All Entries in the "Community and Arts Life" Category
Left in Andover: A search for an ideal home
By Susan Leader ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC I lusted after the mug, coveting it for my very own. Henry Little, our hired man in 1956 and ‘57, brought it back to Andover for us from one of his many sojourns south of the border.Each side was more brilliantly glazed than the other. A wave of […]
Chester Chatter: Skating down the Black River
By Ruthie Douglas ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC As a young couple, my grandparents left Three Rivers, Canada to start a new life in Springfield. They bought a newly built apartment building on Union Street, which grandmother turned into a boarding house. They soon got jobs and met new people. A group those new friends would […]
Henry Homeyer: getting rid of invasives
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC My mother used to say, “The road to hades is paved with good intentions.” That is particularly true for gardeners and plant collectors. Most of those nasty invasive plants we struggle to eliminate from our landscape were brought here from abroad by people who didn’t know better. They […]
Left in Andover: Keys to the past, and the future
By Susan Leader ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last summer, relatives who were about to purchase Popplewood requested I play the role of “inspector” during the final walk-through of the premises before the sale was finalized. Never having bought or sold a house myself, I had to ask for clarification as to the nature of my […]
Chester Chatter: Fill the garden, fill the pantry
By Ruthie Douglas ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC As the seed catalogs arrive, my mother-in-law and I would start to plan the vegetable garden. The kitchen table would be filled with our open catalogs. Selecting our seeds was a three-day project. Our vegetable garden was large and awarded us just about everything we would need to […]
Henry Homeyer: A gardener’s cookbook
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC I can’t wait till spring. Don’t get me wrong: I love winter. But I look forward to trying a recipe I just found for pea, leek and sorrel soup while reading Deborah Madison’s fabulous cookbook: Vegetable Literacy (10-Speed Press, 2013, $40). And sorrel, a leafy perennial, is one of […]
Derry rescue squad seeks one-day volunteers
The Londonderry Volunteer Rescue Squad needs volunteers to help label and stuff 6,000 letters for the rescue squad’s annual benefit and fundraiser. Come for an hour or two, or plan to stay for lunch. Lunch, snacks and good company will be provided. Volunteers of all ages are welcome. The envelope stuffing will take place from […]
Left in Andover: Building a utopia from ‘abandoned’ Vermont lands
By Susan Leader ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC In 1941, Alfred and Norma Jacob, Quaker Relief Service volunteers during the Spanish Civil War, purchased the last standing farmhouse on West Hill in Jamaica, Vt. During the post-American Civil War era, a mere 70 years earlier, an astounding 28 farms had thrived on that very same hill. […]
Chester Chatter: Joys of being a farmer’s wife
By Ruthie Douglas ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Lately, I look out my big window above the hospital parking lot. It has looked more like spring than the dead of winter. The birds are chirping and hopping about. Looking back in time, now is the time we spread our seed catalogs out on the kitchen table, […]
Henry Homeyer: tips for making winter arrangements
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Finding things to place in vases, now, in winter, is not easy. It takes some imagination, but there really are some nice stems available. Before the snow flew I went outside and picked stems of pachysandra, a green vine that is mostly used in shade, though also grows […]
Chester Rescue Squad holds holiday party for local kids
Chester Volunteer Rescue Squad, the local Dollar General and generous shoppers teamed up to help area families with gifts for the holidays. Leading up to the holidays, the Dollar General gathered the names of families in need. Then shoppers would buy gifts at the Dollar General and donate them in a box at the store. […]
Left in Andover: A potter turns toward reality
By Susan Leader ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC This is Part II of a two-part story on my journeys with pottery. Last week: Pottery as a spiritual pursuit My original plan to take the Hippie Trail home across India through Afghanistan to the Middle East and thence back to the USA lost its appeal after my […]
Chester Chatter: A time for new beginnings
By Ruthie Douglas ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Here we are in the new year, 2020, and a time for new beginnings. I’ve decided I am going to be more grateful and a little bit nicer in the year ahead. Last year was a real test for me. I battled for my life. I also lost […]
Henry Homeyer: Time to nestle in with a good book
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC It’s cold outside, and nothing is happening in my garden. Well, I guess deep beneath the soil surface there are microbes and worms and moles alive and doing whatever they do in winter. But I am doing nothing in the garden, so this is a time to read […]
Whiting Library to unveil new trove of children’s books
The Whiting Library, 117 Main St. in Chester, is inviting the public to attend the unveiling of a new collection of 95 children’s books at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 8. The collection is made possible by a grant from the Children’s Book Project, awarded by the Pilcrow Foundation, which supports rural public libraries and […]
Left in Andover: Pottery as a spiritual pursuit
By Susan Leader ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC I divide my 51 years as a potter into several different stages. What started out as a spiritual experience for me at age 17 morphed into a much more mundane, “of this earth-ly world” career. This is Part I of a two-part story. Next week, Part II: On […]
Chester Chatter: Recuperating into the New Year
By Ruthie Douglas ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC My column will be returning in just a short time as my recuperation continues on course! I look forward to writing for you once again, and thank you for all the good wishes.
Henry Homeyer: Looking back at 2019
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC This past year was, overall, a good one in the garden. It started off cold and wet in early summer, but then turned hot and dry. Most vegetables and perennial flowers did fine for me. I finally splurged and got an Itoh hybrid peony, one called ‘Garden Treasure’ […]
Cookie Tour presents $800 to Family Center
The 2019 Chester Holiday Cookie Tour presented a check for $800 on Friday, Dec. 21, to the Chester-Andover Family Center to help them in their mission of aiding local individuals and families in need. Present for the occasion was organizer Cynthia Prairie, Family Center past President Nena Nanfeldt and several of the nine families who […]
Chester Elementary collects gifts, food for area families
The students and staff of Chester-Andover Elementary School collected gifts and bags of food for Chester and Andover families for the holiday season. Every year, the school sets up a Mitten Tree, where students can pick a mitten with a gift idea for a specific child. This year, children from 25 families will receive those […]
