Hi all and welcome to another exciting and thought provoking issue of this bi-weekly newsletter, The CORNERSTONE TRAVELER.  Also available online at www.cornerstonetraveler.com.

 

mid-Hudson Valley news:  Unfortunately there is not much happening in the mid-Hudson Valley currently; There are no county fairs of any sort happening.  Even the town flea markets have closed down

I just hope and pray that we get more show fall this winter.  The mid-Hudson Valley has been in a moderate if not severe drought this year because of the lack of snow fall last year.

(maybe three inches of accumulated snow fall last year and lack of rain this past spring, summer and fall has contributed to the drought conditions)

 

observations:  Thank God the election season is over! I can’t count the number of times I saw election ads on TV.  It was enough that I grew tired of both candidates for the presidency.

And the robo calls! I got so many that I immediately hung up when I got one.  I got at least six robo calls from the Trump campaign and  hung up on them especially those that claimed I would get a signed Trump photo if I donated $100.00 Then I got a Trump robo call from the Trump campaign if I donated $1000.00 I would get an autographed copy of one of his books.  Books that don’t seem to last past chapter eleven.

I just hope that all the campaign people remove those damn signs that littered the intersections of our roads.  I don’t think I looked at even one.

 

sports:  NFL:  The Jets-Rams game had to be one of the most boring football games I have ever       seen.  There were only four scores during the entire game where the Jets lost to the Rams by a score of 6-9.  They have a record of 3-7 and are on 4^th  place of the AFC East.

Giants beat the Bengals 21-20 and are 6-3 in their division.

 

NBA:  The Knicks are in 4^th place in the NBA East with a record of 3-6.  The Nets are in 3^rd place of the same division with a record of 4-5.

 

other:  As with all previous issues of the newsletter everything written here is either copyright protected or copyright pending.

The history of  P&G’s follows this newsletter from the mid 1930’s to almost the present.

The short story that follows this history I wrote called The MOSTLY FOOLS, a VIKING and a LEPRACHUAN.

 

Thank-you  -  Rik McGuire

 

            History of P&G’s continued to the present

 

From 1925 – 1945 a number of diverse businesses occupied the building.  These included Carols Clothing Store (1937), Atkins Drug Store (1938), Schaffert Real Estate Office (1943), and Dicks Bar and Grill among others.

In 1947 Dicks Bar and Grill was purchased by two Lake Mohonk employees, Pat Cafferty and George Jayne.  Legend has it that neither told their wives of their intention to purchase the business.  They immediately changed the Grills name to Pat and Georges.  Among it loyal customers it was simply P&G’s.

One of the best things to happen to P&G’s occurred in 1961.  An ex Dodger player named Stormer Nickerson became a bartender.  Stormy as he was affectionately known became something of a legend.  His heart, quiet good humor and generous spirit made P&G’s the one place that welcomed all from the harsher outside world into a refuge for college students, business people, local characters and even for a while, in the 1960’s, bikers.  According to one source.  “They weren’t as rowdy a crew as you might expect because although he was quiet, Stormy commanded and got respect.”  His professional baseball background made him a natural to pitch batting practice for the New Paltz College teams and he did so for a number of seasons.  One college fraternity considered P&G’s their private domain.  The scene of everything important, news, views, camaraderie and especially humor was always evident at P&G’s.

After the St. Helens volcano erupted and news reports discussed the possibility of ash fall out across the U.S., Stormy came to work to find the staff dressed in garbage bags and metal kitchen colanders on their heads.  Since no ash was reported on anyone Stormy reasoned the attire had been affective by making everyone laugh their ash off.

 

In June 1991, after 30 years, Stormy retired from P&G’s.  He died in June of 1994.  From his casual humor that lingers, to his Chile recipe that is still served and the kind memories often repeated by his many friends, Stormy is still here.

In 1969 Edwin Beck bought P&G’s.  His first weekend as owner was completely successful.  The following weekend, however, the place was deserted.  A disheartened Beck couldn’t understand what he had done to alienate everyone so quickly.  He was relieved to learn it was simply a matter of poor timing.  Everyone was away and wallowing in a farm in Bethel NY.  A music festival or something.

