Tonight on WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories, discover the Van Schaick's historic ties to a very important and decisive Revolutionary war battle and Kingston 4-Paws Service dogs help create new independence for people facing physical, emotional, and mental health challenges.

Also, Laura Tiberiu is back her review of the book, Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton might just convince you it's your next read.

Your Story is Your Region coming up right now on WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories.

Funding for WPBS Weekly Inside the stories is provided by the statewide Community Regrant Program, a REGRANT program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York State legislature and administered by the St.

Lawrence County Arts Council, Carthage Savings founded in 1888, offering VA, FHA, seasonal, and world development mortgage products, providing financial services to Northern New York from offices in Carthage, Clayton, Croghan, and Watertown online at carthagesavings.com Good Tuesday evening everyone, and welcome to this edition of WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories.

I'm Michael Riecke.

We start things off tonight at the Van Schaick Mansion in Cohoes, New York.

This historic mansion played host to several famous American generals during the Revolutionary War, as well as approximately 8,000 militia.

And it was here that the battles of Saratoga were planned battles that changed the course of the war significantly.

Here we have a few significant artifacts pertaining to the American Revolution.

We have a picture of major general Philip Schuyler who was in charge of the northern continental army at the time.

We also have Colonel Peter Gansevoort, although he wasn't at the mansion during the planning of the battles of Saratoga.

He was here out at Fort Stanwix holding the fort and he also was here and he was married to Catherine Van Schaick.

We also have a copy of George Washington's inventory.

He was noted to come through this area to take a survey of upstate New York to look at what kind of damage was done in the state of the New York state at the time.

After the revolution when an important dignitary came to your house, they signed a window pane with a diamond ring and this window pane was signed.

There is the initials GW on this window pane in the upper third quadrant of the window.

We also have a promissory note.

This is a copy.

This was given to Anna and John g Van Schaick, and it was a promissory note that says we will pay you back after they donated $10,000 worth of gold to the cause.

And as you would imagine, that did not happen, but that's a copy.

Something else that's noteworthy is Benjamin Franklin came and stayed at this mansion in 1775, on his way to Canada, to convince Canada to become our fourth colony.

Unfortunately that didn't happen, but he was here and he did spend the night.

The historic Van Schaick Mansion sits atop a hill overlooking the Hudson River.

The home was constructed from 1737 to 1755 by Anthony Van Schaick, whose ancestor Goose and Van Schaick immigrated to America in the 1640s.

As one of Albany's original settlers, a thriving farm, occupied most of the surrounding property.

The house incorporates many Dutch architectural features of the period, including an unusual but very functional front door.

The mansion was constructed out of primarily brick.

There are a few support beams that are wrought iron that are in it, but they are well covered and they are attached to the beams that are in the attic.

So this is basic, a fortress of very thick stone.

The mansion and its owners at the time, John and Anna Van Schaick, played a very significant role in the American Revolution.

In August, 1777, the mansion became the headquarters for the Northern Continental Army.

It was here that the historic and game-changing battles of Saratoga were planned.

General Phillips Skyler was in charge of the northern continental army.

The plan was for the British to cut off the American troops and the insurgency so that they could end the Revolutionary War, so to speak.

So you had a general coming from the North General Burgoyne coming from Montreal, you had a general coming down south from New York City General Howe, and the third British General was General St.

Leger, or Sileger, coming out from the east from Ontario.

General Phillip Skyler had contacted his acquaintances, the Van Schaicks, to set up an encampment here.

So when it came to the point where they needed to have a strategy to defend themselves against the British plan, then you had General Skyler here in this room.

And General Benedict Arnold, they primarily planned the battles of Saratoga.

In addition to the generals who stayed at the mansion between 5,000 and 8,000 militia and their families and camped on the property's 8,000 acres.

The van Schaick's families were committed to the cause.

John G. and Anna were very committed, so they probably slept in the attic so the generals would have a more comfortable place to sleep.

There was really no questions asked.

You know, general Skyler contacted the Van Schaicks and said, "I need your help."

and they willingly did this.

The Van Schaicks gave up their whole property and they also had to support the troops.

Skyler was running out of money and the Van Schaicks, Anna and John G, who were living here at the time donated $10,000 worth of gold, which would be equivalent to 1.3 million in today's currency.

So that's really significant.

So there was really a commitment to defend the troops per the American Revolution.

There was two battles.

The first battle was September 19th and the troops had left here by the beginning of September to go up.

Now the second battle was October 7th.

Part of that success of the battle was won on the second date, which was October 7th, was because Benedict Arnold, who led the troops also had contacted Colonel Morgan from Virginia.

