The Broad-Winged Hawk
By Tom Warren
A small, stocky hawk with broad white and black tail bands is our most common breeding hawk in Dublin. While the Broad-Winged Hawk is secretive in breeding season, it provides a spectacular show during fall migration in September.
It is a late spring migrant, arriving in Dublin during May because it relies on cold-blooded prey such as frogs and snakes. It also takes small mammals and birds while perching on trees near forest openings.
Although both sexes help with nest construction, the female does most of the work. The nests are located in a variety of trees including yellow birch, white birch, larch, white pine, red pine and white oak. Pairs will use the same nest in successive years or renovate old nests of other species such as crows and Red-Tailed Hawks.
Three to four eggs are a normal clutch. The eggs hatch in about 30 days and young birds are able to leave the nest in five to six weeks.
The most amazing aspect of this bird’s biology is the massive migrations, which occur usually between September 10th and 20th in our area. Following the passage of a cold front, brisk northwest winds cause uplifting currents of warm air heated by the sun.
Thousands of Broad-Winged Hawks take advantage of rising columns of warm air — called thermals — to migrate along ridges and mountains all the way south into Central and South America where they spend the winter. The hawks form “kettles” (from tea kettle) as they lift on the warmer air to a point where the air stops rising and then they stream off to the next column of air where the technique is repeated all day for six weeks.
Observers have witnessed as many as 12,000 hawks sail past Pack Monadnock in kettles in a few hours. As many as 400,000, including those from our area, fly past Veracruz, Mexico, in an afternoon in mid-October. They reach their winter homes in Central and South America by October 31st.
Hawk Watch
By Tom Warren
With summer drawing to a close, the eyes of hawk watchers will soon turn toward the northwest in the Monadnock Region. The passage of cold fronts with Canadian breezes triggers the migrations of thousands of raptors along ridge lines from here to Central and South America where many of the birds spend the winter.
The Pack Monadnock Raptor Migration Observatory enters its 9th year on September 1, 2013. Some of New Hampshire’s and the nation’s top raptor biologists will lead daily observations in September and October.
Among the raptors passing by, observers will be treated to thousands of Broad-Winged Hawks
in mid-September as well as to the flashing speed of a Peregrine Falcon later in the fall followed by Merlins, Sharp-Shinned Hawks, Bald Eagles and the occasional Golden Eagle late in October.
This site in southwest New Hampshire, Pack Monadnock, has become one of the premier raptor viewing sites in New England. Almost 5,000 people have visited the site, which was established in 2005 by Iain MacLeod and New Hampshire Audubon.
Some of the birds fly just over the treetops and occasionally attempt to strike a synthetic Great Horned Owl, which elicits gasps of awe from assembled observers, especially children.
A special treat this year at Pack Monadnock will be the release of an injured hawk that has been rehabilitated by the Wings of Dawn in Henniker. This will take place at 1 pm on September 14th. It is being released in time to join its cousins on the southward flight. This is the highlight of the early raptor viewing season.
An additional highlight of this event is The Great Soup Contest at noon on October 12th. Soups are prepared by volunteer hawk watchers, who are chilled by a cold northwest wind straight from the Arctic Tundra, but nevertheless hoping for a glimpse of a magical Golden Eagle.
Tom Warren is a Trustee of the Harris Center for Conservation Education and New Hampshire Audubon.
Dublin Public Library
The 9:30 Wednesday morning story time will resume on September 4. This casual introduction to the library is open to parents and children of all ages, focusing on the very young. We encourage children to listen to one or two books with a little stretching in between. Some music and poetry are shared before we gather at the table for a craft. There are plenty of books, puzzles and movies to check out.
Some of the topics for this month include caterpillars, elephants, apples, shapes and colors. We look forward to seeing our returning families and we hope to meet new ones as the school year begins. Refreshments are served.
September is the perfect month to be outside. Stop in the library and check out books on hiking trails in the area, parks to visit, how to plant bulbs in the garden, prepare compost, and of course a book to read as one relaxes after raking leaves.
Books:
Light in the Ruins by C. Bahjalian
Bombshell by C. Coulter
The Element by K. Robinson
The White Princess by P. Gregory
The Cuckoo’s Calling by R. Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)
What There Was Not To Tell by Edie Clark
Granite State Gas and Engine Meet
Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 7 & 8
Weis Field off Rte. 101
Report on Town Projects
By Sterling Abram
Construction for both the Safe Routes to School project and the second phase of the traffic calming TE project have been delayed until next year, 2014. The final engineering plan for Safe Routes is complete, but no contractors showed up for a mandatory pre-bid meeting, so the project had to be postponed. It is crucial for efficiency and safety reasons that the project be done while school is in summer recess, so it will have to wait for another year. It is more than likely that the contract for construction could be combined with a contract for Phase II of the traffic-calming project, which would provide some efficiency to both projects and hopefully get more interest from qualified contractors.