Ed Beck never spent time worrying.  He looked across Main Street and up Platekill Avenue, seeing thousands of thirsty college students who, for the most part remained on campus.

Taking a good supply of liquid refreshment, Beck went to the campus and gave the students (all legal in those days) a new place to call home.  He transformed P&G’s from a neighborhood bar into a local institution.

The face of Beck’s personality had much to do with the continued success of P&G’s, the place was fun.  One oft quoted story about Beck concerns a young P&G’s enthusiast who wanted to be just like Beck when he grew up.  It is reported that Beck in all humility replied.  “Well you can’t do both.”

The name Pat and Georges was officially changed to P&G’s in the 1980’s by Ed Beck and his son Mike.  In 1985, Mike bought out his father’s interest.  In 1994, he undertook extensive renovations, making the building exterior appear as it did in 1900, when it was the Casino.

 

 

 

   The MOTLY FOOL’s, a VIKING and the LEPRECHAUN

 

My name is Geoffrey Marner and I am currently being held in the King’s dungeon, waiting for my execution tomorrow morning by be-heading.

I was the Motly Fool in King Harold’s court.  A Motly Fool is one who dresses up in the most outrageous costumes and is able to make fun of everyone in the King’s court including the King and Queen, without any thought of retribution or punishment because everyone thinks us the fool, hence the name Motly Fool.  The word Motly is from the way we dress in the most outrageous and outlandish costumes.

I have been around as the Motly Fool for about seven hundred years.  Yes, I am one of those mythological creatures known as immortals.  Why God gave me this gift is an unknown.  Maybe God thought that I was needed to entertain the courts of Royalty and maybe show them a smarter way with my insulting humor.  That is the only reason I can think as to why I was given this gift of immortality.  But to give this gift to such a short person like myself?  And to one who has the ability to see and make fun of the faults of others?  Only God knows the reason.

If you know of the mythical creatures of immortals then you know the only way to dispose of us is to separate our heads from our bodies which is what will happen tomorrow morning.  Am I complaining?  No!  Considering that the average year of death of almost all the people in this kingdom is between 35 and 40, I have lived at least twenty lifetimes.  It was bound to end.

I am currently married to Lilia.  She is a head taller than me at 5′ 4″.  We have been married for twenty years.  She knows I am an immortal.  She has seen me supposedly die too many times to count.  She also knows that she can never have children with me.  God will not allow it.  I don’t know why because immortals are not born.  They must first die from a violent

death.  This happened to me when I was serving in the Kings army as essentially a gofer.  I would go for swords, food, ale and whatever.   When seven hundred years ago we were attacked by a ravaging band of Saxon’s.  It was so quick I was not able to get my armor on before a Saxon ran me through with a huge sword.  That was my first death.  Within a few minutes my wound healed and I came back to life.  A knight, Sir Lance of Salisbury who was an immortal saw me die and come back to life and he took me under his wing to learn the true life of an immortal.  Unfortunately Sir Lance died a few years later with another battle with Viking marauders.  One Viking took a huge doubled blade ax and separated his head from his body.  It was then I decided to use my height or lack thereof in a far safer occupation and I decided to be the Motly Fool in the Kings court.

How am I writing this when I am confined to a dungeon you may ask? And you should.  I have friends who were able to smuggle parchment with ink and quill past the smiling guards.  And they have promised to retrieve what I write on this parchment and have it distributed to the masses after my death.

I have had so many names in my seven hundred years and so many wives that I loved and watched die that I do not fear death.  Though Lilia will be saddened as she watches my final and real death.  I feel bad for her.  But it cannot be helped.

.

