Main Street Briarcliff Manor

by Posted in Places Leave a comment
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Above a picture of Pleasantville Road in Briarcliff Manor. Although it’s not called ‘main street’ that’s pretty much what it is. It has a butchers, a hardware store, a stationary store, an art store, a few restaurants etc. We’ve lived there for about 17 years and it really is a charming village. We recently received a notification from the Briarcliff Manor and Scarborough Historical Society informing us of significant changes to portions of Wikipedia related to the village:

We have a real Wikipedia whiz in our midst – Michael Feist. He was just recognized by the Wikipedia “top guys” as a producer of superior work. If you follow this link you’ll see the most recent addition Mike has made to the online encyclopedia. The article has a gold star above it, as does his article on Briarcliff Manor. Few contributors receive this designation of excellence for their submissions.

Mike has been writing for Wikipedia for some time. Among other things it gives him an outlet for his continual questing, researching mind. Last summer he organized a Wikipedia “edit-a-thon” at the Briarcliff Library. So far as I observed an edit-a-thon is a marathon session of work and collaboration with lots of food and drinks (very important) and lots of hookups where very smart guys (and there was one girl) connect their laptops and just go for it. It’s not a contest — it’s one helping another with tricky stuff, which has to conform to certain Wikipedia guidelines.

When the Wikipedians were here last summer I showed them around the EOCW Historical Center and they loved the photographic and written material we have about our local history. However, as you can see, it has been Michael who has taken that ball and run with it.

Other Articles by Michael Feist include:

History of Briarcliff Manor
Timeline of Briarcliff Manor
Walter W. Law
Briarcliff Farms
Scarborough Historic District
Beechwood
Sleepy Hollow Country Club
All Saints’ Episcopal Church
Briarcliff Manor Public Library
Briarcliff Manor Fire Department
Scarborough train station
Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District
Briarcliff College
Briarcliff High School
Dr. Holbrook’s Military School
Scarborough Day School
Edith Macy Conference Center
Carrie Chapman Catt House

Michael Feist also authored: “Briarcliff Manor: Then & Now“, a book of historical and contemporary photos – each photo taken from the same location. The book is also available from the Briarcliff Manor and Scarborough Historical Society.

Hanging Balls

by Posted in Black & White, Things Leave a comment
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The next few posts contain pictures taken during a recent trip to Washington, D.C. (actually to nearby Tysons Corner and Falls Church). My father-in-law passed away in 1978 and is buried in Falls Church, Virginia. My wife and some of her brothers (and in one case his family) decided to go to visit his grave on the occasion of his birthday. It was also an an opportunity to meet up with some old friends living in Washington and to do some shopping and sightseeing (at least for some). We’d been to Washington, D.C. many times and my wife had lived an studied there. So we didn’t feel the need to go sightseeing. It was also very hot and walking around in the sun wasn’t appealing. Apart from the times we went out for meals with family and friends we stayed in and around our hotel and the enormous mall attached to it (you could go into the mall from the hotel without going out in the heat). Another reason for not going sightseeing was that I didn’t want to take yet more “postcard like” shots of the Washington sights. Instead I wandered in an around the hotel and took pictures there.

This one is of a number of glass balls hanging from the ceiling in our hotel lobby.

Snapping Turtle at Chuang Yen Monastery

by Posted in Wildlife & Animals Leave a comment
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We took visiting brothers-in-law to the Chuang Yen Monastery and were watching people feed (despite a sign saying no feeding) the large numbers of very aggressive carp-like fish in the lake the other day when this medium sized snapping turtle put in an appearance. In the water he/she was outclassed. The fish were far to fast. However, the turtle had one great advantage: he/she could get out of the water, which he/she did and ate all the pieces of bread that didn’t make it into the water

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Related Posts:

Chuang Yen Monastery – Exteriors
Chuang Yen Monastery – Details
Feeding the Fish