The TE project, Phase II, was delayed for a variety of reasons, most of which were the result of the application of a new wave of federal guidelines. While it adds complexity to planning for a project like this, I suppose we should be thankful that more safeguards are being implemented in the spending of federal dollars. However, there comes with it an added burden on the State, which reviews and approves the projects as well as administering the funds, and on the sponsors, such as the Town of Dublin, which requests the funds and sponsors the project. Funding is secure, as long as we meet a strict set of deadlines, since the funding for TE projects will expire late in 2015.
A public meeting was held on July 23 to present the preliminary plans for a new bridge on Charcoal Road over Charcoal Brook. Only a few citizens attended. The plans for this are on file at the Town Hall and can be viewed there if anyone is interested. This project involves significant design and engineering because of the poor supporting quality of the soils present, and will be fairly expensive. We are eligible for funds from the State bridge program, which will pay for 80 percent of the costs. These funds will become available in July 2015, so construction will not be planned before the time we are eligible to receive the state aid for this project.
The bridge on Pierce Road, which is presently a culvert, will be replaced in October, barring any unforeseen delays. This does not qualify for state aid, and has already been approved by the town. Construction is expected to take two to three weeks.
Sterling Abram has served as one of our three selectmen since 2006.
A Visit to the Historical Society’s Museum
By Rusty Bastedo
On August 15, Dublin’s Mountain View Bible Church brought a parishioners group to the 1841 Schoolhouse Museum, on Dublin’s Main Street.
As curator for the Historical Society, I spoke with the group for more than 90 minutes, addressing such topics as when, how and why the first settlers arrived in western New Hampshire; the importance of “schooling” and school houses to the early settlers; the early Monadnock Region “cash crops” of farm-made horsehide boots and brogans (shipped to the southern colonies and to the Caribbean plantations in the pre-1850 coastal trade).
We discussed the offsetting trade in straw hats and bonnets made from Caribbean palm fronds that were shipped from Worcester, MA, for winter-time distribution to Monadnock Region farms. While the ground was still frozen, farm wives and children worked indoors, making straw hats and bonnets that were shipped in time for the upcoming spring and summer seasons.
We spoke about the huge early Monadnock Region “cash crop” of starch potatoes, and about the starch factories that dotted the southern New Hampshire landscape at a time when men’s shirts and collars and women’s blouses used heavy starch.
We talked about the introduction of Merino sheep and their prized long-fiber wool, and about the textile mills that processed the wool. We spoke about travel on the dirt roads during the four seasons, and how the huge six-horse wagons used the highways to carry farmers’ products to Concord and the wider world via the Merrimack River and other river canals as early as 1803. There was lively discussion about Monadnock Region country life as it was before trains, gasoline and automobiles, and a good time was had by all.
Russell Bastedo is on the staff of the Advocate.
Crop Hunger Walk in Dublin This Year
This year the interfaith Monadnock Area CROP Hunger Walk will be hosted in Dublin by the Dublin Community Church on Saturday, October 5. This annual Church World Service event, organized by local volunteers since 1969, brings together members of churches from throughout the region to walk an approximately five-mile course through the autumn countryside. Participants solicit sponsors, and the money raised is used to address hunger on a local, national and international level.
Please contact Mary Loftis at 563-8884 if you are interested in walking – or in supporting another participant. For more information, go to www.cwsglobal.org/crop-hunger-walk.
28th Annual Craft Fair
The 28th annual Dublin Craft Fair will be held on Saturday, September 14 (rain date is September 15). Artisans from all over New England gather at Yankee Field off Route 101 from 10 am to 3 pm to present a variety of handcrafted items for sale. Among the items for sale this year will be jewelry, fabric crafts of all types, hand-carved decoys, bird houses and feeders, soaps and lotions, jams and jellies, hardwood toys, stained glass, wildlife art, alpaca yarns, pottery, and much more. The ConVal Hockey Boosters will be running a refreshment booth as a fund-raising project. Admission is free, and there is plenty of parking adjacent to the sales area. Entry into the parking area is from Monument Road.
Help Needed to Coordinate Flower Project
By Karen Bunch
We’ve been enjoying those beautiful summer annual flowers and winter greens in downtown Dublin ever since the Planters Project began in 2002. This is a joint project by community members and the Garden Club of Dublin.
After more than five years, Louise Werden is retiring from being the coordinator of the project. She’s done a fabulous job, and her efforts are greatly appreciated. A new coordinator or coordination team is needed to keep this valuable project going. The basics of the project are all in place: funding provided by the Garden Club, an already established source for the plants, volunteers to tend and water the plants and lots of support.
