What a lovely weekend! I hope that everyone was able to get outdoors to enjoy it. The next book club selection is Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson. The meeting is Wed, 8/14 at 6:30 pm in person at Tyson Library. Another reminder about the huge book sale at Fletcher Memorial Library in Ludlow this Saturday.
Get ready for the events coming up at the Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site this week.
Thursday, 8/15, at 11:00 AM Naturalization Ceremony, In partnership, The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and the District Court of Vermont will host a naturalization. New citizens to the United States will take an Oath of Allegiance before a federal judge, receive a certificate of naturalization, and immediately have the opportunity to register to vote and obtain a passport. Members of the public are welcome to attend.
Friday, 8/16, at 07:00 pm Silent Film Night (free) Come enjoy Harold Lloyd’s 1925 silent comedy film, The Freshman at Wilder Barn. Some chairs will be available, but consider bringing a lawn chair. This event will be held rain or shine.
Saturday, 8/17, 2024 at 02:00 pm Vagabonds Reenactment. Enjoy amateur actors who will reenact the meeting in August 1924 when Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone visited President Coolidge in Plymouth Notch. Quotes recorded by 1920s journalists who witnessed and documented the occasion will be used in this presentation.
Saturday 8/31 at noon. Shakespeare Alive! A Bard-Based Variety Show returns to bring their amazingly entertaining production with all-new scenes, skits, soliloquies and songs using Shakespeare’s beautiful Elizabethan verse. Come enjoy wonderful music along with hilarious parody and prose.
This year marks 100 years of Vermont State Parks, and 50 years of Vermont Humanities. We’ve joined together in celebration of our joint anniversaries all summer with Words in the Woods, a free in-person poetry series in State Parks across Vermont, with poets like Verandah Porche, Allison Prine, Elizabeth Powell, and Ellen “LN” Bethea.
The best part of it all? You! Thank you for making these days in the parks so wonderful, from M. Philo and Kill Kare, to Molly Stark and Knight Point. Our State Parks are so much better when we share them together.
We hope you will join us for the final Words in the Woods of the season this Saturday, August 10 at 11 a.m. at Coolidge State Park in Plymouth with poet Major Jackson!
This poem, originally published by the Academy of American Poets on 2021, shows the emotion that Jackson’s writing conveys in the form of glaciers, pines, waterfalls, and stars.
Let Me Begin Again
Let me begin again as a quiet thought in the shape of a shell slowly examined by a brown child on a beach at dawn straining to see their future. Let me begin this time knowing the drumming in my dreams is me inheriting the earth, is morning lighting up the rivers. Let me burn my vanities: old music in the pines, sifters of scotch, a day moon like a signature of night. This time, let me circle the island of my fears only once then live like a raging waterfall and grow a magnificent mustache. Let me not ever be the birdcage or the serrated blade or the empty season. Dear Glacier, Dear Sea of Stars, Dear Leopards disintegrating at the outer limits of our greed; soon we will encounter you only in motivational tweets. Reader, I should have married you sooner. This time, let me not sleep like the prophet who believes he’s seen infinity. Let me run at break-neck speeds toward sceneries of doubt. I have no more dress rehearsals to attend. Look closer: I am licking my lips.
Major Jackson is the author of six books of poetry, including Leaving Saturn (2002), which won the Cave Canem Poetry Prize for a first book of poems. He has been awarded a Pushcart Prize, a Whiting Writers’ Award, and has been honored by the Pew Fellowship in the Arts and the Witter Bynner Foundation in conjunction with the Library of Congress.
Register for Words in the Woods
Park entrance is complimentary for Words in the Woods attendees, thanks to our partners at Vermont State Parks who celebrate their 100th anniversary this year.
Words in the Woods is a free in-person poetry series created in partnership with Vermont State Parks and supported by the Vermont Arts Council, the WaterWheel Foundation, and a generous Northeast Kingdom donor in honor of poet Judy Chalmer.
Just Two Weeks until Crossroads opens at the St. Albans Museum!
St. Albans Museum and Vermont Humanities, in partnership with New Hampshire Humanities, are excited to welcome you to the opening reception of the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street traveling exhibition, Crossroads: Change in Rural America on Saturday, August 24 at the St. Albans Museum.
Join us for a FREE special screening of the documentary Land of Promise accompanied by a panel discussion and Question & Answer session with local scholars after the reception.
RSVP to the Exhibit Opening
The exhibit, which will visit six communities in our two states through August 2025, explores the challenges and opportunities in rural settings across the United States throughout the past century. Crossroads: Change in Rural America has been made possible in Vermont and New Hampshire by the Vermont Humanities and New Hampshire Humanities.
Crossroads: Change in Rural America is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and State Humanities Councils nationwide. Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress.
The Plymouth Schoolhouse licensed childcare has openings for children ages two and up starting the first week of September. The program is located in the former Plymouth Elementary School, 35 School drive.
