Lisa Saunders
5/23/20
Nine-Mile Creek Aqueduct on Erie Canal
Man walks narrow ledge of aqueduct with his bike.
More Aqueduct info: http://www.eriecanalcamillus.com/aqueduct.htm
Visit the Erie Canal Park in Camillus
Here I am at the Erie Canal Park in Camillus, a great place to stop for its outdoor exhibits and proximity to the restored aqueduct. Park info: http://www.eriecanalcamillus.com/
Potential tourists to our area are asking me about our slow, weekly trek along different parts of the Old Erie Canal so they can plan their trip. Since we only want to walk about two to four miles a day, at most we go a few miles out then return to our car. Therefore, we are concerned about nearby parking and if we will find benches for resting and port-o-johns along the way. For more information on the Erie Canal and how to plan to bicycle/walk the trail, see this interactive map: https://www.ptny.org/cycle-the-erie-canal/trail-map
Soon, I will post images and comments highlighting the following. In regard to the Erie Canal Park in Camillus, we found:
Parking: Available at the museum.
Bathrooms: None when we were there because the museum was closed.
Benches: Plenty along our trek heading east and west.
Restaurants: None in walking distance.
Lodging: None in walking distance.
Map of Erie Canal Park in Camillus section:
To get you in the mood the traverse the Erie Canal, hear the following classic Erie Canal song New York children learn in elementary school about a driver and his mule named Sal. I love the vintage postcards and unique movements used in this version: https://youtu.be/gIIM1mHfJ0U
5/22/20
"Walking the Erie Canal Trail: Secrets of the 8th Wonder, CMV and Pandemic Pizza"
Author Lisa Saunders is seen on the Seneca River, along the modern Erie Canal, in Baldwinsville, New York, where she now lives with her husband Jim. The sign welcomes boaters coming from the direction of Buffalo to Lock 24 where they will be lowered 11 feet, as in an elevator, to the next leg of their journey eastward toward Albany. Lisa and Jim love strolling beside and above Lock 24 to watch boaters from all over world make their way from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. (Lock 24 is the second busiest lock on the modern Erie Canal.
See drone footage and video: life, past and present, at Lock 24.)
INTRODUCTION
Having moved with my husband Jim in 2019, to the upstate New York village of Baldwinsville (near Syracuse), from the boating community of Mystic, Connecticut, meant I could leave behind the shame of abandoning ship as told in my book, Mystic Seafarer's Trail, to embark on my next adventure—walking beside the longest artificial waterway in the United States. Our new plan is to trek the entire 360-mile Erie Canalway Trail, which follows both the active and historic Erie Canals between Lake Erie’s shore in Buffalo and the Hudson River in Albany. Although this engineering marvel is considered the 8th Wonder of the World for digging a ditch through rock and swamps to raise and lower boats as in an elevator, how hard can it be to simply walk the flat path beside it around the water falls and through the Appalachian Mountains? It can’t be as scary as sailing. If a mule named Sal could do it, so could we!
Sal, the mule featured in the Erie Canal song, “Low Bridge! – Everybody Down” by Thomas S Allen (1913), is taught to all of us who attended grammar school in New York. The song memorializes the Canal’s mule barges of the 1800s that made boom-towns across upstate New York and transformed the state into the “Empire State” it is today.
When my grandson sang these words to me one day after I picked him up from preschool in 2019, it took me back to my school days over half a century ago:
I’ve got an old mule and her name is Sal, Fifteen years on the Erie Canal
She’s a good old worker and a good old pal, Fifteen years on the Erie Canal
We’ve hauled some barges in our day, Filled with lumber, coal and hay
And ev’ry inch of the way I know, From Albany to Buffalo
Low bridge, ev’rybody down, Low bridge, we must be getting near a town
You can always tell your neighbor, You can always tell your pal
If he’s ever navigated on the Erie Canal...
