Currently I am showing paintings in a solo show called Kensico Dreams in the Harrison (NY) Public Library, 

I grew up nearby in Valhalla NY, a town with a big beautiful lake, surrounded by trees and hills.  A large stone dam holds back the the water. In the early 1900's, the lake was made by flooding a town called Kensico, some of the buildings remain under the water. The residents of Kensico were forced to move, in order to flood the town, to create the lake.

 

The lake was created to hold water for people in a nearby city, for clean drinking water and help put out fires.  The water travels in large aqueducts (big enough to drive a car through)  from miles away in the Catskill mountains. Many workers were hired, and came from far away places to help build the aqueducts, buildings, dam, and aerators. My own grandparents immigrated from Italy as young people to get work - and worked on the Kensico Reservoir and Dam project, eventually making a home and family within sight of the dam. 

I experienced the aerators walking by on Columbus Avenue - acres of concrete fields of fountains spraying water many feet in the air – freezing solid mid spray in the winter, and a cool gathering place on a hot summer day.

(to be continued)