September 2018 Complimentary
publications
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www.inkct.com
Vol 14 Issue 154 2018
A guide to finer living in Connecticut & abroad.
#1
60,000+
Endometrial cancer is the most common GYN cancer in the U.S.*
estimated new cases in the U.S. in 2018**
ARE YOU AT RISK FOR ENDOMETRIAL CANCER?
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Obesity increases endometrial cancer risk by more than
is the median age of women diagnosed with endometrial cancer*
3x**
Early detection is key. 5-year survival for endometrial cancer that hasn’t spread is
95%
At Middlesex Hospital, You’ll Never Feel Like Just a Number Our Cancer Centers in Middletown and Westbrook have the expert physicians and technology to treat and cure endometrial cancer. But we also understand that sometimes it takes more than medicine to make you feel better. So you’ll receive dedicated, personalized attention from our Nurse Navigator—a trusted resource who is there to provide the information, guidance and emotional support you need at every step of your journey, from diagnosis through survivorship. Taking the time to treat patients, not just cancer—that’s The Smarter Choice for Care. middlesexhospital.org/gyn * Source: National Cancer Institute
** Source: American Cancer Society
*
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Features
SEPTEMBER 2018
Columns, Reviews, Events
ISSUE CONTENTS
Crusty Old Diver
Team Panga and Tri-state Skindivers
What’s In A Name?
Cardinal Points
Is it Eileen & Taylor or Nautical Needles? And What Is It, Anyway?
The Cheesemonger
pg. 8
pg. 14
The Pelicans of Pismo Beach
pg. 24
Cheese Glossary
pg. 66
On The Vine pg. 68
Napa Valley
Life On Sugar pg. 72
How do you like them apples?
August Events
pg. 74
September events in Connecticut
Word of Mouth There’s No Other Dentist Like this Old Saybrook Dentist!
pg. 18
Wild Sage Apothecary Renee Dixon is Chester’s Modern Medicine Woman
pg. 28
Remembering a Victorian Summer
photo by Jeffery Lilly
in the Gilded Age Read Ink Online at issuu.com
pg. 38
https://issuu.com/inkpublications
INK staff Contributors:
Advertising:
Jeffery S. Lilly - maestro
Contact us to receive our media kit complete with detailed advertising information including ad rates, demographics, and distribution in your area.
Weir Farm National Historic Site
Stephanie Sittnick - founder/publisher/sales design/account receivables
“The Best $10 Ever Spent”
Carolyn Battisa - editorial
pg. 48
Angela Carontino - editorial/photography Susan Cornell - editorial Caryn B. Davis - editorial/photography Charmagne Eckert - editorial Mark Seth Lender - Cardinal Points Nancy LaMar-Rodgers - editorial
The Other Side of the Lens
Barbara Malinsky - editorial
The Many Facets of Artist Richard Morange
Paul Partica - The Cheesemonger
pg. 58
We encourage the public to submit stories, poems, photography, essays, and all things creative. If you know of a person or place of interest, please submit your ideas to: submissions@ink-pub.com We will do our best to put your ideas in INK.
Rona Mann - editorial A. Vincent Scarano - photography
Please direct your advertising inquiries and questions to: Stephanie Sittnick - Director of Advertising advertising@ink-pub.com - 860-227-8199 Cheryl Powell - Greater Connecticut cheryl@ink-pub.com - 860-608-5749 Rona Mann - Connecticut/Rhode Island six07co@att.net - 401-539-7762 Jacki Hornish - Litchfield County jacki@inkct.com - 860-488-0393 Julie Sanders - Eastern Connecticut/RI julie@inkct.com - 860-235-5518 Richard Malinsky - Connecticut richard@inkct.com - 215-704-9273
Every issue is printed using 100% Soy based ink. All content of INK Publications including but not limited to text, photos, graphics and layout are copyrighted by INK Publishing, LLC. Reproductions without the permission of the publisher is prohibited. Ink Publishing, LLC is not responsible for images or graphics submitted by advertisers which are not copyrighted or released for use in this publication.
INK PUBLISHING, LLC 71 Maple Avenue, Old Saybrook, CT 06475 email: info@ink-pub.com or Jeffery Lilly at: submissions@ink-pub.com
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LOUIS COMFORT
TIFFA NY IN NEW LONDON
VAL EN T I N E H . Z AH N C O M M U N I T Y
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G A L L E R Y
T H E G A L L E R Y AT M I D D L E S E X H O S P I TA L S H O R E L I N E M E D I C A L C E N T E R
Gallery
Exhibit September 6 - October 26 Reception • Thursday, September 13 • 6 - 8 p.m.
On view OCTOBER 21, 2018 Explore the rich and varied work of artist and designer Louis Comfort Tiffany
Image: Dragonfly Lamp, ca. 1906, Tiffany Studios, designed by Clara Driscoll. LAAM Museum purchase, 2017.15.
Lyman Allyn ART
J.R. Dill, Cortona’s Blue Dome (detail)
Experience the Community Gallery at Middlesex Hospital Shoreline Medical Center
625 Williams Street New London, CT 06320 M U S E U M www.lymanallyn.org
IN THE ROUGH Golfing at Hill-Stead
“Pentimento: Recent Works”
An art exhibition featuring works by members of Pentimento Gallery open during regular business hours Sponsored by
250 Flat Rock Place, Westbrook, CT 06498 860-358-6200 • info@midhosp.org • middlesexhospital.org
Exhibition on view Through October 7 Hillstead.org
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"Water's Edge" oil/canvas 36"x 48"
DENNIS SIRRINE GALLERY 155 Water Street Stonington CT 06378
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What’s In A Name? Is it Eileen & Taylor or Nautical Needles? And What Is It, Anyway? By RONA MANN If you look at the website for Ink Magazine (www.inkct.com), you’ll see a statement our publisher often quotes: “Connecticut is filled with hidden gems, and rarely does one go treasure hunting without a map.”
That’s always been the mantra and the very backbone of this publication, since for more than 13 years we’ve held fiercely to this tenet. It describes so many of the craftspeople, the galleries, the restaurants, the arts, the vineyards, the recreational outlets, and the very spirit of this state. And it is perhaps best represented by the simple act of climbing in the car and setting out to find a unique, unmatched place known by two names: Eileen & Taylor and Nautical Needles. If you make the decision to find this Left to right: Leonora Diaz, Edie Riggio, Susan Lennox, Jennifer Cardinal most uncommon design studio, you will indeed be treasure hunting, so let blinds, rugs, carpeting, wallpaper, painting, reupholstering, and the custom building of this story in Ink then become your map. furniture, among so many other avenues of creative design. “The When Susan Lennox left the name Nautical Needles just wasn’t Lee Company in Westbrook going to work when talking to a 35 years ago, she says, “It customer about high end fabrics,” was a fluke that another she said. “So I came up with two partner and I started middle names of family members Nautical Needles. We did Eileen and Taylor.” Lennox wanted interior design work and the new name to be ubiquitous crafted custom furniture for enough to cover anything and boats.” As the business flourished, Lennox expanded her talents to everything she might choose to do in the include every element of home and office future. It had a nice ring to it, sounded somedesign: bedding, pillows, Roman shades, what upscale, and didn’t refer to boats. So,
Photo by Jennifer Cardinal Photography
12 any size, any fabric. We customize furniture for tiny New York apartments, and we can get you any sample you want of anything you want.” While Eileen & Taylor works with high end vendors, their prices run a very wide gamut so that customers with every kind of budget and need are satisfied. “We have in-stock fabric for as little as $9. a yard,” offers Jennifer Cardinal, “so we can cater to all price points.”
buried...then again, the best treasures always are. Although Eileen & Taylor is not readily visible from Main Street, just take Route 9 off I-95 to Exit 4 and turn left off the exit. Take an immediate left into the Industrial Park (right across from Calamari’s Recycling). Go straight back, follow the signs, and you’re there!
Eileen & Taylor was born right alongside Nautical Needles. One did not disappear; they were both still part of the burgeoning design studio that Susan Lennox commandeered. Although the name could be confusing, old customers still found them, as did designers, new clientele, and because of this, the business flourished. In October of 2017 Lennox, always hungry for growth, for taking it to the edge, for something new and exciting, picked up her blinds and draperies, her pillows and bedding, her wood materials, her swatches and samples and her two right hands - niece Jennifer Cardinal and manager, Leonora Diaz - and moved everything to the Connecticut Valley Industrial Park in Deep River. It’s not hard to find if you follow our directions, but it is a bit
“There” is huge with so much to look at. When Lennox moved from Westbrook she doubled the space of her design studio to 10,000 square feet which serves as both her massive showroom along with her workroom. Everything you buy, everything that’s built for you, everything that’s designed for you is done right on the premises, so there’s no middle man to drive up the price. There’s no jobbing out of your work, so Susan and her staff can control each project from beginning to end, able to give realistic dates of when the work will be completed.
When furniture, carpeting, window treatments, bedding, or anything is ordered, design services are included at no extra charge,“so our customers are saving a lot,” Susan adds. “We go out to their homes or businesses to measure, to put together color palettes, to make suggestions, with never an additional cost.” Lennox is adamant about her services. “I don’t come into a room or a home and tear it all
“What so many people don’t realize,” Lennox begins, “is that we build furniture here, and that means anything and everything. We can customize a piece of furniture to fit any space, no matter how small or large. We can make your piece in two pieces, if necessary – Photos by Jeffery Lilly
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apart. We always try to use what they have and work with it. But when people show me magazine photos, I am very honest and direct with them. I tell them it might have taken 12 hours to set up that shot. Then I ask them, ‘Do you want us to do your house to live in, or for a photo shoot?’” Working with Lennox and her assistants, the customer will always get direct answers, solid opinions based on years of experience, and a willingness to go where their clients want them to
go. “But,” Susan says, “the customer is not always right. I’ll ultimately do what they want, but I try to point out things that might not work so well.” Jennifer is quick to remind that this month of September marks the popular semi-annual sale offering a 30% discount on all booked fabrics of five yards or more. Do you need yet another reason to make the drive?
