Monthly Archives: March 2016

ECSO at St Patrick’s

On March 20, 2016 I was very happy to attend a joint presentation of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Chorus and the Norwich Diocesan Choir at St. Patrick’s Cathedral here in Norwich CT.

A little over an hour it was a beautiful performance by the famous, and by friends, neighbors and members of their family. Beautiful voices telling a story through words and music.

The program notes were still a bit over my head but they included little interesting tidbits that the average person doesn’t know about how the music for a particular selection was created or changed over the years. Why do we find it so hard to believe that a masterpiece of any kind was not perfect the first time it was ever set to paper or performed?

The other thing that never fails to amaze me is how music can be blended together with such power and statement from composers that lived in the 1700’s (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)) with one that was still composing and teaching in 1920 as Gabriel Urbain Faure was.

A peek at the ECSO 2016-17 season program was on the back page and tucked between the expected concerts of symphonies and concertos are a January 29th family concert with selections from Swan lake, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel and Cinderella, On February 18th the Instrumental Competition Winner, Joanna Wu will play selections for the flute but on March 25th is the Eastern CT Symphony Women’s Chorus with the concert I am most looking forward to hearing Star Trek V; Main theme and March of the  Klingons, Atmospheres, Star wars: Throne Room and Finale and The Planets.   What a great program that will be. Be certain to get your tickets early and know that there are almost no bad seats at the Garde Arts Center in New London, CT and there are some great places to eat a meal or have a snack before or after the performance.  If you are interested in becoming a subscriber for the Eastern Connecticut Symphony or want further information please call them at 860.443.2876 or www.ectsymphony.com.

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Bring Back Dance Halls

Men and women love to dance. Organizations need to raise funds. Really popular from about 1915 to the late 1940’s were the Dance Halls where men could hire a woman for “10 Cents a Dance” in a fancy ballroom. So why isn’t some organization sponsoring something like this now in Norwich, CT? Maybe the price should be raised to $10.00 a dance?  

A perfect location would be the Ballroom at the Wauregan. It is a small enough room that it can easily be lined with small tables and chairs, the acoustics do not lend themselves to verbal clarity for speeches but music from the swing era, big band and the like would sound wonderful. The length of the room gives the demonstration dancers the room they need to perform while the audience has full view.    

Back in history it was a great way for singles to meet and instantly gave them a place to begin their conversations. Some of the dance halls were the stuffy fancy dress we see played out in the movies. Some were not so fancy and the men and women were of the neighborhood and working fulltime jobs and spending and earning a little extra cash while socializing and having fun.  Fluency in English never appeared to be a problem as the music played on. Locally there were places like the Norwich Inn and Ocean Beach in New London in addition to the more notorious neighborly locations.

Come on Norwich organizations lets show some imagination, some humor and some fun. Just because it has not been done recently does not mean that it should not be brought back in a new and updated format. Instead of tickets for the evening of dance consider a punch card or a really old fashioned card where the partner signs up in advance for the dance.  Keep the price reasonable and market the event by offering dance lessons before the event.

It is time for Norwich to have some fun!       

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Norwich Stay-cation

If you were going to plan Norwich CT as your vacation destination what would you plan to do and see? Where would you stay? Where would you eat? What souvenirs would you purchase?

Norwich is host to a number of airbnb properties that range from very affordable to absurdly expensive and vastly over-rated as well as a Holiday Inn, Norwich Hotel, Courtyard by Marriott, Rosemont Suites and the Spa at the Norwich Inn.

If you do not have your own transportation Norwich does have limited bus service, taxi, Uber, various rent-a-car services and access to Zip in nearby New London.  New signs to various areas of the town are in the process of being placed to make your travel on foot and by car easier.

Like any city in America there are plenty of places to eat. Most specialize in the fried foods preferred by the area residents but there is Vietnamese, Chinese, an Irish American Pub, Italian, Indian, Middle Eastern, sandwich shops and even a brewery that is perfect for lunch or an early dinner. If you are looking for a greater selection of fine dining than two of the largest casinos in the world are at your disposal.

For unique souvenirs visit Uncas Pharmacy and McKenna’s Flowers they each have wonderful and special Norwich items that are not available anywhere else.

Rainy days are never a problem as there are the expected art galleries and museums like Slater, Gallery at the Wauregan, Norwich Art Center and an indoor skating rink. There are also the most unexpected treats on almost every street corner. The main Fire Station has a wonderful collection of fire apparatus and pictures that tell the story of how fire protection has grown and changed over the years. If you pop over to the Yantic Fire Station you can see one of the largest collections of early 20th century action fire photos collected anywhere in the United States.

Taking a hike is not restricted to the paths within the almost 400 acres of Mohegan Park but go to Occum and wander the village, trot the back or the water side of the Taftville mills. Look up into the sky and in the trees for the large eagle nests. Visit the fish ladder. To build excitement for your visit check with the Norwich Department of Public Utilities to see if there is an otter in residence during your stay and if it is starring on CCTV.  Maybe spend a day at the uncrowded beach at Mohegan Park or plan a romantic picnic in the Rose Garden.

