9 each year proposes one day a year to reinvent our names. If you have ever wondered what it would be like to have a different name, this would be the day to find out. Whether you like your name or not, this day is about having fun with a different name. So, ignore your Kendal name tag. Slap a new name on your chest and wear it with pride.

© 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.