Just prior to Jim retiring as a scientist from Pfizer, Inc., to move to Baldwinsville to be near our grandchildren, I had considered kayaking the entire active Erie Canal with my friend Sue, but decided that would require too much dedicated time and impossible paddling through the icy long long winters of upstate New York. Plus, Jim and I moved into an apartment rather than buying another house, making storing kayaks difficult. We also moved my mother nearby, and though a stroke survivor, she no longer drives so we must be available. Driving to walk different segments of the Erie Canalway Trail makes sense for now.
So far, we have endured all sorts of weather to follow in mule Sal's footsteps as she traversed the well-beaten towpath along the old Erie Canal. Although some stretches of the old Erie Canal are so overgrown it's hard to see its imprint, we love searching for hints of the hidden stone walls as we walk back in time. Of course, every time we walk across an aqueduct with its stone arches or climb down into an old lock, it's quite a thrill.
This exercise and writing project is ideal for me--especially since I'm still trying to get thin and famous so people will listen to me! But things like politics, Zika and now the pandemic are always getting in the way. Between cover-ups and new issues exciting the media, my news, along with that of countless other parents, doctors and researchers, remains overshadowed or disregarded. For years, we have been muffled as we try to shout from the rooftops about how to prevent another "C" virus--congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV), the leading viral cause of birth defects. Women have a right to know how to protect their unborn children from it but they are not being told. CMV is another one of those "inconvenient truths."
As I continue to walk and research the history behind the Erie CanaI, I can relate to the struggles of folks like George Washington and the merchants, politicians and engineers who worked to find ways around water falls and through mountains.
When construction on the first Erie Canal ("Clinton's Ditch") was completed in 1825, New York Governor DeWitt Clinton celebrated the end of "all the years of hope and anger, progress and retreat, and design and redesign" (1) with a boat parade from Lake Erie, where he filled a green keg with water, to the southern end of the New York Harbor (Sandy Hook), where he poured the Erie water into the Atlantic Ocean. He declared to his companions, "...may the God of Heavens and the Earth smile most propitiously on the work, and render it subservient to the best interests of the human race." (2)
Just as the first Erie Canal opened our nation to the west, promoting trade, immigration and ideas, such as women's rights and the abolition of slavery, throughout the world, I believe knowing how to prevent, diagnose and treat CMV will also be in the "best interests of the human race."
"Perhaps no single cause of birth defects and developmental disabilities in the United States currently provides greater opportunity for improved outcomes in more children than congenital CMV. Given the present state of knowledge, women deserve to be informed about how they can reduce their risk of CMV infection during pregnancy..." (3)
Here is what I hope walking the Erie Canalway Trail will accomplish:
- "Walking the Erie Canal Trail: Secrets of the 8th Wonder, CMV and Pandemic Pizza"
While searching for the 7 Wonders of the old Erie Canal, itself considered the 8th Wonder of the World, an upstate New York plump baby boomer wonders if she’ll ever finish walking the entire 360-mile Erie Canalway Trail between Buffalo and Albany. So far, Lisa has endured swarms of mosquitoes, gunshots, snakes, snow, violent wind cracking tree limbs above, aching feet and a dead possum. Will she find an outhouse in time? Will she uncover what truly happened to Aunt Rebecca whose body was found in a car submerged in the Canal? Lisa’s progress is continually interrupted as the global pandemic upends her life with demands from her regal mother held prisoner in assisted living, and by home-schooling two young grandchildren when her daughter leaves her job in a castle to work remotely. When deciding on the 7 Wonders, should she only consider the overgrown, stone aqueduct arch
***
Ways to have fun on the Erie Canalway Trail
- Plan your own trip to the Erie Canalway Trail:
- https://eriecanalway.org/
- Also check out completed Empire State Trail (includes the Erie Canalway Trail): https://empiretrail.ny.gov/
- Follow my blog: https://authorlisasaunders.blogspot.com/
- Follow my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLisaSaunders
Ways to help women protect their unborn babies from CMV
- Follow: https://www.facebook.com/congenitalcmvnews
- Follow my CMV blog: https://congenitalcmv.