Contact Lauren Skaskiw-Harootunian at 802 417 6895 or email plymouthschoolhouse@gmail.com to arrange a visit to the program.
More creature encounters on my part! The other night as I was heading to my bedroom, something flew past my head. I knew immediately it was a bat. Since it was in the main living area and my bedroom is off to the side, I naïvely thought it would not follow me. Wrong!
I snuggled into bed a bit later than usual, when the familiar fluttering instantly made me wide awake. I got up, removed the screen and opened a window, hoping it would exit on its own. Wrong again!
Finally, I exited the room closing the door and went to sleep on the couch. Knowing that they sleep during the day, I was relieved the next night to be alone in my room.
A day or so later, I went to clean out the drain in my entranceway to the basement. When I opened the lid, three tiny creatures were there. They look like frogs, but they could be toads. It is not an uncommon occurrence to find them outside the door waiting to hop in. Then I have to chase them around my laundry room and try to save them. They move pretty quickly, however, so sometimes I lose them under the refrigerator.
Hope you have marked your calendar for the Tyson ladies aid bizarre at the veterans park in Ludlow on 8/10. Many wonderful baskets to be raffled, delicious baked goods, and also a terrific barbecue.
The following week, on 8/17 the Friends of Fletcher Memorial Library in Ludlow will hold the annual Book sale. Come join the fun – many great finds!
The Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site is celebrating President Coolidge’s favorite soda – Moxie! It’s “wickedly good” and “distinctly different.” The site, in collaboration with the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, will reenact President Coolidge’s oath at 2:47 p.m. on the porch of the Coolidge homestead where Col. John Coolidge administered the unexpected oath to his son on August 3, 1923 at 2:47 a.m. Following the reenactment, visitors are invited to enjoy Moxie floats. Wear your Moxie apparel or pick up something new from East Coast Printers who will be on site to show off all the latest in Moxie gifts.
Also, The Book Sale on 8/17 at Fletcher Memorial Library.
Mark your calendar for the Tyson Ladies Aid Bazaar on Sat, 8/10 at the Veterans Green in Ludlow.
As we approach the end of the month I am beginning to wonder where the summer has gone! It does not appear that there is a regular Select Board meeting this evening, but please be aware that the major party primary is coming up on 8/13.
I heard an interesting animal story yesterday that provides another reason to be mindful of feeding the creatures with whom we share our beautiful world. Apparently someone was putting out food for a woodchuck – in case it was not getting enough by ravaging neighbor’s gardens. One day she heard noises coming from the kitchen and found a bear had entered through the back door and was rummaging through the her cabinets!
Sorry for the late notice. There will be a Village Harmony concert on Monday, July 29 at 7:00pm at the Bridgewater Grange Hall. They will be singing songs from Caucasus Georgia, the Balkans, and Corsica, American shape-note songs, and traditional Yiddish songs. Admission if by donation at the door.
I know we are all rather tired of the heat and humidity, but I headed south several days this week and believe me, we have nothing about which to complain! Nice to have it a bit more comfortable this weekend. As I am writing this on Sunday evening I am hearing some fireworks in the neighborhood. I have to admit that I worry about the animals.
Bears are definitely roaming freely through our area. I have been told about sightings of moms with two and even three cubs. I had not seen any deer in my yard in ages, but this morning there was a mom and two fawns. Happy to say they were on the other side of my driveway and seem to have left my hostas alone. I couldn’t resist take this picture of a grouse family crossing Dublin Rd. Actually there were several adults and many little ones, but they actually moved fairly quickly, so this is all I captured with my phone.
At the 7/15 Select Board Meeting, Elaine Pauley’s resignation from the Town Treasurer position was noted. She has been an integral part of our Town Office staff over the years, picking up the pieces and competently holding things together. She certainly deserves to move into retirement. For a time, in order to assure a smooth transition, she will be helping Cherry Nicoll who has been appointed to take her place. Cherry has been assisting with FEMA paperwork and is well acquainted with our town.
I feel very fortunate to have friends and family who give me a hand with many projects that are beyond me as I am aging. There are a myriad of tasks that those of us who are older and even some younger individuals need help to accomplish. One that has come to my attention recently is the stacking of wood. Please let me know if there is anyone who would be willing to provide such aid at a reasonable rate.
Town of Plymouth, Vermont Select Board – Regular Meeting Monday, July 15, 2024 @ 6:00 PM Municipal Building Meeting Room Agenda
Topic: Plymouth Select Board Meeting Time: July 15, 2024 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85183633072?pwd=YzFYM0xsem01LzA1VVBlWlNoTldyQT09 Meeting ID: 851 8363 3072 Passcode: 709001 One tap mobile +13092053325,,85183633072#,,,,*709001# US Dial by your location • +1 309 205 3325 US +1 929 436 2866 US (New York)
Call to Order:
Consideration of Any Changes, Additions or Removals to Agenda:
Approve Meeting Minutes: a. June 17, 2024 Regular Meeting
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