All Entries in the "Community and Arts Life" Category
Left in Andover: The canopy over his head
By Susan Leader ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The box containing Dad’s cremated remains sat under the eaves at Popplewood for two whole years before we figured out what to do with them His instructions to “dump me on the compost pile” seemed crude if not illegal. But Dad’s opposition to the funeral industry left few […]
Chester Chatter: Happy, restful holidays
By Ruthie Douglas ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC I’ll be taking some time off to take care of a health issue. I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah and holiday season with lots of love and good will.
Henry Homeyer: Reflections on a gardener’s life
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC During the holidays I try to take time from the humdrum of festivities to sit quietly and reflect on how happy and grateful I am for my life here in rural New England. Much of what I appreciate is linked to a life that allows me to spend […]
Left in Andover: Steering toward the good life
By Susan Leader ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC I treasure Simple Food for the Good Life, the 1982 non-cookbook by Helen Nearing (1904-1995), not for its recipes, but as a reminder of how fortunate I am to live in an era when women have the freedom to choose how much of their lives to invest in […]
Chester Chatter: The first opening day at Magic
By Ruthie Douglas ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC It was a step back in time as I entered the cafeteria at Magic Mountain. Closing my eyes, it was 1960, and opening day at the Base Lodge. I was the first ever food manager. I saw a young Bruce Meyer greeting folks and selling lift tickets. I […]
Henry Homeyer: It’s time to plant acorns
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC You may think that the planting season is over. Not for me. I recently planted 8 giant red oaks. Or, I should say, potentially giant oaks. I planted eight acorns. I’m hoping that at least one will begin growing next spring, and that it will eventually provide shade, […]
Left in Andover: A whipping to end whippings
By Susan Leader ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Compiling her “Vermont Historical Gazetteer,” Abby Maria Hemenway (1828-1890) enlisted the elders of each Vermont town and city to provide historical material, which she then edited and published from 1861 until her death. The section titled “The Local History of ANDOVER, VT.” (1886) includes a primary source contribution […]
Chester Chatter: J.J. & the milk-run Christmas
By Ruthie Douglas ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC We are in the Christmas season and I have been recalling Christmas from a time past. One of my favorite memories is from when I worked at the diner, and got to know all the regulars who came by every day. One truck driver we all liked was […]
Henry Homeyer: Are living Christmas trees a good idea?
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC I know people who say we shouldn’t be cutting down trees just to brighten our homes for the holidays. Trees are, after all, sequestering carbon and making our environment cleaner, greener, and all that. I disagree and will cut a fresh tree from my neighborhood tree farmer. I […]
Stone Village on display in Holiday Cookie Tour
© 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Ringing in the festive holiday season, from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8, visitors will have the chance to tour eight decorated homes and the Stone Church in Chester’s historic Stone Village, enjoying homemade cookies and good company. Now in its third year, the Chester Holiday Cookie Tour invites […]
Left in Andover: A long Thanksgiving walk
By Susan Leader ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Sunday before Thanksgiving, 1975, my dad and I set out for an adventure hitchhiking from Andover to Bennington, then onwards to Albany, N.Y., to visit Cousin Frances who had invited us to stay at her house overnight. The weather was mild for that time of year, and […]
Chester Chatter: A day at the beach
By Ruthie Douglas ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The phone call came. Jerry’s hearing aids were ready and we needed to go to the V.A. in Manchester, N.H., to pick them up. Sitting in the car at the V.A. Hospital, as Jerry went inside to pick up his package, I spotted a sign that read “Hampton […]
Henry Homeyer: Holiday gifts for the gardener
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Bad news: I hear you can’t depend on Santa to deliver presents to your favorite gardener this year as he is vastly overworked – and pretty cranky. Last I heard, he is planning on give coal to almost everyone over the age of 8. But here are some […]
Christmas trees arrive for Chester Fire Dept. sale
By Shawn Cunningham © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Just before 8 a.m. on Black Friday, the scanner crackled to life with a loud piercing tone. “Chester Fire, Administrative tone. The truck with the trees has arrived. All available personnel to the field to unload.” And with that, a Chester holiday season tradition and a major […]
Left in Andover: Martha’s life of faith and family
By Susan Leader ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Eight-year-old Martha Hennessy learned of the assassination of JFK standing in line at Perkinsville Elementary School. Fifty-seven years later, the Vermont native and grandmother of eight recalls: “That same year, 1963, we were still having duck-and-cover air raid drills because of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the perceived […]
Chester Chatter: The art of stone wall building
By Ruthie Douglas © 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC When early settlers first came to Vermont and began to clear their land, they discovered plenty of rocks and stones. They then built stone walls to show their property lines. Stone walls are Vermont’s land markers as well as our trade mark. Building a stone wall has […]
Henry Homeyer: tips for extending the life of your tools
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC By now most of us have put our gardens to bed – or done as much as we will this season. The morning of the first snow storm I finished cutting back the perennials in my last two flower beds. Whew, just in time. The vegetable garden has […]
Left in Andover: Taking the wheel, and a ticket home
By Susan Leader ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Although Dana-san, the boss, had given me permission to work on the potters wheel, no one actually “taught” me. One learned by doing, in this land where questions as such were just not asked. I was assigned my own wooden kick wheel, the concrete base of which was […]
Chester Chatter: The aromas of warmth, love
By Ruthie Douglas 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Thanksgiving Day is almost everyone’s favorite holiday. Perhaps it is because we get together with family and friends over some delicious food. Thanksgiving is not only a feeling in the air, it is the aromas coming from the kitchen, filling the house full of warmth and love. How […]
Henry Homeyer: Pruning, a late fall garden chore
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Fall is here, and winter is not far behind. I’ve seen some snow and scraped frost from my windshield. The sun is slow to get above the hills in the morning and quick to disappear in the afternoon. The sky is often gray and gloomy. These things take […]
