All Entries in the "Community and Arts Life" Category
Henry Homeyer: A Midsummer Night’s Flowers, Shakespeare’s lesser known work
By Henry Homeyer ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC It is mid-summer now, and my garden is full of gorgeous flowers, some finishing up their display, others just beginning. Here are some I love and what I do to make them happy. The first flowers I see when I walk out my front door are poppies. Annual […]
Left in Andover: The gift in the rituals of death
By Susan Leader ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Four women, members of the local chevra kadisha burial society, arrive to perform the ancient rite of tahara, or washing the body of the deceased, upon my mother. As I cross the dimly lit funeral home lobby on my way out to grab a soy latte, they reach […]
Chester Chatter: A softball league of our own
By Ruthie Douglas ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Green Mountain Softball League is celebrating 41 years of playing on its field off Route 103 in Chester. It all started in Londonderry with an idea from a few young boys. Alan Benson of Weston helped get everything started. Neil MacKenzie of Chester donated funds to help. […]
Henry Homeyer: your humor may be dry, but your garden shouldn’t be
By Henry Homeyer ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC June, for most of us, was a very dry time. When weeds and established perennials started to droop, I knew it was time to water, and I did. But watering done well takes time. And watering done poorly wastes a lot of water, or doesn’t do the job. […]
Dr. Barbeau, founder of Neighborhood Connections, honored with car parade
By Bruce Frauman ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC .Nicole Wengerd, the new executive director of Neighborhood Connections in Londonderry, introduced founding member Delores Barbeau by saying doctors told Barbeau that she should not be alive. Barbeau has Stage 4 cancer and was not expected to live beyond May. Wengerd then joked, “What do doctors know?” The […]
Left in Andover: Waters in the heart
By Susan Leader ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC A hundred feet into the woods off my front porch is a shallow well hand dug in the 1950s by a hermit who lived in the cabin which is now my pottery studio. We dubbed it Hammy’s Well after our daughter’s hamster met its demise there many years […]
Chester Chatter: My not-so-older sister
By Ruthie Douglas ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC My sister Marie and I were what is known as Irish twins. We were 10 months apart as well as being born in the same year. That meant that we started 1st grade together. But still, Marie was my big sister who helped me climb out of my […]
Henry Homeyer: Roses are red and… easier to grow than you think
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC I love roses, but avoided planting any for a long time. They had a reputation for being fussy. I thought they would attract Japanese beetles, and carry black spot and other diseases. In recent years I have been enjoying growing roses and find that modern breeders have come […]
Water quality testing underway in area rivers
Summer is in full swing with hot days, thunderstorms and lots of swimming. And with summer comes water quality testing for harmful bacteria. Sample bottles, thermometers, coolers, and paperwork in hand, Susan Brace and Frank Kelley headed out early Wednesday morning to collect samples. The goal of the water quality program is to monitor the […]
Stone table and benches complete Chester park
By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC In March 2018, Chester voters approved a bond for $25,000 to construct a “pocket park” at the end of School Street by the suspension bridge over the Middle Branch of the Williams River. The park was one of the first ideas that came out of the Village […]
Grace Cottage to hold 70th Fair Day virtually
Grace Cottage Hospital’s 70th Annual Hospital Fair Day is going virtual this year as it seeks to raise $34,800 for technologically advanced hospital beds that will provide increased comfort and safety for patients and nurses. Donations of new or used items of high value including jewelry, cars, trucks, snowmobiles, ATVs, motorcycles, and boats are greatly […]
Left in Andover: Vegetarians in meat-filled world
By Susan Leader ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC As a hyper-sensitive vegetarian child in the 1950s I avoided close-up contact with the chickens my family kept for eggs. Obscured underneath their pretty feathers, my X-ray vision detected dead poultry as displayed at the supermarket. My little brother, on the other hand, enjoyed picking them up and […]
Chester Chatter: A time to get organized
By Ruthie Douglas ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Stop everyone. Take a minute and don’t make comparisons between the Depression and how we are living right now. Back in the 1930s, many people didn’t have a telephone, a radio or a car. This year as we have been told to stay at home, we at least […]
Henry Homeyer: first steps in designing your garden
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Let’s say you have just purchased a house and want to create beautiful gardens. How should you begin? I recently visited Gordon and Mary Hayward, both garden designers, at their home in Westminster West, Vermont. Their gardens are as nice as any private gardens I have seen, and […]
Left in Andover: Between Chester and home
By Susan Leader ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC As a child in the 1950s, I developed my home town identity attending Peaseville School in Andover. The other kids and families who lived scattered among the surrounding hills were my world. Their names, faces and home places are forever etched in my brain like points on a […]
Chester Chatter: Fireworks at the Douglas farm
By Ruthie Douglas ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC As a little girl, I loved fireworks. In the years of my growing up, anyone could shoot off fireworks in their backyard, their driveway or the street. You didn’t have to wait to use fireworks for any particular time because you could celebrate birthdays, a new baby, an […]
Henry Homeyer: warding against pests and diseases
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC My gardening grandfather came over from Germany around 1910. He was an organic gardener, perhaps because there were few chemicals sold to kill bugs and diseases back then. He gardened the old fashioned way: hen manure for fertilizer, hand picking to keep potato beetles under control, and a […]
Area organizations honor graduating seniors
Andover Scholarship awarded to Olivia Bernier; Thatcher LaPrise honored The Andover Scholarship Committee announces that it is awarding a $1,000 scholarship to Olivia Bernier, who will be attending St. Lawrence University pursuing a degree in conservation biology. The committee is also acknowledging Thatcher LaPrise with a gift. Thatcher will be joining the U.S. Air Force. […]
Chester resident and teacher tapped as equity coordinator at Vermont Academy
Dr. Jennifer L. Zaccara, Vermont Academy’s Head of School, has appointed Dan Weintraub as the Saxtons River school’s new coordinator of Equity and Inclusion. Weintraub and his family live in Chester. He will continue in his roles as history department chair and assistant coach for the girls’ varsity soccer team. He takes over the position […]
Family Center Thrift Shop to reopen June 19 New safety protocols will be in place
The Chester-Andover Family Center Thrift Shop will reopen on June 19 with new hours and limited days: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Fridays and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m on Saturdays. New Thrift Shop Safety Protocols A limit of five customers allowed in the store at one time. Customers are required to wear a […]