If you are interested in taking on some or all of the pieces of coordinating the project, please contact Karen Bunch at 563-7762. There are various things you might like to help with such as organizing the installation of the plants, emailing the volunteers, putting winter greens in the four urns, or other pieces of the project. Please call if you would like to learn more.
Karen Bunch has been a volunteer on the Downtown Dublin Planters Project since 2002.
Dublin Community Church
Fall Rummage Sale and Yard Sale
October 11 and 12
Remember the rummage sale as you sort through your winter clothes — we can always use donations.
Help needed to sort clothes, set up, and sell during the week of October 7 through 10 from 9 am to 2 pm. Come for an hour or more. Bring your lunch!
For further information, call Betty at 563-7475.
Cornucopia Project Comes to DCP
By Cathy Carabello
During our “Sprouts” garden camp week this summer, we invited Kin Schilling, founder of the Cornucopia Project, to come as our special guest. The children were immediately drawn in as Kin prefaced her visit with some basic premises of growing seeds. “What are the five things that seeds need in order to grow?” she asked the group of four and five year olds. Without hesitation, they answered with the three things we had always discussed: soil, water and sun. And by the end of the morning, we had all learned something. Air and love matter just as much to all living, growing things.
That morning, the children learned how to plant seeds by layering wood chips, salt marsh hay and organic soil in a pot before they added the seeds and water. Each child excitedly took home a pot that would soon become sunflower sprouts for them to eat.
We shared a snack of fresh-picked carrots and lemon cucumbers from Kin’s garden as well as sun gold tomatoes from the DCP garden. We made a plan to visit Kin this fall at her farm and look forward to many more visits together. (For more information on the Cornucopia Project, visit cornucopiaproject.org.)
Exposing young children to gardening as a way of teaching them about good nutrition and healthy life practices is an important part of the curriculum at Dublin Community Preschool & Childcare Center.
Cathy Carabello is director of the DCP.
News from the Dublin Consolidated School
By May Clark
By the time you read this, school will be under way for another wonderful new year. We are happy to welcome our new Education Support Teacher, Lisa LeBlanc, and Dr. Brendan Minnihan, our new Superintendent. More great news is that our population is up! Ten more children may not seem like many, but it represents more than a 15% increase. We are thrilled, and welcome all our new families.
We are planning our two fall parent evenings, the first in September (date TBA; watch for announcements) is for a presentation on our curriculum and assessments for any interested parents and other adults; and the second, in early October, will be our traditional Open House for families and community members.
A successful Dublin Summer Playground ended August 9, and, for the second year in a row, the ConVal Food service provided breakfast and lunch for children during the weeks of camp. Our DCS/Cornucopia garden played a part, as the children at Playground downed any number of cucumbers and other goodies! The children and staff did a wonderful job of tending to the garden, and we are so glad they could reap the benefits. The garden will continue to provide us with fresh veggies for lunch into the fall, and the children will, as usual, be harvesting and planning for spring.
There is a brief survey posted on the ConVal website (www.conval.edu), which also is our site. Dr. Minnihan is looking for feedback on the state of the school district and your experiences with our schools. We would appreciate anyone’s responses to a few questions, to help us improve.
It will be a busy year at DCS, and we love visitors. Stop in to see what’s going on — just call or email first, and please remember to sign in at the office when you arrive.
May Clark is Teaching Principal at DCS. She can be reached at 563-8332 or email mclark@nullconval.edu.
School Begins August 29th.
Summer Issues at ConVal
By Fiona Tibbetts
The summer has been anything but slow for the ConVal School Board. The conversation has been dominated by two items: reconstruction of the high school parking lot and the disposition of the LGC refund. While some have tried to link these issues, to me they are completely separate.
For those of you who haven’t followed these stories, I’ll start with the parking lot. As part of the gym reconstruction, $250K was allocated for parking lot resurfacing. Along the way another $100K was earmarked, but this spring when the bids were received for the work envisioned there was about a $500K gap between earmarked funds and bids. At this point in the process, the Board asked that the district negotiate with the bidders to develop a phased approach that would stay within budget, but somehow work began before the Board could vote on such a phased approach. The end result is that some of the work will be completed this summer, but we are left with the need to fund additional work next summer.
The LGC story is less confusing but even more contentious. $638K of over-charged health insurance premiums are being returned to the district. The argument is over what to do with the funds once received. Some see this as the answer to our parking lot funding problem, but I oppose this position. I have already voted to return the funds to the taxpayers through a reduction of the towns’ district assessment; unfortunately this motion was defeated and the disposition of funds remains to be determined.
My position is that anything less than a full transfer back to the towns would be a usurpation of funds under false pretenses. The voters only approved these funds as required health-care payments, not some slush-fund to be used at the Board’s discretion. The voters approved all requested funds for this school year and if more is needed next year we can try to make that case. I have no patience for those who argue that lowering taxes for one year will only confuse the voters, or who argue that for the average taxpayer the difference will be minimal. I have yet to hear such an argument from anyone outside the inner circle of school administration.