blogspot.com/
To help New York women/babies
Follow my NY CMV Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/
I plan to send out press releases to the media in hopes of reaching strangers willing to contact their reps. I love how the art, music and medical expertise of my friends came together for this news segment filmed in my backyard when I lived in CT during CDC's CMV Awareness week: News 8: Mystic mother raises awareness of CMV, a risk for pregnant women and their babies (Sarah Cody, June 13, 2018): https://www.wtnh.com/
Scriptures for Inspiration
###
2) Ibid
3) Cannon, M.J., Davis, K.F. Washing our hands of the congenital cytomegalovirus disease epidemic. BMC Public Health 5, 70 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-5-70
4/26/20
Books and Speaker Topics by Lisa Saunders
Lisa is available to present on:
Books include:
- Had I known About CMV: From Shock to Law
- Walking the Erie Canalway Trail
1. Ever True: A Union Private and His Wife (Heritage Books, 2004): Civil War love letters of the New York 9th Heavy Artillery reveal war's ever-present threat of death, scandals and infidelities. Includes the court-marshaling of a cow. Also a one-act "reader's theater".
2. Shays' Rebellion: The Hanging of Co-Leader Captain Henry Gale (2013): The dramatic events leading up to the noose around Gale’s neck. He is buried in upstate New York.
3. Ride a Horse, Not an Elevator (2013): A chubby city girl leaves the elevators and bullies of her apartment complex for her grandparents’ farm. Facing her fear of horses and outhouses, she finds a skinny friend who likes her just the way she is. Featured in Cornell University's "Horse Book in a Bucket" program.
4. Mystic: Images of Modern America (Arcadia Publishing, 2016): The book of 164 images shows the evolution of Mystic, Connecticut, from a working-class village into a tourist driven community, while still embracing its quaint New England charm and keeping its rich history alive. Many of the images are in color and range from the year 1954 (Mystic's 300th birthday) through today. Co-authored with Kent & Meredith Fuller.
5. After the Loss of a Spouse: From Henry VIII to Julia Child (Act II Publications, LLC, 2016): Examines the bittersweet human condition of love and loss of 18 famous widow/ers including George Palmer Putnam (Amelia Earhart’s widower), Mark Twain, C.S. Lewis, Martha Washington, Katharine Graham (ofThe Washington Post), Norman Rockwell, George Burns, Mary Todd Lincoln, Grandma Moses, Milton Hershey (Hershey's Kisses), Coretta Scott King, Captain von Trapp (of The Sound of Music), Hetty Green (world's greatest miser), William Gillette (aka Sherlock Holmes), Frances Wolfe Sisson (widow of Mystic, Connecticut, sea captain who perished in one of Texas’s worst maritime disasters), and Abby Day Slocomb (widow behind Connecticut State flag design sent recently opened time capsule from Europe during WWI).
6. Mystic Seafarer's Trail: Secrets behind the 7 Wonders, Titanic's Shoes, Captain Sisson's Gold, and Amelia Earhart's Wedding (2012).
7. Once Upon a Placemat: A Table Setting Tale (2016): When a young girl can't remember how to set the table, her grandmother teaches her to listen to the silverware. Will the dish really run away with the spoon?
8. Anything But a Dog! The perfect pet for a girl with CMV (Unlimited Publishing, 2008: The true story of a homeless old dog and the little girl who needed him. (Japan: Thousand Books, 2017)
9. Surviving Loss: The Woodcutter’s Tale (2013): a tender fairytale for all ages about the process of healing after the death of a loved one.
10. Lisa's Guide for Writers (2013): Includes writing exercises and how to get published--even if you're not thin and famous!
11. Help Childcare Providers Fight CMV(2018): A workbook for child care directors and policy makers.
12. First Ranger Benjamin Church--Epic Poem About King Philip's War (Color Edition 2018): Church Believed in Indians, God and Rum
Quick links for free "Look Inside" and purchasing followed by images and descriptions:
- Mystic Seafarer's Trail: One woman's quest for high seas adventure, easy fame, and a place to call home. A sedentary writer embarks on a long, winter voyage with a blind sailor. Includes secrets behind Amelia Earhart's Noank wedding.