10,000 square foot delight with the two confusing names. When it comes to Eileen & Taylor/Nautical Needles, you really only have to remember one thing: You won’t forget the name, once you meet the people.
500 Main Street, Suite #6, Deep River in the Connecticut Valley Industrial Park (860) 399-9754 www.eileenandtaylor.com - www.nauticalneedles@sbcglobal.net
Perhaps a tad hard to find, but no whining, please! You want to find the most unique design studio you’ll ever see? You want the very best in all price points for every budget? You want more choices than a furniture store or design shop will ever give you? You want to re-do something old, create something new, or just see how Susan Lennox and staff can stretch your own imagination right along with theirs? Then make plans to take that drive to Deep River and visit that Photos by Jennifer Cardinal Photography
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t takes a Village... to get the most out of fall!
Shop. Dine. Stroll. through the best of Mystic, CT
SEPT. 15-16
860.536.4941 | oldemistickvillage.com Exit 90 off I-95 | 27 Coogan Blvd. Mystic, CT
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GOLFING Diamonds In the Rough
At Hill-Stead
Exhibition on View June 14 - Oct 7
Panel Discussion & Book Signing Sept 27th 5 - 7 pm
Experts on golfing history and a professional player will convene at Hill Stead for a lively disc-ssion
Exhibition Tours
• Explore the game of golf as it was played at the turn of the 20th century. • View vintage golf equipment, clothing, art and memorabilia on loan. • Learn about the private 8-hole course that once existed at Hill-Stead. • Take a turn on the period putting greens created for this engaging new event.
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TEAM PANGA AND THE TRISTATE SKINDIVERS by John Tolmie photos by John and Kate Tolmie The first Saturday of August I awoke to a cloudy day that threatened rain and wind. I should have expected it as most days of any spearfishing competition tend to produce lousy weather! But I and the four other freedivers that had traveled from Long Island and New Hampshire were all giddy and smiles in anticipation of the dive day ahead. Jimmy Gagnon, Eric Faust, Jimmy Brodrick and Matt Ramsay loaded our spearfishing gear in the bed of the truck and towed Matt's brand new 22' Panga to Point Judith Rhode Island. Matt, the owner of South Shore Pangas, imports these rugged and efficient boats from Columbia and today would be her maiden voyage on the briny New England waters.
These sleek, thin and lightweight platforms are favored all over the world by spearfishing enthusiasts. There is plenty of room for stowage, and due to the pangas efficient design, it consumes a smaller portion of gas than a typical boat of its size would use, freeing up even more deck space. The gunwales are also low, perfect for a freediver to ingress and Team Panga egress from the boat without the use of a ladder.
moored along the rocky shoreline. We made our way out of Point Judith and through the breakwaters and seawalls of the quaint
At our destination, we backed the boat into the water and cast off headed past the fishing fleet
fishing town en route to Block Island for a day of diving. We had all signed up for a spearfishing competition for the 8th Annual Meet. Species Skindivers Tristate TheTristate SkinDivers Spearfishing Club was started almost a decade ago by a few ex-Navy Divers and it has grown into the largest spearfishing club in the North East. The rules were simple for this competition. All fish were to be taken in Rhode Island waters via breath-hold spearfishing. The trip out to Block Island was rough as we saw four-foot swells, rain, and wind. The panga took the seas well and Matt captained the boat admirably on her first sea trial. Once Crusty with his Black Sea Bass
17 we arrived at the belly of the island we decided to hunt the reefs. We didn't have a fish finder or bottom sounder and we were navigating via handheld GPS, so the day was to be challenging to say the least! I slid into my wetsuit and donned my mask, fins snorkel, weights and went over the side with my speargun. On my first dive, I speared a nice triggerfish hovering next to a boulder. Triggerfish ride up the Gulf Stream to feed on the abundant life in the warm summer New England waters and they are absolutely delicious! I saw a few more triggerfish but I pass them by. I was in a species tournament and my goal was to This years winners circle
land several different types of fish. Despite the low visibility, I spotted a school of curious striped bass materializing out of the gloom.
They looked like ghosts blending into the cloudy water as I lay motionless on the bottom holding my breath. As they sped along, I picked the biggest fish, pulled the trigger and was grateful that my shot was true. I pulled in the line and on the end of the spear was a nice 36" bass! Together with the bass and the trigger, I was able to harvest five species for the tournament including a scup, a black, and a tautog. The other divers did well too, and we celebrated our catches as we motored to the weigh-in.
their awards, and the crowd of competitors all lifted their voices and clapped for those whose luck and skill landed them in the victors' circle. Though I did not place in the competition this year, I was proud to be a part of a great group of friends that respect the ocean and give back to causes that matter to them. In true diver fashion, the profit of $3,000 from the event was donated to Boston's own Dana Farber. For more information about this event and spearfishing in New England check out the Tristate Skindivers Spearfishing Club page on Facebook and visit NewEnglandFreedive.com
The weigh-in was amazing! The 98 registered athletes did an outstanding job braving the day's angry seas. The raffle table was full of awesome prizes and the awards were works of art. The club presidents Mike Landau and Mike Meyer did an outstanding job coordinating the event. Scientists from the Rhode of Department Island Environmental Management were invited to weigh, and take samples of the fish harvested during the day. Mike Landau often comments how the Tristate Skindivers gravitate towards sustainability and cooperation to help better protect our fisheries. The winners of the competition humbly accepted
The prize table complete with a Gyotaku print donated by Crusty
Weigh-in for the tournament
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Custom Mirrors
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Queen Anne’s Lace by Catherine Elliott, handcrafted frame by Ford Frames
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Word of Mouth
There’s No Other Dentist Like this Old Saybrook Dentist! by RONA MANN / photos Stephanie Sittnick
Everything is different. The office is different. The vibe is different. And the practice is absolutely, positively different from any dental practice you might have experienced in the past. It begins right at the front door of an historic yellow house, circa 1815. This is no medical office! There’s no dental office smell of eugenol, acrylic monomer, or cresatin, those chemicals used for root canals, temporary fillings, and the like that raise the anxiety level the moment you open the door to a traditional dental practice. Here at Old Saybrook Dentist when you open the door you wonder if perhaps you've opened the wrong one; for here it appears you've entered someone's living room or sitting room. There are no institutional chairs all in a row, no dental
magazines strewn about, no giant plastic teeth hanging from the ceiling. Instead you're a guest in a warm, inviting, and purposefully decorated space with furniture you only wish you had in your own home. There are comfortable sofas, cozy chairs, even a leather studded club chair that's kid-sized.
ease. The only thing that’s missing is the wine, but you won’t need that to feel comfortable and cared for at Old Saybrook Dentist because you’ve got an entire staff that will treat you just like family...and mean it. Strategically placed throughout the room are parlor games so you can wile away the time with something fun and relaxing. The mood is further enhanced by the music that continually plays - not "elevator music” - but tasteful, pleasant sounds that immediately put you at
“It’s not just me,” says Dr. Paul Bied, the dentist at the center of it all. “I have seven employees who love this practice and want our patients to love it as well. Several of them were my patients before they became employees, so they know it from both sides.”
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Dr. Paul Bied DDS - Owner
Alyssa Pitkin - Dental Assistant
Robin Johnson, Crystal Sonn, & Leah DeSario -Dental Hygienists
hygienists, Alyssa and Cathleen his very capable dental assistants, and Debbie, who handles the extremely complicated job of dealing with the many different forms of insurance. Then there’s the other Debbie in Paul Bied’s life, the one he credits with making Old Saybrook Dentist the warm, welcoming, stressfree practice that it is. It’s apparent from the moment you meet Paul Bied and his wife, Debbie that this couple is the real deal. They not only love one another unconditionally, but they genuinely like and respect each other. They frequently finish one another’s sentences, but it’s never an interruption; it’s merely that they know and complement each other so very well. Paul Bied came to Old Saybrook in 1995, joining an existing practice that “really looked like a dental office,” he laughs. Eventually he bought out one partner and then the other. Now it was time to put his own stamp on things.“We looked around and knew we needed to redecorate,” says Debbie Bied. “That’s why I put her in charge,” the dentist says, with a loving nod to his wife.“She’s responsible for the whole look and mood of this office; I take care of the rest.”
Debbie Crook - Insurance Coordinator, Sonya Piacente - Practice Manager
This is the rest: the entire field of dentistry has changed exponentially, primarily due to advanced technology. Bied, who is a General Dentist, has engaged in so much continuing education that he is now expert “in just about anything and everything. Technology has changed and evolved so much in this field that if you don’t embrace it, you get left behind. So we have invested in it, both in equipment and training.”
Bied’s commitment has been so extensive, and his love of learnConrad, Paul, Debbie, Harrison, Johnathan, and Ruby the family dog ing so intense, that he realized “by May of this year – 22 weekWhen Bied speaks of them, there is such ends – I had spent 12 of them in class, 12 obvious affection and respect for Sonya the weekends away from home.” office manager, Crystal, Robin, and Leah the
“That’s when we knew it was time for a family vacation,” laughs Debbie. Another very big difference in the practice known as Old Saybrook Dentist is the way in which new patients are treated. Dr. Bied doesn’t just shake their hand and ask them to open their mouths, so he can see what needs to be done. He asks new patients to open their mouths and tell him their story first. “Everyone’s got a story,” Bied said. “Some are short; some are really, really long, but I listen to them all. It tells me what their history has been with dentists, how they feel about dentistry in general, and what their anxiety level might be. I’m good with my hands, but I’m also good with people.” Old Saybrook Dentist handles everything from cleanings and fillings to Invisalign orthodontic treatment, implants, crowns, veneers, bonding, root canals, teeth whitening, and periodontics. “We do just about all of it here, but if there’s a problem, we refer it out.”
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to the Dominican Republic where he performed advanced implant bone grafting on people “who had a real need.”The experience energized and inspired him so much that he hopes to further volunteer his talents and services in the future to third world countries. Dr. Paul Bied is a man who is completely comfortable in his own skin. He’s worked long and hard learning everything he can to be the very best artist and technician he can be and hopes to never stop learning. Along with Debbie, he strives to remove any anxiety patients may have about dentistry and realizes that behind every mouth there is an individual with feelings and emotions and a back story; and it’s his job to treat that whole person. He’s worked equally hard building a family unit based on love and mutual respect. While Paul Bied is able to leave dentistry behind at the end of the day and head “across the bridge for home,” he cannot ever separate the commitment, the art and science, the love for his profession, and the respect he has for both patients and staff. This is the Old Saybrook Dentist.