As always, I’m anxious to hear your views. Let me know where you would “park” the refund!
Fiona Tibbetts is Dublin’s rep to the ConVal School Board, aka SAU 1.
Peter Hewitt: The Man (unabridged)
By Rusty Bastedo
World War II was underway, and Peter Hewitt, aged 18, had signed up for the Air Force flying program and expected to be called up after his graduation from Browne & Nichols School in June 1944. But his draft papers did not arrive until November 28, 1944. In the interim Peter entered Harvard College, and he had completed several months as a freshman day student when he was “called up” for national service. 
Peter was sent to Keesler Field, Mississippi where he completed basic training. But the war was winding down, and after being trained as a mechanic for Air Force planes, he was shipped to Okinawa. Peter and his fellow recruits spent their first month on the beach at Okinawa living in tents because of a housing shortage. Quonset huts were available after that, and the housing situation improved.
Peter’s recruitment papers were studied by Warrant Officer (j.g.) Irving Lilley and Master Sergeant Jack Snodgrass. When they saw that Peter was a pianist he was promptly assigned to the island’s 28-piece band, where he performed on a “tough little Steinway” that was carried from place to place on Okinawa. The band played marches and formal music; Peter and a small musical group played jazz at dances and less formal gatherings. The audiences for the latter events were always the same Red Cross women and U.S. Army nurses, plus whatever troops were available.
Returning to Cambridge in 1947, Peter re-enrolled at Harvard College, under the G.I. Bill. He was assigned to Adams House, where numerous other veterans were housed. Adams House at that time was an aggregate of two dormitories built c. 1900, to which a new “C Entry” had been added. C Entry held a dining room and kitchen that served all the inhabitants of Adams House, so that the veterans, many of whom were on crutches, did not have to eat food prepared at kitchens located elsewhere. It had another advantage as well: students in the 1940s and 1950s wishing to avoid the College’s strict nightly curfews and parietal rules came to greatly value Adams’ multiple and unguarded entries, unlike the central, monitored portals of the newer undergraduate residences.
As a Harvard undergraduate, Class of 1950, Peter participated in the great Dixieland Revival of the postwar years, playing intermission piano at The Savoy, a famed Boston jazz club of the time. Nor did he neglect classical music. Peter spent one undergraduate summer on the staff at Tanglewood, in Lenox, MA, performing ragtime music for such summer students as Leonard Bernstein; a prized family photograph shows Peter at the keyboard, surrounded by a number of household names of the era (see Advocate March 2011, p. 5).
In 1954 Peter contracted polio, and his future as a performer changed. At the same time the world of American jazz was changing. A post-war cabaret tax imposed by the I.R.S. added 30% (later lowered to 20%) to customers’ bills in restaurants with dance floors. The new tax quickly made large orchestras, and dance floors, a thing of the past. Small bands playing “for listeners only” replaced the “big band” dance music of the 1940s. In 1950 the Count Basie band was reduced to an octet; other big bands disappeared, to be replaced by “bebop” and other efforts to find a “new way.”
The “new music” attracted national notice when pianist Dave Brubeck made the cover of Time magazine (November 8, 1954); on January 18, 1955, the Brubeck Quartet and the Chet Baker/ Gerry Mulligan Quartet – the latter group with trumpet, baritone sax, bass and drums, no piano – played at Carnegie Hall, before a small New York audience that had come to find out what all the press was talking about. [In honor of his first Carnegie Hall appearance Brubeck wore a summer cord suit and blue Argyll socks with white and red diamonds – a peculiar sight on a cold and windy New York City night. – Ed.] The folk music craze was also beginning, featuring solo performers, trios and quartets.
Peter went to work in Boston for Thorvald Ross, a fellow polio victim who ran a company that made precision “rivet 608” lathes for the U.S. Navy. Peter learned inventory control, and he worked at the company until construction of the Massachusetts Turnpike Extension put the company out of business. Peter was then asked to be Production Control Manager for the Manchester, Michigan subsidiary of Brown & Sharp, a Providence, RI, manufacturer of precision equipment. For four years Peter, his wife Lulu and children, Susan, Emily and Caroline lived in Ann Arbor.
Brown & Sharp went through corporate reorganization, and the Hewitts returned to the Boston – Providence area. Peter was offered a position as a trust officer with the Rhode Island Hospital Trust Company, and Mr. van Lieuw, who made the offer, asked Peter if he would consider purchasing the van Lieuw house, on Benefit Street. The Hewitt family lived on Benefit Street for twenty years, until Peter retired from the bank (now a part of Bank of America) at age 55.
