Kate Smith's Good Luck Tomb in Lake Placid

We are currently in the middle of The Olympics 2010 in Canada. For a number of yrs I lived in the Lake Placid area where the 1932 & 1980 winter games were held. Many Olympic athletes still come from or train in that region. I have met along the way a few of the athletes along the way. One story I have been told more than a couple of times is an odd good luck ritual involving the tomb of the late singer Kate Smith who lived much of her life in the Placid area. Kate Smith was a singer popular in the 30's 40's & 50's primarily. She had a radio show in the forties & a tv show in the fifties. Someone your grandparents would know well. She was best known for her rendition of God Bless America one hears at ballparks around the nation to this day. She was also a huge sports fan. Fordham football to Celtics basketball and she loved hockey. The Philadelphia Fliers Hockey Team used to have her sing to open games when The Broad Street Bullies were around. She was considered the good luck charm for the team , those that know flyer history know this well. She died circa 1986 and was interred at Saint Agnes Cemetary in her beloved Lake Placid. Somewhere along the way a ritual began in the intervening yrs where Olympic athletes or just some locals kids visit the tomb sometimes in the dead of night and touch her resting place & ask for Kate's blessing. Luge to hockey players to bobsledders have apparently made the trudge especially the women athletes. This applies not just to native Adk Mt people but others hopefuls looking for that edge. I have never been able to track down where or when or who began this occasional tradition but it has gone to Vancouver 2010 I am sure.

Lunch With A Friend

This noon time I will be lunching with an old friend Ron Kunicki. Why am I writing this in a blog ? I have known this guy since 2nd grade. I am in my fifties as is he. Grew up in same hometown. Old friends are nice , we can speak in a short hand way that cuts to the quick on a variety of topics. Nine words work instead of twenty three. Ron has also seen me at perhaps close to my lowest point and remains a friend. Can't buy that. His Mom is still kicking and she accepts me for what I am. That is always a comfort , not playing role of whatever. Perhaps the best part of our friendship is that it frees me to push on with my other areas of life. We don't see each other often enough to get on each others nerves but often enough to center myself. From where I came....was.......went.......am going ......ect. Friendship with someone you have known for a long time keeps one honest about the life you really have come to. From that perspective the chance of going down one to many blind alleys is lessened. You bullshit yourself less often. Sometimes , that can bring some peace............really. To old friends.

Cairns so far discovered in Schodack region

Late last fall while scouting out wooded area south of Green Avenue & Scott Avenue region of Castleton/Schodack I came upon a cairn. Essentially a man made pile of stones. Having traveled these woods as a kid I instantly remembered stumbling across this area before many yrs prior. In my estimation the cairn was originally constructed to be about three to three and a half feet tall. It has since had rocks fall or tumble off. The stones on the bottom appear of the flat variety with rounded smoother stones used from the base. Cairns are common throughout the world. Used for marking trails , gravesites in more ancient times and boundary markers to name a few more common uses. Sometimes a cairn is simply a stone pile left from over from farm field removal or from stone fence building. I found one such cairn in Dutchess County while investigating one of the many stone fence areas of that region a few yrs ago. I believe this particular cairn was a boundary line configuration. Nearby on another pass through the area many yrs ago I uncovered pieces of old brittle barb wire that ran for quite a distance. I contemplated deconstructing the cairn but decided to leave the original work in place as I should have. I doubt this is used as a marker anymore but leaving the original keeps the integrity of the setting. I estimate this cairn to be a minimum of 60yrs old. I have known of it's being in place for atleast 45 yrs. Boulders or trees were used often in yrs past. Some trees have surveyors spikes in them to show boundaries. these were common practices in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In England such places as the North York Moors have old concrete or carved stone structures some dating hundreds of yrs back. Probably in many cases boundary markers. One such edifice in North York is named Fat Betty { you can Google her}. I still have a photo of her I took yrs ago. As an afterthought there are two other small rock piles I have come across in Schodack region , one in wooded area of Maple Hill High School , another off Graw Rd. Both consist of appx 8 or so rocks. Their origin I don't at present have a speculation on. Perhaps debris collection.