Now and Then

It’s a Small World

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Attending the fiftieth anniversary in 2009 of John Biggerstaff’s induction with the late William Hinson into Apollo Lodge #59 was an honor. Joining Louise at John’s induction into the West Suffield Congregational Church on April 8, 2018, was also an honor. The Biggerstaff family has been a constant in life. John’s grandmother was the first visitor to my first home. John’s father installed the pump in a later home; he also opened history on local Polish music gatherings having joined them with his mouth organ.

Through the Looking Glass

Personal Struggles with North Korea

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Recently I went on a binge of reading books about North Korea. The books below are non-fiction, but I want to mention the novel Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. It shows the struggle of Korean people trying to carve out lives for themselves in Japan, both before and after World War II. The Japanese were extremely biased against Koreans. Resident Koreans were very rarely able to get full citizenship.

First Selectman’s Update

First Selectman’s Update

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I had the pleasure of a tour of Kent Memorial Library recently and I left feeling so excited about the changes taking place that I wanted to share some of the highlights. Clearly every resident is anxious for the long-awaited reopening given the ongoing environmental saga the town’s endured. But after seeing it first-hand, I truly cannot wait for all of us to once again utilize this inspiring building. Facilities Director Julie Oakes and Highway Foreman Mark Cervione were my tour guides as we entered the new all-abilities accessible entrance, lovingly named in honor of Suffield’s Mary Anne Zak whose family provided an enormously generous donation towards the project. The entrance is an inviting and impressive space welcoming patrons.

Food for Thought

Food For Thought

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National Weather Observer’s Day – May 4

“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us, snow is exhilarating; there is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.”

– John Ruskin

“Tut, Tut, looks like rain”

– A.A. Milne

“It always rains on tents. Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent.”

– Dave Barry

“I say it’s so hot, the hens are picking up worms with potholders.”

– Julie Trotter

“Don’t knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn’t start a conversation if it didn’t change once in a while.”

– Kin Hubbard

“The weather is like the government, always in the wrong.”

– Jerome K. Jerome

“A change in the weather is sufficient to recreate the world and ourselves.”

– Marcel Proust

Cinco de Mayo – May 5

“Cinco de Mayo has come to represent a celebration of the contributions that Mexican Americans and all Hispanics have made to America…Latinos have fought in all of America’s wars, beginning with the Revolutionary War. Many Latinos are fighting and dying for our country today in Iraq, just as several of their ancestors fought for freedom in Mexico over a century ago.”

– Joe Baca

National Teachers’ Day – May 8

“Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.”

– Malala Yousafzai

“Education is the key to success in life, and teachers make a lasting impact in the lives of their students.”

– Solomon Ortiz

“If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher.”

– A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

“The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.”

– C. S. Lewis

“A good teacher must be able to put himself in the place of those who find learning hard.”

– Eliphas Levi

“Education is improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.”

–Marian Wright Edelman

“The test of a good teacher is not how many questions he can ask his pupils that they will answer readily, but how many questions he inspires them to ask which he finds it hard to answer.”

–  Alice Wellington Rollins

“Teaching is the one profession that creates all other professions.”

– Unknown

International Nurses Day – May 12

“Sometimes I inspire my patients; more often they inspire me.”

– Unknown

“Nurse: just another word to describe a person strong enough to tolerate anything and soft enough to understand anyone.”

– Unknown

“To do what nobody else will do, in a way that nobody else can do, in spite of all we go through; that is to be a nurse.”

–  Rawsi Williams

Mother’s Day – May 13

“Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work.”

– C.S. Lewis

“Being a mom might mean that my hands are full, but so is my heart.”

– Unknown

“There is no one perfect way to be a good mother.

Suffield Observations

Orange in a Blue State

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Connecticut’s a funny state. It’s the third smallest state in the nation, but it has 169 municipalities. To contrast, our neighbor Rhode Island has 39. Complicating matters is that each one of those Connecticut cities and towns believes itself to be an entity unto itself. Even towns that share a border, like, say, Suffield and Windsor Locks, consider the other to be so different as to be another state.

In Memoriam

In Memoriam

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Sharon E. (Smith) Beneski

February 13, Age 75

Janet Devlin

February 13, Age 86

Michael “Meho” Alexopoulous

February 15, Age 86

Florence Miarecki

February 19, Age 95

Claude E. Rice

February 21, Age 70

Charles Donaghy

February 24

Anna Gilbert

February 25, Age 101

Leon Keith Markwell

February 27, Age 90

Rosemarie Lownds

March 1, Age 88

Janet Aidan Lapinski

March 7, Age 80

Robert Hinkley

March 12, Age 82

Columns

Where in the World is the Observer?

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Gloria and Bernard Magliozzi discovered a copy of the Observer in their luggage when they journeyed to Lovers Key in Florida to celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary and renew their vows on the beach there on February 14.

Now and Then

Growing Up at 89

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Ordinarily I bypass the perpendicular pronoun. But wished happiness as I recently celebrated my 89th birthday, I thank in first person all happiness wishers! Their wishes came true! Judging by photo albums, all birthdays have been happy! The 18th was especially so.