Bulletin board: Virtual performances
Online performances The Capitol Center for the Arts and Bank of N.H. Stage both remain closed but continue to offer virtual programming. Upcoming shows and concerts, which can be found at ccanh.com, include: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: Multiple dates, times. This enchanting new British musical explores the extraordinary world of a sorcerer and his rebellious daughter, as she discovers the explosive possibilities of her newfound magical...
Poem: Moments
Perhaps we were brought here, this special time and place my friend, to look back at the moments, enjoy this day until the end. Life has been amazing, each day another chapter in my book, It has lasted for many years, enjoying every day that it took. Years do pass slowly, each day passes too fast, look back over the years, from the first ones to the last. Love is not complicated, moments together we did spend, we walked the earth in...
The city manager’s office sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter last Friday. The full newsletter can be found by going to concordnh.gov and clicking the “Newsletter” button. Here are some highlights: Everett Arena The Douglas N. Everett Arena has ended its ice season and has returned to concrete flooring for upcoming spring and summer events. Some shows are lined up to take place at the arena over the next few months and roller...
Looking back: Concord Dairy Company
This photograph portrays the original Concord Dairy Company that became a co-op in 1921. The first Concord Dairy was located at 84 Washington Street in Concord, near the present-day University of New Hampshire Law School. Concord Dairy was located on the site of the current UNH Law School parking lot where the building pictured was located. The Concord Dairy purchased the 84 Washington Street property, then known as the...
Blind Search
Blind Search By Paula Munier (340 pages, mystery, 2019) Mercy Carr was an MP in Afghanistan and her dog, Elvis, was also there, trained to search for guns and bombs. Now both have left the military and live in rural Vermont. Mercy has a cabin and they are trying to live a quiet life, enjoying the beauty of Vermont in October. But Mercy and Elvis find a lost nine-year-old boy named Henry in the woods. They also find a woman, shot...
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies By Deesha Philyaw (179 pages, fiction, 2020) This book is spectacular; I devoured it in one sitting and was immediately hungry for more. It consists of several short stories, each featuring a Black girl or woman grappling with something of an existential crisis. As the characters struggle with finding a sense of self, they also must navigate their relationships with others. These relationships may be...
This week in Concord History
April 15, 1861: Three days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, the first call for troops reaches Concord by telegraph from Washington, D.C., at 8 a.m. Friends rush across to the Phenix Hotel to awaken Edward E. Sturtevant, a popular police officer and former printer. Sturtevant rushes to the State House and, fulfilling his fondest wish, becomes New Hampshire’s first Civil War volunteer. April 15, 1928: Augusta...
Bulletin Board
Gibson’s celebrates poetry month It’s National Poetry Month and Hobblebush Books is teaming up with Gibson’s Bookstore to present Conversations with Granite State Poets, an offshoot of their Granite State Poetry Series. They will be held Mondays at 7 p.m. via Zoom with registration through Eventbrite. The first was held earlier this week with MaudelleDriskell and Meg Kearney. The next will be April 12 with Martha...
Readers share their sugarhouse adventures
During Maple Month, the Monitor and Insider asked readers to submit photos of their visits to sugarhouses. Here are some of their shots.
Book: The Bard’s Blade
The Bard’s Blade By Brian Anderson (430 pages, fantasy, 2020) Vylari has been sealed off from the rest of the world, allowing its people to live in peace for generations. Tales of the time before are more myth than history at this point. But a stranger is found just within the borders, comatose but bearing a note foretelling a rising darkness, drawn to one within the wards of Vylari. Lem, a gifted bard, is confronted with a secret...
Book: Actually, the Comma Goes Here: A Practical Guide to Punctuation
Actually, the Comma Goes Here: A Practical Guide to Punctuation By Lucy Cripps (154 pages, nonfiction, 2020) Which is more intimate, the em dash or a comma? This little book succinctly articulates vague impressions and punctuation inclinations many of us may sense — or be oblivious to. Scrolls in ancient Greece had no punctuation whatsoever — not even spaces between letters. Marks were added to aid readers, indicating pauses or space...
Book of the Week: Interior Chinatown
Interior Chinatown By Charles Yu (270, fiction, 2020) This was the 2020 National Book Award winner for fiction, and with good reason. I’ll preface this review by saying that I think this book is brilliant –but that it’s also extremely stylized and may not be for everyone. Interior Chinatown is a work of metafiction, meaning that it is structured self-consciously, in a way that calls attention to its constructed-ness. In other words,...
City newsletter: Hydrant flushing could mean low pressure
The city manager’s office sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter last Friday. The full newsletter can be found by going to concordnh.gov and clicking the “Newsletter” button. Here are some highlights: Upcoming meetings City council: April 12, 7 p.m. Planning board: April 21, 7 p.m. These meetings are being held virtually via Zoom and are also live-streamed via the City of Concord’s YouTube channel. Agendas and access information...
