All Entries in the "Community and Arts Life" Category
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 […]
Left in Andover: From the pages of Northampton
By Susan Leader ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC My early morning marches along the dike overlooking the Connecticut River floodplain were a mortification for me on the coldest winter days. Not because I had to walk, but because the exertion caused my face to turn beet red. The unforgiving gauntlet of female eyes at morning assembly […]
Chester Chatter: Bird calls and backward shorts
By Ruthie Douglas ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC When school was out for the summer, the girls were ready for our annual two-week vacation. We usually planned those family trips for the immediate weeks following the end of school and we always went to some historic place. One time we visited Colonial Williamsburg. It was mighty […]
Henry Homeyer: Tea at 10 feet, garden parties amid a pandemic
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC In these times, garden parties are few and far between. But if you practice social distancing (tea at 10 feet) and wear masks as needed, you can still share your garden with others. And despite all the hoopla about how people are gardening more, we all still have […]
Left in Andover: Recovering lost family history
By Susan Leader ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC Most of what I collect at thrift shops and recycling centers is strictly utilitarian. But last year while helping my daughter recycle in Winhall, I snapped up an ornate cast iron picture frame. My husband has two similar frames displaying portraits of his crusty German forbears. My heart […]
Chester Chatter: Feeling the burn
By Ruthie Douglas ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC My husband Don traveled for his company. He usually flew out of Logan in Boston when he going out of the country and Bradley Field when he was traveling in the states. His company usually drove him to the airport. However, one time everything got mixed up and […]
Henry Homeyer: Everything’s coming up clovers
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Let’s face it: most of us do not have a lawn that looks like the grass on a major league infield, and I for one, don’t want one that does. Most professional ballfields are doctored weekly with chemicals: fungicides, herbicides, fertilizers, insecticides. They are cut very short, and […]
Chester’s iconic Fall Festival cancelled
By Shawn Cunningham © 2020 Telegraph Publishing, LLC Just before the end of the Chester Select Board meeting on Wednesday night, board member Leigh Dakin announced that the Chester Rotary and the Fall Festival Committee have decided that they will be unable to hold the 46th edition of the iconic festival scheduled for Sept. 19 […]
