Dans Papers - June 8, 2007

Dear Dan,
I just have to share this with you. My grandson Michael found this baby deer on the curb in the traffic circle on Scuttlehole Road last night. She was just standing there bewildered...so the animal lover that he is and thinking that the baby deer was injured, stopped all the traffic in the circle and picked her up and brought her home to his mom. When Michele called me, I went over to find this little darling sitting and feeling quite safe on her lap, wrapped in a blanket, with a the entire family in awe. After checking the fawn out, she seemed not to be injured, just lost and confused by the traffic and the lights that were shining in her little face. Michele called, I believe the person from the wildlife, and she recommended that she return her to the scene of the crime because surely her "mom was going crazy" looking for her baby. She didn't want to, she wanted to keep her as a pet. I must admit, I myself almost agreed with that, but heart of hearts, and both of us being a mom, thought what if it were my child? So...off they went at midnight, confident that the traffic was nil, returned her to where Michael found her, placing her into the big bushes away from the circle...where she just trotted off into the woods, hopefully to reunite with Mama Deer. I have never experienced such innocence in both child (Michael is 21) and animal...meaning my grandson and Darlin, (which he quickly named her). I know that baby deer have no scent in order to keep away predators. After all that was said and done, when I returned back at my house, I held my hand out to my dog Tino, and lo and behold, he had no clue about my encounter with this beautiful baby deer. So I guess that is a gift from nature.

Maria Tennariello
Via e-mail

Dear Dan,
That was a very interesting and touching story your son David wrote about his mixed roots - he being half Catholic and half Jewish. I would think it would make for a well-rounded young man, with two interesting cultures, beliefs - not necessarily colliding. Were I (I'm Presbyterian by the way - though loosely so - Plain Christian) he, I think I would go to both religious services, honor both - get all I could out of it - study the entire Bible - Old and new. In fact, I did go to a Seder this Passover, had gone to one years back when one of my best friends had one in her apartment - a Debie Abromson, her Uncle Mel and Aunt Blossom. She died of Melanoma in 1999 (only 47 years old), a very special person, surely in heaven! Let me tell you Why! Read on!
At her funeral reception, in her own apartment - October 5 or 6, 1999, there were her close friends and relatives. We had buried her near Spring Valley earlier - in Rockland County across the Hudson River. There had been a very light drizzle as we stood over her grave. Later there were very dark clouds, as seen through her living room window, sun toward the west, as seen by a strong reflection of it off a distant building or house. Strange! I had my camera with me, taking pictures of the people in the living room - (Debbie's). I took one of a 12-year old Portrait of her (the painting done in 1963/'64 or so, she was born November 16, 1951 - a Scorpio) that was hanging on the wall just to the right of the living room window. The result was astonishing! I didn't see it in the camera viewfinder, but it was evident in the photo!
Debbie must have been very special to God, as - there was a fragmented 'rainbow', like arc that came through the living room window, from the reflection off the distant building/house window. It must have somehow been caught by my camera lens, and then it went right around Debbie's head and face in the portrait! A Halo could be seen around her face! Astonishing! I could send you a copy of the photo if you like. In fact, I will - as a slide. I had taken a slide of the photo.
Somewhere in my past - on my mother's side - is the name 'Abrams'. It is on an old tombstone in the Stoneridge Cemetery - upstate NY, not far from Kingston. I believe Abrams is a Jewish name, is it not? Debbie's last name was Abramson. So, I may have some Jewish blood in me, which Adolf Hitler probably would not have liked, right? I'd have been sent to the Holocaust too! Yet there are rumors even Hitler was part Jewish.
So the article written by your son moved me, and I'll have to read it again. Nice photo of him when he was young too - showing both Irish and Jew!
I see you have a new website - www.danshamptons.com. That is good! I also hear your site advertised on 1010 WINS. I knew it had to do with you!
I loved that party you had two years ago - August 12th was it? 45th? How about a 47th! Or, wait till the 50th? I'll come, but I'll be 70 then! I remember how great the food was, Dan! The drinks! Nice of you to do that for people!
I may be out that way this weekend - not sure! I had to cancel a Boston trip I wanted to make due to my poor finances! So, once again - like what I wrote some years ago - "A Poor Man's Weekend In The Hamptons"! Maybe I can afford a steak at Bobby Van's in Bridgehampton.

Toby Van Buren Via e-mail

Interesting guy. - DR

Dear Dan,
In your article on Greenland you state that Greenland is "bigger than the United States." However, Greenland is not bigger than the U.S. A quick search on confirmed that the U.S. landmass is over 9 million square km. while Greenland is just over 2 million sq. km.
I imagine you were tricked by a common error experienced by many people using a wall map of the earth. The earth is not flat so a wall map only gives a rough estimate of the relative sizes of countries. The distortion is greatest around the poles. This is possibly the reason Greenland looked larger than the U.S. to you.