If you are into fishing there are plenty of places for you to catch and release. Norwich has three main rivers, the Shetucket, the Thames and the Yantic. All of the rivers are stocked with fish and are accessible by land, boat, kayak and canoe.

Norwich residents can plan a weekends of stay-cations high-lighted with visits to Dodd Stadium for ball games, or games of golf and swing practice. In the evening there are live plays and music performances.

Nothing to do? Let me introduce you to one of the best kept secrets in no less than three states.

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Bank Account Safety

I have a close and dear friend whom I love to pieces but he drives me absolutely crazy with his belief that everyone is honest, true and would never lie on purpose.  I promise you he is on every possible sucker list in the known universe and a few other planets that can only be reached by inter-galactic wormholes and the U.S.S. Enterprise.

He replied to letter he received from someone he had never heard of before that said she needed help and just a small sum of money would help. My friend has a good, well-meaning heart so he sent a check for a small amount. 

Using the information on the check and the all-important bank routing number another check was created for a larger amount.  The larger check was cleared through an automatic clearing house. Fortunately or not there was enough money in the account for that check, but when other, honest, checks were written suddenly there was a shortfall.  His bank sent a snail mail notice to my friend while fees, charges and penalties built up even though there was over-draft protection. 

I can’t stress enough how important it is to check your bank activities and bank balances every month.  You only have 60 days to report any irregularities to the bank if you have a hope of getting your money restored.  

My friend was targeted three times within the last year.  Don’t let this happen to you or to the ones you care about and love.  I witnessed a lady in line the other day purchasing some items and handing the clerk a blank check. The check was run through the register and handed back to the lady who promptly threw it away on her way out of the store.  Think of all the information that was on that check. I wish I had thought about it at the time because I would have told her to be more careful.  

Check your statements and look for abnormalities. Do not believe every story you hear or read from a stranger.  Keep your information safe by using the shredding days provided by the banks and other businesses. Be wary and be safe.

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Haitian Voice

At the information desk in the Norwich City Hall were a few copies of a new publication to me, The Haitian Voice . Partially in English and partially in Haitian it gives tremendous insight into what other places such as Bridgeport, Norwalk, and Stamford are doing to welcome and promote different ethnicities to their communities.

Learning centers for education basics for both children and adults, health centers, tax filing information. A lengthy article giving tips on how car financing works was well worth reading and I wish I had read the article by Nathaniel Sillin before I last went car shopping.

Norwalk is pushing its Multi-Cultural Festival scheduled for July 9th  and welcoming new vendors and new activities. Bridgeport articles are promoting summer programs and books to keep ‘young imaginations going during vacation.’ It is never too early to begin promoting programs and to build excitement in young minds for things that will happen in the future.

An article about international soccer went straight over my head but I did understand enough to see it was a schedule of international team games being played throughout the United States.

Sadly there was nothing, nothing, not a mention of anything being offered in Eastern Connecticut. We have a large, active Haitian population in Norwich and the surrounding areas and I am encouraging them to write articles about their activities past, current and future and to submit stories and poems and anything else the Haitian Voice will accept. Be loud and proud about your community and all that is going on here.  Do not wait for someone else to take the lead and do something.  Let your voice be heard!

Check out the website www.haitianvoice.com

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Summer Event Planning

Big cities have already begun advertising their summer events.  The big cities have the staff that realize how important it is to communicate that there is something going to happen and that the event is going to be large or small, fun and exciting, interesting to a small group of people that can be enlarged greatly if more people know about it. These professionals understand that many small events can be promoted together to form a patchwork of eye-catching events.

Have you seen the write-ups about Summer in Providence? Weekdays. Weekends. Morning, Noon and Nights there are things to do. Places to go. People to see. Norwich,  CT has those same weekdays and weekends. Norwich is open morning, noon and night too but we don’t like to let people know that. In Norwich we prefer to keep our events to ourselves or perhaps to keep them a secret from outsiders.

Residents of Norwich, CT are becoming more vocal that there is nothing to do and no place to go. Well folks, it is time to stop waiting for our leaders to take action. It is time to start waiting for someone else to take charge. It is time to start working together ourselves. Come on church groups, scout groups, neighborhood groups, historic groups. Let everyone know when you are planning your event and when they are on the same weekend see if you can join forces so people have the opportunity to do more than one thing.

Find someone in your group who wants to write articles or ask a friend and supply them with the basics of your event. You know the stuff to answer, who, what, when, where, why, how much and add a few details such as who should be attracted to what you are promoting. For example if it is a book sale do not tell about the hard work of the people sorting the books, tell the story of how one of the books was a favorite of a now older little one who wants it to go to a new home and be a favorite there.  When you write tell a story and not a novel.  Let’s join forces and bring some new people and some new money to the coffers of Norwich. Together we can do this.

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March-ing On

March always brings in the winds of change . Imagine how the residents of a place where the school rooms were still a single room structure felt when they read in the Evansville Daily Journal in March 1856 that thirty citizens of Norwich CT had founded a Free High school and endowed it with $81,000, of which $50,000 is a permanent fund, the rest being in land and school buildings. The same generous citizens proposed to endow it still further, so that every school district in New London County could send one scholar to the school – free of charge.