Moving to Dublin, the Hewitts renovated their summer house for year-round use in 1981. For several years Peter commuted to Northfield School, Northfield, MA, where he worked with David E. Howe of Marlborough as a Planned Giving Officer. Now fully retired, Peter continues to play piano, and to keep his ears open for up and coming musical talent.
Rusty Bastedo often plays music with Peter Hewitt, who is the author of ‘Peter’s Ponderings’ in these pages as well as a member of the Dublin Community Church.
Dublin Craft Fair
Yankee Field
September 14
(rain date: September 15)
Art Tour Preview Exhibition
By Mary Loftis
The 18th Annual Open Studio Art Tour, sponsored by Monadnock Art / Friends of the Dublin Art Colony, will be held on Columbus Day weekend, October 12 and 13. In the preceding week, the Jaffrey Civic Center will host a preview exhibition of participating artists’ work. A festive opening reception will be held on Monday, October 7, from 5 to 7 pm.
In addition to the work of contemporary artists, the exhibition will feature a display of historic photographs of artists who worked in the region from the late 19th to mid-20th centuries. Such artists as George deForest Brush, Joseph Lindon Smith, William Preston Phelps, Rockwell Kent, Alexander James and Richard Meryman worked in the shadow of Mt. Monadnock. Although this group never referred to itself as an art colony, its participants cultivated a sense of community centered on the arts. The annual art tour strives to do the same in the 21st century, and this photographic display is a fitting homage.
Mary Loftis is on the board of Monadnock Art / Friends of the Dublin Art Colony.
Local Poet Wins Prize
David Nelson’s poem “Reservoir” won the first prize of $100 in the Poetry Society of New Hampshire’s National poetry contest last May.
Poetry Society judge Chard DeNiord wrote, “The poem’s Ecclesiastes-like language celebrates a repetitive task that is nonetheless new each time it’s performed for its simple yet profound movement from life to death, from fullness to emptiness, warmth to chill, with its anonymous archetypal steward.”
Nelson wrote the poem one October that was “personally pretty bleak on a lot of fronts.” 
He says, “As I drove by Howe Reservoir one day, I began to reflect on how God allows seasons of depletion and exposure, all the while, out of our sight, His workings are in place to hold another season.”
To read the poem, please visit David’s website at http://goodartmakesyouthink.com/reservoir-poem/.
Peter’s Pondering
By Peter Hewitt
I have a problem with casinos.
For me, they’re a hazard for a community. Too much time spent at the wheel, the card table and the bar. To use fancy language, they’re disruptive economically.
What bothers me most, however, is the number of hard-working people who are lured to casinos in the hope of converting their pennies into a fortune — but rarely get them back.
The winners are more apt to be the guys who walk in with bundles to begin with.
Peter Hewitt retired to RiverMead several years ago.
Oxbow Farm
By Mary Loftis
A flock of Barred Rock and Rhode Island Red hens – and their Bantam sidekicks – scratch in the grass around the barn at Oxbow Farm. They, as well as meat chickens, are the commercial focus at the farm on Page Road. But they have plenty of animal company: ducks, pigs, goats and sheep are also cared for by Kimberly and Jim Graham and their children, Malcolm and Lauren.
Kim recently showed me around the farm, which includes 25 acres, much of it woodland. She explained how pigs and sheep are being used for pasture maintenance and brush clearing. We visited a trio of large black “Mule Foot” pigs whose mission is to clear every growing thing from a wide swath of brush.
Although they were audibly appreciative when we delivered a bucket of slops donated by Dublin School, much of their diet comes from anything that grows in a wild thicket. These girls, whose “job” on the farm separates them from a group of Yorkshire-cross piglets born in April. The piglets will be processed and sold as chops and roasts.
While the pigs clear a path wide enough for Kim’s small tractor, a quartet of sheep keep an upper pasture clear of brush and weeds. Daisy, Pinky, Lenny and Squigy (whose names imply “permanent” status on the farm) will eat “everything,” according to Kim.
Inside the barn, where horse stalls have been converted to house the chickens, were some new arrivals: four bouncy Nigerian Dwarf goats who will also be used for brush control once electric fencing has been erected to contain them.
There are a lot of mouths to feed at this farm overlooking Mt. Monadnock, and clearly the work never ends. Kim sells her eggs and meat chickens (processed on-site as well as at a USDA facility) at the Peterborough Farmers Market every Wednesday from 3 to 6 pm, and Oxbow Farm eggs are used for Sunday brunch at the Hancock Inn and may be purchased at Roy’s Market and Maggie’s. She also had a small farm store where the fridge and freezer are stocked with eggs, chickens and pork products.
Kim writes a monthly column on her farming adventures for the Monadnock Ledger- Transcript. She told me that balancing her roles as mom, farmer and writer is challenging but rewarding, and she has plans to work on an e-book, which will include recipes she’s always wanted to try. Meanwhile, she’s making prepared food offerings from local ingredients to sell along with her chickens and eggs at the Farmers Market.
