Photo by Harry Bloomfeld
Outside . . .
And in . . .
And the walls come a-tumblin’ down
Photos by Joe Bruno
They just somehow knew: it was a blue and white day
Photo by Carolyn Reiss
Photo by Marie Martinez
Photo by Carolyn Reiss
Photo by Jane Hart
As many of you may know, Carlene Brown is leaving Kendal after 18 years of service to us and our residents. She is starting nursing school in the fall! This will be your time to stop by and wish her well!
Please join us in wishing her all the best in this new journey!
From the office of Ellen Ottstadt
Monopoly has been beloved for generations, but the history of the classic board game isn’t all fun and games. During World War II, specially manufactured Monopoly boards were used to help prisoners of war escape from captivity. In 1940, the British government struck a deal with Waddingtons, the company that manufactured London-themed editions of Monopoly, in which MI9, a secret department of the War Office, tasked Waddingtons with creating a version of Monopoly that contained various tools and information to aid POWs in their potential escape efforts.
The sneakily altered Monopoly boards were distributed to Nazi-run POW camps as part of larger aid packages. In addition to the standard thimble and dog game pieces, each board contained metal “playing pieces” that were actually escape tools, such as a file and magnetic compass. Each version also contained silk maps provided by the intelligence agency, which could be unfolded discreetly without drawing attention. What’s more, these special editions swapped out fake Monopoly money for real German, Italian, and French currency that could be used to bribe guards. The British government also contracted game company John Jaques & Son to create chess sets and versions of Snakes and Ladders that contained hidden compartments with escape tools.
Source: historyfacts.com
Contributed by Jane Hart
Contributed by Barbara Wallach
Contributed by Barbara Bruno
The grouch next door didn’t love it when Liz’s children harmonized
Kiki and Elsie aged out of 4H decades ago, but they still wouldn’t miss a county fair
Not trusting Nature, Ms. Tasselpaper played it safe with artificial turf and plastic animals
In an ill-conceived sequel to Peter Pan, the cast spent several scenes exploring a rusty anchor
Bitter-sweet, it was the last club cocktail bash of the summer
Art and photos by Jane Hart
Art and photo by Sheila Benedis
Photo by Joe Bruno
Photos by Carolyn Reiss
Marilyn Bottjer spotted it as it rumbled along its way: maybe not a moveable feast, but certainly a moveable art show making its way along the Hudson Line tracks. Perhaps not intentional, but there you are . . .
Photos by Marilyn Bottjer
Photo by Jane Hart
In a recent trip to the Hudson River Museum, Kendalites viewed its collection’s many dimensions.
Topped off by a surprise siting of Pete Seeger’s Clearwater sloop—just passin’ by . . .
Photos by Marianne and Harry Bloomfeld
On a recent trip to the Farmers’ Market, Marianne Bloomfeld spied an astonishing (and quite decorative) assortment of:
Photo by Marianne Bloomfeld
For all of the somber and mundane events that have occurred throughout human history, others are absurd enough to make you laugh out loud. The history website historyfacts.com has published some of them. Continued from last week, here are more:
The eagle once depicted on US coins was a real eagle named Peter
The eagle seen on early US coins was a real creature with a surprisingly common name: Peter. In a rather patriotic confluence of events, none other than an eagle took residence at the US Mint in the 1830s, where he became a companion and mascot. Historians believe the eagle featured on the silver dollar was based on this beloved bird.
“LOL” used to be an acronym for “little old lady”
Long before anyone laughed out loud on the internet, “LOL” was in use by virtue of a different phrase: “little old lady.” The acronym was popularized in the 1960s by San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, who used it in many of his works. In his 1960 book Only in San Francisco, for instance, he described an outfit that included a tricorn hat topped with a bird as the “regalia of the authentic LOL.”
The Greek mathematician Pythagoras had a phobia of beans
Pythagoras, the namesake of the Pythagorean theorem, was a highly influential early Greek philosopher and a major inspiration for the likes of Aristotle and Plato. He was also a notorious hater of beans—specifically fava beans, also known as broad beans—and he strictly forbade his followers, the Pythagoreans, from coming into contact with the legumes.
