1610 –- English explorer Henry Hudson, in the employ of Dutch financial backers, sails his ship the Half Moon into what now is known as Hudson Bay, Canada, thinking he had made it through the fabled Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean.
1776 -– The Declaration of Independence is formally signed by representatives of the 13 founding states.
1923 –- Vice President Calvin Coolidge becomes President of the United States upon the death of President Warren G. Harding.
1934 –- Adolf Hitler becomes führer — a title meaning “leader” or “guide” — of Germany following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg.
1990 -– The Iraqi army, under Saddam Hussein, invades neighboring Kuwait, an action that touches off the First Gulf War.
• In case you missed this posting back in April, here it is again because it’s very timely now.
Rafaella
Now that we are reviving our Rotary Youth Exchange initiative, it’s time to introduce the student who will be visiting Maple Hill High School for the 2016-17 school year.
Meet Rafaella Leal Câncio. She is a 16-year-old high school junior who lives in Ubá, a city of about 100,000 residents in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil about 75 miles north of Rio de Janiero.
Rafaella lives at home with her parents, Francisco and Marcella, and two younger siblings, Filipe, 11, and Heloisa, 7. Her father is a businessman, her mother a teacher.
She has studied English for five years, and grades herself as “good” in speaking and reading the language, but “poor” in writing it. This year, she is studying math, history, geography, physics, chemistry, sociology, philosophy, art, physical education and, of course English and her native Portugese. She also is a member of the student council, and has a strong interest in drama and movies and is considering studying drama in college.
So, what does Rafaella hope to gain from her year in the U.S.? As she said in her written application, she wants to “get more mature, open my mind, grow up as a person, and learn a new culture.”
The Goold Orchards and winery entrance (top) and a view of the Bruno Stadium field from the picnic pavilion.
A pair of upcoming “Summer Casual Schedule” events have reservation deadlines this week. Act now to avoid disappointment!
• The deadline is this Thursday for reserving seats for the ValleyCats Baseball & Picnic at Bruno Stadium (scheduled for August 18).
This is one of our biggest family outings each summer. It begins with a picnic dinner in the covered pavilion on the stadium’s first-base side, followed by reserved seats for a New York-Penn League pro baseball game between the homestanding Tri-City ValleyCats and the visiting Aberdeen (MD) Ironbirds.
Tickets are just $25 each, and are going fast. The price covers the meal, the game, and a souvenir baseball cap. Parking is free on the Hudson Valley Community College campus that is home to the stadium. Terry Brewer is coordinating the event, but RSVPs should be made only via email to SRCrotary@gmail.com as quickly as possible.
• The deadline is this Saturday for the wine tasting and orchard-inspired dinner at Goold Orchards, scheduled for August 11. The price is a bargain at $20 per person, thanks to co-hosts Pat Bailey and Debbie Rodriguez who are making all the arrangements again this year.
When you RSVP to SRCrotary@gmail please be sure to (1) include the number of guests you will be bringing, and (2) indicate everyone’s entree choice. Here is the menu:
Entree choices
Stuffed Filet of Sole (broiled fish with a Fuji apple stuffing)
or
Harvest Chicken Breast (boneless breast of chicken, sauteed with cherries, sweet onions and apples, braised in an apple cider reduction
Accompaniments
Wild rice and grilled seasonal vegetables
Desserts
Harvest crumb-apple cranberry pie
Apple cider donuts
30 BC -– Octavian, later known as Augustus, enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic.
1498 –- Christopher Columbus led the first European group to visit what now is Venezuela.
1774 –- British scientist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen gas, corroborating the prior discovery of this element by the German-Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.
1876 –- Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state.
1981 –- MTV begins broadcasting. Its first video is titled “Video Killed the Radio Star,” by The Buggles.
30 BC –- In Egypt, Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian’s forces in the Battle of Alexandria, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to his suicide.
1492 –- Under Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, the expulsion of all Jews from Spain is begun as the Alhambra Decree takes effect.
1777 –- The Second Continental Congress passes a resolution that the services of Gilbert du Motier “be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions, he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States.” Du Motier, better known as the Marquis de Lafayette, was two months shy of his 20th birthday.
1790 –- The first U.S. patent is issued, to inventor Samuel Hopkins of Pittsford, VT, for an improvement “in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process.” Potash is one of several salts mined to extract its potassium. Because there was no federal Patent Office at that time, Hopkins received the patent after petitioning for it under the new U.S. patent statute signed into law by President Washington on April 10 of that year.
2012 –- Swimmer Michael Phelps breaks the record set in 1964 by Larisa Latynina for the most medals won at the Olympic Games. He compiled 22 medals (18 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze medals); the Soviet gymnast had won 14 (6 gold, 5 silver, 3 bronze).
Our old logo and the shirts and caps we had it applied to are outdated and getting a bit threadbare.
So, we’ve come up with a new logo (but retained the original colors) that reflects the official basic design change instituted by Rotary International two years ago.
And, you now can have it put on anything from polo shirts to caps, from fleeces to vests, from aprons to tote bags, from mugs to aprons, etc.
