I am happy to announce that Legendary Locals of Norwich CT published by Arcadia Press and collated by yours truly will be available in stores the week of June 23^rd. I hope you will find it a different look at Norwich concentrating on past, present and even the future residents  in a positive light.

There are names you will recognize immediately and some will be new to the reader because I did not choose people from headlines alone. There are friends and neighbors and people you wish you could have met or at least seen in action. So many that I would like to have dinner with to hear their forgotten or undocumented stories.

Do you know the man responsible for the rose garden? Do you know his name and his background?

What is the bizarre tale of how the Thermos Company came to Norwich?

Norwich was a leader in industry thanks to the dogged determination of one man. Boy do I wish we had more people with his grit.

Are you aware of the number of famous women who hailed from Norwich? Women of the 1800’s who revolutionized negotiation tactics, education, writing for publication and how men thought of women. Time and again,  it was a neighbor who recognized the brain power of a young man or woman and paid for their tutoring and education.

Legendary Locals of Norwich is a light read. It does not have the deep details that rose to the surface in its research but I hope it makes you curious. I hope it fills you with hope.  I hope it makes you wonder and appreciatie all that Norwich was and all that with your help it can be.

Open Mic Night has finally arrived in Norwich on the second Thursday of each month at the Norwich Arts Center at 62 Broadway.  Each night is a variety of  people with different skills and talents and presentation styles.

In April screenwriter Kevin Brodie brought his latest script for an audience participation reading. Brodie is a teacher in Salem and some of his students came to see the process and cheer their teacher on in an activity outside of the classroom. It was pretty exciting to see students see a teacher as an individual with outside interests rather than as only a classroom teacher with no other interests or hobbies.

After a short intermission for refreshments other people read poems, essays and played and sang music. I was so caught up in the positive and enthusiastic atmosphere I read a short piece from a bit of research I was certain everyone would love and yes that became the last presentation for the evening.

If you are a writer, or a singer or a reader or a performer looking for a place to start without fear of ridicule or judgment this small but faithful group that meets on the Second Thursday of each month is the place. Everyone is welcome. Donations are encouraged but not required.

In many cities strollers wander among the easels of painters, look over the shoulders of sketchers, and pose for cartoonists on the streets and in the parks.

Does anyone else wonder why these people are such a rare sight in Norwich? Norwich has many photo books recording abandoned buildings, buildings in various stages of decay and disaster but rarely with smiling people.

Is anyone interested in making this the Summer of Art in Norwich? On Sunday afternoons let’s fill our parks and streets with artists. Let’s applaud their work. Let’s demand to see local artwork in our storefronts, on the walls of our city offices, libraries, schools and newspapers. Let’s publicly invite artists to come to Norwich for a day in a park. Is there a restaurant, pub or bar that will take on the challenge of creating a colorful Sunday afternoon special served on an artist’s palette? Even if it is just an assortment of colorful catsup for French fries. Think of the smiles that would generate. Don’t you like to see people smile?   Let’s make this happen!

Creating a facebook page and asking your friends to “like” the page does not mean that the page will have a lot of repeat visitors. Norwich leaders must stop creating individual facebook pages for every little thing and start using facebook effectively as a collective resource for information and events.

If your organization is going to create an individual facebook page than  that organization should add a directory of links to those sites it has created. Norwich leaders are facebook happy. Every time  there is an event or someone says there is a national organization that could be of service to Norwich by deed or idea there are those that are quick to create a site so they can say they had the idea first but then the link or page is allowed to die from loneliness.

Stop. Please stop creating facebook pages and instead promote events through your own site, spread links that can be helpful to individuals, groups, and organizations or the city in general  through your site. It is ok not to know everything. It is ok not to be in control of everything.

Share, Help and Promote Norwich and its events through the paths that exist and work together to make Norwich a better place.

It is spring and I am thinking about making a better compost pile to have better soil for my garden. Everything I am about to tell you has been made available to us by writers and scientists and gardeners a lot smarter than me. I just enjoyed reading it and like to share. The ancient Akkadian Empire in the Mesopotamian Valley referred to the use of manure in agriculture on clay tablets 1,000 years before Moses was born. On the North American continent, the benefits of compost were enjoyed by both native Americans and early European settlers. Many New England farmers made compost as a recipe of 10 parts muck to 1 part fish, periodically turning their compost heaps until the fish disintegrated (except the bones). One New Canaan Connecticut farm, Stephen Hoyt and Sons, used 220,000 fish in one season of compost production. Other colonial farmers adopted a system using two loads of muck (rich soil) and one of barnyard manure. In the southern states cotton-seed was composted with the muck.

If you are wondering what type of soil you have and bringing a baggie of dirt to the extension office is not in your schedule than take a handful of moist (not wet) soil from your garden and squeeze it firmly in your hand. Open your hand and look at it.

If it holds its shape but crumbles when you give it a light poke, you have loam and will be the envy of other gardeners. If it holds it shape and doesn’t respond to being gently poked, you’ve got clay soil, which is nutrient rich but dense. If it falls apart as soon as you open your hand, you’ve got sandy soil. Once you know what you’re working with you can both improve it if necessary and choose appropriate plants. Who knew it would be that easy?

Stuff to add to your compost pile – lint from your clothes dryer helps soil retain moisture.

Hair or fur from a pet that sheds or from the floor of a haircutter is higher in nitrogen than manure.

No room to make compost or need some in a hurry? Put a variety of food scraps (vegetable peels, apple cores, etc. No meat or dairy products.) in a food processor or blender and process until a consistent liquid. Add an equal amount of water and pour on plants. Cover with a layer of peat moss. Now why didn’t I think of that?

Comments on this blog should be sent to berylfishbone@yahoo.com

What happened to Norwich Adult Education programs? The ones where adults learned new skills or improved on old skills, learned about history, or dance, or exercised in classes or had discussion groups to discover like-minded people and dare I forget the cooking, baking, decorating and candy-making  classes.

New London has found a way to offer so many varied and assorted classes in a thick paper pamphlet that it is made into chapters to make it easier to narrow down your choices. Many of which are offered to non-residents cheaper than a similar class may be offered to Norwich residents by the offering in the 20 page Norwich Recreation Department brochure. Thank heavens the surrounding towns of Montville,  Colchester, Bozrah and New London and willing to accept out-of-town residents into their classes.

Sometime just for the fun of it and let me assure you it is an enjoyable experience to peruse the classes being offered by our neighbors on all sides of us. Their catalogs are filled with classes and a lot fewer advertisements than can be found on the pages supplied by the Norwich rec department. Do not hesitate to participate in the classes of your choice outside of Norwich. You will never regret the learning and participating experience.