Debbie says, “Paul feels that dentistry is a mixture of art and science,”and Bied quickly adds, “you need to be artistic, but if you’re too much so, you lose the science of what you’re doing. But if you’re too scientific, you lose the art.” Happily this Old Saybrook Dentist is a master of balance.
“I do heroic dentistry better than anyone I know,” Paul continues. “I save what others can’t. My most favorite thing is when someone comes to me who has struggled with their looks and has very low self esteem. I then do my work and hand them a mirror. When they look in that mirror, the first thing they do is cry...and then I do. The ability to change how someone feels about themselves is a great gift. It’s very powerful.” Bied believes so much in giving others this kind of self confidence that he recently took it a step further, volunteering for a missionary trip
Old Saybrook Dentist is conveniently located right across from the high school at 1160 Boston Post Road (Rt. 1) www.oldsaybrookdentist.com For more information and an appointment call (860) 388-3591.
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26 confuse what upwells from the blind deep; they had no idea how easy it would be for pelicans to unwind the Gordian knot of them, sharply from above. The sun is lower now, and lower still. Pelicans blink in the horizontal light. They stretch each disparate part: - Legs long as ballerinas and even the toes of their webbed feet pointing. - Wings like awnings cranked out as far as they will go.
Pelicans at Pismo Beach
Brown Pelicans
Photos and editorial © Mark Seth Lender On a narrow stab of Pismo Beach the waves come in a palm-flat wash, all gold in the tops, where the green sea meets a dazzle of sand. Over the long swell, low as a breeze brown pelicans arrive as is their custom. They land running on their feet. They turn into the wind. And then begin their evening preening. Screening their feathers for the least unkempt, the slight misalignment that might deflect their path of flight. When it matters most. That tight control wings in an origami fold as they plunge, headlong, into the wide-ranging ocean; when whitecaps are torn free and they disappear into the foaming; or the calm so flat it shatters into shards. Oh the little fishes pooling beneath, drawn into a tangled ball to
- Their mouths agape like inflatable funhouse doors, yawning, the strange translucent pouch slung from the hard lower bill stiff as the gaff on some imaginary sailing ship, one that sails on air… Now the short takeoff into the wind. Brown pelicans, low over water as night in settles like wetted silk. Sure as a binnacle compass they will find a safe roosting place, a shoal of rocks, somewhere out, that cannot be seen from the high point of the shore. Like a snare! - SNAP! - Unbound! And from the cradle of my arms the bird – Flies!
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Field Note: Like all birds with giant wings, pelicans on a casual look seem out of place on the ground. Add to this, their fantastical appearance. Nothing fits anything else. Flight at a guess should be as unlikely for them as it is for turkeys. But if the latter are former creatures of the air devolving into creatures of the ground, brown pelican is moving the other way. Even on the beach they maintain a remarkable grace. Their movements are not just slow, but smooth, their balance easy when they rest on one leg to stretch the other all the way out behind them. Even the way they yawn has a softness to it. Then, watch them in the takeoff. They spread their wings, a few steps into the wind, and up, and away. When they feed, it is another side of them all together. Breaking their aerodynamic shape results in a hard dive,
toward precisely where they intend, then bobbing to the surface again their bills full of fishes, the water seining out. Sometimes however, brown pelicans prefer a shortcut. And they have the smarts to do it. Guy Thériault of Parks
Canada, tells me he’s seen them bedevil fishermen in a very creative way. On a visit to one of Florida’s offshore islands, he has seen a pelican feign an injured wing in close proximity to a man fishing. When the fisherman goes to investigate, a second pelican swoops in and steals the fish that fisherman just caught. And the “injured” pelican? Gone. To play the prank on someone else. Strategy, partnership, and planning a multi-staged deception are things birds are not supposed to be able to do. So much for that.
Mark Seth Lender is a producer for wildlife content at Living on Earth ( LOE.org ), the only program on US Public Radio exclusively dedicated to wildlife and environmental reporting.
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'JOE UIF QFSGFDU HJě GPS UIF QFSGFDU DPVQMF
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(860)388-9999
cloudninecatering.net
www.adore.world (860) 980-3908
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“BEST GELATO AND CAPPUCCINO WITHIN 100 MILES” proclaimed one Yelp reviewer
Serving Breakfast, Lunch, & Co ee Tuesday – Sunday | 8:00 – 5:00 Authentic Italian pastries, baked on the premises daily Fritattas and breakfast sandwiches made to order
See our Menu at Ca eMarche.com
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W ild Sage Apothecary Renee Dixon is Chester’s Modern Medicine Woman.
31 they may be seeking more general information to gain insight into their life’s purpose. It could also be a physical situation that is plaguing them, though Dixon is quick to point out that she does not diagnose, heal, or mitigate disease but is able to guide people on the safe and effective use of herbs.
Photos and Profile by Caryn B. Davis
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enee Dixon of Wild Sage Apothecary in Chester, Connecticut, is an intuitive herbalist and soul plan practitioner. She harnesses the power of plants to make teas, products, and tinctures help to heal, nurture, and soothe the mind, body, and spirit. Dixon provides herbal consultations and works closely with her clients to ascertain what herbs will best aid what ails them. Each session begins with Dixon identifying her client’s intentions. It could be a particular issue they are working on that needs guidance and resolution, or
“Before they arrive, I sit with the plants and ask what would be helpful for this person. When they come I’ll have a tray of herbs, and we’ll talk about what might work. I provide intuitive insight and recommendations for herbal preparations which I can make, or they can purchase elsewhere. We may also discuss ideas for ceremonies and rituals that can be incorporated into their life,” explains Dixon. Dixon studied at the Holistic Healing College in London, England and did apprenticeship training and attended workshops with renowned herbalists, taking a little from each, before fine-tuning her own practice. When helping clients, she relies on her academic background as well as her intuition. Her own journey began many years ago when she was a stay at home mom with young children. Like many people, she had
encountered some mishaps with pharmaceutical medicines that encouraged her to find holistic alternatives. This led to an interest in creating all natural bath, body, and skin care products, as well as cleaning supplies, candles, and soaps.
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“I went a little overboard. I loved learning how to make the medicines and the act of making them. It was very satisfying. I went to natural everything, from what I had been purchasing,” says Dixon. “I don’t make a lot anymore as I am juggling so many other things; but if a situation arises where someone needs something, I will make it for them, or I will give them a recipe. I like to hand out recipes. People are usually surprised to find how easy it is.”
rose of Sharon, lavender and lemongrass; while others, like burdock and stinging nettle grow wild on the property. “We grow culinary herbs too such as rosemary, thyme, and sage. I also use white sage for clearing and smudging,” Dixon says. “We grow a lot of herbs that are good for pollinators and
The ways the herbs are dispensed vary. They can come in capsules, tinctures, foods, liquids, or teas.
Creating her own handmade products evolved further when Dixon and her husband, Mark decided to start growing their own food and raising chickens to become more sustainable. Mark is a master gardener who is also versed in the art of permaculture, a system for the cultivation of agriculture and horticulture that utilizes renewable resources and a self-sustaining ecosystem. Dixon and her husband now grow most of the plants she harvests such as holy basil, lemon balm, hibiscus, passion flower, lemon verbena, calendula, chamomile, angelica, rosa rugosa, ginkgo biloba, comfrey, witch hazel, chocolate mint, California poppy, yarrow, chocolate mint, St John’s wort, fennel, echinacea, Cary sage,
colic, anxiety and tension; boost the immune system; ease headaches and depression; act as an antibiotic and detoxifier; and alleviate inflammation, skin irritations, and more. Herbs are also used for spiritual purposes. For example, basil is utilized to promote prosperity, success, peace, happiness, purification, tranquility and love. Bay is associated with success, wisdom, and divination, while comfrey offers protection during travel.
“I am a big advocate of tea because I like the experience of seeing and connecting with the plants, and that’s easier when you are making a loose herbal tea. It’s not always convenient though for my clients, especially if you have to drink a lot throughout the day. For those people I make tinctures,” she says. keep the back of our garden as a meadow which helps them. Herbs possess a variety of medicinal qualities. They can relax the nervous system, balance the hormones, and revive the adrenals. They can be used to improve memory and focus; heal cuts, bruises, and scrapes; relieve indigestion,
In addition to the herbal consultations, Dixon offers group Tea Meditations & Tastings, where she speaks more generally about the herbs while her clients sample five different teas and learn about their therapeutic and energetic values.
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35 healing, anxiety, or grief due to loss. The requests I get are wide. I talk to the person and see what their intentions are, then I sit with the bag and connect with the client’s energy to see what is best for their needs,” says Dixon. The bags are small enough to be worn under clothes to remain unnoticeable if preferred by the wearer.
“These are really fun. We talk about the process of tea and do a tea meditation. We will discuss rituals and ceremonies that can be incorporated to enhance the experience; and
if the weather is good, we stroll through the garden and look at the plants,” Dixon says. Dixon makes medicine bags, which have been worn by indigenous tribes worldwide for thousands of years. Traditionally, they are used for protection or to increase spiritual powers. The contents are usually derived from nature and may include feathers, herbs, shells, crystals, and gemstones, each with their own healing properties. “They can be used for protection, guidance, or a specific situation like transition, emotional
Dixon is also a trained soul plan practitioner and gives readings. “A soul plan is a modern interpretation of an ancient system of life analysis rooted in Hebrew numerology based on the name given at birth,” explains Dixon.