Dawn Vavala, a member of the Twin Bridges Rotary Club, provides personalized services through her company, Nite Owl Marketing. She displayed several samples of the products at our club’s recent get-together at Eastwyck Village.
In addition to having the club logo on whatever you purchase, many items can be personalized with your name on them (or the name of the person you’re buying it for as a gift).
Says Dawn, “If you go to my website and click on the Rotary button [at the top of the home page] then scroll down, you can see many of the popular items. It is not a store, just a page to display a few items. You can also click on the apparel button toward the bottom of the page to see all the clothing one can order.
” I promise to take great care of the members of the SRC club.”
Purchase prices, sizing, and other details also are on her website.
762 –- The city of Baghdad is founded by Caliph Al-Mansur. Located along the Tigris River in today’s Iraq, it will go on to become the world’s largest city (population an estimated 1.2 million) during the 11th-13th centuries, known as the High Middle Ages.
1608 –- At Ticonderoga (now Crown Point, NY), the French explorer Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs. This will set the tone for French-Iroquois relations for the next 100 years.
1619 –- In Jamestown, VA, the first representative assembly created by European settlers in the Americas, the House of Burgesses, convenes for the first time.
1866 –- In New Orleans, Louisiana’s Democrat-controlled government orders police to raid an integrated Republican Party meeting. They end up killing 40 people and injuring another 150.
1965 –- President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law the Social Security Act of 1965, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.
Jim McHugh with son Matt and wife Maureen during SRC scholarship presentation.
Club member Jim McHugh, part of our large “Class of 2016,” is currently a patient at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston where he is undergoing chemotherapy prior to a scheduled leg amputation on August 19, according to Terry Brewer.
“Jim is not able to participate in Rotary events/programs at this time. His recovery and therapies will take some time,” Terry reports.
“Jim will continue as a club member this year. Please feel free to send cards of support to him during this time.”
For those of you who have not yet gotten to know Jim very well, he is the principal of Belltop Elementary School in East Greenbush. He and his wife, Maureen, are the parents of Matt McHugh, who recently was awarded an SRC Citizenship Scholarship award.
You can get Jim’s contact information from the password-protected “Member Contact Data” page on the website. All club members have been apprised of the password several times, but if you’ve mislaid it, check with Bill Dowd for a reissue.
“Summer Casual” Greek Dinner Calamaras Residence
Castleton, NY July 28, 2016
Members Attending (11, no quorum): Debbie Rodriguez, Roberto Martinez, Bill Dowd, April Dowd, Jim Leyhane, Murray Forth, Dean Calamaras, Doris Calamaras, Debbie Brown, Melissa Bill, Ray Hannan. (No quorum)
Guests (3): Maggie Forth, Jeremy Forth, Lois Hannan.
BUSINESS/ANNOUNCEMENTS
• After the pledge and invocation, no business was conducted. We had an absence of a quorum for the second consecutive week. (A quorum requires attendance by at least 12 members, according to our bylaws.)
• It was noted that longtime member and past president Rommel Tolentino has tendered his resignation from the club via a letter to Treasurer Murray Forth.
• Many more donations were received this evening for our annual “School Supplies Drive,” which runs through August 21. Bill Dowd is coordinating the drive, so please give donations directly to him at each of our get-togethers.
• Bill Dowd issued a request for attendees to be sure to fill out the RSVP chart for upcoming summer events, most of which have earlier-than-usual deadlines because they are at commercial venues rather than being member-hosted. Next week’s event is a buffet dinner in the Boathouse Grille at Donovan’s Shady Harbor Marina in New Baltimore. The price is $25 per person. Terry Brewer is coordinating the event.
ACTIVITY
Dean and Doris Calamaras hosted this “Summer Casual” club event, treating those assembled to a Greek dinner of chicken souvlaki, Greek salad, rice pilaf, corn on the cob, and baklava, along with various appetizers and desserts contributed by attendees.
We raised $260, which Dean and Doris designated for the Gift of Life program. Here are some scenes from the dinner, provided by Bill Dowd and Roberto Martinez.
Dean grilling chicken souvlaki skewers.Doris whipping up some tatziki sauce to go with the souvlaki.Part of the dining group, and ...… yet another part …… and even more.Sharing a smile.Engrossed in conversation.Our hosts still hard at work.
1148 –- The Siege of Damascus ends in a decisive Crusader defeat that will lead to the disintegration of the Second Crusade.
1836 -– The Arc de Triomphe (Triumphal Arch) is inaugurated in the center of the Place de l’Étoile (later to be renamed the Place Charles de Gaulle), at the western end of the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The structure was created to honor those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces.
1907 –- Sir Robert Baden-Powell sets up the Brownsea Island Scout Camp in Poole Harbour on the south coast of England. The camp will run for eight days, and will be regarded as the foundation of the worldwide Scouting movement.
1921 –- Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, colloquially known as the Nazi Party.
1976 –- In New York City, David Berkowitz (a.k.a. the “Son of Sam”) kills one person and seriously wounds another in the first of a series of attacks.
“Summer Casual” Greek Dinner
• Many more donations were received this evening for our annual “School Supplies Drive,” which runs through August 21. Bill Dowd is coordinating the drive, so please give donations directly to him at each of our get-togethers.
