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Happy Easter!


A rare depiction of the Risen Christ encountering his mother, Mary, from the altar of Our Lady in the Staatliche Museum, Berlin. Rogier van der Weyden (1400 – 1464).

Wishing you and your family much happiness and joy as the world celebrates Easter today.

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Palm Sunday, Holy Week Begins


Remember those special family Easter traditions you experienced as a child and as a parent? Easter baskets, egg hunts, family movies, chocolates, the sheer joy of the day!

Is that joy still there? Those family traditions give holy week a special significance for so many of us. Easter’s coinciding with the newness of another spring should awaken gratitude in our hearts! Winter is fading away; the days are getting longer, and we have hope in our hearts.

So don’t forget those traditions, continue them or begin them again. Try even establishing a new one – holy week is here and so are we. The habit of expressing gratitude tends to keep us focused on the good things of life and prevents us from falling prey to negativity.

May this week awake in you those things that give you joy and happiness and may this week bring you renewed hope. Easter will be here soon. Blessings and joy to everyone, whatever your traditions may be.

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day 2023

Did You Know?


St. Patrick wasn’t actually Irish
Despite being the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick was born in Britain in either Scotland or Wales (accounts tend to vary on this point). His parents, Calpurnius and Conchessa, were both Roman citizens and his mother gave birth to him in 385 AD.

Slavery was what brought St. Patrick to Ireland
As a teenager, St Patrick was kidnapped by a pirate raiding party and sold into slavery in Ireland. As a slave, he looked after and herded sheep for many years before fleeing to a monastery in England. While there, he became a devout follower of Christianity and ordained a Bishop, after which he returned to Ireland as a missionary.

The shamrock as an Irish symbol is said to have been popularized by St. Patrick
As stories go, St. Patrick supposedly used the iconic shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity while preaching. With each leaf representing Christianity’s Holy Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it was a symbol that showed how they could be three different spiritual entities and yet all part of the whole.

St. Patrick actually wore blue, not green
Although everyone is expected to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day, all surviving artworks of St. Patrick show him wearing blue robes. It’s the reason why through the years, flags, sports uniforms and coat-of-arms featured the color. As time progressed, green as a national color grew in favor particularly in the 17th century.

St. Patrick probably didn’t drive all the snakes out of Ireland
One of the most popular myths about the Irish saint is that he rid the country of snakes, however modern science has since ruined that belief for everyone. As Ireland has always been an incredibly cold country, scientists have said that it’s highly unlikely that there were any snakes to begin with and there are no fossils to disprove this theory.

Patrick was not St. Patrick’s given name
St. Patrick’s given name was Maewyn Succat. It wasn’t until he became a priest that he adopted a new name – Patrick, after Patricius (which relates to the Latin root meaning father).

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Senator Stec Announces Resumption of Amtrak Adirondack Line Rail Service

Senator Dan Stec (R,C-Queensbury) announced on Friday, March 10, 2023, that Amtrak has committed to fully reopening the Adirondack Line by April 3. Closed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Adirondack Line provides a crucial service to North Country residents and runs from Albany to Montreal, including stops in Plattsburgh, Whitehall, Ticonderoga, Rensselaer, Port Henry, and Rouses Point.

Earlier this year, Stec called officials from the state Department of Transportation to highlight the importance of the Adirondack Line to our region and to advocate for service to resume. He hailed the announcement that service will soon resume as welcome news for residents and businesses alike.

“The Adirondack Line is a crucial resource for the North Country. It’s a transportation service for our residents and with its ability to connect visitors from Canada and across out state to this region, a major economic driver,” said Stec. “Its closure had a major impact on our ability to move forward from the pandemic and get our economy back on track.

“Given the importance of the Adirondack Line on our communities, reopening service was a major priority,” he continued. “I’m glad to see the efforts made by me and other officials to lobby for service to resume has paid off. The reopening of the Adirondack Line on April 3 is a major victory for the North Country.”

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Judge Rules Public Hearings Must Precede ProcellaCOR Applications

New York State Supreme Court Justice, Robert Muller, issued a decision and judgement on Friday March 3, 2023 which:

a.) found that the Adirondack Park Agency’s decision to issue permits for the use of the chemical herbicide ProcellaCOR in Lake George without an adjudicatory hearing was arbitrary and capricious.

b.) has vacated the Lake George Park Commission’s April 14, 2022 decision (by a vote of 6-4) to proceed with the application of the chemical herbicide ProcellaCOR in Lake George.

The ruling means that any subsequent APA review of applications to apply ProcellaCOR in Lake George must be preceded by a hearing.

The entire 31-page decision can be read here.