Autumn 2015 NW CT Celebrations, Pick a few and Enjoy Your Own too!

After introducing a list of great events, I went on, so here's the list:

Community Health Programs (CHP) in Great Barrington and Berkshire County MA: Nice offerings and places for families to meet and young children to play. Find out more online.

Northwest Y-- programs and facilities for fitness, swimming and social programs for youth

Berkshire South in Great Barrington MA (on Chrissey Road past the KMart Plaza). Pool and gym (for Skip and Dip for young kids and their parents) as well as an array of programs for all ages. See more online.

Swimming also at Hotchkiss School, Simon's Rock and the Y in Canaan, Torrington and Winsted.

LIBRARIES: Check their sites for more listings. Some of my favorites include the towns of Millerton NY, Great Barrington and Sheffield MA, Falls Village (Hunt Library), Canaan, Cornwall, Salisbury (Scoville, one of the oldest libraries in the country), Norfolk, Litchfield (OWL--Oliver Wolcott Library), Sharon (Hotchkiss Library, not the Hotchkiss School but they have one also for books, CDs and more) and Kent. Most have great places for the kids to play as well as read. Check out the story hours and other offerings, some on the weekends and others on weekdays.

SCHOOLS: Whether public or private, daycares or preschools, colleges or other learning centers (adult ed, senior centers, nursing homes and adult living centers), many offer unique programs.

Wonderful schools to tune into for school plays, concerts and other programs include The Hotchkiss School, Salisbury School (including the Salisbury Forums which meet at a few locations over the year), Housatonic Valley Regional High School (HVRHS) in Falls Village CT, Mount Everett in Sheffield MA, Monument Mountain in Great Barrington.

Offerings from Taconic Learning Center and Foothills Adult Education, Northwest Community Center in Winsted CT and Berkshire Community College (BCC) in Pittsfield and Great Barrington CT can be found online for classes (including programs through OLLI--Older Learners.)

Southern Berkshire Toastmasters meets regularly at Berkshire Community College at 343 Main St in Great Barrington MA. Come for free a few times and enjoy some lively talks with helpful brief feedback, and some Table Topic responses that are only a couple minutes long but generally very interesting.See more about that international speaking and leadership development program online!

Noble Horizons in Salisbury CT as well as Geer Village in Canaan CT provide friendly programs for community members to enjoy along with their residents as do many churches, faith and community groups. Hevreh in Great Barrington and another synagogue there and in other parts of the tri-corner area often offer programs as well. The North East Community Center in Millerton NY (NECC) provides many unique services and events over the past 25 years.

THEATERS: for plays, musicals, music groups, films and more. See private  and public schools above. Some of our popular offerings are The Warner Theatre in Torrington CT, The Sharon Playhouse, Infinity Hall in Norfolk, Aglet Theatre (which varies its location).The Mahaiwe Theater in Great Barrington met a large fundraising goal and has been restored with many efforts in the past decade.

For some particulars, check their websites by googling or call if time's a concern and you don't have a computer. By the way, most library staff will help you with computer basics, so use their resources or help someone else access them if there's a need.

I would like to see a second 'phone line for public use ' available at every library and even at more places of worship or other non-profits (a computer for use would also be very helpful even if there could be some fine tuning of usage agreements).

Encouraging libraries and schools and other non-profits to assist with the needs for new or parents or young children, other parental or youth needs for supervision and access to warm places to visit or make 'exchanges' in terms of custodial or other related needs. Again, some real thought and process procedures could be developed. Home schooling and supplemental learning and enrichment to help youth do well in all subject areas and pursue interests would be ideal.