- Anything But a Dog! The perfect pet for a girl with congenital CMV (cytomegalovirus)--The true story of a homeless old dog and the little girl who needed him
- Shays' Rebellion: The Hanging of Co-Leader Captain Henry Gale--dramatic events leading up to the noose around his neck.
- Ride a Horse, Not an Elevator (children's novel)-- A chubby city girl leaves the elevators and bullies of her apartment complex for her grandparents’ farm. Facing her fear of horses and outhouses, she finds a skinny friend who likes her just the way she is.
- Ever True: A Union Private and His Wife--True Civil War love letters reveal war's ever-present threat of death, scandals and infidelities. Includes the court-marshaling of a cow.
- Surviving Loss: The Woodcutter's Tale-- a tender fairytale for all ages about the process of healing after the death of a loved one. (A free e-book at: Surviving Loss: The Woodcutter's Tale)
- Lisa's Guide for Writers (How to get published--even if you're not thin and famous!)
- Mystic: Images of Modern America
- Once Upon a Placemat: A Table Setting Tale
- After the Loss of a Spouse: From Henry VIII to Julia Child--the bittersweet human condition of love and loss is examined in this collection of 18 famous (and infamous) figures. Anyone who loves a romantic history lesson will be intrigued by this book.
3/5/19
Tips for coming on The Lisa Saunders Show
The Lisa Saunders Show
Contact: LisaSaunders42@gmail.com
Arrive 15 minutes before
shoot time. It’s a 30-minute show
TV
SET LOCATION: Southeastern Connecticut Television (SEC-TV)
80
Plaza Court, Groton, CT 06340 (Groton
Shopping Plaza near Groton Post Office)
STUDIO
TELEPHONE: 860-449-1477
WEBSITE:
www.sec-tv.org
THE
LISA SAUNDERS SHOW AIRS: Three times a
week in Groton, Ledyard, Mystic,
Stonington, North Stonington and Voluntown, Connecticut, and on Youtube.
- Channels 12 & 96 on Comcast;
channels 12 & 670 on Thames Valley; andChannel 99 on Frontier. SEC-TV’s Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/sectv1
- FREE:
Guests are given air time and one DVD
of the show, which will also be uploaded to SEC-TV's Youtube channel. If you don't reside in Groton, Ledyard, Mystic, Stonington, North Stonington and Voluntown, Connecticut, you can ask the community access station in your viewing area to air the
interview.* List of public-access TV stations in the
United States: https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/List_of_public_access_TV_stations_in_the_United_States.html
- About
appearing on Public Access TV: This cannot be a “commercial” or
self-promotional show. Conversations are meant to provide information and
not give testimonials, prices, etc.
- See
below for ideas on ways you can use your interview to promote your cause
or business.*
ONCE
YOU ARE SCHEDULED TO APPEAR ON MY SHOW, PLEASE EMAIL ME A FIVE-SENTENCE MAXIMUM
BIOGRAPHY. THE FOLLOWING IS MINE AS AN
EXAMPLE:
Lisa
Saunders is an award-winning writer living in Mystic, Connecticut, with
her husband. She is a SEC-TV talk show host, content coordinator for
Groton-Mystic Neighbors magazine and part-time history interpreter at Mystic
Seaport Museum. A marketing consultant and winner of the National Council for
Marketing & Public Relations Gold Medallion, Lisa helps entrepreneurs gain
media attention and teaches writing/publishing at New London Adult &
Continuing Education. Lisa is an inspirational speaker and leader of the Child
Care Providers Education Committee, National CMV Foundation. In 2015, she was instrumental
in helping Connecticut become the second state in the U.S. to pass a law aimed
at battling CMV (cytomegalovirus), the #1 birth defects virus, which causes premature
birth, microcephaly, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and hearing and vision
loss.
What
do you want to discuss? what is your expertise/passion?
How
should your name/contact appear on TV Screen (must be very brief)
Example:
Lisa Saunders, Writer
Marketing/Media Consultant
Facebook.com/AuthorLisaSaunders
LisaSaunders42@gmail.com
PLEASE
GIVE ME FIVE QUESTIONS TO ASK (I may not ask more
than one, but it gives me an idea of the direction to go—don’t insert
the answers)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Events
you may want to announce:
TIPS FOR APPEARING ON
SEC-TV
Arrive
at Southeastern Connecticut Television Studios 15 minutes prior to the scheduled taping.
