Monthly Archives: December 2019

Recreation Winter 2020

Happy holidays and happy vacations to one and all! If you are looking to fill some time for adults and children the Winter 2020 catalog of the Norwich Recreation Department is out.

16 pages with youth, and adult activities for residents and out-of-townees. Its very exciting to see some new types of classes and activities with vacation camps and “Schools Out Day Programs.” The prices are about the same as in other towns but but if you don’t find what your child is interested in please check out what is available in the nearby towns.

Norwich Recreation partnered with The Rose Garden Ice Rink and has been able to secure a Friday evening, 7:10 pm – 9:00pm Laser Skate, a Saturday 2:50 pm – 4:40pm and Sunday 1:40 pm – 3:30 pm public ice skating times the Monday thru Friday public skate times vary and are all during school and regular work times.

New this winter is six weeks of vocal instruction for ages 6-10 and 11 and up. A safe babysitting course and a class designed for students in grades 4-6 on how to be safe at home alone.

On January 31 st there will be a Pajama Party to watch the Polar Express. Wear your comfy PJ’s and slippers and don’t forget a pillow and a blanket. The popcorn will be provided.

February 7^th is family game night for all ages with a large assortment of Board games to play from 6:30pm – 8:30pm with snacks and group bingo with prizes.

On February 14^th parents can leave the kids at the Norwich Rec Department from 6:30pm to 9:00pm to enjoy a night out while the kids are safely doing the same.

Teen game night will be February 28 from 6:30pm to 9:00pm with video game tournaments on the projection tv.

New for the adults is a foundations of cooking class with herbs and spices for 6 weeks and a Stock Market Basics class too. If you are looking to get physical there is Karate for Adults, Boot Camp Fitness and Adult Tennis.

There are a variety of yoga and tai chi classes, a morning only basic dog obedience class.

CPR & First Aid Certification Class is offered twice.

Would you like to see the Philadelphia Flower Show? Its only $135 It is unclear if that includes admission and tip.

For more information call the Norwich Recreation Department at 860.823.3791 or visit their website at www.norwichct.org/recreation

Thank you for reading and sharing my history and Norwich Community blog freely with your family or friends or anyone you think might be interested or in a position to take on some of the suggested projects. Don’t hesitate to contact me for further information. I am happy to pass along anything I can. Together we can make a difference. Email comments on this blog to berylfishbone@yahoo.com View my past columns at http://www.norwichbulletin.com/section/blogs .

Connections

You can never be certain when or where a connection can be made. Peter S. A friend from Maine

is still searching for the Williams Family Clock. The last he knew it was sold to Israel Sacs in 1959. It was signed and had a little history on the inside cover dating to the original buyer, Park Williams.

Sometime in the 1970’s a Governor Winthrop style slant lid desk of curly maple and cherry with a huge knot of wood in the cover was sold and he is looking for that as well.

As more of us are cleaning, clearing and downsizing what may be too large or not in the fashion we want to be in anymore lets do a bit of examining and see if we can discover where it belongs.

It can be a bit of a discovery process. I have a huge collection of kitchen wares and am finding that what has been sitting mostly unused in a drawer or cabinet is so old its coming round again as a new shiny discovery.

I wish I were a baker as I have separate egg beaters, egg whippers for egg whites, an egg scrambler (different from an egg beater) and an egg mixer to be used for the larger eggs. I have them all and can identify them but to be honest, I use a fork.

How do you open your jars? I have a flat rubber disk that once advertised a candidate for elected office I use it once in a while but not very ofter. A graduated rubbery thing that goes from the size of a quart size jar lid to a soda bottle. The soda bottle top is handy sometimes the rest not so much. I like my pincher. Its a flat stick with holes to make the pincher piece size adjustable. Then its grasp firmly and twist to the side and voila the jar lid opens. One of these days I am going to collect all of the beer can and bottle openers in one big box. They keep appearing in the most unexpected places and never where I am looking for them. And there seem to be a lot of them.

Beneath more boxes and stored over there, are more chairs and a table I can only vaguely recall but when I finally uncover it so will all the memories flood back. Maybe I will take a photo for the memory and write the memories down. Its past time for things to travel on to create more memories for someone else.

Changing Dish Soap

Once again I am doing it wrong. As I was growing up and washing dishes, they never passed inspection. They were never clean enough and always had spots. Usually the spots were on the back but always there to be found. Now I am an adult washing my own dishes and still doing it wrong At least according to Proctor & Gamble makers of Dawn dish-washing detergent. So can I just add a small bit of the dish soap to some water in a spray bottle of my own?