At the time of my indiscretion, the remark I made that made the King so furious to force my execution, there was a lively party in the court of King Harold.  Everyone was pretty well into their cups when the discussion of the Scots and Ireland came up.  There was much joking and laughter about the pagan Gaelic people.  The King was perplexed that the Druid priests could command such respect that they could start and stop a battle with just a wave of their hand.  He had no such power and wondered out loud how the Druid priests commanded such power.  I naturally said some rather insulting remarks about the English command and everyone laughed.  Then I made the seven hundred year mistake of commenting on the King’s sex life.  Before I write of what I said, you must realize that the king was known for sticking it to almost any woman or girl in the castle, from the highest knight’s ladies to the lowest stable hands.  My comment that made for my execution was ‘Maybe we should use that thing between your legs that you have used so effectively on all the ladies of your castle.’

Everyone stood up and roared with laughter except the king and his wife.  The wife knew he was putting the thing between his legs to every woman, girl he found attractive, but did nothing to stop it and only endured her humiliation.

It took the king less than a quarter hour to have me thrown in the dungeon for expressing what everyone knew.

The high judge handed me my sentence within one day of my incarceration within the dungeon.  So here I am, waiting for my execution

It should be interesting because I haven’t died in seven hundred years.  I wonder what I will experience with death

Signed

Geoffrey Marner

 

 

My name is Colin Tyler and like Geoffrey I am a Motly Fool and also like Geoffrey I am an

immortal.  King Harold knew he needed another Motly Fool for his court and found me.  I was immediately hired to entertain and make fun in the King’s court.

Though like Geoffrey, I am an immortal I have only been alive for three hundred years and I have much to learn.  I learned a lot from Geoffrey, but we differed on why we existed as immortals.  We were able to slip away from the castle on those few nights that the king wasn’t entertaining and we went to the local tavern called the Boars Head.  There we argued why God had given us immortality.  Geoffrey insisted it was because that though we were tiny people, we  could find the faults in the others around us and make fun of their faults.

I, on the other hand, insisted it was because we were viewed as lesser humans because of our

 

stature and our wealth or lack thereof, I constantly pointed to the seemingly young stable hand of the King’s horses and how he was immortal and also poor.  I stressed there was a logic in God’s reasoning.

My first death happened three hundred years ago by a disgruntled knight who was well into his cups and I said something that disturbed him greatly.  He grabbed me from behind and slit my throat with a knife in the sheath on his leg.  He dragged  my seemingly lifeless body into the forest that surrounded the castle.  He hoped that his murder of a tiny person would not be noticed for some time and maybe not at all if the wolves in the forest had their way with my body.  I came back to life with a wolf sniffing and licking my healing wound on my neck.  Needless to say the wolf yelped and stood back as I rose up and dusted myself off of dirt and leaves.

My murder was witnessed by Geoffrey and he took me under his wing and taught me of

the life of immortals.  He hid me in a cottage just outside the castle walls.  He said I could never be seen by the knight who had murdered my mortal body, as the knight would claim I was a child of Satan.  And I tried my best not to be seen by that knight.  But one day I was outside my cottage, lounging in the sun.  I was careless because I had not heard the approaching horse with the knight atop it.  He stopped his horse and almost cried for redemption when he saw me rise from where I was lounging and smile at him.  He turned his  horse around and sprinted to the castle.  I never saw the knight again and it was rumored that he left Great Britain for the Saxon’s never to be seen again.  This was beneficial on my part because I could reenter the castle and be Geoffrey’s side kick as a Motly Fool.

I saw Geoffrey smile at me as he was led to his be-heading.  It seemed to me he knew something.  But I am unaware of what they knew.  I know I learned from Geoffrey and I will not insult this king or future kings with what I observe.

I have survived several kings from King Harold to the present King Edward.  He truly hates the people of Ireland and how they have embraced the Catholic religion in the past two hundred years.

 

He became furious at me when I suggested with him that maybe we should let the Irish condemn themselves and their souls.  Now I am in King Edwards’s dungeon awaiting execution by be-heading.   I, like Geoffrey wonder what I will experience with death.  It is only a few hours for me now and I am comfortable with my fate.