Colonel Morgan came up with 800 men.

At least 95 of those men were considered sharpshooters.

They carried the Kentucky rifle.

The Kentucky rifle was a different rifle than a musket.

It was very accurate.

So what happened on October 7th is the British leaders were taken out.

So once that second battle, which happened primarily at Beamus Heights was won, so to speak, then General Burgoyne surrendered.

The reason it was significant and considered the turning point because after the battles of Saratoga were won, the French decided they would support us.

The French Marquis de Lafayette and other French generals decided that the Americans were worth supporting and the battle of Yorktown was won in 1781 because the French defeated the strongest naval force in the world, which was the British naval force that happened at Yorktown in 1781.

The mansion was sold around the early 19 hundreds.

Since 2001, the mansion has been cared for by the General Peter Gansfort chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

So the purpose of the mansion at this point is to provide ongoing open houses, tours of the mansion, and also historical events.

So we're just committed to continue to share the story that has to do with the Van Schaicks and their contribution to the American Revolution.

To plan your visit, go online to vanschaickmansion.org.

Well, for some independence comes naturally for others, it arrives on four Paws through Kingston.

4-paws service dogs, partnerships like these are creating new independence.

One person, one family at a time.

For Thomas and his mother Angela, that change has meant everything.

To provide trained service dogs in their continued handling support to people facing physical, neurological, or mental health challenges, empowering them and their families to navigate life in their southeastern Ontario communities with independence, confidence and joy.

Come here, come here.

Oh yeah.

Oh.

For some, independence comes naturally for others it arrives on four paws.

Through Kingston, 4-Paws service dogs, partnerships like these are creating new independence.

One person, one family at a time.

For Thomas and his mother Angela, that change has meant everything.

We've been able to go out and do things that we once never was able to do.

He gave basically gave me my independence.

We've went to a concert, we've gone to the mall, we've gone out to eat, went to a family dinner.

Didn't do that before.

Humphrey has taken over for us.

I don't have the same concerns that I used to for Thomas.

Sometimes Thomas will have his friends over and all of a sudden I won't know where Thomas is or Humphrey.

They've gone out on their own like normal kids do.

It's so hard to let go, but it's so good to let go.

It's so nice that he has that independence.

For years, Angela watched her son navigate a world that wasn't always built for him.

Simple things, many take for granted could feel overwhelming.

Definitely I wasn't as social back then.

Basically couldn't leave the house or go anywhere without my parents.

Couldn't go to anywhere with crowded places, couldn't go to the mall.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think my son would work.

Two years he's held a job and not only is he getting a little bit of money, but he belongs somewhere.

I've never had to go in with him at work.

I've never had to go in and get him set up.

I just pull up, he gets out, him and Humphrey go in, they do their job and they come out.

I was so sure his life would be X and now it was turning out to be X, Y, and Z and it's just, relieved so much pressure from my husband and I. Providing service dogs to people facing physical, neurological, or mental health, empowers them and their families to navigate life with more independence, confidence, and joy.

We place dogs to help with general mental health with PTSD, with mobility challenges, with autism and with seizure response.

So someone can fall into one or more of those buckets and that generally, I I would say the the overarching struggle for people is independence.

Being able to live the life they want to live independently, confidently, safely, comfortably.

You know, some people can do that with a lot of people will tell us they have service people.

So someone in their life has sort of been that support.

And then when they get the dog in their life, it allows them to be able to step away from needing a person for that support and to do things on their own.

Preparing a service dog takes time, structure and patience.

Each dog moves through a carefully designed training process, learning the skills they need to support their future partner.

Serving communities throughout southeastern Ontario, Kingston 4-Paws keeps its work close to home, allowing trainers to stay connected to the people they support and the unique needs of every dog and handler.

So we get our puppies around eight weeks old and they come to us, we get them set up with a puppy raiser and then they live and, and work with that puppy raiser day in and day out for the next say 20 to 24 months.

On or off.

We work with them, you know, every week or biweekly as they get older, they have one-on-ones, they have group classes, we are available to them.

You know, myself or my colleague are available to them almost all the time to be able to answer questions or to get together to work on a skill.

We wanna be able to get to people to, there are some things you can explain over an email or over the phone.

There are some things that you just gotta do.

So we want to be able to get to them and and give them that support when they get to be 18, 20, 22 months-ish.

We are thinking in our minds about, okay, what kind of job are you going to want to do?

Because you know, the dog has to match the job.

If they don't like to do that work, they're not going to be a successful service dog.

In general, when we are looking at it from the dog perspective, we're saying, okay, what kind of lifestyle do you need?