Leaving dirty dishes in the sink makes me uneasy. I have visions of mice sitting in the sink enjoying meals of juices and crumbs. Ants on parade with tidy packets on their shoulders or the packets being passed down a line as if in a cheery cartoon. Do I not use soap at all? I am not a germaphobe but I do like squeaky clean. Grease or residue from a previous meal is not my first choice either.

Should I just switch to using only paper plates? Maybe using only the edible utensils and plates? Decisions. Decisions. I am all for progress but do we have to go all the way back to re-thinking and re-teaching the basics just so the price can be raised with a hat tip to the profit margin? Here is most of the article for you to read by yourself. If you are looking for me, I’ll be in the kitchen making a few more dirty dishes to not leave in the sink.

My current rant was triggered by the article Dawn says you’re washing your dishes wrong By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Business Updated 9:10 AM ET, Tue December 17, 2019 New York (CNN Business)

Procter & Gamble (PG) says its old-fashioned liquid detergent, which debuted in 1972, just isn’t cut out for the job anymore, so it invented a new Dawn dish spray designed for how people are washing their dishes today.

More consumers are washing one or two dishes during “cooking downtime,” instead of letting them pile up and doing one big wash once they’re all done, according to P&G. The company says the old Dawn wasn’t intended to be used that way. Traditional dish soap is designed to combine with water and create suds to help get dishes clean, not to directly apply to dirty dishes or sponges.

Today, 61% of Americans prefer this “clean-as-you-go” method, according to P&G’s research.

“People are much more time-starved today” and they see the clean-as-you-go method as a “‘life hack,'” said Morgan Brashear, a home care senior scientist at P&G. “The product they were using wasn’t really keeping up.”

So after five years of research and development, P&G is introducing “Dawn Powerwash Dish Spray,” its first new form of dish detergent since Dawn soap in a bottle was released nearly 50 years ago. The new formula, which comes in a spray bottle, doesn’t require water to activate cleaning suds the way traditional dish soap does.

This new bottle of Dawn spray with a nozzle costs about two dollars more than the regular version of Dawn liquid soap. P&G hopes consumers are willing to trade up for the higher-priced version of because of the convenience the soap should bring to daily chores.

P&G has innovated with Dawn in the past with different foams and liquids, but says this is the first completely new form of soap since the 1970s. The company hopes the new spray will become one of the company’s most successful innovations since the launch of Tide Pods in 2012.

Washing dishes is consumers’ second least-favorite household chore, behind cleaning the toilet, according to P&G. Between scrubbing, waiting, and scrubbing again, consumers told P&G’s research teams that they were looking for quicker solutions. P&G observed customers doing chores and washing their dishes in their homes or at company offices.

“Their two biggest frustrations with the dish-washing process are the soaking and the scrubbing,” said Brashear, the home care senior scientist at P&G.

So P&G went to work. It says the new formula breaks down burnt and baked-on-food without having to use water or soaking the dishes. The company claims it works five times faster than traditional dish soap.

Dawn Powerwash will be available in stores and online beginning in January, coming in fresh, apple and citrus scents. A 16 oz. starter-kit bottle will retail for $4.99, while refill bottles will go for $3.99.

P&G knows it will have to prove to consumers why it makes sense to swap out liquid soap for the new spray, as well as teach them how to use it. The company plans to advertise the product online, through in-store displays and on national television to help introduce customers to the spray.

“We will be doing a lot of work making sure that the educational piece of it is kind of shouted from every rooftop,” said Brashear.

South Region Debate

Last Friday I had an outstanding opportunity to see into the future. I was a judge at the Sankofa Education and Leadership, Inc. South Region of Eastern CT High School Debate held at the Marine Science Magnet High School in Groton, CT.

First let me say what a beautiful, modern facility it is and how proud both staff and students are of the building and its contents. At the end of the debates, furniture was returned to its accustomed place by the participants without a single comment being made by the adults present. That is a seldom seen sign of maturity even among adults who race to the door and leave the clean up to someone else after an event.

Four teams debated all from the Marine Science Magnet High School. Congratulations and continued success to Quinn Mignosa, Stephanie Weber, Catie Leuba, May Courtney, Tess Griffor, Arielle Frommer, Raymond Mercedes, Guillem Colom, Paige LeMay, Josh Avila, Alana Crispino, Gabriel Brooks, Taylor Di Filippo, Gareth Johnson, Sofia Gonzalez, Seth Trotochaud, Madeline Bosse and Matt Himburg. New London High School and Three Rivers Middle College did not participate.

The topic of the debate was: “Resolved: The United States Should Ban Bottled Water.”

A true debate forum encourages discussion of controversial subjects without descending to insult, emotional appeals or personal bias. From the event brochure, “A key trademark of debate is that it rarely ends in agreement, but rather allows for a robust analysis of the question at hand.”

