Hmmmm....

Happiness is not the absence of problems, but rather the ability to deal with them.

Psalms 118:24

"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it ."

HAPPINESS...

Happiness is found along the way, not at the end of the journey.
(Author Unknown)

Slow Dance

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say,"Hi"
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower

Hear the music

Before the song is over.

--------------------

To Life !

I'll be happy when...

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are. After that, we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, when we are able to go on a nice vacation or when we retire. The truth is there's no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with challenges.

It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with... and remember that time waits for no one.

So, stop waiting...
Until your car or home is paid off.
Until you get a new car or home.
Until your kids leave the house.
Until you go back to school.
Until you finish school.
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married.
Until you get a divorce.
Until you have kids.
Until you retire.
Until summer.
Until spring.
Until winter.
Until fall.
Until you die.

There is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt and dance like no one's watching.

Interesting

Unusual Sites in Putnam County, NY

The Stone Chambers

An enormous number of stone chambers are scattered throughout southeastern New York State. They variously have been deemed to be colonial root-cellars, Native American tombs, or Celtic-Druid temples. There is quite a variety of slab chambers throughout Putnam Valley and surrounding towns, not all are ancient however.

Many slab-roofed chambers are hidden beneath the trees of the hills in the Croton Reservoir System, which includes Oscawana Lake, Lake Carmel, Mohegan Lake, and Peach Lake. Stone chambers can be found near all of these lakes in the surrounding forests.

Some of these structures are located near Peekskill Hollow Rd., Tompkins Corners, Meads Corners, and Dicktown Rd., all of which are located around Oscawana Lake. Near Carmel, NY, specifically off of Colesheare Rd. and Clear Pool Rd. exist more slab chambers. Off of Barger St., near Mohegan Lake and along Old Turner Rd. near Peach Lake, sit more unusual stone structures.

Near Brewster there is a desolate road known as "Reservoir Road" where a small stone chamber was discovered. On this road, several encounters with unusual beings have been reported. It has also been reported that one woman took a picture of ghostly, hooded figures in front of a stone chamber.

Strange images on film at these sites are not at all uncommon. At most of the stone chambers, people have taken photographs which when developed, show floating globes of light or strange glows. All of the strange apparitions were never seen, but for some reason appeared on film.

In 1992, late at night, a man encountered a white-robed figure in a slab chamber along Route 301. He had seen a red-glow from the chamber, so he went in and was seemingly warned off by the being.

Entities of that type have been reported in several other unusual sites in that area. These robed beings are sometimes accompanied by hooded Viking-like entities and sometimes with dwarves in hooded robes. The reports are too frequent and numerous to dismiss as an overactive imagination.

Psychic and TV show producer/host, Janet Russell visited the area near Magnetic Mine Rd. near Brewster during the spring of 1998, and agreed to share her experience:

"A group of us went up to Brewster on May 23,1998. I had never been up there before so I was interested in what was happening there. Well anyway, we sat around for quite awhile, when one of the fellas said hey I want to show you something so a few of us, went with my friend to what was called the Stone Caves or Caverns. Since I am a psychic I do feel certain energies, well anyway we all went over to this spot. We got out of the car as soon as I approached what was the doorway to the cave. I all of a sudden felt a drastic change in the temperature. It went from being comfortable to what felt to me like I was in an ice cold freezer. The hair on my body stood up, it was very strange to say the least. Well I immediately got the strange feeling that I was being watched by what I felt was a bigfoot. So me being as brave as I could (LOL) I went directly back to the car. I did not like the energy at that spot. My friends stayed outside the car, But they said they saw what looked like a shadow of a bigfoot. Well while I was seated in the car, I just glanced over into the woods and lo and behold, I saw what looked like yellow piercing eyes staring back at me. But it was only instantaneous. I saw the eyes in two different spots at the same time. Well my buddies were still outside surveying what they saw and felt, I still was in the car (Brave One Me). I happened to look down the darkened road and all of a sudden I saw what looked like globes bouncing up and down the road about 1000 feet in front of me. With what looked like a green aura or being of some kind. We were there about an hour and it was a very strange feeling, I did not feel that the energy was positive at all, almost evil."

-Janet Russell



Abandoned Mines

It is certainly not unusual to hear tales of paranormal experiences surrounding the old mines in southeastern New York state. Reservoir Road, in the town of Southeast, NY has long been known as a location of unusual phenomenon. Even reports of UFO sightings are very common, from the reservoir in Southeast to the Tilly Foster mine pit in Brewster. By the early part of the 20th century, most of these mines were shut down and abandoned. Other unusual sightings have been reported around the Tilly Foster Mine.

