Sandy's Written Creations
Writings by Sandra Harrison including poetry, essays, fiction, non-fiction; children's literatire.
Great Main Streets to Visit in Westchester and Beyond
Great Towns where one can walk a nice Main Street or Business District. Some are close to White Plains and others are worth a trip but farther away.
Hartsdale has a nice area of stores and restaurants near the railroad station.
Scarsdale has a nice area near train to shop and go to a restaurant.
Bronxville has a nice street by the train station where there are shops and restaurants as well as a movie theater.
Purchase Street in Rye City is a favorite street for browsing and dining. Train is there but on New Haven line. Get my car serviced in Rye so I usually walk the street when I go. Some shops moved during pandemic like Patisserie Salzburg of Rye and the Arcade Booksellers.
Katonah, NY is a nice place to visit for a few hours or for a day with lots of small shops worth going into and plenty of restaurants. Parking is free. One can also take the train from White Plains and walk around. There is the museum near by.
Bedford Hills along 22 is a mixture of old and newer structures. Court House is original for 1787. Shops and restaurants worth stopping for. If you search there is the Post Rd marker in a grassy area and an old school house. White Plains and Bedford shared the county seat for about 80 years after the Revolution and Bedford had a bigger population.
Cold Springs, NY is a collectible or antique delight. It has a hill with shops/restaurants and an area by the Hudson. Restaurant by the tracks is my favorite.
Saratoga Springs is not just a horse town but has state parks that you can take a bath, museums, concerts and great old homes.
Greenwich Ave, Greenwich, CT is a great two blocks or more of shops and restaurants. Check out the side streets.
Cold Springs in upstate NY is a great place for vintage, collectibles, crafts and antiques. Great food and a visit to Hudson is a must see. Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island is fabulous to visit. When I went, I wanted to use ferry from Bridgeport, but friend cancelled so I went by bridge.
Cold Springs
Cold Spring Harbor
Lighthouses
Don’t know when exactly but fell in love with Lighthouses as a teenager. And, don’t remember which one I saw first or climbed first. I have since my teen years visited or viewed lighthouses. Perhaps, it is why I fell in love with Edward Hopper’s paintings. He painted a lot of lighthouses.
Perhaps, it is the light itself at the top with all the mirrors or a romantic notion about bringing sailors home from out at sea has attracted me but often a lighthouse lets you know that the shore is there. The in turn the lighthouses give me hope like the beacon of light they send off.
Lighthouses I have visited include:
Block Island Lighthouses visited but only from outside. Remember a lot of birds at the South Light. I went out of season in April many decades ago when a snow storm hit the East Coast and closed the Ferry for a number of days. It could have been the April Fools Blizzard of 1997. I remember walking along the coast line where the lighthouse stood and ice was spitting at me from the sea. I remember though a fence around the perimeter so I could not get close.
Only viewed lighthouse from the New Jersey side of the bridge when I used to walk the trail below the Palisades. Shore path walked was from Alping NY to just below the Bridge.
West Coast:
Point Reyes Lighthouse was the most thrilling and for me the most dangerous climb to one with all those steps going down toward Pacific Ocean. The wind was so strong. I did explore the inside as well.
Ideas for the Home
I hated the old bathroom I have especially with the old tooth brushes and soap dispenser above the sink. I took a piece of wood and put across so I have a shelf instead. Using a jar from yogurt container for tooth brush.
Recent visit to Gardening center in Bedford had some nice things among the plants. Love the head in the garden and other things. Water fountains inside and out and ornaments can fix up a garden.
Doing laundry in an apartment without a washing machine can be difficult. One has to go to the designated laundry rooms and my building has sent us several notices over the years that the building does not have to provide us with a laundry room. Since 2010, I have done little laundry is the basement or in lobby area of my building where there are 2 small rooms with a total of 5 washers and 4 dryers.