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams stole a piece of Shakespeare’s chair
In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams took a weeklong tour of England, and one of their first stops was the house where Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon. Among the many relics at the house was the Bard’s own chair, where the poet and playwright supposedly sat and wrote his great works. When the founding fathers left, they sliced off a piece of the chair to take home as a souvenir.
The creator of Fabergé eggs once made a Fabergé potato
You’re probably familiar with Fabergé eggs, most of which were made for the Romanov family in their last few decades as Russian rulers. Fabergé didn’t just make eggs, however, and among all his intricate and ornate treasures, one unexpected subject stands out: a potato, just under 4 inches long, crafted in a realistic, irregular shape.
From the office of Ellen Ottstadt
It was fun being a baby boomer . . . until now.
Some of the hottest music artists of the 1960s are revising their hits with new lyrics to accommodate ageing Baby Boomers.
They include:
Contributed by Barbara Bruno
If you’ve ever had a stealthy feline sneak up on you, you might have had the same idea the CIA once did: that cats would make good spies. Indeed, the intelligence agency spent millions of dollars on a program to that end in the 1960s. But as any cat owner can tell you, it probably shouldn’t have bothered: However sneaky and/or intelligent cats might be, they know no masters but themselves.
Operation Acoustic Kitty was essentially a disaster, with only one subject making it into the field before the ill-advised—and, quite frankly, cruel—program was scrapped. The idea was to create a sort of cyborg cat by implanting a microphone in the animal’s ear, a radio transmitter at the base of its skull, and an antenna in its fur—“a monstrosity,” in the words of Victor Marchetti, a former CIA employee who went on to write the tell-some book The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence.
On paper, the Acoustic Kitty agent’s first test was simple enough: sit near a park bench and capture a conversation between two people on a park bench. Instead, according to most accounts, the unfortunate feline was hit by a taxi and killed. Writing of the operation’s failure in a heavily redacted memo, the CIA concluded, “Our final examination of trained cats . . . convinced us that the program would not lend itself in a practical sense to our highly specialized needs.”
Source: historyfacts.com
Contributed by Jane Hart
Contributed by Barbara Bruno
Art and photo by Sheila Benedis
Hoyt felt that wearing his cat gave him a certain je ne sais quoi
Liam’s inner child was getting bigger and more obstinate
Wadleigh wished the pretty lady would walk past faster so he could stop holding his stomach in
Sabrina was born to play pickleball
Apparently Hilda was not the only fish in the sea
Art and photos by Jane Hart
Allie Reiss and Bristol Campbell enjoy each other’s company, by Cathie Campbell
Sometimes we’re so entranced by the beauty ahead in Rockwood Park, that we don’t look down. Carolyn Reiss decided to do so this past week and found . . .
Photos by Carolyn Reiss
This past week, a special screen was added to the Fulton bridge window to protect birds from smacking into it. Dots really something!
Photo by Anne White
Erin Carney is back at Kendal to teach a painting class. First class: silent students concentrate on their work as Erin goes person-to-person with helpful comments and encouragement.
Photo by Carolyn Reiss
New Assistant Gardener hard at work, by Edward Kasinec
One of the loveliest places to just sit in peace and enjoy the beauty of nature (and the skills of Kendal gardeners), to read a book, to chat with friends, is the Healing Garden nestled between Clearwater and Sunnyside but open to all. Recently Harry took pictures of the Healing Garden’s beauty:
Photos by Harry Bloomfeld
The Warner Library offers complimentary passes to several museums for Warner Library cardholders. Passes can be reserved in advance and checked out for four days.
To inquire about Museum Passes, please contact the Library's Reference Desk at 914-631-7734, Option 3.
Museum Passes offered:
• FDR Presidential Museum & Library
• The Frick Museum
• Guggenheim Museum
• Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
• Katonah Museum of Art & Hudson Valley MOCA
• Hudson River Museum
• New-York Historical Society
• Mohonk Preserve
• Storm King Art Center
Following are a few alerts about village projects in Tarrytown that may make a difference to driving in and about Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown
© 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.