While the work is long and hard, even on the idyllic August day I visited, the Graham family has clearly found a happy niche in Dublin with creatures “great and small.”
You can follow Kimberly’s blog at oxbowfarmnh.com.
Mary Loftis is on the board of the Advocate.
Dublin Day Delights All
By Margaret Gurney
Another Dublin Day delivered on all its promises. Starting with the Fun Run for children on July 20th, there was plenty of entertainment for all members of the family: Friendly Farm’s petting zoo, the bouncy house, face painting, balloon animals, music including bagpipes and chorals, the climbing wall and dunk tank, pony rides, youth circus group, crafts table, yummy food including freshly squeezed lemonade and homemade ice cream.
In the Terry Dwyer 5K, 25 of the top 100 runners listed in the local paper were Dubliners. Starting with the fastest, they include Zachary Doenmez, Holly Macy, Ian Aldrich, Sean Macy, Nicholas Kenerson, John Ladue, Anthony Veilleux, Brooks Niemela, Sarah Doenmez, Peter Kenerson, Susanne Vogel, Austin Knight, Michelle Gullage, Scott Yates, Jeff Oja, Rebecca Oja, Sterling Abram, Grisel Levene, Becky Letourneau, Agnes Macy, Jennifer Bergeron, Lucy Doherty, Adrianna Champney, Heather Fletcher, and Chris Pelletier.
Congratulations are also in order for the crowning of yet another Miss Dublin, Florence Colantino, who received this year’s crown from Gabrielle Oja.
We have the Recreation Committee to thank for such care in planning Dublin’s special day every year: Vira Elder, Chair; Dan Albert, Jen Bergeron, Kelly Blanchette, Mike Caron, Ken McAleer, and Becky Stapleton.
United Way Chooses Magic as Theme for This Year’s Fundraising
By Barbara Summers
“Be Part of the Magic” is the theme for the upcoming Monadnock United Way Campaign. What is the magic, and who is part of it?
We all are. Many of our residents in Dublin who benefit from the services of Monadnock United Way agencies are our friends and neighbors, some are relatives, students, and young mothers; others are elderly, lonely, or perhaps you can add to the list. Last year Dublin residents used 302 services provided by United Way agencies.
Maybe you don’t know anyone who can benefit from these fine programs but just wonder if someone is in need of a bereavement program, “meals on wheels,” foot clinics, adult and/or child counseling, a big brother or sister, transportation, adult day care, or hospice services.
When the information comes out from the Monadnock United Way early in September, you will see the area towns covered by the Monadnock United Way, with the numbers of services provided per town.
On that map, you will see the extent of the area served by the Monadnock United Way. It covers 36 communities, one of which is Dublin. These are our neighbors. That’s the magic. We are part of that magic.
So when you get the call from our team members from Dublin, consider giving. And thank you for supporting the United Way this year.
Barbara Summers is Division IX Chair and Dublin Team Captain for the Monadnock United Way.
8th Annual Wellness Festival
By Rick MacMillan
This year will mark the Eighth Annual Monadnock Wellness Festival to be held Saturday, September 28th, in downtown Peterborough. Presented by the Monadnock Rotary Club, the Monadnock Wellness Festival is designed to serve the community, with proceeds from the event donated to local not-for-profit health-related organizations.
The Monadnock Wellness Festival is a fun-filled event promoting health and wellness by providing wellness screenings, educational programming, fitness activities, pet activities, and healthy food for people of all ages. Last year’s event attracted over 50 exhibitors and sponsors and more than 700 area residents. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
PetFest activities include pet obedience and dog agility and training demos in Putnam Park.
This year we are adding a “FitnessFest” program to emphasize physical fitness as a necessary component of overall wellness. Putnam Park activities for the “FitnessFest” will include a 5K Wellness Walk; a rock-climbing wall; and short sessions of certified instructors encouraging crowd participation in such things as Zumba, line-dancing, and yoga for young and old alike.
In addition, a Farmer’s Market will feature local food growers exhibiting and offering their wholesome produce on Grove Street.
The highlight of the Wellness Festival will again be the SoupFest, in which both local restaurants and “home chefs” will vie for healthiest “soup of the fair” award.
Activities begin with registration for the 5K Wellness Walk at 8:30 am in Putnam Park, and beginning at 9 am, finishing at 10 am. The heart of the Festival begins at 10 am with health screenings, consultations, and exhibitors. It’s free, and it benefits the children of Monadnock!
Rick MacMillan is a member of the Monadnock Rotary Club.
Pastel Society and A New Gallery for Local Artist
Two paintings by Maryann Mullett were recently accepted at the 5th Annual Juried National Exhibit “It’s Pastel!”