Since the late 1800s generations of residents have seen what is usually described as floating orbs of light mostly yellow or white in color. These lights are said to be the ghosts of the miners who died in the late 1800s when the mine caved in, since it was shortly after the accident that the mysterious lights appeared. Many of the glowing lights seen on Magnetic Mine Road (which is part of Reservoir Road for some reason) are accompanied with an eerie fog. Witnesses have also reported seeing aliens, sasquatch or bigfoot, and other strange creatures that some attribute to a dimensional vortex or portal.

For the history of the mine, check out this web site: http://www.southeastmuseum.org/SE_Tour/html/tilly_foster_mine.htm

The Tilly Foster Mine is an open pit iron-ore mine and is filled with mazes of underground shafts. The shafts or tunnels, lead to large galleries in certain spots, where the ore was removed. By 1885, the mine had reached a depth of more than 600 feet below ground. The lower section consisted of tunnels that led to galleries where large pillars of ore were left to support the other levels. As the lower levels flooded, it became increasingly difficult to extract ore. The miners continued to dig and widen the mine until the latter half of 1895 when the depth of the mine became 400 feet and the width was 500 feet. The careless and hasty work being done in the 1890s caused several hundred tons of rock to break loose on November 29, 1895. Thirty-four men were knocked into the pit, thirteen were killed and the rest survived. Only ten bodies were recovered during that day, and it was weeks before the other 3 were found. The mine was shut down for good in August of 1897. The mine was reportedly inactive until 1925 when a company began taking gravel from it for construction of roads. Since then, there have been several unconfirmed reports that the government bought up the land and used it for various purposes. There is, however, ample evidence that indicates secret government/military activity near the mine in the late 1980s and early 1990s. For a more detailed look into government activity at the mine, Phil Imbrogno's book, Contact of the 5th Kind, is a good source. Imbrogno explored the mine with his co-author in hopes of finding an entrance to a secret underground base. In my opinion, if an underground base exists the chances of finding are close to zero. If there is a base, that means there are two underground complexes in southeastern NY; one near Pine Bush and one on the opposite side of the Hudson, near Brewster. Please keep in mind this is pretty much just speculation. But then again, anything is possible. ; )





Circular Ground Discolorations near North Salem, NY

West of North Salem (which is south of Lake Carmel) in a field, are two circular ground disturbance rings which are adjacent to one another. They are approximately 290-330 feet in diameter and the band of each ring is 50 feet in width. The circular impressions run contrary to the plowed paths in the fields. This suggests that whatever left the stains was there long before seventeenth-century English immigrants cleared the forest and "planted the seeds of modern agriculture". These impressions may be the remains of circular earthworks and possibly indicate an ancient underground structure related to those west, in the Wallkill Valley, and even support claims that there are bases in the Brewster area.



REFERENCES:

Imbrogno, Philip J. Contact of the 5th Kind Llewellyn Publications. St. Paul 1997.

Trento, Salvatore M. Field Guide to Mysterious Places of Eastern North America Henry Holt and Company, Inc. New York, NY 1997.

Watch this!

http://www.belt-buckle-knife.com/images/knife.mpg

Mom and Dad's Visit

What a nice visit with Mom and Dad today. Mom looked GREAT, and seemed in very good spirits. Dad however, was feeling a bit under the weather. He was cold and had a slight fever and all the while, kept trying to hold down his stomach. I tried to get them to stay the night, but you know how they are. Dad decided that to be in his own surroundings would make him feel better and Mom, never wanting to oppose Dad, agreed. They came all the way up from Rockland County, only to turn around several hours later and make the long trek home...to come back again tomorrow?!? There's just no figuring those two out. I guess they just don't want to impose...I wish they would though...who knows how many memories we could have had? At this point in the game, we need to take every day, every hour and every minute that we can and make them wonderful, fun, lasting memories, because fellas, you know just as well as I do...this show could all be a memory tomorrow. I just want you all to know how much I love each of you. Always have....always will.

This photo is Dad and Uncle Bill. As was Grandpa Donnelly's penchant for organization, the back of the photo is labelled in his distinctive handwriting....July, 1941. 64 years ago this month!!! 

Lake Carmel

Lake Carmel's allure endures
By MICHAEL RISINIT
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original Publication: June 22, 2005)
75th anniversary


KENT — Sports Illustrated has its fleece blanket. Time magazine gives away a free hand-held organizer with a subscription. The now-defunct New York Daily Mirror enticed subscribers with land in the country.

That piece of the American dream for a generation of blue-collar workers was 201-acre Lake Carmel — created by damming the Croton River. The community was the concept of Warren and Arthur Smadbeck, brothers and prolific developers from Manhattan who had taken over their father's real estate business. Seeking refuge from the sweaty canyons of New York City, the paper's subscribers bought lots around the lake, built bungalows and enjoyed swimming, boating and fresh air.