I wash either clothing in a bucket in my tub or wash items in my big sink. I then hang dry items in the shower area and then after in the bedroom on a rack after the water drips out. My clothes actually last longer and I have less shrinkage. I have to do small washes, but I just let things soak in detergent and then rinse out again. I wash one sheet at a time. I also can do this anytime and not have to wait till 7am and do washes after 10pm. I do not have to wait for a cleared machine and do not have to find a dryer after the wash is done. I don’t have to deal with other dogs, and I worry about how clean everything is when I fold my clothing. Also concerned for others going through my clean laundry and sometimes it is dumped on a counter or on top of the machines.
Ice Cream, White Plains Style
Ice Cream Social a new ice cream shop is trending on Face Book (FB) and with Westchester Magazine. Store is located a former gas station that was featured in an old ad for the Chinese Restaurant that used to be across the street. It had also been a flower shop.
They have parking but locale is a bit off from rest of Downtown. Would get teens to push ice cream on streets or get a truck to bring ice cream to Farmer’s Market and other parts of City.
There are other places in WP to get ice cream.
At one time in White Plains there were more ice cream/yogurt shops, but many closed like Carvel, Basket and Robbins and Haagen-Dazs all on Mamaroneck Ave. Was a frequent customer. Now shop at City Center Cold Stone Creamery. I-CE-NY was at the Galleria that served rolled ice cream.
Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt Shops in White Plains:
Cold Stone Creamery at City Center on Mamaroneck Ave.
Ice Cream Social on Mamaroneck Ave.
16 Handles on Mamaroneck Ave
Haagen-Dazs at The Westchester
Restaurants often serve deserts with ice cream/frozen yogurt choices:
T-swirl Crepe 151 Mamaroneck
Cheesecake Factory
Ice cream is still available at the grocery shops in White Plains and some smaller shops.
Whole Foods
Stop & Shop
Shoprite
Past Ice cream Shops:
Carvel on Mamaroneck Ave
Basket and Robins on Mamaroneck Ave
Who’s Buried in White Plains, NY?
From another website Find a Grave:
“Ralph Waite
Birth: 22 Jun 1928 White Plains, Westchester County, New York, USA
Death: 13 Feb 2014 (aged 85) Palm Desert, Riverside County, California, USA
Burial: White Plains Rural Cemetery, White Plains, Westchester County, New York, USA
Plot: Section 7, Lot 911-A
Memorial #: 125110563
Bio: Actor. He will be best remembered for playing ‘John Walton’, patriarch of the family in the TV series “The Waltons” (1972 to 1981). Following high school, he served with the United States Marine Corps shortly after World War II. He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Bucknell University and later attended Yale’s Divinity School which resulted in his being ordained a Presbyterian minister. He landed a position as a religious editor for the publisher Harper and Row and took an interest in liberal politics. Acting also became an important part in Waite’s life and after experiencing a role in the off-Broadway play “The Balcony” in 1960, he marked his Broadway debut in the production of “Marathon 33” (1963 to 1964). His break in motion pictures happened when he was cast for the part of Alibi in the Paul Newman vehicle “Cool Hand Luke” (1967). Although his career in entertainment was now ascending, his personal issues mounted. He had for a period struggled with alcohol abuse and in 1969, he lost his nine-year old daughter to leukemia. In 1970, he appeared opposite Jack Nicholson in “Five Easy Pieces”. In 1977, he received an Emmy Award nomination for the mini-series “Roots” and in 1978, he earned an Emmy Award nomination for “The Waltons”. He went on to star in the TV series “The Mississippi” (1984) and was a cast member in “Carnivale” (2003 to 2005) and the soap opera “The Days of Our Lives” (2009 to 2013). From 2008 until 2013, he had a recurring role as ‘Jackson Gibbs’ in the TV series “NCIS”.
Family Members
Parents
Ralph Harold Waite 1905-1955
Esther Mitchell Waite 1906-1951
Siblings
Joan M Waite Hanlon 1929-1979
Donald M. Waite 1939-1998
Children
Sharon Barbara Waite 1955-1964
Maintained by: Find a Grave
Originally Created by: C.S. (46798780)
Added: 13 Feb 2014
URL: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/125110563/ralph-waite
Citation: Find a Grave, database and images (www.findagrave.com/memorial/125110563/ralph-waite : accessed 05 August 2021), memorial page for Ralph Waite (22 Jun 1928–13 Feb 2014), Find a Grave Memorial ID 125110563, citing White Plains Rural Cemetery, White Plains, Westchester County, New York, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave .”
