New RAO Workroom
New Terrace Entrance Doors
New Glass Wall in the Pool Area Down the New Hallway
From the Office of Ellen Ottstadt
I Never Knew That
The Origins of Memorial Day
When the Civil War ended in April 1865, Americans struggled to cope with the unprecedented loss they had experienced as a nation. Because the end of the war had come in the spring, communities began decorating soldiers’ graves with fresh flowers. Such “Decoration Day” rituals began popping up across the country on different days. In the South, many chose May 10, the anniversary of Stonewall Jackson’s death; April 26, the day of the final Confederate surrender; or June 3, Jefferson Davis’s birthday.
Northerners also chose a spring day for formal commemoration of the dead. In 1868, General John Logan, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, officially designated the 30th of May “for decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country.” By the end of the 19th century, most Northern states had adopted the holiday.
One of the earliest known celebrations of what we now know as Memorial Day took place in Charleston, South Carolina on May 1, 1865, when the city’s freed Black residents organized a proper burial for hundreds of Union soldiers who had died in a Confederate prison, followed by a parade to honor their memory.
A century after General Logan’s declaration, President Lyndon Johnson signed legislation making Memorial Day a federal holiday, changing the observance to the last Monday in May and standardizing the name as “Memorial Day.”
Source: American Experience.wgbh.org
Every Memorial Day, Sleepy Hollow High School/Middle School students plant flags in honor of the day.
For Your Funny Bone
Art by Hart
Just as she was about to give up, Fanny found a perfectly good used son-in-law on eBay
Ms. Minch was finding it harder and harder to see her doctor
Hoping to avoid gossip, Kira hid her boyfriend under a cow
Emily considered her kitchen a creative space
Without an umbrella or rain hat, Mary was a sitting duck for debris from the storm
Art and photos by Jane Hart
Hope VII Collage, by Sheila Benedis
Art and photo by Sheila Benedis
In and Around Kendal
May Birthdays
Photo by Harry Bloomfeld
Gardening Kendal-Style
Report (and photo) by Joe Bruno: “After hearing about recycling plastic, one resident gardener decided to grow some plastic. The crop’s coming along fine.”
“Our” River
Late Spring Frames the Hudson, by Edward Kasinec
Photo by Carolyn Reiss
Photo by Joe Bruno
Photo by Lynn Brady
A Morning Stroll in the Park
Photos by Carolyn Reiss
Out and About
The Peonies of Rockefeller State Park
It has become an annual event: peonies peeping in the Rockefeller State Park. And here’s the reason why:
The joy of peonies peeping, by Ruth Dinowitz
Photos by Lane Mauer, unless otherwise indicated
Presenting: The Greatest Show on Earth (in Sleepy Hollow)
Don’t Forget: We Can’t Tip, So . . .
Weekly Construction Report
From the office of Ellen Ottstadt
The Sunsets of Kendal
Spring (summer, winter, or fall): When a not-so-young photographer’s fancy turns to the setting sun. And aren’t we lucky it does. Following are the breath-taking results—all the same subject matter, all different—of such an attraction.
Golden Feathers, by Philip Monteleoni
As the Sun Sets, by Harry Bloomfeld
The Sun’s Tribute to Mother’s Day, by Rich Dooley
Journey into Night, by Sue Bastian
From the Balcony, by Susan Martin
Strictly for Men . . . Yeah, Right
“Take my wife . . . please.” Rodney Dangerfield may have aced the comedy of the wife joke, but others—in all fields—have joined in the fun:
A good wife always forgives her husband when she’s wrong. Barack Obama
Marriage is the only war where one sleeps with the enemy. Tommy Lee
A man inserted an “ad” in the classifieds: “Wife wanted.” Next day he received a hundred letters. They all said the same thing: “You can have mine.” Brad Pitt
First Guy (proudly): “My wife’s an angel!”Second Guy: “You’re lucky, mine’s still alive.” Jimmy Kimmel
“First there is the promise ring, then the engagement ring, then the wedding ring . . . soon after . . . comes SuffeRing!” Jay Leno
The reason why wives live longer is because they don’t have a Wife. Brandon Breezy
Contributed by Simone
I Never Knew That
Victorian Doctors Prescribed Beards
The well-coiffed men of the Victorian era wore finely tailored suits, trim waistcoats, and fancy statement hats. These men also, in contrast to their generally prim and proper aesthetic, sometimes had truly impressive beards. The Victorian “beard movement,” which started around 1850, was partially about looking manly and rugged—especially after British soldiers came back from the Crimean War unshaven in 1856. But beards were also, according to some medical professionals at the time, a way to ward off disease.