 

 

Signed

Colin Tyler

 

My name is Sven Longhorn, a Viking warrior.  I met with Geoffrey when my fellow Viking warriors and myself were rapping and pillaging the English countryside on their east coast.  We dared not go further inland than five miles because we knew and feared the English knights on their horses.  Our leader, Eric Redhair thought to raid the eastern coast then dip down to the southern coast and then finally to the western coast.  He dared not go north and to Scotland because the Scots were fearsome fighters.  Besides he thought that with our raids of the English coastline, we would have pillaged enough that we could row to our home as victorious warriors.

When we raided one coastal township, I met up with that little man, Geoffrey Marner.  When I first saw him there was much fighting and bloodshed in the small and tiny township.

Geoffrey seemed to appear out of nowhere with a tiny sword in his tiny hand.  He ran,

stumbled to a fellow Viking warrior who was dragging a screaming young girl of about fifteen or sixteen  to a field where he obviously thought he would have his way with her, then in all probability kill her.

I watched as that little man rushed up behind my fellow warrior and slashed his leg with his tiny sword.  Togan released the girl and grabbed for his sword as well as his leg.  I saw Geoffrey yell for the girl to run.  Then I saw Togan thrust his sword through Geoffrey.  Geoffrey went down immediately with

a smile on his lips.  He was obviously dead and Togan cursed the little man and kick him because he,

 

Geoffrey, had interrupted a grand party he had planned with the young girl.

For some reason I was intrigued with the death of the little man and I just stared at his

lifeless body.  Suddenly, as I stared at his body, his body convulsed and he sat up smiling.  I rose from where I was seated to check on this miraculous recovery.  As I approached he rose to his feet, brushed himself off and took notice of me approaching him.  He looked around for his sword, found it and picked it up.  He immediately went into a defensive posture waiting for me to attack him.  I raised both hands up to show I had no weapons other than what was in my sheath on my back.  He relaxed, but only a little.

“Relax, my friend.”  I said.  “I am only curious about all the rumors I had heard about immortal people.  And I think I have just witnessed the death or supposed death of an immortal.”

He relaxed, then smiled.  “Yes, I am an immortal.  But thus far I have been careful to allow only a select few to see my faux death and resurrection.”

“I have never truly believed the rumors and myths about immortals.”  I said, “But now I

believe.”

Togan had gone to join in the pillaging of the small coastal township, so we were alone.

I wanted to learn more about them, the immortals.

I knew I had to stay on that big island that was Great Britain.  So I had to fake my death.  I laid down my sword and shield on the ground where there was a lot of blood.  I also laid down parts of my tunic.  I cut myself to make blood on the tunic.  I also left the horn of an elk antler that I always wore around my neck to signify my name Longhorn.  That should be enough, I thought.

After my Viking brethren rowed back to our homeland.  I stayed in a cottage that

Geoffrey found for me near the castle of King Harold.  We talked often in my cottage.  He

explained the life of immortals to me.  I even witnessed his true death by be-heading a few short years

later.  I don’t have to tell you I was saddened by his death.

 

When I learned that he had written of his life in the dungeon of King Harold, I told the people who were to retrieve this parchment of Geoffrey that I wanted to include my own observations of Geoffrey.

Signed

Sven Longhair

 

My name is Shamus.  I am a leprechaun and I have been observing immortals for thousands of years.  And no, I don’t have a pot of gold.  I only exist to watch immortals lives and how they exist in the mortal world.

I have seen the immortal deaths of Geoffrey, Colin and the stable hand of the King’s

horses by a disgruntled knight when he thought his saddle was not prepared properly and took his sword to sever the stable hands head from his body.  The stable hand had been around for at least

thirty years and he looked the same as he did thirty years earlier.

Colin had seen the death of the immortal stable hand and like when Geoffrey was be-headed, streaks of light shot out from the both headless bodies and entered into Colin.  He absorbed the released energy from the headless bodies of the immortals.

Though I am a leprechaun and also an immortal,  I cannot answer the question that

Geoffrey and Colin debated on why they were chosen to be immortals.  As a leprechaun, I have been around for thousands of years.  In my thousands of years of existence I have not learned or

thought of one reason why we, immortals, exist.