“There is a Star of Creation chart that gets made for your name, which we go over. It is a 6-pointed star with all the energies, symbols, and influences in your life.” Frank Alper and Blue Marsden reintroduced the soul plan into contemporary society as it is now performed. (Marsden founded the Holistic Healing College that Dixon attended). It provides greater insight into one’s life experiences, goals, and path, both on the spiritual plane and in the material world. “Soul Plans help you make peace with your
challenges, identify your strengths, and shine light on your ultimate purpose here on earth. Most people find the readings validating and helpful for direction,” she says. Dixon recently completed coursework for a new healing modality at the Holistic Healing College known as Soul Transformation Therapy. It is used to identify and heal blockages, particularly those issues that are repetitive and continually surface. First the issues are brought to light, and then Dixon applies different healing interventions to help clear them.
“I now think of myself as having a big basket of tools, each one with different medicine, though not in the modern sense. I consider medicine anything that helps us heal. When clients contact me, we look through my basket and decide which services or products are most relevant at the time. My basket tends to grow and evolve in response to client needs or intuitive nudges that I should add something new,” she says. For more information on classes, workshops, peace and wellness circles, tea tastings, herbal consultations, and soul plans, log onto www.wildsageapothecary.com.
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Remembering a Victorian Summer in the Gilded Age
41 architects to build their summer homes at a time described as “the most diverse, the most picturesque, and the craziest period in American architecture.”
By Anne W. Semmes
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n a Connecticut peninsula of especial natural beauty, a summer resort community took shape in the 1880’s amidst farmland and grassy fields with sweeping views of Long Island Sound. Its shingled houses - reminiscent of old New England fishermen’s cottages were built for family summer fun, with verandas and sleeping porches, open to the breezes from the sea. The town was Greenwich, already with a wealthy profile, but this summer resort called Belle Haven Park was less known with a different profile than those other grand summer resorts of Newport, R.I., Southampton, and Tuxedo Park, N.J. Little known was how an enterprising group of four gentlemen developed this secluded peninsula that would draw the American elite to enlist the Gilded Age’s most renowned
bedrooms. With his house dating to 1894, he began researching the houses on his street “to see what was it like at the turn of the century.” Belle Haven Park was created in 1882 with the purchase of 200 acres for $46,000 by four Greenwich men of means, cotton merchant Robert Bruce, mining speculator and smelter
Those picturesque houses for the most part no longer exist. But what they looked like, who built them -and their intriguing stories have been brought to light in a new book, “Victorian Summer, “The Historic Houses of Belle Haven Park” by Matthew “Matt” Bernard, who grew up in Belle Haven. He’s in the real estate business but in the decades it took to bring forth his book he’s been a self-described architectural archaeologist of the last 100 With purchase of Jack’s Island for $3,500, the owner built this shingled years. His research has resurrected summer house with its cross-gambrel roof, reminiscent of an old New that lost Victorian summer England fisherman’s cottage. community with detailed visuals of some 36 houses while spinning out tales Nathaniel Witherell, A. Foster Higgins, of the of their Gilded Age owners. insurance giant Johnson & Higgins, and commercial ship captain Thomas Mayo. They “It’s taken 40 years to piece it all together,” notes saw that pastoral landscape as ripe for a summer Bernard. It was his own family house’s quirkiness community, at an auspicious time prewith its hidden features that awoke his curiosity income taxes, pre-estate taxes. By 1887 their as a teenager. Those hidden stairs led to a closed Belle Haven Land Company investment off top floor, removed, that he learned held six would grow to 340 acres.
Belle Park Park was created when 200 pastoral acres of this secluded peninsula jutting out into Long Island Sound was purchased in 1882 and developed towards the end of the 19th century.
42 tial American design,” said Bernard, described by the local press as “odd, but very pretty.” Still standing is Bruce Cottage at 67 Mayo Avenue, the oldest house in Belle Haven, but without its original porch arches. The promising architect, Fred B. White might have achieved equal Russell Cottage, built in 1898 on Otter Rock Drive. Demolished in 1962, Barnard calls it “the greatest architectural loss in Bell Haven.” fame to other Gilded Age architects but died soon after His wife, Rebecca, was a garden person his work in Belle Haven, aged so landscape designer Beatrix Jones Farrand was recruited. An illustrated 25, in 1886. Garden Entrance shows the talent of this This dark stained Shingle, Seven Gables, with its Roman brick chimneys and The generous Mr. Bruce whose gardener who also designed a garden for English country house look was built in 1891 by a shipping magnate on cotton trading profited “hand- the White House. Belle Haven’s Harbor Drive. somely” during the So named Belle Haven Park the investors Civil War, would gift his house to assured to make it park-like, writes Bernard, his town as the Bruce Museum, by hiring the creators of Manhattan’s Central with surrounding Bruce Park and Park, Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert the Beaux-Arts town hall, now a Vaux to add graded roads with “lyrical curves senior and arts center. and loops.” for those horse and buggy days. Houses would be set high up from the shore Mr. Witherell chose a grander
Maltby Manion, Otter Rock
That attractive high ground on Mayo Avenue brought into being the still standing Hutchins Cottage, circa 1888, showing its original Queen Anne turret structure. The owner, Horace Hutchins from Cleveland who made a fortune in Standard Oil, did not stay long after the death of Mr. Hutchins’ wife in 1889. He rented it to Nabisco king, Adolphus W. Green. Mr. Green, who bought the Hutchins Cottage in 1905, added soon after “a peculiar library wing…modeled on the French Renaissance plan.” But Bernard notes how “dramatically the neo-classical [library] wing clashed with the Queen Anne main house.” That library wing disappeared but
Perhaps the most eccentric house in Belle Haven Park was Lawson Cottage, built in 1886 by Bruce Price , who designed Tuxedo Park’s first Shingle-style cottages. “He was the father of Emily Post, the etiquette queen, Later owner Edmond Converse helped launch U.S. Steel Corp., and developed Conyers Farm in backcountry Greenwich.
with no walls or fences between them to keep that park setting. The first four cottages to be built were in 1884 as investments by Robert Bruce, who lived in an Italianate Revival Mansion overlooking Greenwich Harbor. “They were modest Queen Anne shingled cottages of quintessen-
shingle-style for his first Belle Haven house of 1885, set on high ground on Mayo Avenue with views of the peninsula and Long Island Sound. His architects Lamb & Rich were concurrently building Theodore Roosevelt's country Matt Barnard’s family house known as “Bonnie Breeze,” built in 1894, house, Sagamore Hill on Long Island. was previously owned by film producer Frank E. Taylor who would host friends Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe in their collaboration on the 1951 film, “The Misfits.”
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Belle Haven modern replacing Russell Cottage
Witherell Cottage designed by famed architects Lamb & Rich
Matthew "Matt" Bernard has recently restored his family's circa 1890 Belle Haven house to its original floor plan cofiguration.
architectural archaeologist Bernard has brought it back for the historical record. For Bernard, that library wing, “a square with its corners cut off,” resembled a Nabisco Uneeda Biscuit, “the first brand name bakery product to be marketed nationally” he writes, in the year 1899. Following that achievement came the Barnum animal crackers, and in 1912 the “Oreo biscuit.” Bernard fantasizes the Oreo name Green dreamed up in his Cottage library: “The early version of the cookie was convex, and ‘oreo’ means mound in Greek – something the company chairman alone among his executives was likely to know.” The Old Orchard summer house on Belle Haven’s Field Point Drive Bernard identifies as having a “Downtown Abbey-style” cast of characters. Built in 1890 by the first Brooklynite to invest in Belle Haven, Charles A. Moore, its architects, Boring, Tilton & Mellen were graduates of the famed McKim, Mead & White firm. Their Moore house with
Witherell Cottage grand entrance.
its generous verandas or piazzas grew a third floor with a gambrel roof, making it reportedly, “equaled by few on the Connecticut shore.” But it is railroad industrialist Moore’s progeny that would be his more recognizable legacy. Son Eugene married a Belle Haven neighbor’s daughter who survived the Titanic sinking to become the Dixie Cup heiress. Son Charles Jr. would become grandfather to actress Glenn Close. Daughter Elsie married an Italian nobleman descended from Leonardo da Vinci’s patron, Ludovico Sforza, who commissioned “The Last Supper.” From Elsie’s daughter’s marriage to American tennis great Frank Shields, would come actress Brook Shields, making the two actresses Shields and Close cousins. Bernard was able also to identify the only documented summer house design of Gilded Age greats McKim, Mead & White, “West Knoll,” built in 1887 by
another Brooklynite eager to escape New York City summers.” Owner W. H. Brigham could enjoy his simple but classic shingle-style summer cottage with “lovely gazebo” set on the supreme vista site of Belle Haven, on Harbor Drive - for a total price of $11,000! Alas, it lasted only 20 years or so before being replaced in 1906 by a Georgian Revival mansion that with additions sold in 2015 for $26 million, a Greenwich property sale record that year. Part of the vision of the Belle Haven Land developers was their Park would have a Public Ground. By 1892 a shingle-styled Casino, or clubhouse (the present day Belle Haven Club) with beach and changing rooms was built on
Still standing in Belle Haven is the 1884 Bruce Cottage at 67 Mayo Avenue, the oldest house in Belle Haven and first built by co-developer Robert Bruce in his Belle HavenPark.
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Huchins Cottage with its Queen Anne turret, was built by an iron magnate and bought by a Standard Oil scion who witnessed the shooting of Abraham Lincoln.
the Park’s waterfront giving residents “a vibrant social hub,” and site of an annual crowd-drawing horse show. By 1896 Belle Haven Park, grown to 340 acres with more houses and new property additions, was getting a rave press. A “New York Times” article described it as “the flower garden of Greenwich, and indeed, of the whole Connecticut shore,” with residents amusing themselves “with yachting, golf, tennis, and dance.” Three fashionable inns – the still present Homestead, the Mansion House, and Kent House brought vacationers who often became home owners. But the establishment of a next door 112-acre residential preserve called Field Point Park would widen those wealthy summer home
Hutchins Cottage Library wing holding owner Adophus W. Green’s great collections disappeared but its history was discovered by author Matt Bernard.
prospects with houses southern plantation- styled grander in European mansion now resides. styles set directly on the waterfront. The Maltby grandson William Victorian wish for visCopp was given nearby tas would be replaced Bonnie Breeze as a wedwith private waterding gift by his parents, front properties and Emily Maltby and William memberships in the A. Copp who lived next Paul Tudor Jones’ Harbor Drive mansion Indian Harbor Yacht door in their veranda-rich with its protected harQueen Anne house Althea bor for owners’ yachts - “rather than the Lodge. They also gifted daughter Ethel Copp more informal, family oriented beach club at with her nearby Cozy Corners cottage, the Belle Haven,” writes Barnard. only one of three retaining its original shape. What intrigued Barnard in his ferreting out that Victorian summer history were the interrelationships of those Belle Haven summer residents and family compounds he found, with family houses built across generations. His own family house, “Bonnie Breeze” as it was called, was owned by the grandson of Caleb Maltby. Known as America’s Oyster King, Maltby built his Maltby Mansion in 1888 on a prominent waterfront site on Harbor Drive, where hedge funder Paul Tudor Jones’
How interiors and exteriors changed over the
“Author Matthew Bernard’s Belle Haven house, “Bonnie Breeze” as it looked in the 19th Century, he learned was part of a three-house William Copp family compound .