At the time, many doctors endorsed the miasma theory of disease, which (incorrectly) held that illnesses such as Britain’s common cholera outbreaks were caused by bad air. (To be fair, rampant air pollution was making people sick, just not in ways that scientists understood at the time.) Facial hair, some reasoned, could provide a natural filter against breathing in so-called “miasmas.” “[T]he moustache is emphatically nature’s simple respirator, while the hair covering the jaws and throat is intended to afford warmth and protection,” one doctor wrote in the Edinburgh Medical Journal in 1861. Clergymen and other public speakers were particularly encouraged to have beards to protect their voices.
Beards started losing popularity by the 1880s. Changing standards of masculinity played a role, but the medical justification was also weakening as microbial biology and germ theory took hold. Beards, it turns out, can hold a lot of microbes.
Source: Sarah Anne Lloyd, historyfacts.com
Contributed by Jane Hart
For Your Funny Bone
Creations of the Blizzard Artist Book, by Sheila Benedis
Art and photos by Sheila Benedis
Art by Hart
Pringle realized it was time to buy himself a new bathing suit
Little Rylee’s vocabulary was becoming embarrassing
Legendre’s shopping cart was all hyper-allergenic
When she was bored, Cecelia would fade into the wallpaper
Jerry, a gargoyle, attracted a wide variety of birds
Art and photos by Jane Hart
In and Around
Nature: It’s All in How You Look at It
Often we hear, “Well, it all depends on how you look at it.” Here’s how some Kendal photographers look at it:
Geometrics, by Edward Lannert
The Green Mammoths of Rockwood Hall, by Edward Kasinec
Green Cascades, by Edward Kasinec
White Flame, by Edward Kasinec
We’re Gettin’ There!
The New Kitchen Equipment Moves In, by Carolyn Reiss
The View From the New Community Room, by Lisa Rosenbloom
Gettin’ There in the New Community Room, by Lisa Rosenbloom
Kendal Views by Foot, by Carolyn Reiss
They’re B-a-a-ck
Just Hummin’ Along, by Lisa Rosenbloom
Out and About
A New York Botanical Garden Spring
Banks of Azalea
Peonies a-plenty
Time for a close-up
Loads of Lilacs, too
Photos by Amanda Slattery
From the Lyndhurst Crafts Fair
Photo by Ed Lannert
Weekly Construction Report
New Residents Association Office Entrance (doors and glass to yet to come)
New Terrace Lounge--from the Outside In
Pool Almost Ready to Go (we’re told to ignore the green water--not permanent)
From the Office of Ellen Ottstadt
Buttonhook Forest
Recently, a group of Kendalites journeyed to Buttonhook Forest for a docent tour of an area once held sacred by the Munsee Lanape, the Indigenous Peoples who lived in this area long before colonial days. They learned of the forest as sacred land of the Native Americans who previously lived in this region—now Chappaqua in the Town of New Castle—and of the significance of stone structures left by the indigenous people. Those stone structures on the land have been authenticated as a complex of prayer stones, turtle effigies, a serpentine wall, and markers of underground aquifers placed by the original inhabitants. The 20.3-acre site is being protected and preserved by a community coalition “Friends of Buttonhook Forest” together with Indigenous stewardship while legal efforts are underway to keep it from being destroyed, and the significance of the stone structures left by the indigenous people.
“The Group”
The docent explained the snake wall. Snakes were sacred to the Muncee Lenape people. The front end of the snake wall extends a very long way without bordering anything. So, it isn’t a wall that a farmer would build. Its winding, curvey structure also indicates that it isn’t a functional wall, at all.
More snake wall
Another example of carefully placed rocks that were probably a ceremonial site.
The split rock at the bottom of the photo indicates the location of an underground aquifer.
Photos by Harry Bloomfeld