You know, are you an active dog?

Are you happy being a calmer dog?

You don't need as much, much exercise.

Maybe you need more.

What kind of thing do you like to do?

Are you a cuddler?

Are you more of a I'll be next to you and lean on you?

That kind of thing.

And just, just figuring out who they are as a dog.

So we can, as we are meeting with our families, figure out where they're going to fit best as they go through Long before they're matched with someone like Thomas, these dogs first become part of someone else's life.

Volunteer puppy raisers guide those early steps, opening their homes and their hearts, knowing that from the beginning, the dog that they raise won't be theirs to keep.

We absolutely rely on our puppy raisers and are always looking for more.

The more puppy raisers we have, the more puppies we can have coming through the program at a time.

And the more people we can then place them with to help.

One of the things is people are always concerned about giving the dog up at the end.

And I can confidently say that the goodbyes never get easier.

Everyone hurts in its own way.

You get attached to the dog.

My first dog was a very painful goodbye.

My second dog was a very painful goodbye.

And I can guarantee that olive will also be a very painful goodbye.

But I think the pride and joy of seeing your dog succeed and seeing the growth and just the impact that it can have overshadows that so, the goodbyes hurt, but the pride that you feel at the end when they've passed and they're with their person.

I don't think that can be like explained in words how rewarding that feels and like changing someone's life through a dog is pretty incredible.

For WPBS Weekly, I'm Gail Paquette.

You can learn more about Kingston 4-paws at kingstonservicedogs.ca Finally tonight, discover your next read Avid reader, Laura Tiberiu shares her views on the book, Everything I Know about Love by Dolly Alderton.

This wildly funny and occasionally heartbreaking memoir details, author Dolly Alderton's trials and triumphs of becoming an adult.

Here's Laura with more.

Hello and welcome back.

I have probably my favorite book today ready to talk about, and I know you shouldn't pick favorites in life, but I'm going to cheat and pick a favorite because today I want to tell you about everything I know about Love by Dolly Alderton.

And I had the immense pleasure of meeting Ms.

Dolly Alderton when I was living in London for a few months.

I went to a book event at a really, really cute local bookstore and she was there signing books and I got to speak to her, she hugged me and then I went again and lined up to talk to her again.

And since then I actually got on her arc list, which is advanced reader copy.

So for her books that she's been putting out since I get to receive before they release.

But I promise I was not paid or forced to talk about this book to you today.

I just love it that much and I'm so excited to share this book with the world and tell you why you should read it, why I read it, and why I completely loved it.

And it remains one of my favorite books in the whole world.

Now if you notice on the cover, she has so many other words written out here.

So parties, dates, friends, jobs, life, and they're all scribbled out because at the end of the day what it all encapsulates to is love.

There's love in all of the things she's written out.

And this memoir is all about finding love in your life.

Now Dolly, at the time of writing this, I believe was in her early thirties, but it covers really from finishing puberty in her late teens to reaching the age of 30.

And all of the chapters kind of follow a different life stage and how it felt to fall in love and be in love in all those times, but not just romantically, it was how to fall in love with herself, how she fell in love with the friends around her, with her roommates, with food, with her job.

Because love basically fuels us in everything we do and is all around us.

We just hear the word love and usually assume partner or romantically, but it's actually in everything we do and is a part of how we feel about nearly everything.

And this book was such a fresh reminder that there is so much more than having a boyfriend in my case, or having any type of romantic partner.

And for someone in their twenties when on one hand societal norms are telling you, you should put yourself out there and go find that and maybe be on dating apps, et cetera, et cetera.

Maybe you don't want that and you want to focus on yourself and just read all day or be focused on your career and your studies.

There's so many other ways to fulfill yourself.

And this book lightly touches on that while still being realistic that maybe sometimes I do wanna go on a date and I can change my mind.

And it was so perfectly written for the target audience of I think any woman of any age, but men could definitely take a thing or two away from this book as well.

And to add some more color before I keep explaining the book, because Dolly's writing is incredible.

The author by the way, has so many other works.

She has an advice column that like has completely taken over the world in the UK.

She has a podcast and it's just an immensely successful writer.

So when she finally decided to write this book, it got turned into a TV show because of how well it did.

And it sold millions and millions and millions of copies because it's just so relatable, funny, and moving.

I could talk about her forever, but let's get into just some quotes that I would love for you to hear.

It is no person's job to be the sole provider of your happiness.

Sorry, I love that she added the sorry in there.

I think Dolly does such a good job throughout the book and that's just one quote where you're hearing these hard truths and on a surface level we all know, okay, it's not just one person's duty to make me happy, but sometimes we wanna feel that way.