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“The Moorings,” a grand Tudor Revival Cottage that rose up in 1889 on the waterfront between Jack’s Island and the Otter Rocks, was considered “one of Belle Haven’s finest.”
only in Greenwich, Connecticut but in America’s history.
Today, Belle Haven is exhibiting a new Gilded Age as seen in this Palladio styled mansion of hedge funder Paul Tudor Jones that has replaced Caleb Maltby’s 1888 Maltby Mansion of that first Gilded Age.
generations is readily seen in Bonnie Breeze, Bernard’s family home. But now restorer Bernard has brought back its 1890 floor plan configuration - with adaptations for today’s living. The welcoming wrap-around veranda is back. A turret discovered to have existed in the basement forms part of the living room. The dining room now leads to the “must have” family room adjoining the kitchen. Gone is the Downtown Abbey-style butler’s pantry with dumb waiter connected to those cooks in the basement kitchen. “They
had a lot of help,” notes Bernard. With the advent of “Victorian Summer” Bernard has been receiving queries from families as far as Ireland, he says, informing him that their great grandmother or grandfather had served in one of those Belle Haven Victorian summer houses. Matt Bernard’s architectural archaeology has definitely hit a chord, with his bringing to light a summer place of distinction not
“It is an especially relevant historical record,” notes long serving Greenwich Historical Society board chairman Davidde Strackbein.“Matt's dedication to preserving and documenting the history of Belle Haven, born of a young man’s interest in learning about his neighborhood's history, has led to the creation of an exceptional historical record of the architecture and the dynamic individuals who created this important turn-ofthe-century subdivision in Greenwich which might otherwise have been lost to history.” Matthew "Matt" Bernard, Greenwich author of "Victorian Summer," turned an archaeological and architectural interest in his family's Belle Haven house into an historical unveiling of Belle Haven's gilded Age.
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Weir Farm National Historic Site “The Best $10 Ever Spent” Photos & Profile by Caryn B. Davis
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American
impressionist Julian Alden Weir bought a farm in 1882 for ten dollars...
until Davis showed him the 153 bucolic acres in Branchville, Connecticut that became his future home and legacy.
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“Weir was immediately inspired. He created his first painting there, a watercolor called “Spring Landscape,” that’s in our collection. It was an early time for him to evolve as an impressionist, and this painting showed that style. It’s what this place brought out in Weir and in other artists as well,” says Kristin
n addition to the deal he made with the owner, New York art collector Erwin Davis, a painting from his personal collection was included, although Weir himself was not the artist. Weir had been looking for a summer home as a wedding gift for his new bride, Anna Baker. He was considering the Adirondacks
Julian Alden Weir, Spring Landscape, Branchville, ca 1882, watercolor on paper, Weir Farm National Historic Site
Lessard, Park Ranger and Chief of Interpretation, Education, and Volunteer Services at Weir Farm National Historic Site. Weir studied art at the National Academy of Design in Manhattan and then furthered his education at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he was introduced to impressionism but was apparently not that impressed. He found the loose style, the lack of regard for the rules of drawing and form, and the variation from the realist, utterly disconcerting. But all that would change. Weir was to become a key figure in the development of American Impressionism. He returned to the states and taught art classes and private lessons at the Cooper Union Women’s Art School and the Art Students League in New York City where he resided. (It
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Julian Alden Weir, Spring Landscape, Branchville, ca 1882, watercolor on paper, Weir Farm National Historic Site
was in one of these classes that he met his beloved Anna). He established himself as a still life and portrait painter and co-founded the Society of American Artists, which he would leave in 1897 after the Society began to favor Classical and Romantic Realism over Impressionism. His departure led to the founding of another group called the Ten American Painters. This membership included artists John Henry Twachtman and Childe Hassam who were frequent guests at Weir Farm. “He opened his farm and home to his friends. It was not an art colony but a place of retreat to get away from the city, to be inspired by nature, to collaborate and let their creativity flow,” Lessard says.
Continually influenced by the scenery around him, Weir moved away from realism and towards landscape painting. He built a studio on site which is open to the public, as is the colonial house, and expanded the farm with the purchase of an additional 83 acres. Weir and Anna had three daughters, Caroline, Dorothy, and Cora. Dorothy studied art under the tutelage of her father and later at his alma mater, the National Academy of Design. She was famous in her own right and known for her wood block prints and oil paintings, which reside in a collection at the Museum of Art at Brigham Young University in Utah. Dorothy married sculptor, Mahonri Young who also built a studio at Weir Farm that is open to the public. Some notable works by Young include a statue of his grandfather, religious leader Brigham Young, for the National Statuary Hall Collection at the United States Capitol; Native American statues for the American Museum of Natural History in New York; and smaller pieces of laborers and boxers in the Social Realist style.
Julian Alden Weir
work. With help from her sisters, they cataloged his paintings, letters, sketchbooks, and other ephemera, which Dorothy used to write the biography, “The Life and Letters of J. Alden Weir,” that was published posthumously. Cora was also an artist. She studied at the Parsons School of Design in New York, but she preferred botany and horticulture and pursued degrees in both. Upon her father’s passing, Dorothy gave Cora the adjoining Webb Farm; and Cora added the Sunken Garden, the Secret Garden, the Terrace Garden, a stonewall around the entire property, and a greenhouse Sperry Andrews and potting shed, while restoring the barn and tool shed. Cora married Charles Burlingham and their home, the Burlingham House, is now the park’s Visitor Center and a rotating exhibition space. The
Dorothy maintained the farm after her father’s death in 1919 while promoting his Julian Alden Weir in his studio
Julian Alden Weir, The Truants, ca 1895, oil on canvas, Weir Farm National Historic Site
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Julian Alden Weir, The Red Bridge, 1895, Oil on canvas, Gift of Mrs. John A. Rutherfurd, 1914
use groups asking for help in saving it. They rescued 66 acres, and in 1990 it became a National Historic Site and Park. The Andrews remained there until the end of their lives. “They understood the significance of this place, Weir’s role in American impressionism, and the importance of keeping his legacy alive through art, but also through this landscape that inspired him and other artists,” Lessard says. Julian Alden Weir, The Factory Village, 1897, Oil on canvas, Gift of Cora Weir Burlingham, 1979, and Purchase, Marguerite and Frank Cosgrove Jr. Fund, 1998
National Park Service and the Wilton and Ridgefield Garden Clubs have since restored the gardens. They are open for the enjoyment of all. In the 1960s, as more people left the city for the countryside, Cora had the foresight to protect the farm from developers by founding a group called the Citizens to Preserve Weir Farm. She was able to retrieve parcels of the original land that had been sold off over time and donated adjoining acreage from her own property to the Nature Conservancy to create Weir Preserve.
Any changes that were made were well documented. Because of this, we can get a look back through the artwork, objects, letters, journals, sketchbooks, photographs, furnishings, and farming equipment and know what life was like for them,” says Lessard about the 200,000 piece collection.
The park receives 40,000 visitors a year. The grounds, gardens, woodland trails, and pond are accessible 365 days a year, while the buildings are open for tours from May to October. They have numerous programs such as the artist-in-residence program, nature writing, photography, painting, and stone wall building workshops. Additionally, there are lectures like The Women of Weir Farm, free art supplies so people can paint on the grounds, Yoga in the Garden, and Shinrin Yoku Forest Bathing Wellness Walks as part of their Healthy Parks, Healthy People program. Many of these programs are free. People can also volunteer as docents or help to maintain the walls, gardens, and trails.
Renowned artists Sperry and Doris Andrews learned of “It’s a peaceful, serene Mahonri Young in 1952 after place; and it draws attending Weir's Centennial artists from all over the Exhibition. They made an country that come to impromptu visit to Weir paint in the same landFarm to meet him, and the scape Weir painted in. friendship lasted until Spending time in the Young’s death in 1957. The park creating artwork Andrews were taken with helps foster that artistic the farm and understood the tradition; but Weir and significance of preserving it. the other artists also They purchased the house, came here to relax, studios, outbuildings, and retreat, rejuvenate, and land, changing very little in Julian Alden Weir, The Hunter, ca 1895-1905, pencil, watercolor, & gouache on paper, we think it’s important the 48 years they lived there. Weir Farm National Historic Site to keep that tradition They wanted to retain the going as well,” says Lessard. Once again, fearing the encroachment from feeling of how life was during Weir’s tenure. developers, the Andrews advocated for the “All three generations of artists that lived here conservation of the estate by writing letters to For more info log onto had that foresight and ethic of preservation. politicians, art intuitions, historians, and land https://www.nps.gov/wefa/index.htm.
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The Other Side of the Lens The Many Facets of Artist Richard Morange
By Carolyn Battista / Photos by Vincent Scarano
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ichard (Whitey) Morange was eyeing some crayons. “They’re called Russian crayons,” he said. “I have close to 40 pounds of them.” Morange, an artist, likes to experiment with the crayons which came from factories, now long gone, where they were used to correct imperfections in leather products like shoes and purses. In fact, his studio is packed with all sorts of things with which he likes to
experiment including paint, brushes, clay, wax, etching supplies, a printing press, elderly photographic equipment, and a yard sale torso mannequin. “I like to play with stuff, see what I can do,” he said.