Clothing:
Solid,
darker colors seem to look best. Avoid wearing small checks, stripes and shiny
jewelry.
Hair:
Make
sure your style does not hide your face--especially if the camera shoots you
from the side.
Makeup:
Wear
what you normally would, but remember that the bright lights may make you
looked washed out. Lipstick and eyeliner may help!
Material:
Bring props if appropriate.
Camera: You don’t need to look
at the camera. The camera will find you while you are answering questions. Unless discussing a tragic topic, remember
to smile or at least look interested when listening to others. The camera may
be on you when you least expect it!
*Sample Shows on YouTube:
- Award-winning
songwriter Connie Howard plays Connecticut Christmas and other new songs
- Tish Rabe, author of Dr.
Seuss science books
- Lisa Saunders discusses shipwreck artifacts with Captain Bill Palmer (also, here is an interview I did of Capt. Bill Palmer on the Mystic River--click here or https://vimeo.com/274354163. Produced by Greg Petty’s Production, www.pettysproductions.com, pettysproduction@verizon.net). We were all interviewed together on Harriet Grayson's show, Community Culture Showcase.
- Chef Jacques Pépin: Cooking
for Widow/ers, Dr. Joanne Z. Moore, Pathfinder
- Cytomegalovirus (CMV);
CT Law. Lisa Saunders with Drs Demmler-Harrison and Balch and a CMV
survivor
- The Lisa Saunders Show: CMV
(Gail
J. Demmler-Harrison, MD, Professor Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine,
and Attending Physician, Texas Children's Hospital, and Debra Lynn Alt,
Singer/Songwriter.)
- Yale: Sedative combats CMV--Michael J. Paidas,
M.D.; Sara Ornaghi, MD; and Lisa Saunders, mom
*WANT YOUR SHOW TO AIR WHERE YOU LIVE?
You must visit your local access station in
person and bring I.D. showing that you live or work in their viewing area. Here is a sample of what you can tell the TV station:
Dear Local Access Station:
I live and/or work in the region serviced by your community access TV
station and would like you to air a 30-minute talk show about ….
Talk show guests include: …
My address (or work address) is:
The show was filmed at Southeastern Connecticut Television (SEC-TV)
Studios.
SEC-TV: Community Television for Groton, Ledyard, Mystic,
Stonington, North Stonington, and Voluntown, Connecticut. CHANNELS 12 & 96
on Comcast; CHANNELS 12 & 670 on Thames Valley; and CHANNEL 99 on
Frontier.
Address: SEC-TV, 80 Plaza Court, Groton, CT 06340
Studio Phone: 860-449-1477
Email: info@sec-tv.org
Sincerely,
[name and contact
information]
###
* IDEAS FOR SHARING YOUR VIDEO INTERVIEW:
- You
will be sent a Youtube link to the show. Be sure to share it on LinkedIn, your website, Facebook, Twitter, blog on Patch.com, and/or your newsletter (available
through services such as Mailchimp, etc.). Write a media release with the link embedded
and email it to print, online, and TV media. Get a free account on PR.com to
send an announcement to the world (Pr.com comes up high in Google searches).
- For
additional exposure, write to me at LisaSaunders42@gmail.com to see if I
can upload your video file to the Lisa Saunders Youtube Channel
(at http://www.youtube.com/user/anythingbutadog),
where I will include live links to your personal website/Facebook page, increasing the likelihood of people clicking into your website while
watching your interview. If you are on my YouTube channel, I will then promote
your show in my newsletter,
Facebook.com/AuthorLisaSaunders,
Authorlisasaunders.blogspot.com,
Twitter, and LinkedIn. Ask
me about getting a video file
(.mov) for download. This video file of your segment can be
uploaded directly to your own YouTube or vimeo account, Facebook, Author’s
Page on Amazon, Goodreads, and other sites that require the actual file
when posting a video.
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