How successful and wealthy a community we must have appeared to those readers. What on earth has happened to us? When did our gratitude change to entitlement?

Norwich had some environmental issues too according to the Marshall County Republican of March 1870. It seems that Norwich was suffering a plague of doves. The Bulletin reported that the birds swarmed all over the city, taking possession of ornamental cornices and sidewalks.  Neither people or church belfries were safe as the birds swarmed in countless numbers on the wharfs in the vicinity of grain warehouses, and multiple garrets of the buildings as well as wherever a clapboard was off or a window pane was missing to let them in. The doves were called the vagabonds of the city and the gamins of the air. Some enterprising men caught three baskets full in a church belfry one night, but there were just as many flapping their wings there the next day.

Did you report seeing any doves during the Great Backyard Bird Count in February?  

Is there a reader of this blog that is a relative of a Mr. P. E. Sparks of the firm Sparks & McPherson? He was married in Parkville, CT on March 9th, 1868 to Miss Elizabeth Brierly of Norwich. The announcement was found in the Montana Post that sent their best wishes for every happiness , both present and prospective that could fall to the lot of mortals but they had hoped for a few pieces of cake to celebrate the occasion.   

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Cookbooks and Family

Once upon a time the Norwich Bulletin would solicit recipes from its readers and print them in a mini cookbook with other helpful hints. What a wonderful resource for those working on a genealogy to find a family members favorite recipe or two with perhaps a comment on how it was served or how their unique twist came to be.

What an amazing resource these tiny publications can prove to be. I happened on a holiday cookbook from 1983 and recognized submissions of three favorite recipes I haven’t made in ages.  One was for an onion pie with a packaged crescent roll crust. Made with whipping cream it was decadently rich. I hope no one tried to serve it with my Sauerkraut salad. Yes, I entered a recipe to make canned sauerkraut more palatable. More than a cup of sugar can make anything taste good! What was I thinking ? Thank heavens it did not win the contest.  My last recipe was for a carrot loaf that was more crushed pineapple than carrot. Haven’t made that loaf in years either.

So who won the prizes of a $100 shopping spree at Shop-Rite, and  fifty dollar gift certificates at Beit brothers in Uncasville and Dayville, Rogers kitchens in Norwich and Brodeur’s IGA in Plainville? Lianne Roberts of Griswold won the main prize with her Mini Meatloaf Rolls. Genevieve Kukich of Norwich won in hors d’oeurves  with her Sauerkraut Balls. Mary A. Seimann  took first with a robust  Ham and Broccoli Chowder. Rich and thick it can also be used as a main course or served on biscuits. The dessert winner was Constance Beckwith of North Franklin with her Cranberry Cream Cake and last in the drinks category was a simple mix of wine, club soda, cognac and fruit submitted by Carleen Banas of Oakdale.     

I mentioned the winners but the true treasures are all the recipes that were submitted with hope and pride. Check out those boxes of recipes and look on the pages of the recipe books that sit quietly on the shelf. At your next family reunion or event ask everyone to bring something that was a family favorite from a time gone by with a condensed card telling its story. Don’t let anyone get away with a quick pickup of a fresh fruit tray from the grocery or a grocery roasted chicken or cold cut platter.  Revel in the laughter and joy of recalling your memories and the stories of your families past.

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Thank you Backus Hospital

The past couple of weeks have been a completely new adventure for me. A familiar journey for many has been a path with a surprise beginning and lots of stumbles, roots and trips before my life has settled once more onto smoother  ground; for a good long time I am praying.

My thanks to the staff of Backus Hospital who paid lots of attention to me, laughed at my really bad jokes and kept their eyes on my various lines, drips, drains and telemetry while walking miles and miles between myself and their other patients.

The poor nurses and patient care technicians watch, observe and report every little movement, every  milestone (large and small) and must hear the most amazing stories from people whether they are interested or have the time or have  stuff happening in their own lives. I learned most of the staff I met do not live in Norwich and travel 45 minutes to over an hour to work at Backus. While their work schedules seem chaotic to many of us I enjoyed their tales of hikes along wooded trails, and even a hurried shopping trip fraught with misadventure after misadventure. A wicked sense of humor is a requirement for those working in a hospital. The shopper was not having the best day but as she retold the trip it was clear she knew how funny it was to someone completely uninvolved.

The food was delivered with a military timely precision and removed with the same by people who checked the tray and wrote notes and circled what was eaten. ”Didn’t you like it?” “You have to eat to gain strength.” I did eat but the delicious food was in servings too large for a single person. I promise that when  I am more mobile I will have a meal or two at the cafeteria .

With little and no fan fair from the billing department  I was transitioned in and out of the emergency room, in and out of same day surgery into and out of acute care and home. The bills have just started to come in and I am certain there will be an amazing amount of hair pulling to come  but so far so good.

My grateful thanks to all at Backus on the front lines and those behind the scenes who made my  stay short and as pleasant as it could be.  

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