During his past teaching career he steadily encouraged his students to see what they could do, what they could learn, what they could become. “Teachers want to spur creativity,” he observed, “but what is that? In some kids, creativity is opening a mind, allowing a new vision in, allowing kids to create new scenarios. A kid can see himself in a new context.” Morange started a studio in New London where he’s getting involved in the local art scene after retiring from teaching art at
Belmont Hill School in Belmont, Massachusetts. While there, he led the development of the school’s art center and ran the center’s gallery, which often featured the work of emerging artists. “We could give them a good start,” he said. Over the years he got more and more interested in old photographic equipment and processes, using some of them in his teaching and in his own work. When he
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isn’t painting in oil or watercolor or making a mold of the mannequin (for a project involving images of women), he might be out shooting with a Speed Graphic that he figures dates to the 1950’s or 60’s. Decades back, he and his wife, Eileen lived in a tiny New Hampshire town. He had a degree in visual arts and a job in construction. When he lost that job, folks at a local school called. They’d just lost their janitor; could he fill in for a few weeks till they found a replacement? He stayed for a year and a half, spending much of that time in the art room. As he helped students with their projects, he saw the career he would love. And although a tad dubious at first at taking a teaching job at Belmont Hill, an elite school for boys grades
7-12, he stayed for more than 30 years. “I really liked the kids,” he said. He also liked the way the administration treated him “as a human being, as a professional, and as an employee, in that order.” Belmont Hill students, he observed, were expected to compete, succeed, “become movers and shakers.” He wanted them to see themselves as human beings, not just as high earners and bosses. Teaching art offered pathways. He saw how art projects fostered collaborative problem solving, not cut-throat competition. He welcomed the way art and science seemed so closely connected in the grades he taught, both stressing the importance of paying attention and of not making assumptions. He savored freedom in teaching. In academic subjects, he pointed out, “The job is to get kids from level A to level B, ready for level C. Teaching art, you’re free to approach kids in a much less regimented way. You see where the kid is, where he can go.” How is a student responding? What might the next move be? “It’s a dance, not a march.”
He taught painting, drawing, and ceramics (for which he built a kiln) and photography. Students frequently shot with film, developed it in the school darkroom, and tried out assorted old equipment and processes. They’d often been instructed to seek perfection, nothing less; but as they experimented, they found how interesting it could be to find results that were not sharp, not “perfect.” While at Belmont Hill, he joined the Photographic Historical Society of New England—PHSNE, pronounced “fizz-nee.” “It’s a great organization,” he said. He also got to know the late Thurman F. (Jack) Naylor, a successful inventor and entrepreneur who collected and curated vast, valuable collections of photographic equipment and images. Naylor had, for instance, the world’s only Megalescopio, a “prephotography” instrument from 1863, housed in teak and ivory, with lenses that let viewers see black and white images transformed into colors. PHSNE, based near Boston, sponsors the nowannual Photgraphica Show and Sale of images, antique and usable cameras, and ephemera, which Morange has often attended. PHSNE also publishes The New England Journal of Photography and the newsletter Snapshots (with news about its meetings, area exhibits and other events, and articles on such topics as the
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“Luftwaft Leica”). For one issue of the Journal, Morange wrote A Family Camera, detailing the history and his own use of a “Poco,” a 4 x 5 inch folding bed plate camera made between 1891 and 1895 that once belonged to his wife’s great grandfather. For another, he wrote A.C. Roebuck and the Optigraph, about finding an old lens and learning all about the role of a co-founder of Sears and Roebuck in the early movie business.
“They’re for use. They’re not museum pieces,” he said. He refitted the Poco to use film, not plates. He showed visitors his trusty Speed Graphic. “It’s my go-to camera for large format,” he said. “It’s big, it’s ugly—who cares? It’s as reliable as ever.” Nearby was an 8 x 10
“I knew Jack Thurman as the grandfather of two students I’d taught,” Morange said. When Thurman was quite elderly, he and Morange often chatted at Photographic shows. By then Naylor’s collections—his Megalescopio, daguerreotype cameras, espionage devices, Mathew Brady images, and more—were being dispersed. Morange has acquired a considerably smaller, lower-cost collection of equipment and cameras. He especially favors the end of Photographica auctions when prices drop. His sturdy folding tripod cost “$5.00, not $100.” He feels that old cameras—like old crayons and torso molds—are interesting to work with.
portrait camera, made around 1915 for the amateur photographer. Not caring about using it in an “authentic” manner, Morange has added what he calls a “funny front,” which allows him to use different lenses, for interesting results. “I’m not a photographer,” he insisted. “I’m a painter and a teacher. But—I like to play with all this.”
He paints landscapes, still lifes, collages, abstracts, and more with a work in progress usually on an easel. He shows his work at venues including the Hygienic Galleries and the Marquee Gallery, both in New London, and has moved his operation, Dancing Elephant Arts, to a new studio. He likes to promote PHSNE, and he likes that he still hears from former students throughout the world. Retirement did require some downsizing, so he has donated equipment to Sparkmakerspace, where he hopes to start and run a darkroom; and he has donated such items as a “magic lantern” projector and numerous glassplate negatives to the New London Maritime Society. Still, he can’t resist fascinating new finds. He recently acquired many old books with interesting illustrations for ten cents each at the end of a library sale. He’s seeing what he can do with them. For more information: The PHSNE website is www.phsne.org; Dancing Elephant Arts is in Suite 502, 302 State St., New London; Morange’s email is whiteymorange@gmail.com.
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The Cheesemonger Paul Partica, The Cheese Shop, Centerbrook CT
CHEESE GLOSSARY We are always asked questions about cheese, and we really try to answer to the best of our ability. However, I often catch a puzzled look on a customer’s face when answering a question. For example, I am frequently asked what Brie is. My answer, that Brie is a soft-ripening cheese from France, sometimes results in a telling head nod. The customer may have no idea what the term “soft-ripening” means. The following glossary may help with those less-than-perfect answers. Affinage: The art of ripening and aging cheese properly. Currently, one of the best affinage facilities in the United States is Jasper Hill Farms, located in Greensboro, Vermont. Jasper Hill is not your typical small, artisan cheese manufacturer. This farm is known as the first of its kind in our country. There are many factors to consider when aging cheese. This includes washing, flipping, brushing, patting and spritzing. The process becomes more involved when you realize that different cheeses require different ripening techniques. Some cheeses require moist conditions, while others need a dry one. Some need colder climates, while others require a warmer environment. This mission has to be accomplished with precise timing, to ensure all cheeses are sold at their peak condition. As a result, Jasper Hill has seven different caves totaling 22,000 square feet. Each of these caves are calibrated with different temperature and humidity levels. Even more amazing, all of the caves are actually located underground. The farm’s forty-five Ayrshire cows graze on top of these caves. Annatto: A natural coloring agent derived from the seeds of the Achiote tree. Annatto delivers an orange-red color that is widely used for coloring foods naturally. Artisanal Cheese: Cheeses made in small batches on a small dairy farm, with quality being the foremost goal. Artisanal cheeses vary in size and overall appearance, and they are not as uniform as cheeses found in commercial production. B. Linens: A bacteria used on the surface of washed-rind cheeses, much the way Penicillium Candidum is used on soft-ripening cheeses. B. Linens develops a more pungent, aromatic taste than the latter. Limburger, Chaumes and Diva are all examples of washed rind cheeses. Butterfat: The naturally-occurring fat found in milk and dairy products. It is important to note that butterfat is measured only in dry matter. With regard to single, double, and triple crèmes, you would divide by two . A double crème with 60% butterfat in dry matter would actually have a butterfat content of 30-31%. This means less fat than meat, yet more protein per ounce. In order to produce 1% or 2% milk, all of the butterfat is first removed from the whole milk, then it is partially added back to meet the fat requirement of the finished product. (As a side note: I always find it amusing that 2% milk is advertised as having half the fat of whole milk. Whole milk contains approximately 4% fat, making it 96% fat-free, 2% milk is 98% fat-free). Button: A small round cheese, usually made from goat’s milk. An example of a button cheese would be Kunik, made by Nettle Meadow in Warrensburg, NY. This wheel weighs around four ounces.
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Cheddaring: The process of cutting curd into small pieces, stacking, then pressing further to remove more of the whey. Cheesemonger: A person who buys and sells cheese for a living. Core: This usually refers to a soft ripening cheeses center which softens as it ripens (see soft-ripening). Curd: After milk is separated, the liquid part (whey) is drained off. The remaining solids are called curds. Double Crème: Cheese with a butterfat content of 60% in dry matter. Fermier: With regard to cheese or coffee, it means coming from the land or the farm. Years ago, we used to call these cheeses “farm cheese.” A farm cheese meant high quality cheese produced in small quantities on a farm and not a commercial cheese production facility. Today, the term artisanal is more commonly used. Unfortunately, the artisanal term has become overused for many products today. Not every product can be artisanal. Pasteurization: The process of heating milk to 160 degrees to destroy harmful bacteria. Penicillium Candidum: A snow-white bacteria spread on a cheese. This creates a bloomy rind that will help to soften the cheese as it ripens. Penicillium Roqueforti: A blue-green mold injected into cheese to create the blue cheeses we all love to eat. There are some blues, such as Roquefort, that need only empty needle holes in the cheese to bloom. The blue-green mold will enter the cheese naturally from the air. This is why Roquefort must be aged in limestone caves in France. Rennet: An enzyme found in the lining of an animal’s stomach, used to coagulate milk. Coagulating is the starting process of causing milk to separate into curds and whey. Vegetable rennet is made in a laboratory. Single Crème: Cheeses with a butterfat content of 45-50% in dry matter. Soft-Ripening: The center of a cheese is referred to as the core. As the snow-like mold does its work to develop the cheese, it will begin to ripen from the outside in. The ripened part will soften and develop a supple, creamy texture that can be described as having a delicate “earthy” flavor, with a faint hint of mushrooms. If the cheese were to be cut in half, you would see three layers: a hard, chalky-white center covered by a softer, somewhat thick honey-like top, and a bottom layer. When the cheese core fully disappears, the cheese is considered fully ripe. Triple Crème: Refers to cheese with a butterfat content of 75% in dry matter. Tyrosine: Tyrosine refers to the little crystals found in cheese that occur as a natural result of aging. These crystals are actually an amino acid found in the protein of milk. Crystallization is considered a sign of a well-aged cheese (not to be confused with the salt crystals found on the surface of brined cheeses). Washed-Rind: A style of cheese that has B. linens bacteria smeared on the outside of the rind to create a pungent aroma and flavor. Unlike soft-ripening cheeses, which are typically white in color, this style creates a reddish-orange color. Limburger is an example of a classic washed-rind cheese. Whey: The liquid part of the milk when it separates into curds and whey. 95% of the sugars (or lactose) is present in whey. Since cheese is mostly made of curds, in most instances it is approximately 95% lactose-free. This means that 95% of the original 5% of lactose found in milk is discarded. As a cheese ages, it continues to lose moisture. This removes even more lactose. Still better, most of the lactose remaining in the curd is converted into lactic acid. Most cheeses aged six months or older naturally become lactose-free, as any remaining lactose converts to lactic acid.
