All Entries in the "Community and Arts Life" Category
Left in Andover: Keeping up with Anne Mausolff
By Susan Leader 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC While visiting Middletown Cemetery in Andover this summer, I met a man paying his respects to his dad and son, whose ashes he had scattered guerrilla-style between two boulders where were no gravestones. Both had loved roaming nearby Markham Mountain to hunt, though neither had ever lived in […]
Chester Chatter: Grandpa’s toys create sunshine
By Ruthie Douglas ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC A rainy gloomy day, like today, gets me recalling times of long ago. In my grandparents’ home, there was a large attic. My grandpa hung two swings in it for my sister and me. When we were bored with summer school vacation, my sister Marie and I often […]
Henry Homeyer: Juice your fruit and store it too
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC For me, this has been a banner year for grapes. I have just a couple of plants, but they are large and vigorous. They are the Concord type with big seeds. I know one is a ‘Purple Valiant’, but the other name is long forgotten. They are quite […]
Derry, Wallingford artists team up to paint Rutland mural
Garrison Buxton of Londonderry has teamed up with Wallingford artist Stacy Harshman of the Sparkle Barn to create an indoor mural at the Vermont Farmers Food Center, home of the Rutland Winter Farmers Market, 251 West St., in Rutland. The mural, which took 10 days to finish, is painted with a combination of acrylic and […]
Left in Andover: Warp, weft and spinning a life
By Susan Leader ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC In the late 1960s and 1970s, when I viewed “dropping out” as a viable career option, I wrestled with what version of the Age of Aquarius would be right for me. I toyed with creating my own clothes, the goal being to make myself independent of the exploitation […]
Chester Chatter: A farm wife prepares for winter
By Ruthie Douglas ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC On the farm, there was always something to be done. Come fall, it was time to button up for the winter ahead. Inside the farmhouse, the kitchen smelled of pickles and other canning of late vegetables, which was going on with the big pressure cooker making its noise. […]
Joyous, tragic, exuberance of WPTC’s ‘Indecent’
By David Lampe-Wilson 2019 © Telegraph Publishing LLC Weston Playhouse finishes its season with Paula Vogel’s Indecent and it is safe to say that they have saved the best for last. Indecent is a gem of a play that encompasses a host of ideas as it challenges its audience to keep up with diverse themes. […]
Henry Homeyer: Don’t fall behind on fall lawn care
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC I have to admit that I don’t pay much attention to my lawn. I mow it as needed, but don’t fuss about dandelions, which I consider cheerful. But I realize many gardeners do care about their lawns, so I will share with you a few tips for the […]
Left in Andover: An oasis in our food deserts
By Susan Leader ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC My father Herbert Leader (1917-1988), self-described “Bennington boy,” recollected driving out to the surrounding countryside as a small child with his father: “Pappa used to take the horse and wagon around the countryside, a rabbi from Slonim looking out for his flock. Sometimes he’d take me along and […]
Chester Chatter: In a stew over two tom turkeys
By Ruthie Douglas ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC A chicken coop extended from the garage out back of our house. One year, Uncle Kenny decided to raise two tom turkeys. He named them Thanksgiving and Christmas. I liked to sneak into the shed to watch them. I felt sorry for Thanksgiving because he was getting larger […]
Henry Homeyer: 6 trees ready to find roots in your garden
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC I recently spent an afternoon walking around the UMass Amherst campus with Mike Dirr, my favorite tree authority and author. I already had several of his books, which I depend on before buying a tree. I purchased his terrific new book entitled, The Tree Book: Superior Selections for […]
Grafton Cheese features mural by Chester artist
© 2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Chester artist Amy Mosher has completed a bucolic mural for the Grafton Village Cheese Co.’s viewing room at its facility at 533 Townshend Road in Grafton. The 340-square-foot mural portrays Vermont’s rural landscape complete with the cows and sheep that provide milk to make Grafton’s cave aged cheeses. Mosher had […]
Bulb sale at Chester Fall Fest; Grafton Fall Fest seeks crafters; Springfield Band looking for musicians
Chester Townscape selling bulbs at Fall Festival Chester Townscape volunteers will be in front of the Fullerton Inn on Main Street in Chester selling spring-flowering bulbs during Chester’s Fall Festival from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday Sept. 21 and 22. All bulbs are top quality, hardy, easy care, deer resistant, and expected […]
Left in Andover: Apple picking plants seeds for lifetime of growth
By Susan Leader ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC In 1978 my mother, Miriam Leader, wrote, “I search the reddened cheeks of a Northern Spy, my daughter’s cheeks rosy as she picked it … I am becoming greedy of those times.” I have no desire to reprise my time as a professional, seasonal orchard worker throughout my […]
Chester Chatter: That clear beautiful tragic day
By Ruthie Douglas ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC It was a beautiful clear day. Fall was on its way. The sky was blue dotted with fluffy white clouds. I was angry that I was sick and called into work that I would not be coming in. I wrapped up in a blanket, turned on the TV […]
Henry Homeyer: getting the most out of your veggie harvest
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Want to maximize the output of your garden? Now is the time to act. Here are a few things you can do that will help. Brussels sprouts: Have you had trouble getting full-sized sprouts? These plants need to be topped in the fall to get the tiny sprouts […]
Chester resident’s quilt places 3rd in Billings Farm People’s Choice awards
Chester resident Linda Diak took a third place award in the small to medium category for quilt Circle #1 at the Billings Farm & Museum‘s 2019 People’s Choice awards during the 33rd Annual Quilt Exhibition. More than 15,000 visitors viewed the recent exhibition and nearly 1,000 ballots were cast for favorite quilts. The results: FULL […]
Left in Andover: The Coolidge connection
By Susan Leader ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC As a young child I used to hike up Weston Road with my mother to Middletown Cemetery, where we enjoyed trying to figure out the stories behind the gravestone inscriptions. What triple misfortune befell the Chandler family, summers end, 1839? Even the ministrations of Dr. Charles Chandler, husband […]
Chester Chatter: Diary of a left-handed kid
By Ruthie Douglas ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Picture what a first grade classroom looked like in 1946. Now you have an idea of what I had to deal with as a left-handed little girl. Students had to enter the desk from the right side and the inkwells were on the right side as well. There […]
Henry Homeyer: fall color in the flower garden
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Big yellow buses are growling as they lumber down country roads, delivering their children to school. Soft serve stands are warning of imminent closure. Favorite flowers are finishing their blooms; fall is here. But don’t despair as there are plenty of colorful plants to fill vases and warm […]