Lake Carmel, part of the town of Kent, is celebrating its 75th anniversary during the summer and its allure hasn't diminished with age. It's why Laurie Sarracco, 31, and her husband moved from Yonkers three years ago. It's where her 3-year-old, Robert, bobbed on a recent morning.

"Some of our friends from Yonkers like it. They say, 'Oh, you live in the country,' " she said. "Others are like, 'There's nothing up there.'

"But it's only an hour from New York City," Sarracco said. "People don't honk their horns. There's less hoodlumism, if that's the right word."

Today, the neighborhoods around the lake are home to about 8,500, mostly full-time residents. A pharmacy, a hardware store, a liquor store, a smattering of delis and restaurants and a few other businesses dot the main roads — routes 52 and 311 and Towners Road.

At Lake Carmel's peak as a summer retreat and as it melted into suburbia following World War II, there were eight taverns, four butchers, a barber, a pharmacy and a shoemaker, said Eugene Schmidt, 96. He bought the Happy Valley tavern and restaurant on Route 52 in 1945, where Sapori's Restaurant is now, and ran it for 28 years.

"In 1945, you looked out your window and there were 85 lights. Eighty-five families lived year-round in Lake Carmel," said Schmidt, who came from Queens.

"A friend of mine came here in the summer," said Schmidt, explaining how he gave up working in New York City restaurants for sleepy Putnam County. "He said, 'Gene (if you open a business), you're going to be rich.'"

The lake then was a slice of summer. Vintage photographs feature diving boards, dirt roads and DeSotos. Postcards show bathing trunks and modest one-piece suits. Telephones, Schmidt recalled, were few.

"On a Friday night, there were at least eight ladies trying to get into the phone booth (in the Happy Valley) to call their husbands and tell them what to bring up," he said.

By July 1930, the Daily Mirror sold more than 12,000 lots. Each was 20 feet by 100 feet and a minimum of two was needed to build a cottage. One parcel cost $96.50 and could be had for $12.50 down and $3.50 a month. While Lake Carmel remains one of the more moderately priced neighborhoods in the county, anyone who made that initial investment would have been handsomely rewarded, with recent property sales ranging from $150,000 to $300,000.

The original size was modeled after a building lot in the city, said George Michaud, the county's director of real property tax services.

"People understood the concept. Most were renters from the city. It gave them lake rights, a piece of the country," Michaud said.

S. Barrett Hickman, a retired state Supreme Court justice whose father ran the Hickman General Store in Carmel, said he delivered coal to some of the lake's bungalows. Some of the early homes, Hickman said, appeared to be a patchwork of materials.

"Driving (one day), we come up to this car with the trunk tied down. Lumber was sticking out the back. You could see bricks. My father said, 'There goes another house to Lake Carmel,' " Hickman said.

By the following year, the lake's popularity persuaded the Smadbecks and the Daily Mirror to look elsewhere.

"Owing to the tremendous success of Lake Carmel created last year by the Daily Mirror for its readers, there has been an insistent demand that the Mirror create another resort in Putnam County, and we are very proud and happy to be able to offer Putnam Lake to our readers," proclaimed a newspaper advertisement in June 1931.

Warren Smadbeck and his brother as the Home Guardian Co. sold more than 700,000 lots in 30 states, where 75,000 homes were built. At one point, it was estimated the developments housed a permanent population of more than 500,000. Warren Smadbeck died in 1965 at age 80; his brother, Arthur, died 12 years later at the age of 90. According to Arthur Smadbeck's obituary, the brothers were often referred to as the "Henry Fords of the industry" for their practice of buying lake-bordering tracts within commuting distance of large cities, subdividing them, building roads and selling the home sites through newspaper promotions.

The brothers' projects included Lake Parsippany in New Jersey and several developments in Suffolk County. The Home Guardian Co. also built the Hotel Presidente in Havana during the late 1920s.

Decades ago, Lake Carmel was a place of unlocked doors and a quieter Route 52, said Violeta Smadbeck, Warren's widow. She still splits her time between her Manhattan home and the lake.

"This place was always full of friends. You could park them on the floor, wherever," said Smadbeck, 90 of her sprawling lake home.

For Jackie Green, a definite newcomer from Violeta Smadbeck's perspective, the lake's neighborly atmosphere was part of its appeal. Green moved there in 2001, continuing the original trend.

"If I'm going to move out of Brooklyn, I said, I wanted a lake," said Green, 32, who was swimming with her children, Autumn, 3, and Michael, 11 months, on that recent morning.

"Everybody's so friendly," she added. "That's why we moved here. We love it."

Mom's Metaphors

Does anyone know what a "three money lunch kid" is?