she plans to do it again

Three for the Mona Lisa 1 It is not what she did at 10 o’clock last evening accounts for the smile It is that she plans to do it again tonight. 2 Only the mouth all those years ever letting on. 3 It’s not the mouth exactly it’s not the eyes exactly either it’s not [...]

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four years seem like four score

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maggie may

“I’ve got a woman’s ability to stick to a job and get on with it when everyone else walks off and leaves it.” – Margaret Thatcher

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and the horse you rode in on

This weekend, Linny Kenney is riding into town on horseback. She’s traveled cross-country in pursuit of a childhood dream. She’ll be staying at Halcyon Farm before setting off on the last leg of her journey. We’re asking for ideas to support her and gifts of local items for a gift basket. Call my office at [...]

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prayer of forgiveness

The following was found written on a paper in the coat of a dead girl at Ravensbruck, a German concentration camp for women. Approximately 92,000 of the 132,000 women there died from gas chambers, malnourishment, sickness, and other violent acts. “O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will, but also those [...]

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keener

“Her hearing was keener than his, and she heard silences he was unaware of.” ~ D.M. Thomas

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no bad news

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poem

Naming My Daughter In the Uruba tribe of Africa, children are named not only at birth but throughout their lives by their characteristics and the events that befall them. The one who took hold in the cold night The one who kicked loudly The one who slid down quickly in the ice storm She who [...]

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hootspa

“Cautious, careful people always casting about to preserve their reputation or social standards never can bring about reform. Those who are really in earnest are willing to be anything or nothing in the world’s estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathies with despised ideas and their advocates, and bear the [...]

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hmmmmm

Albany Tech has offered $50K to secure a new option agreement for the Chalmers luxury apartment project, and should the project not come to fruition, they will pay any additional cost beyond what the City has secured in grants for demolition. It’s an estimated $24-40M construction project with the potential to produce over a million [...]

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prayer of philaret

My Lord, I know not what I ought to ask of Thee. Thou and Thou alone knowest my needs. Thou lovest me more than I am able to love Thee. O Father, grant unto me, Thy servant, all which I cannot ask. For a cross I dare not ask, nor for consolation; I dare only [...]

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spot on

“I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.” — Margaret Thatcher

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overnight

The day your son calls you on the telephone and is no more your boy, you know he is someone else’s man. Hi, Mom! he calls across a chasm. You guess the joy that carved it, and you cry, Hello! She will be the bridge, now, between you and your son. Overnight he has become [...]

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more steady crushing

Both. Be comforted. There is true beauty and romance loose in the world.

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25 years too late

My first and lasting crush:

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back to earth

Lately, character assassination, mis-truths and histrionics have become commonplace online. It’s disappointing, as this venue has terrific potential to provide a forum for community problem-solving that does not exist elsewhere. Locally, blog conversation has been lead far astray by a select few from what is important for Amsterdam to achieve our vision for revitalization. To [...]

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nearest book, page 56, line 5

“You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief, but rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.” Try this one. It’s fun. Post what’s within your reach in my comment section.

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your turn

For the first few days of this week, I attended the NYCOM (New York State Conference of Mayors) Annual Meeting in Saratoga. Three-hundred-fifty experienced and brilliant mayors from north, south, east and west attended. We were treated to various workshops and forums about finance, operations, legislative action, ethics, and economic development. It was enlightening and [...]

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it’s all good.

I’ve had the oddest convergence of circumstances lately – reconnecting with friends from high school on facebook, the loss of my aunt this week, the bullying incidents reported recently on several local blogs, and involvement in a suicide prevention initiative at GASD… it’s kicked up some “stuff“. I write a lot about faith and survival. [...]

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certainty

I took a walk at lunchtime today, as it’s been far too long since I’d been out and about on my own two feet between the hours 8am and 6pm. There were so many projects, concerns, costs, politics and complaints, the office air was dense with them. I headed up Church Street with purpose, lost [...]

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