I do try and guide human immortals as best I can without them knowing of my existence.

No one can see me, as I am but a wisp of wind that passes by their heads.  And as I pass by their heads, they can get impressions from me and how to behave and react to different situations.

On occasion I would let myself appear before mortal humans, but only as a very tiny person.  But

 

a person who was well learned.  The ancient druid priests saw past my facade as a person and knew I and others like me had magical abilities.  Hence those mythical and magical creatures known as leprechauns were born.  In reality there are less than one hundred of us in existence today.

Why did God create us or did we evolve?  The plans and thoughts of God are unknown to all including those who claim to know the mind of God.  That is impossible!  No human mortal or immortal can know the mind of God.

I don’t know what else I can write.  Why did God create immortals and leprechauns?  I just don’t know.  I only know that we exist for the benefit of mankind, though mankind is doing its best to damn their existence for all eternity.  I only hope that I and the chosen immortals can stem mankind’s damnation.

We can only try our best and hope for the betterment of mankind.  But it may be well impossible for as long as mankind worships love of money over love of God, they are damned.

S                                                                                                                                                Signed

Shamus

 

My name is Leland and I found the preceding documents in a tree near Stonehenge.  I have always been intrigued by the ancient past of Ireland, Scotland and England.  So I toured the

ancient sites of these lands.  I happened to be walking to Stonehenge, automobiles are not allowed near this ancient monument.  As I walked to the stone edifice, I came upon an ancient Oak tree that seemed ready to accept its fate.  I saw a burrel hole in the trunk that was large enough for a hand and naturally I had to explore this burrel hole.  I found the ancient parchments wrapped in oilskins and slipped them into my jacket so that I could study them at my home

I was able to decipher the documents because I am a scholar of ancient dialects including

 

Gaelic, Saxon and Viking.

I am presenting what I have transcribed from these documents.  Read and learn from these ancient peoples.

I found the burial ground where Sven Longhorn was buried.  I dug up all the papers of

that far off time when he lived.  (About 1100 AD)   Church records show he never converted to Protestantism.  The local reverend at the time of his death was reluctant to allow him to be buried in the church cemetery because Sven had not renounced his Norse heritage and religion.  But he was over ruled by the church council and the Village where the church was located.  He was over ruled because the people of the Village benefitted from Sven skills as a warrior and hunter.  He showed and taught the coastal Villages on how to protect themselves from Viking assaults.  They learned and quickly the Vikings gave up their assaults of the English.

I found the written records of the scribes of both King Harold and King Edward.  And as I suspected, Geoffrey Marner and Colin Tyler did exist in their courts as well as in countless other

King’s courts.  But I was only able to trace Geoffrey back about seventy years because it was obvious he had changed his name countless times through his seven hundred year life.  So as to deflect suspicion from him over why he had lived for so many years.

It was the same with Colin Tyler.  I could not trace him for too long because he obviously tried his best to cover his identify and tracks.

The stable hand in King Harold’s court was easy enough to learn because the knight who had killed him was summarily and immediately banished from the King’s court.  He was known

as Sir Harry the Harsh.  And harsh he was considering how he reacted to a saddle preparation.  It was believed he joined up with the Scots to fight Great Britain.

As for Shamus, the leprechaun, he is impossible to trace or learn about because leprechauns

don’t leave written documents to be had by all.  I was just lucky to find what he/she had written after Geoffrey’s, Colin’s and the stable hands deaths.  Shamus might still exist today.  I have no way of knowing.

 

Leland

9/06/06

@ P&G’s

8:41 pm.

 

 

After Leland wrote his name with time and date and place of his final entry, a wisp of wind brushed by the side of his head               and ear when he felt/heard Shamus say.  I still exist and it

is good you have prepared this paper on ancient immortals and leprechauns.  Though I believe few if any will believe what you have written.  It is good that you researched , learned and wrote what you did.  It is better for the mortal world to learn of the nature of leprechauns and immortals.  If only for their own survival