Beryl's Bulletins

News | June 2010 | October 9 2010
Snow Removal Help Needed | Snow Heroes
April 17 2011 | From the Vault

October 09, 2010 Report

All I can say is "WOW" and my proof is that it has taken me two full days to recover. Four Events in one day is a bit much even for me so I am breaking it into chapters so it makes some kind of sense although all of the events were at the same time on Saturday.

Chapter 1. The Lawn. Greg has been extra busy of late so he enlisted his Dad to cut the lawn of the museum in the morning. Thanks Dad! The lawn looks manicured. The scarecrows are going to look magnificent - when they arrive.

Chapter 2. The painting. Jay the painter arrived in the morning to work some more on the face of the museum. He is doing a great job! I admit I was a little nervous as he scraped and sanded and then the house began to blush a bright pink. I was relieved when with the stroke of a brush when the rain finally stopped the house returned to its deep red color. Jay even primed and then painted the little tin overhangs on the windows. The face is the only side that will be painted. We need your support to get the other three sides done.

Chapter 3. Our address has changed. For years our Post Office box has been number 13, but we have been moved to number 62. So please be certain to change our mailing address in your records.

Chapter 4. Celebrating Urban Birds. Finally the housekeeping stuff is done and we can talk about the first of the day's events. Frank Sardo created two lovely bird diaramas of popular area birds, and a framed three dimensional scene of a robin for display in the sitting room (the one with the wallpaper). Mike Przygoda displayed some of his bird photos. Action shots of birds in flight. A lady blue bird peeking out of a bird house, a male blue bird keeping an eye on the action from a safe distance away and then a portrait of the couple together. It is such a sweet photo. My favorite though is a picture of a mallard duck. He has the greatest expression on his face and in his eyes. It's as if he was asking Mike what on earth he thought he was doing and he wasn't happy about it at all. A wonderful character shot.

Chapter 5. Cake Time. Fresh apple cider and a yummy moist fabulous marble cake from the Stop & Shop bakery were served to about 30 visitors on Saturday. The cake was decorated in autumn colored flowers with the words "Celebrating Norwich History for 109 years". Hard to imagine but the Society of the Founders of Norwich was founded in 1901 as a genealogy and historical society. Back then there was television, no computer, no movies. Entertainment was often someone writing a paper and presenting it or reading it aloud to a group of friends with like interests. Many of the papers presented are stored in our files waiting for the day we can scan them and place them on line for people to read. Some are pure research papers, some are legends of the area, and some are just tales of old long forgotten. The papers presented on their relatives are always interesting, insightful and always leaving you wanting more details.

Chapter 6. 50 Years! The Society of the Founders of Norwich has owned and operated the Leffingwell House Museum since 1960. 50 Years! When the house was purchased, moved and restored to the present colonial period it was done with care and respect. This year we are cleaning, painting and repairing as many of the signs of wear and tear as we can and are planning all kinds of fun, educational and interesting events. We also have some mighty lofty goals of placing on-line links to much of our library, scanning and translating some of the account books and diaries held in the document vault. There is a bunch of new, novel and just plain interesting stuff coming up this next year. Here is a hint of what's to come. The museum will be sponsoring events that will directly connect the colonial past with the present day and the future and we won't be re-enacting. Iva Arpin has made new light blocking checked curtains for the tavern room and green sprigged curtains for the breakfast room. They look gorgeous!

Chapter 7. Robert Guidebeck was on hand Saturday morning to show visitors the progress he is making cataloging the collection of books that was hiding in the vault. Truly vintage kindle. At first glance they are just a bunch of old books published between 1643 and 1940 that have nothing to do with Norwich. Then Robert opens the cover and discovers who owned the book, or who edited the book and the connection becomes evident. A book was something to be treasured and passed between generations. We learn a lot about the times, the individuals, the education levels by what books were in their possession. We also learned some really interesting cures for what ails ya.

Grateful thanks to Melodye, Chili Bob, and Mike for helping with the events and tours.

This Saturday, October 16th is the Fall Festival and Cocoa Contest. St. Mary's was the first scarecrow on the lawn. The rest that were promised I hope will be up soon. Apple, pumpkin and blueberry pies will be on sale for $10 each. Slices will be available for $2. Participation in the cocoa contest will be $5. Pie tasting Judge positions are still available. Natalie Wall will be on hand to tell fortunes by the number of seeds in an apple. And just for fun we'll be having a few antique cars parked in the yard. Hey they were new when the museum opened!

On October 23rd we'll be bedding down the museum for the winter or so we thought. We have been selected by the editors of USATODAY Weekend Magazine and Newman's Own to receive breakfast cereal for our "Make A Difference Day" volunteers. So for two hours of yard or indoor labor you can enjoy Newman's Own cereal, milk or yogurt, coffee or hot cocoa in a genuine colonial setting.

We need volunteers to bring ladders and equipment to clean the gutters and down spots, clear the brush from the highway drain that runs down to the river, pull out the weeds and clear the gardens. Each room needs to have its walls and floors washed, the wood furnishings cleaned and polished. Plastic goes up on the windows and new fireplace blocks will be built and installed to help us save on heat.

Beryl Fishbone, Volunteer Program Coordinator