Famous People Born in White Plains
Carolyn Bessett-Kennedy (married to John F Kennedy Jr
Adam Bradley (Mayor of WP 2010-2011
Brian Burton (Known as Danger mouse, musician, songwriter and producer
Joseph Campbell (author and expert on myth and legend)
Frank Enea (musician, composer)
Erin Cardillo (actress)
Jennifer Damiano (actress in Next to Normal, Spider-Man, Turn off the Dark
Dan Duryea (actor, graduated WPHS)
Johnny Farrell (golfer, 1928 US Open Champion)
Noah Fleiss (actor)
Drew Dru-Ha Friedman (Hip Hop record executive of Duck Down Music Inc.
Channing Frye (Basketball NBA Forward)
Robecca Goldstein (writer: novels, short story, biographer, philosoher)
Shelley Hack (actress and supermodel)
Robert Harmon (American film and TV director)
David Harbour (actor)
Eric Holtz (Head Coach of Israel National Baseball Team)
Eric Holtz (Head coach of Israel National Baseball Team)
Bob Hyland (NFL lineman; Bar owner and ran for mayor)
Deacon Jones (Infielder MLB)
Jonathan Larson (writer Rent)
Mike McGlone (actor)
Emily McLaughlin (actress)
Kevin Meaney (Comedian, actor)
Chris Murphy (CT Senator)
Joseph Polchinski (theoretical physicist and string theorist)
Scott Reiniger (actor)
JD Roberto (Game show host, writer)
Alfred Romer (American paleontologist)
Vanessa Rousso (Poker player)
Roberto Schaefer (Cinematographer)
George E Smith (Nobel prize American physicist)
Ralph Waite (actor, Waltons) He is buried in WP in WP Rural Cemetery
Chris Watson (American-Israeli basketball player)
James Whitmore (actor)
Mark Zuckerberg (Founder of Facebook)
extra Extra EXTRAORDINARY
A friend to a friend
Loyal
Dynamic
Super
Other worldly
Powerful
Beyond Compare
extra Extra EXTRAORINARY
That’s Me
Yonkers New York History
Found on internet: I grew up in Yonkers and this is a bit of a history lesson and well written. From:
Hudson River Waterfront Present & Future- Historic River Towns of Westchester County, Westchester County Dept. of Planning June 1998
Larry James
Learned this from Buckout Road FB (Facebook) posting:
“This is Larry James.“
“At the racially charged 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, the former White Plains High School track star stood tall and won multiple Olympic Medals. The games were held just a few months after the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.
Known as “The Mighty Burner,” the 6′, 150 pound James achieved a silver medal in the 400 Meter Dash, and along with his teammates, captured Olympic gold by shattering the world record in the 400×4 relay. James ran the third leg of the race, clocking an astonishing 43.9 seconds. To put in perspective, Usain Bolt, who is known for his shorter distance runs, has a career-best time of 45.28 in the 400 meters, and the current world record, held by South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk, is 43.03.
Shortly after the Olympics, the fastest man from Westchester County proudly joined the US Marine Corps and rose to the rank of major. In 2003, he joined Jesse Owens, Wilma Rudolph, and Carl Lewis in the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.”
There are videos on line for those interested.
Getting Rid of a Nuisance-Bottle Collectors
How can you get rid of nuisance in White Plains?
Bottle collectors go onto others property and often make a mess of recycle bins while making a lot of noise. Bottle collectors take over whole sidewalks with their bags and do not clean the recyclables as required so they often muck up the machines at grocery stores.
Get rid of them by taking off the labels of soda, beer and water bottles and punching holes in cans where barcodes are. Crush cans and water bottles so they take up less room in your bins.
It is actually illegal for people to enter your property to go through your bins and take things from your property. It is also illegal for them to take the recyclables left for city on sidewalks. Let teens go from door to door collecting cans and bottles so they can make summer money if you want your bottles/cans to go to someone.
Sandy's Written Creations 