For the participants its not just about learning and using the subject knowledge but developing and putting into practice critical thinking skills, developing effective research, organization, and presentation tools and practice developing strategies for public speaking. Public speaking is not always addressing crowds of hundreds or thousands. Sometimes public speaking is simply addressing one, two or three other individuals in a clear and concise manner. For example, when you are a member of a team or making a sales pitch for a product/service you have invented or are selling.

All of the team members had practiced both sides of the statement and presented their arguments well to judges; Rev. Lynell Axson, Ms. Mandy-Lyn Crispim, Ms. Beryl Fishbone, Ms. Laura Harrington, Dr. Susan Iwanicki, and Ms. Elizabeth Zachow and Moderators Mr. Enock Petit-Homme and Mr. Zechariah Stover.

I am looking forward to the Semi-Final Rounds and Championships for Novice and Advanced Teams on February 21, 2020 on the campus of Three Rivers Community College, Norwich, CT.

Holiday Rose Tree

I recently sent a Letter to the Editor of the Norwich Bulletin outlining yet another community fundraising plan requiring the cooperation of multiple groups and organizations to work together on a single project to raise funds for their group or project .

Before rejecting the project. Think about it. Give it serious consideration before saying “no.”

I wrote, Dear Editor: Wouldn’t it be nice if the Christmas Tree in front of the Norwich, CT City Hall could serve as a community fundraiser with a bit of imagination and similarity to the Winterthur Museum in Delaware. Winterthur has for years celebrated the season with a huge indoor dried flower Christmas Tree. It’s a huge project that has taken years of planning and practice. Yuletide | Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library

The Norwich, CT community could do a similar project; substantially smaller, with the outside City Hall tree.

Norwich, CT is already known as the “Rose City,” so I propose that multiple types of silk (fake) roses (buds to blooms) in various colors, be sold by various Norwich groups as fundraisers.

For example: One rose = $2.00 donation, Six roses = $10.00, one dozen roses = $25.00

The flowers would then be wired onto the tree branches. A donation could be charged for those wanting to make and wire in their own bouquet. Small cards could be tied onto the blooms with the donors message or name. The groups might be best to begin wiring the roses in the upper third of the tree and work the way down, but I am far ahead of myself.

Each group would be responsible for the cost of their order of roses but the cost of the order would probably be substantially less if the groups placed their order together. There might even be one or more businesses that could arrange for wholesale price or donation.

I have since heard, “Would the tree become a fire hazard due to the flowers?” Keep the flowers away from the bulbs and the electric wires. “How many roses would have to be ordered at a time?” Depends on the supplier. “How many roses will it take to fill the tree?” How large is the tree? “Why that tree?” Feel free to choose another tree. “Do you mind if my organization does a smaller tree in our office as our own fundraiser?” Be my guest. “Does it have to be a tree? What do you think about making a wreath?” Great idea! “What about theft of the flowers?” Personally I am against theft. “Would silk flowers fade? Won’t they fade? What about the weather?” To these I suggest a field trip to any cemetery. “If all the organizations are filling the tree, how will people know who donated what?” Does it matter? But maybe each organization could choose a color particular for them. They would need to check with their supplier.

Seasons best wishes,

Beryl Fishbone

Business Ed 101

For reasons I never be able to understand NCDC, Foundry 66, The Greater Norwich Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Community Economic Development Fund (CEDF) and Liberty Bank have been keeping a secret from the general public.

They have been offering for free an eight-week business education program covering financial management, record-keeping, risk management, marketing and tax planning hopefully among other offerings. According to what I found on the Liberty Bank website but not on the NCDC site, following the successful completion of at least six of the classes, participating business owners will be eligible for a $5,000 line of credit from Liberty Bank, with a potential matching line of credit from CEDF to assist with the creation, launch and growth of new small businesses.

In other cities, this type of education is part of the adult education program and any of the tuition-free classes are publicly and openly sponsored by the banks, Chambers of Commerce and Real Estate Investment firms. The information on the classes is on posters in bank lobbies, in the adult education listings, in the display windows of commercial real estate agencies, openly discussed on talk radio, pod casts, cable television and on the college campuses. Every person who glances at the poster, flyer, and advertisement is considered a potential client and customer. Every individual who requests information is treated as a professional in their field.

Other communities are doing everything they can think of to encourage unique and new businesses to establish themselves in their area. So why in Norwich, CT is this type of educational program being kept a secret? Is it being controlled to be available to only a select few? Who is making the decision as to whom the information about the classes is being distributed to? What is the criteria they are using for invitations to their classes?

