All Entries in the "Community and Arts Life" Category
Left in Andover: Correspondence with mother
By Susan Leader ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC From the late 1930s when she left home through her years as a 1950s housewife in Andover, my mother showered her mother with chatty, revelatory letters and postcards. At times, the correspondence was almost daily. Grandma saved it all. When my parents bought Popplewood Farm in 1950, Grandma […]
Chester Chatter: Happy Valentine’s Day to all
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Love is in the air. Can’t you hear it? Can’t you feel it? It’s time to let those we love really know it. Right now is the perfect time to make some memories since the Covid-19 pandemic rules say that we should be staying at home. Gather up […]
Henry Homeyer: Winter arbor favorites, as shared by readers & experts
By Henry Homeyer ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC I recently asked a few readers, garden friends and tree experts a question: “What is your favorite tree in winter?” It’s not easy to pick just one, any more than most of us would be willing to name a favorite child. I invite you to think about the […]
Left in Andover: The singular steps of Martha Hennessy
By Susan Leader ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC April 4, 2018, the 50th anniversary of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., honoring his call to action against “the triple evils of militarism, racism and materialism,” Martha Hennessy along with nine other non-violent Catholic activists, the Kings Bay Plowshares 7, entered the premises of the […]
Chester Chatter: Navigating life in a wheelchair
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC I now know what handicapped really means. For instance, many stores have doors that are too cumbersome to open if you are in a wheelchair. Walking paths are often too narrow for wheelchairs. Tables at restaurants are many times too high for comfortable dining for those who must […]
Henry Homeyer: starting at the seeds, now we’re here
By Henry Homeyer ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC I hate to be the one to give you bad news, but some seed companies are already running out of seeds. Don’t panic: there are, in fact, plenty of seeds out there. And if one company doesn’t have your favorite tomato or zinnia variety, chances are that some […]
Left in Andover: The unbearable lumpish oatmeal
By Susan Leader ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC In his poem Oatmeal, Galway Kinnell, Vermont poet laureate from 1989 to 1993, enlivens his solitary morning bowl by inviting “imaginary companions“ to share it with him. The Pulitzer Prize winner’s Rolodex includes some persons of note: “Keats said I was absolutely right to invite him: due to […]
Chester Chatter: A town I never want to leave
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC In 1957, when I came to live in Chester, I knew that I would never want to leave. It seemed that everyone knew everyone else. Folks liked each other here. As a farmer’s wife, I was eased into that role slowly. I came to know the hardware store […]
Henry Homeyer: the importance of eating organic
By Henry Homeyer ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC I have been growing vegetables organically all my life. I use no chemical fertilizers or pesticides. I don’t often think about the reasons I do so, any more than I think about breathing – it’s just something I do. I recently picked up a book written by Maria […]
Chester Rotary donates 2,000 masks to educators, first responders
The Chester Rotary on Tuesday donated 2,000 face masks, courtesy of Rotary International, to educators at Green Mountain Unified School District and to Chester’s first responders, including Emergency Medical Technicians, firefighters and the Chester Police, during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Chester Rotary President Ian Montgomery, Rotary International financed the masks in its Million Mask […]
Project Londonderry volunteers establish new non-profit organization Members work toward North Village Master Plan, seek community input
From the editor: To correct the record: The Chester Telegraph last week published an article on Project Londonderry saying that it was breaking from the town Planning Commission and forming a 501(c)(3). After that story appeared, organizers notified The Chester Telegraph that the 501(c)(3) organization recently established is actually known as The Community Fund for […]
Chester Dems hold Share Heat Fundraiser; One Credit Union donates to Vermont Make-A-Wish
Chester Dems hold annual Share Heat Fundraiser The Chester Town Democratic Committee is holding its annual Share Heat Fundraiser to provide financial support for those in the community in need of assistance in paying for the cost of home heating fuel. The Share Heat Fundraiser this year will be based on donations, with no in-person […]
Left in Andover: Communing with commune life
By Susan Leader ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Blame it on my father that I ended up joining a commune. I was sitting on the porch at Popplewood when he tossed me the New York Times open to the family/style section. (To see the article, click here.) “Where Craftsmen Pursue Philosophy and an Almost Monastic Life” […]
Chester Chatter: Long winters spent indoors
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Because the house I grew up in in Springfield was so small — four rooms for a family of five — we had to share our space. Come a cold winter day when my sister Marie and I could not play outside, so winter meant a lot of […]
Henry Homeyer: Helping your plants to survive the winter
By Henry Homeyer ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC If you are like me, you buy new perennials, trees and shrubs every year. Most plants sold locally are hardy, but not all. It’s good to know the “zone hardiness” of plants before you buy them, and how the zone maps work. In a nutshell, the colder the […]
Left in Andover: Joe Gould kills his own pig
By Susan Leader ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Joe Gould’s Teeth, by Harvard historian and New Yorker writer Jill Lepore, explores the life and times of renowned Greenwich Village graphomaniac Joe Gould. In the 1920s, this Harvard educated artist/madman bursting with noblesse oblige, proposed to write an “Oral History of Our Time:” “Apart from literary merit […]
Chester Chatter: A winter to remember other winters
By Ruthie Douglas ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Like so many others, I am experiencing a winter that is so different than previous ones. I have plenty of time to sit around, read,watch TV and recall times that were special to me. One such memory is back in my childhood. I was a tomboy of sorts, […]
Henry Homeyer: Lessons from ‘A Guide to Nature in Winter’
By Henry Homeyer ©2020 Telegraph Publishing LLC This is a good time to be outdoors exploring the fields and woods. There is so much to see that will be buried in snow later on. But you may ask, what is there to see? Trees, winter weeds, animal footprints, signs of insects, shelf fungi on trees, […]
Chester Rotary seeks ‘competent organization’ to take over Fall Festival
By Cynthia Prairie ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Rotary is hoping that a “competent organization” will soon step forward to take over the annual Chester Fall Festival “for the sake of the community and the town,” said Rotary President Ian Montgomery on Tuesday morning. The festival, which was in its 45th year with the […]
Left in Andover: Long before Amazon, there was Alvin Adams
By Susan Leader ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Days after the holiday, Joe Gould’s Teeth, a book by historian by Jill Lepore, finally arrived in Andover, three weeks after I placed my order. “little joe gould has lost his teeth and doesn’t know where to find them,” wrote the poet E.E. Cummings. The sentiment was mine […]