Titled “Fresh Picked” 
and “Organic Beets,” these pastels can be seen from October 26 through November 30 at the Portsmouth Discover Center, 10 Middle Street, Portsmouth, NH. 
An artist’s reception will be held Saturday, October 26th, from 4 to 6 pm.
This is her first acceptance in a National Juried Show.
Maryann Mullett also announced the opening of her new Art Gallery, called “It’s Thyme,” on October 1st. It will be open seven days a week from 9 am to 5 pm. You can enter through the Harvest Thyme Gift Barn or use the separate entry right next to it. Contact Maryann Mullet at 563-8628 with questions.
Peterborough Players Season Wrap-up
By Fred Leventhal
The Peterborough Players concludes its 80th birthday season with two end-of-summer comedies. Lanford Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, Talley’s Folly, last seen at the Players in 1981, 
will be performed September 4-15. Starring David Breitbarth and his wife Kate Hampton, this tender romance about two lonely people who discover happiness together, despite lives filled with parallel, negative experience of cruelty, prejudice, loss, and death, recently completed a successful New York revival. Wilson, hailed as one of the most gifted American playwrights, died in 1973 at the age of 73.
Elaine Bromka appears in the one-woman show, Tea for Three, 
for one week only, September 18-22. This intimate psychological study of three First Ladies — Ladybird Johnson, Pat Nixon, and Betty Ford — offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of life in the White House in an age of personalized politics. Bromka, an Emmy Award-winning actress, recently completed an Off-Broadway run of the show, after performing it at more than 75 theaters across the country.
Fred Leventhal, a Dublin resident, is a trustee of the Peterborough Players.
A Memorial for George Warren
A memorial service will be held to celebrate the life of Dr. George Warren 
of Denver, Colorado, on Monday, September 16th at 2 pm in the Dublin Community Church. George loved Dublin very much. His childhood summers were spent here with his family and he frequently returned to enjoy his friends and the nature in Dublin.
Born with congenital heart disease (CHD) in 1947, he was an early recipient of surgical advances from Boston’s Children’s Hospital and Johns Hopkins University Medical School. His parents were told his life expectancy was around 3 years old, but he lived a productive life until he was 66 as one of Denver’s leading pathologists and physicians, specializing in gastrointestinal and liver diseases.
George devoted his free time to the Adult Congenital Heart Association where he was Chairman and assisted CHD patients and their families.
First Music and Ice Cream Social a Big Success
By Ramona Branch
Music and ice cream on a beautiful grassy knoll…what could be better on a warm summer’s evening? Such were the circumstances for the first Music and Ice Cream Social hosted by the Friends of the Dublin Public Library in late July. This was the first such event combining music and food planned especially for the back yard of the library and we Friends were a little apprehensive as to how it would all play out.
Questions that buzzed through our minds…will people come, what kind of music should we have, will there be enough parking, and how much ice cream should we buy? As we thoughtfully considered each of these questions, we set our goal of 75 people for the event. [Photos by Sally Shonk and Ramona Branch]
At 6 pm several folks started drifting in with lawn chairs and their picnic suppers.
Around 6:30, when Scott Mullet and his quartet was setting up, several families with small children began arriving. At this point, things started really picking up. Ice cream scoopers manned their stations and kids and families formed long lines for the ice cream of their choice.
The evening was a New Hampshire best — warm but not too warm — with a crystal clear blue sky. Children running around chasing one another, squealing with laughter, brought smiles to their parents’ faces and observing adults. Betty McIntyre took a break from her librarian duties to experience the fun and express her pleasure that so many people and young children were enjoying the library even though it had little to do with books and reading.
Around 7 pm we counted 88 people on the lawn. After the event was over and the Friends began cleaning up we looked at one another and in unanimous agreement proclaimed The Music and Ice Cream Social an annual event. Mark your calendars for next July! Who knows, we just might be more adventuresome with our ice cream flavors next time.
Ramona Branch is a freelance writer and editor and serves on the Advocate staff. She is a board member of the Friends of the Dublin Public Library and coordinated the Music and Ice Cream Social.
Welcome to Sunday School
By Yummy Cady
The Dublin Community Church wishes to extend a warm welcome to area families to participate in our Sunday School Program. The 2013-2014 year will begin September 8th at 10 am for children in grades one through eight. The church also has a nursery care program for babies and preschool-aged children.
The children of the DCC are active and engaged participants in the life of the church. Our program focuses on how each individual child can make a contribution to his or her faith, church, community and world. Inclusive projects are ongoing, preparing and studying for the annual Christmas Pageant and Children’s Sunday in June. Throughout the year the children participate in and make important decisions about an outreach project of their choosing.
Please join us. Although we encourage parents to participate in worship and church life while their children are enrolled in Sunday School, it is not required. If you can make arrangements for your child or children to come with another family attending worship, you may send them along. And children can join any time throughout the year.