  Litchfield (OWL) Library 860-567-8030

Hotchkiss Library in Sharon CT 860-364-5041

DM Hunt Library Falls Village CT 860-824-7424 (Falls Village is also called The Town of Canaan legally but most locals only call North Canaan "Canaan" and Falls Village, "Falls Village")

Douglas Library, North Canaan

Scoville Library in Salisbury CT 860-435-2838

Cornwall Library

 Kent Library

Millerton Library and NECC in Millerton NY

Bushnell Sage Library in Sheffield MA

Great Barrington Library in Great Barrington MA

Institute of American Indian Studies on Curtis Rd in Washington CT

Sharon Audubon Center on Rt 4 (3 miles east of the Clock Tower)--a nature center with many special programs and summer day camps for youth

Town Recreation Programs, Sports Programs, Faith Group offerings (often music such as at St. Andrew's in Kent CT and at the Congregational and St. John's in Salisbury CT. music during services, youth programs.

Winsted Library-- Beardsley and Memorial Library 860-379-6043

Cornwall Contra Dances 7pm the 1st Saturday of the month at the Town Hall (860-672-6101 for info) (donations for live caller, free live music)

New Morning Market Swing Dance in Woodbury CT from 7-9p (small fee)

Girl Scouts: contact tallen@gsofct.org for towns in Salisbury, Sharon, North Canaan and Cornwall, Falls Village and Kent. Boy Scouts:contact rhoadessandy@hotmail.com (particularly if able to help lead a troupe in Sharon CT now or early 2016)

In November 2015, the following is worth looking into:

Scoville Library Nature Walks with Ed Thorney at 12:30p on Sundays.

Pippin will be at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville CT Nov 13-15th, with the Sunday performance benefitting SOAR at the Salisbury Central School. After school programs such as SOAR and AHA can help students discover their interests and friendships. 

A talk by Victoria Mazarelli, of Nutmeg Ballet Company, will talk about The Nutcracker at OWL from 1-1:45p on Nov.15th. That day also from 10a to 4p at 52 Lewis St in the south end of Torrington, the Railroad Open House will display 3000' of train track. They will also show their train displays (N and HO scale) at the Torrington Armory on December 12 and 13. The Nutcracker Ballet will be at the Warner Theatre the following weekend, Dec 19th and 20th.

Treat yourself to a free google voice phone number which can then be kept online in terms of messages or calls you make. See voice.google.com (I think..check it out for your kids as well, it's a nice way to record their voices as they grow and for parents to interview their own parents and friends with tips and stories to enjoy later in life.)

Now here's my intro to the above...After giving a friend a lift to Norfolk to tend to a car that needed gas (as in it Ran Out of Gas, so why not let that remind US-All to fill at a quarter of a tank? That's a novel concept for some but when gas stations are few and far between, that's Common Sense in the Hill or Rural Country.

With New England weather, it's never a stretch to plan for a power outage or snow storm after October 1st even, so again, BE PREPARED in as many ways as you can for the Unexpected!)  Here's a list of places to go once you do feel your home is secure (even locked some police advocate and insurance companies insist is important when making a claim if something is stolen.

Doesn't hurt to having a practice of locking one's car after double checking no kids, pets or other heat-sensitive things are in your car..such as aerosol cans or things you don't want to freeze and break etc. Even check around your car before getting in it lest a kitty or kid be too close for comfort, or again, some object about to break your stride or ride--such as happened when a person left a drum in front of her car and knocked it over but thankfully did not peel out and crush it.

 While a new dance studio in Lakeville near Hotchkiss is called Jump Back! Ideally we would all be aware when in the real world to Look Ahead and Look before we Leap, Step or Even Change Lanes or Cut in front of Others to make a Turn, etc (again something that has happened on occassion often when Not Necessary).

There's a theme here of being courteous, calm and kind, of caring about oneself and others and one's things. Okay, so with both mind, body, others, car and home all set to allow for transitions, here's that list of things to do and places to go, people to meet and shows to see.

Make your own list when reading a paper or seeing posters so you can Share Ideas with Others and Get to your Best Picks! Some are free so that's another good motivator to ask someone along, perhaps someone with kids or an senior person who may not have transportation or a way.

For everyone's safety, having a designated driver if someone is drinking makes for a win-win situation, especially if weather is not an issue and the driver is good at staying awake and generally keeping it local makes sense too. Consider staying in the area of your venue with a friend or sharing costs of an Air B&B or lodging (or camping in the warmer climates.) Okay, so now we're really ready to rumble!