We wanna put all our eggs in one basket, and this is just a wake up reminder that no, it's not one person's job, it's ourselves and the many, many people around us and friends we have to provide us with that warm, fuzzy, happy feeling.

This quote has completely taken over the world and was everywhere on social media and really beautiful beautifully summarizes this book.

And it is nearly everything I know about love.

I've learned in my long-term friendships with women.

I adored reading that because it completely separated this idea that you need to be in relationships with men and that's the only way to learn about love and how to love yourself.

It's actually in friendships that is the most rewarding love I've ever felt in my life, my short life.

I have so much left to live, but I can see that being the case for my entire future.

And I, I just loved reading that this whole book made it feel okay to make mistakes and to sometimes have, you know, intentions or actions that aren't the best for you, but do them anyway because nothing has to be that serious if you don't let it.

Let things be a learning lesson and read about the many funny situations Dolly has been in and you'll feel a lot better about the things you do.

Like, for example, one of the stories she tells, I think she had a hundred dollars or pounds because she's in London and she hadn't been getting a paycheck and she wasn't doing very well, but she really wanted to see a boy and she spent 90 pounds on a taxi to go to his house and then had no money to get back home in the morning and had to hitchhike with someone and he dumped her anyway.

And it's hearing those funny but tragic stories that make you think, yeah, it's okay.

I'm not doing that bad.

Or maybe that happened to you.

And there you go.

It happens to everyone this time in your life, your twenties, your thirties and beyond as you figure out who you are and who you love and what you love.

It's all a learning curve.

And if you want a little lightness and relatability and a great freaking book, read everything I know about Love by Dolly Alderton.

But I'll leave you with that and I hopefully, I really hope you enjoy.

Well tis' the season for ice cream.

Chef Spencer Watts of the television series Comfort Foods shares a quick and easy recipe to make banana soft serve ice cream using just your freezer, no ice cream maker necessary.

It's a tasty dessert for a hot summer day.

This is an instant soft served ice cream.

And I'm using frozen bananas.

I, okay, I'm sorry, but I cheated just a little bit.

And last night I put some cut up banana in the freezer and they act like these little flavor ice cubes and with a little bit of cold cream, it whips together and almost makes like an instant soft serve.

What was that?

What what?

We're totally good.

So you want a bit of sweetness in this.

You can use white sugar if you want, but there's something really naughty about brown sugar.

It's got really good flavor, really good sweetness, and there's a bit of molasses in there.

It's a great sugar for this recipe.

And then a little bit of vanilla.

Vanilla brown sugar cream banana just makes sense, right?

Don't be shy.

Good kiss of vanilla.

Easy.

1, 2, 3.

Instant soft serve of ice cream.

Check this out.

Hit it.

Yeah, you wanna let it work?

Like let the bananas are frozen.

They need to cool down the cream.

Yeah, let her go.

Let her rip.

Oh, this is great.

Sometimes you just gotta break the banana up a little bit and then give her one quick buzz.

This is so cool.

Check this out.

It's like instant banana soft serve.

It's so dreamy.

And the great thing is, is you can put it right into the serving dish and then I pop it back in the freezer so it just stiffens up again and you get a little bit more of a firmer texture.

But that is just incredible.

Check that out.

The frozen bananas work so well to make it like soft serve, put it in the freezer.

Dessert finished.

Seriously, I love you Banana.

Banana.

Just to finish this, I like the texture of a little bit of fresh banana on the top.

Banana's pretty cheap and it adds just like another little element for the ice cream.

There's only one other thing I would do to this banana's.

Nice and sweet.

It's got vanilla in there.

There's got some really nice sweet cream in there.

And if you just take a little bit of cocoa powder, give it a shot.

It just adds another element.

It's kind of like dark, mysterious, and it highlights all the sweetness of the banana.

And that does it for this Tuesday night.

If you have a story idea you'd like us to explore, we would love to learn more.

All you need to do is send us an email at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org and let's share it with the region.

That's all for now.

Join us next time for a fresh look inside the stories.

Until then, take care Funding for WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories is provided by the statewide Community Regrant Program, a REGRANT program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York State legislature.

And administered by the St.

Lawrence County Arts Council, Carthage Savings founded in 1888, offering VA FHA seasonal and world development mortgage products, providing financial services to Northern New York from offices in Carthage, Clayton, Croghan, and Watertown online at carthagesavings.com The pride that you feel at the end when they've passed and they're with their person.

I don't think that can be like explained in words how rewarding that feels and like changing someone's life through a dog is pretty incredible.