If you have any questions you may reach Pastor Mike Scott at 563-8139 Thursday and Friday mornings. You can call Yummy Cady at 924-3120 anytime after 6 pm or stop into the library and chat with Betty McIntyre, one of our Sunday School teachers. Information about the church may be viewed at www.dublinchurch.org.
The DCC is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and is an open and affirming congregation. Everyone is welcome.
Rosamond Cady grew up in Dublin and lives just over the line in Harrisville. She is the director of religious education at DCC.
Karner Blue Butterfly Continues to Recover
The warm, humid weather conditions this summer were excellent for New Hampshire’s State Butterfly. The number of Karner blue butterflies marked in the wild surpassed the previous high number observed by the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program in 2010!
In addition to the great weather, the Karner blues recovery effort got another boost this summer as employees of a local company, Praxair, rolled up their sleeves to help create habitat for the tiny, bright-blue butterflies. N.H. Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are collaborating with Praxair Surface Technologies/TAFA to increase the amount of habitat available for the growing population.
The long-term goal of the Praxair restoration project is to increase the few butterflies living on the parcel to a robust population of 250-500 adults in the next few years.
The comeback of New Hampshire’s State Butterfly has been a remarkable success story. Karner blues had declined because of the loss of their primary habitat – patches of wild blue lupine (Lupinus perennis), which is the only food source for the developing caterpillars. Habitat also disappeared as the pine barrens ecosystem developed into a mature forest because of fire suppression. A population estimate has not been completed, but this summer’s brood is expected to have come the closest to reaching the federal recovery goal of 3,000 Karner blues in New Hampshire.
This year (2013) New Hampshire Fish and Game’s Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program is celebrating 25 years of success conserving rare wildlife in the Granite State.
For details, contact New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, at www.wildnh.com/Inside_FandG.
The River Center’s New Splitter
By Margaret Nelson
Free back to school haircuts, fire wood, parenting classes and retirement. These are just a few of the things happening at The River Center: a Family and Community Resource Center serving all the towns of the Eastern Monadnock Region.
A number of volunteers have been cutting, splitting, hauling, and stacking fire wood in our back shed. There are about 40 cords of wood drying and ready to go.
We have parenting classes starting up September 16. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning parenting groups meet from 9:30-11:30 at The River Center at 46 Concord St. in Peterborough. Wednesday and Thursday mornings will include a children’s enrichment program for children ages infant through 5 years. Wednesday afternoons we host a play group for parents and infants from 1:00-2:30. On Thursday mornings from 9:30-11:30 the Farm to Table program for parents and children meets at the Universalist Unitarian Church in Peterborough to cook together with locally grown foods. Friday mornings a parenting group meets at the United Church of Jaffrey from 9:30-11:30.
There are lots of ways to connect for you and your family. For more information, please visit www.rivercenter.us, or call us at 924-6800.
Margaret Nelson is Executive Director of The River Center in Peterborough.
Upcoming Programs for Monadnock at Home Members
Members can learn about managing medications at our upcoming program, “Medication Management for Older Adults” to be held at Monadnock Community Hospital on September 10th.
On September 13th members are invited to meet to discuss the book “The Green Boat, Reviving Ourselves in Our Capsized Culture,” by Mary Pipher. In addition to programs and social gatherings, Monadnock at Home continues to provide vetted service provider referrals and volunteer referrals to help our members with their needs. If you have a service that our members may benefit from or are interested in volunteering please contact us by calling MaH’s Cindy Bowen, Executive Director at 371-0809 or Sandra Faber, Local Coordinator at 525-3376.
Mayfair Farm Benefits Local Nonprofits
Mayfair Farm in Harrisville, has raised more than $1,000 for three local non-profits in conjunction with its monthly Farm to Table Dinners this summer. For the week following each event, Mayfair donated 10% of its on-farm retail sales to a non-profit chosen by the event’s partnering farm.
On June 16, Mayfair was able to give $600 to the Monadnock Conservancy, the only land trust dedicated exclusively to the 35 towns of the Monadnock region. On July 14, Historic Harrisville received $450. The organization seeks to preserve and enhance the quality, beauty, and historical significance of Harrisville.
Mayfair donated $500 to Cornucopia Project of Hancock, which aims to increase children’s access to healthy food while providing the education necessary for them to make solid choices about healthy eating.
The next Farm to Table Dinner will take place on September 22. Farm store sales for the week of Sept. 22 to 29 will benefit The River Center, a family and community resource center in Peterborough.
On October 6, Mayfair will host October Feast, its take on OctoberFest, featuring locally brewed beer, Mayfair artisanal sausage and produce from Farmer John’s Plot, a nonprofit in Dublin.
For more information or to buy tickets for upcoming events, contact Sarah Heffron at 603-827-3925 or info@MayfairFarmNHcom.