Paul Partica, The Cheese Shop www.cheeseshopcenterbrook.com
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By Art LiPuma, General Manager SeaSide Wine & Spirits, Old Saybrook, CT
Napa Valley Napa Valley is known as one of the most prestige wine growing areas in California. Some of the best wines are produced here. Napa County is north of San Francisco and east of Sonoma County. A few of the main areas for growing grapes are Howell Mountain, Calistoga, St. Helena, Rutherord, Oakville, Mount Veeder, and the Stag Leap District. The area highest in elevation is Howell Mountain ranging from 1000 – 2000 feet above the Napa floor. Being that high in elevation much of the grapes are grown above the fog line which produces much cooler evenings. Once noted for excellent quality Zinfandels, wineries are growing and producing fantastic Cabernet Sauvignons. Some great wineries are Cade and Outpost. Due to soil composition and micro climate the grapes can be made into wines that are rich, full, with good longevity for aging. A few of the top wineries source their grapes from here, for their high end wines. Unfortunately, none of the wines produced are inexpensive, but they are surely worth the price. Oakville is the home of the famous cult wineries such as Screaming Eagle and Harlan. Oakville is also the home of the Robert Mondavi wines. Since he left his family Charles Krug winery, he has been producing wine here. He also opened the winery Opus One which is a collaboration of Robert Mondavi and Baron Rothchild wines from France. The unique soil composition, and the slightly cooler climate produce some fantastic elegant wines. Rutherford, which is slightly warmer than Oakville, produces a slightly richer more intense wine. Director Francis Ford Coppola purchased the existing Inglenook vineyard and now produces wines that are very affordable with good structure and balance. He also does produce some exceptional wines that are a bit costlier. Frogs leap is also another famous winery producing top quality Chardonnays, Sauvignon Blancs, Cabernet Sauvignons, Merlots, and Zinfandels.
Calistoga is a region that is warmer than most areas in Napa, hence the wine produced are rich and full with soft tannins. One of the most noted vineyards is Chateau Montelena, the winery was founded in 1882. In 1968 they started massive restorations. Including bring on a new wine maker in 1972 by the name of Mike Grgich. In 1976 the French indirectly put the California vineyards on the map. France had a blind tasting contest of some of their greatest wines including some wines from California. Chateau Montelena 1973 Chardonnay was picked the winner from all 11 judges. A few years ago there was a comical movie that was made based on this contest called “Bottle Shock”, it’s worth watching. St. Helena slightly north of Rutherford, has a slightly warmer climate. Growing and producing a higher percentage of reds than whites. The world re-nouned vineyard of Beringer also resides there with also famous wineries such as Freemark Abbey Charles Krug, and Duckhorn, Stags Leap District is a small area in Napa that produce fantastic Cabernet Sauvignon from vineyards of Shafer and Stags Leap wine cellars. Napa Valley although noted for their reds, also grows and produces quite a few delicious, Chardonnays, Sauvignon Blancs and Rieslings. Raise your glass to California and enjoy some high quality wines from Napa Valley Cheers! Art LiPuma SeaSide Wine & Spirits,
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By Heather Kelly, Director of Operations, NoRA Cupcake Company Photos - NoRa Cupcake Company
How do you like them apples? It may not feel like it yet... but soon enough New Englanders will be descending upon their favorite orchards to kick off their fall festivities with APPLE PICKING. Has there ever been a time where you didn’t end up with a surplus of apples after your pick? I’m sure not.... with so many varieties to choose from and the ease of filling up the basket most of us end up with more fruit than we know what to do with. So once you’ve made enough apple pies and crisps to get you thru the upcoming months, we have a few ideas with how you can put those extras into some CAKE.
APPLE. The creaminess of the caramel combined with the crisp juiciness of the apple pie filling makes for a mouthwatering treat. We start with a caramel cake, fill it with some classic apple pie filling, frost it with a caramel buttercream, and top it with some chopped peanuts for that added salty CRUNCH and drizzle it with some more caramel. Use your creative freedom on this one. Looking to unload even more extra apples? Bake some into the cake. Not a fan of peanuts? Skip ‘em. Don’t want to bake at all ? Just come see us - we’ll have this flavor and more to satisfy your fall cravings.
It wouldn’t be a NoRA Cupcake Company creation without some sort of spiked ingredients, so let’s start out with one of our all time best sellers and fall favorite BOURBON APPLE CRUMBLE. We fill our vanilla butterscotch chip cupcakes with a heavenly bourbon spiked apple pie filling that tastes just like fall itself. You start with your base apple pie filling (every true New Englander has their own version - so do yours to taste to your liking). As your filling is simmering and thickening in your saucepan - splash in some of that bourbon. Don’t be afraid to be a little heavy handed - the longer you cook it the more the alcohol will “cook out”. The stronger you want - the less time you leave on the heat. We finish our Bourbon Apple Crumble cupcakes by filling the cake with the bourbon apple filling, frosting with vanilla buttercream, and topping with housemade crumble. If you’re looking for a taste test before you try your own - we’ll have these boozy cakes in store all month as part of our Monthly Headliners Menu in September.
If you’re looking to make a day trip out of your apple picking excursion this year - Lyman Orchards in Middlefield, CT is THE go to for fall fun. Their picturesque orchards feel endless, the Apple Barrel store has great seasonal food options, and there are plenty of kid friendly activities on the weekends along with a beautiful backdrop for you to take some family pictures. Once you’ve worked up your appetite - you can come and see us right down the street in Middletown CT for your sugar fix and a selection of our rotating cupcake flavors. See you then!
Looking for a more family friendly option ? You many want to try our spin on the carnival classic CARAMEL
NoRa Cupcake Company (860) 788-3150 700 Main St, Middletown, CT 06457 noracupcake.com
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SEPTEMBER EVENTS
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September 1- 16 Old Lyme "Art and the New England Farm" Drawing on the agricultural heritage of Florence Griswold’s family estate and of the Lyme region and beyond, this exhibition examines the history and character of New England’s farms in works by artists from the 19th to the 21st century. Paintings, drawings, and photographs from public and private collections trace the challenges of farming in New England, with its rocky soil, and the pastoral landscapes crafted through intense labor. Landscapes by George Henry Durrie will receive special attention as influential representations that translated the New England farmstead into an American icon in the mid-nineteenth century. Tue.-Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun. 1 p.m.-5 p.m. (860) 434-5542 florencegriswoldmuseum.org Florence Griswold Museum 96 Lyme St. Old Lyme, CT
September 1 - November 11 New London Hidden Water: Paintings and Sculpture by Judy Cotton Opens at the Lyman Allyn. The Lyman Allyn Art Museum is pleased to announce an exhibition of paintings and sculpture by Australian born contemporary artist Judy Cotton. In an environment impacted by global warming, Cotton creates artwork with a focus on water, glaciers, melting ice, and insect life, offering a meditation on the natural world and the forces that threaten its balance. Hidden Water: For more information contact Rebecca Marsie Director of Communications & Visitor Services. Lyman Allyn Art Museum, 625 Williams St, New London, CT 06320. 860.443.2545 x2112 September 1 Chester Repurpose Happiness Vintage and Maker Market. Chalk Mercantile and the Trove are excited to bring together the most creative artisans and vintage and antique merchants from all over Connecticut.The event showcases an eclectic mix of handmade, vintage, repurposed and antique goods and is sure to have something for every style, taste and age. Along with a myriad of vendors, makers, merchants and artisans, there will also be food trucks and live music for all to enjoy. Rain or shine. 10 a.m.4 p.m.; early buyers 9 a.m. Adults $3, children (12 and under) free. Early buying $10. (860) 395-0558 Chester Fairgrounds 11 Kirtland Terrace Route 154 Chester, CT 06412 www.repurposehappiness.com
September 1-8 Madison Summer in New England Susan Powell Fine Art. For the past 15 years, Susan Powell Fine Art, has hosted a summer invitational exhibition showcasing nationally-acclaimed artists celebrated for painting the shoreline and landscapes of New England. We are proud to present this new show of over seventy paintings of Marine art, seascapes, shoreline, marsh, and river views by twenty-five award-winning artists. The works range in style from traditional realism and Impressionism to contemporary and abstraction. The gallery is located at 679 Boston Post Road, Madison near the fire station. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 11 am-5 pm, Sunday, noon-4pm, and by appointment. For further information, please call (203) 318-0616, email us at susanpowellfineart@gmail.com and visit www.susanpowellfineart.com to see works in the show.