If you are considering taking the leap to start your own business now is the time to talk with your local banks, that’s right, talk to more than one and see what they offer for education and how you can use it as an investment into your future. If you are looking for more than what is being offered locally check into the CTNext program http://www.innovationhartford.com/news/

Attend one or more of their meet up events. Learn from the experience of others how to evaluate business ideas early, how to bring them to life and to create sustainable companies. Make connections. Listen to CT Startup podcasts at http://ctstartup.com/ Don’t hesitate or be afraid. They are based in Hartford but the start-ups they help can be found throughout the state of Connecticut.

Here are some of the informative links they offer Resources for Woman-owned Businesses ,

Connect with an Angel Investor , Resources for Student Businesses , Connecticut Web Development Firms , Connecticut Co-Working Spaces , Resources for Minority-owned Businesses , Resources for Veteran-owned Businesses .

Norwich, CT has plenty of potential and we, as residents and tax-payers need to bring it out of the shades of secrecy, and into the sunlight where it can shine blindingly bright.

Great Job Ace!

A huge grateful shout-out of gratitude to Ace Hardware, 146 W Town St, Norwich, CT 06360 . I have been searching for an extension cord that plugs into the wall and then had three to five separate leads so I could plug in the large square ac adapters that now rule my life.

A friend and I went to all and more of the expected places, Walmart, Loews, Home Depot and even an electrical supply house. We checked the shelves and the holiday decoration areas. Everyone we asked knew what we were looking for and brought us to their supply of extension cords where we did not find what we were asking for. Maybe they only make power strips now? But there is an entire market out there for people who need to plug in multiple adapters and simply do not have enough outlets.

The adapters take up too much plug room and there had to be a solution we were missing. In desperation my friend and I stopped at Ace Hardware in Norwichtown. To be honest I did not expect much more than finding more of the usual power strips and power cords. I was wrong.

As we made our way down the aisle to electrical supplies a pleasant young man asked if we needed help. “Yes.” was the quick reply “we are looking for an extension cord that splits itself into multiple lines so that the bulky ac adapters have all the room they need.” He quickly led us to the shelves of extension cords of all shapes and sizes but not what we were looking for and then, a miracle! Just as we were saying thank you for trying, he pointed out a small package of three short plugs and wires.

One end of each wire would plug safely into a power strip and the other end would receive the plug from the adapter. These were called power extension cords. Not precisely what we were looking for but close enough! I have since learned that what we should have been asking for was a “power cord extension and splitter” or a “one to four splitter extension cord.” We had the words, just not in the correct order.

Before I end, a special note of appreciation to Backus Hospital for lighting their Christmas Tree. It quietly sits and glows atop their roof throughout the holiday season and it always generates a smile when its noticed. The hospital neighborhood notices!

Wrapping it up

Do you have a family member or close friend that paints or collects paintings? Landscapes, seascapes or portraits that go in the large bulky frames? I was helping to wrap some for donation and storage and we were faced with a problem when we ran out of the corner protectors. Triangle folded cardboard that protects the corners and the edges when the paintings are moved or left to rest on their side.

The cardboard cores of papertowels and toilet paper rolls with a single slit cut down one side slip right over most frames and can be folded neatly to protect the corners. No muss and no fuss and for many of us there is an endless supply. It made for an interesting break time as we called our friends asking if they had any paper roll cores to spare.

We were able to get what we needed but the adventure reminded me of how much I miss wrapping packages to mail and gifts in odd shaped boxes. Now my wrapping is a bit of tissue paper in a gift bag or fitting a card into an envelope.

Long ago I accepted the challenge of learning to wrap from small to shirt sized boxes without using any tape. I am out of practice now. Hidden edges were the nightmare challenge of another year as was hot wax sealing for a couple of years as I recall. Name tags on gifts? Don’t be silly! Can you guess your gift wrap? The design or color should have a special meaning just for you.The color of the wax will tell you who the gift is from.

Tables set at the entrances and exits of the mall staffed with tired and friendly people raising money for worthy causes by wrapping the gifts in your choice of paper and bows. At the table were the widest rolls of fancy paper available. The people could wrap even the largest of boxes and objects without a hitch or a problem. Well almost everything. Some items just had to do with a gigantic bow!

Speaking of bows. Does anyone still make bows with the little plastic button? I have a jar to donate if you do.

Who remembers the opening of a box, within a box, within a box, within a box that brought peals of laughter?

A delivery truck in front of a house was special. Something long awaited and from far away had arrived or maybe it was a surprise package from a person you knew in another state.

Times have changed but not the season. So gather with friends, family and neighbors. Tell stories, and jokes and laugh loudly and long.

Celebrate the winter by sharing warmth and friendship.

Norwich Nuggets

Just another Admin Blog Sites site