Month of September- Westbrook Live Entertainment on the Water at Waters Edge Resort & Spa. Please go to watersedgeresortandspa.com/events for our complete list of events. Sunday 2nd – American Idol winner, Nick Fradiani outdoor concert. Doors open at 5pm, show starts at 6:30pm. $25++ in advance $35++ at the door. Meet and Greet with Nick Fradiani. 5pm-6pm. $75++ Friday 21st – Tribute to Creedence Clearwater Revival Dinner Show. 6pm-10pm. $49++ Tickets available online or by calling the front desk 860-399-5901. Saturday 22nd THRIVE retreat – Health and wellness retreat with classes, seminars, food and fun. Visit www.aweekendtotrive.com/connecticut for more information and to purchase tickets. Sunday 23rd – Shoreline Chefs food tasting to support Meals on Wheels. $40 in advance, $45 at the door. Call 860-388-1611 for tickets. Friday 28th – Echoes of Sinatra Dinner Show. 6pm-10pm. $49++ Tickets available online or by calling the front desk 860-399-5901. Trivia every Monday night Live music every Friday and Saturday night Award winning Brunch every Sunday Water’s Edge Resort and Spa, 1525 Boston Post Road, Westbrook, CT For info, call 860-399-5901 or visit www.WatersEdgeResortAndSpa.com
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September 7- September 30 Madison Rhythms of Nature-David Dunlop, Deborah Quinn-Munson, Jeanne Rosier Smith. Opening Reception to meet the Artists: Friday, September 7, from 5 to 8 pm, wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served. Join us for this first exhibition at the gallery of these three nationally-acclaimed artists showing together. All are well known for their contemporary, unique and dramatic oil and pastel paintings of nature. We are pleased to present these exciting new works by these important artists. The gallery is located at 679 Boston Post Road, Madison near the fire station. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 11 am-5 pm, Sunday, noon-4pm, and by appointment. For further information, please call (203) 318-0616, email us at susanpowellfineart@gmail.com and visit www.susanpowellfineart.com to see works in the show.
September 7 Farmington Sip & Swing. Enjoy cocktails and sweeping views from the West Lawn and then try your hand at the Diamonds in the Rough putting green on the North Lawn. 6 p.m.-8 p.m. $15. Hill-Stead Museum, 35 Mountain Rd. Farmington, CT 06032 (860) 677-4787 www.hillstead.org/event/sip-swing-2/lappel@hillstead.org
September 7 Old Saybrook The Music of Tower of Power. The Music of Tower of Power by On the Serious Side Connecticut's first and only Tower of Power Tribute band. Come celebrate the 50 year anniversery of TOP right here on the east coast at Connecticut's most prestigous historic theaters. 8 p.m. $28. Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Theater 300 Main St. Old Saybrook, CT 06475 (860) 510-0453 www.katharinehepburntheater.org September 8 Guilford Fairy and Elf Festival. The Dudley Farm Museum. Calling all fairies, elves, gnomes, pixies, leprechauns, woodland and mystical creatures! Come to the land of fairies, stroll along the woodland walk, build a fairy house, create a magic wand. See what other magical moments there may be! Visit the vendors, see the craft fairies, make ribbon rings and fairy garland crowns, paint your own garden stones. This is a popular event! We hope to see you there - and we'll put a spell on you! 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m Dudley Farm Farmers' Market 2351 Durham Rd. Guilford, CT 06437 (203) 457-0770 www.dudleyfarm.com September 15 Salem Mitchell Farm Music Festival 2018. Welcome to the Magic of Music at Mitchell Farm. Featuring music by Aztec Two-Step featuring Rex Fowler & Friends, Jonathan Edwards, and Pousette-Dart Band This event not only serves as a fund-raiser for Mitchell Farm's non-profit horse sanctuary but also brings awareness to equine welfare issues and builds community interaction. You just can’t beat the energy generated by hundreds of people sharing the experience of live music, great food, and bucolic hills dotted with grazing horsesBeauty and wildlife abound here; the music festival enables us to share this exceptional place as well as to support Mitchell Farm's mission. 1:30 p.m.-8 p.m. $57 in advance, $65 at the gate. Mitchell Farm 300 East Haddam Rd. Route 82 Salem, CT September 15 - 16 Mystic 11th Annual Garlic Festival. An award-winning food festival dedicated to all things garlic. To celebrate the abundant fall harvest, farmers from around the region will present an amazing variety of garlic for sale in addition to fresh produce. Throughout the day and evening, dozens of local restaurants and food service establishments will be serving, for purchase, delicious garlic-related foods as well as non-garlic favorites. A host of merchants, artisans, authors and artists will line the pathways of Olde Mistick Village displaying their foods, crafts, gifts, and talents. Along with these vendors, you will find Olde Mistick Village merchants offering garlic-related activities or products at their stores. Sat. 11 a.m.- 7 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Olde Mistick Village 27 Coogan Blvd.Mystic, CT 06355
SEPTEMBER EVENTS
September 6 – October 26 Recent “Pentimento: Works,” an art exhibition featuring works by members of the group Pentimento at the Valentine H. Zahn Community Gallery at Middlesex Hospital Shoreline Medical Center.. Meet the artists at a reception on Thursday, September 13 from 6 – 8 p.m. The Gallery is open during regular business hours and is located at 250 Flat Rock Place, Westbrook, CT. For more information, contact Middlesex Hospital at 860-358-6200 or zahngallery@gmail.com.
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September 18 - 20 Clinton Kids Art Classes Starting! Kids Art in the afternoon will start up this fall September 18th! Tuesday and Thursday, 9/18 and 9/20, class is from 4:00-5:30 for ages 4 and up. Wednesday, Sept 19th will start the older kids class from 3:00-4:30. its for grades 4 and up...kids can walk from Pierson with a parental note, or take a bus from Eliot to my studio (usually bus 5) Classes are $25 for 1 class or 5 classes for $90. Snack is served at all classes. Please let me know when your child is coming. 860-304-1666 Email: snowsblock@aol.com 30 E. Main St. Clinton, CT 06413 September 19 October 14 Ivoryton Once. On the streets of Dublin, an Irish musician about to give up on his dreams and a beautiful young Czech immigrant are drawn together by their shared love of music. Over the course of one fateful week, an unexpected friendship and collaboration quickly evolves into a powerful but complicated love story, underscored by emotionally charged music. Featuring an impressive ensemble of actor/musicians who play their own instruments onstage, Once is an unforgettable story about going for your dreams and the power of music to connect us all. Featuring all of the magical songs from the critically acclaimed film, including the Oscar-winning “Falling Slowly,” this achingly beautiful, joyously uplifting show strikes an unforgettable chord in audiences and speaks to the power of music to connect us all. A show like that only comes around Once.Theatre Address 103 Main Street, Ivoryton, CT 06442 Box Office Phone: 860.767.7318 info@ivorytonplayhouse.org
September 23 Westbrook Shoreline Chefs 2018. Shoreline Seniors is holding its Annual Fundraiser to benefit Meals on Wheels on Sunday, September 23rd from 3-6pm at Water’s Edge Resort and Spa in Westbrook. Join in for fun evening of food and fundraising at our 4th Annual Shoreline Chefs and help raise money for local seniors in need! Shoreline Chefs features over 20 local restaurants, caterers, and chefs providing small plate tastings of their fabulous recipes. Tickets are $40pp in advance ($45 at the door) and are available at the Senior Center at 220 Main Street in Old Saybrook. The event also features a beer tasting from 30 Mile Brewers, wine provided by Paradise Wine and Spirits, entertainment by The Vonzells, and a silent auction with many gift baskets on which to bid. The Estuary Council of Seniors is the sole provider of Meals on Wheels for the nine town region of Clinton, Chester, Deep River, Essex, Killingworth, Lyme, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, and Westbrook. The center also provides nutrition programs at 4 congregate meal sites to provide almost 80,000 meals in total each year. For more details or to purchase tickets, please call 860-388-1611 ext. 210 or visit online at www.ecsenior.org. September 29 Essex We’re having a Fall Pairing Party… and want YOU to join us! Essex Chocolatier is hosting their 1st Semi-Formal, Bean-to-Bar Dark Chocolate Pairing with Wines and Litchfield County Distillery Bourbons. • 4 Bourbon Tastings paired with BTB Dark Chocolate • 2 White Wine Tastings paired with BTB Dark Chocolate • 2 Red Wine Tastings paired with BTB Dark Chocolate Also receive a Complimentary Gift Bag, with glassware, and a $10 Gift Card to Essex Chocolatier and Coffee Bar. Come~Gather~Enjoy for a Communal Evening of Music and Tastings that is certain to please! Call 860.581.8476 or stop in to reserve. $48pp, limited to 75 people. Must be 21 or older to attend. Saturday, September 29th, 6pm~9pm in the Event Room at Scotch Plains Tavern, adjacent to Essex Chocolatier 124 Westbrook Road, Essex, CT
September 22 Salem Experience the Surprise and Magic of Eco Printing at The Red House! Learn the basics of making direct contact botanical prints on paper with Kathy Johnson. You will leave with your own set of plant portraits suitable for framing or making note cards and gift tags. Find out which leaves and flowers are best to use and why before taking a short stroll around the grounds to gather plant material. Bundles of layered paper and plants will be bound up for the steaming process. After the heating and cooling time comes the most exciting part - seeing the results and surprises as you reveal each unique print. No experience necessary. All materials and tools will be supplied but feel free to bring a few sprigs/leaves of a shrub/tree you have in your own yard if you would like to give them a try. Saturday, September 22, 10am-2pm. Class Fee: $80. Very limited class size, call 860-608-6526 to reserve your spot. The Red House Cultural Arts Center, 22 Darling Road in Salem, salemredhouse.com.
September 28 - November 9 Old Lyme New England Landscape Exhibition. Lyme Art Association member artists and select invited artists will be exhibited in this annual exhibition of landscape paintings from around New England. Opening reception on October 5, from 5p.m.-7 p.m. Wed.-Sun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and by appointment. Lyme Art Association 90 Lyme St. Old Lyme, CT 06371 (860) 434-7802 http://www.lymeartassociation.org
Connecticut’s Premier Shoreline Entertainment Destination A Tribute to
A Tribute to
CREEDENCE Frank Sinatra CLEARWATER REVIVAL Saturday, October 6 (Columbus Day Weekend)
Friday, September 21
Friday, September 28
A Neil Young Tribute with music from Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Outdoor Harvest Concert
A Great Getaway in Your Own Backyard For Details and Reservations: watersedgeresortandspa.com 1525 Boston Post Rd Westbrook, CT 06498 (860) 399-5901