This week in Concord history
April 8, 1864: Capt. Dana W. King of Nashua and 47 members of the 2nd New Hampshire Cavalry are captured during the disastrous battle of Sabine Cross Roads, La. They are taken to “wretched captivity in the famous ‘stockade,’ or poison pen, at Tyler, Texas,” their adjutant reports. April 8, 1977: Poll results are released showing 62 percent of New Hampshire residents favor construction of the Seabrook nuclear power plant, with...
Easter events and activities
Follow the bunny Follow the Bunny is a new Intown Concord event bringing families to explore downtown Concord and celebrate springtime and the warmer weather to come. Follow the Bunny is scheduled to be held on Saturday, April 3, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Intown Concord will be at the State House Lawn and will provide free games and crafts for families to enjoy until 12:30 p.m. Children will have the chance to decorate their own treat...
Outdoor dining returns to Concord
The Concord City Council approved the renewal of temporary expanded outdoor dining in the City of Concord. This temporary program is an effort to address the impacts of the pandemic on local restaurants. The 2021 season will run from April 1 through Nov. 15. Intown Concord has put together a list of restaurants that will be participating in the 2021 outdoor dining season. Here’s who had been added to the list as of Monday: Buffalo...
Poem: Old Summer
The cabin in the woods, my time as a child, life was simple then, thoughts so very mild. Family was together, sepia-toned memories still remain, the years may have faded, thoughts of the old cabin the same. Pelting rain on old glass windows, chilling wind off the lake, cooking over the open fire, s’mores we did make. Laughter of children, and adults too, my first-time fishing, looking at the stars with you. Sometimes thoughts...
Scene from 1952
One of the youngest citizens of Concord is shown receiving her vaccination from the Concord Health Officer in the year 1952. The Health Department vaccinated 385 Concord children in 1952 at multiple immunization clinics around the city.
Book: A magical journey begins
The Magician’s NephewBy C.S. Lewis(202 pages, children’s fiction, 1955)Digory and Polly meet in London in the summer of 1900, in the garden of one of their houses. They discover that there is an attic passageway between their houses, row houses that are all connected. They start to explore the passage, but accidentally open a door into Digory’s Uncle’s study. Uncle Andrew is an eccentric man who calls himself a magician. Uncle Andrew...
City Newsletter: Signs of spring appear
The city manager’s office sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter last Friday. The full newsletter can be found by going to concordnh.gov and clicking the “Newsletter” button. Here are some highlights: Beaver Meadow The driving range at Beaver Meadow Golf Course is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Stay tuned for a full golf course opening announcement. For membership and other information, visit bmgc.golf. Street Sweeping The nice weather has...
Book: Whimsical hats
The Magic Hat ShopBy Sonja Wimmer(children picture book, 2016) A mysterious hat shop appears one day, providing hats perfectly suited to their wearers’ personalities, balancing extremes and bringing greater happiness into their wearers’ lives.But what will happen when the hats are taken off — or worse, blown away in the wind? This simple tale highlights the power of the individual in becoming who they wish to be. A fun, simple read,...
This week in Concord history
April 1, 2003: Gov. Craig Benson launches his Adopt-a-School program, a campaign promise that essentially builds on longtime state and local efforts to connect schools with businesses. The governor’s project will link businesses with schools around the state in an effort to strengthen communities, supplement curriculum and show students that they might one day use what they learn in school. April 1, 2000: Concord’s Matt Bonner...
Tougias to present on memoir
Monitor staff Michael Tougias spent his childhood getting into scraps along the Connecticut River in his hometown of Longmeadow, Mass., and farther north at a vacation spot on Lake Morey in Fairlee, Vt., on the border with Orford, N.H.He shares some of those stories in his memoir, his 30th book, The Waters Between Us. He will discuss his book, those stories and growing up in the 1960s during a Walker Lecture Series event on April 7 at...
Mandolin Festival to be held virtually
The 19th Annual March Mandolin Festival will be held March 27 and 28, via Zoom, and hosted by the Concord Community Music School in Concord. This year, the festival features Marla Fibish, Baron Collins-Hill, and David Surette, with special guest vocalist Susie Burke. This two-day event offers group workshops on a variety of topics, jam sessions, and a Saturday evening concert. Last March, the festival was the last live musical event...
Bulletin Board: Virtual gatherings
Support for those impacted by drinkingAl-Anon is a mutual support program for people whose lives have been affected by someone else’s drinking. By sharing common experiences and applying the Al-Anon principles, families and friends of alcoholics can bring positive changes to their individual situations, whether or not the alcoholic admits the existence of a drinking problem or seeks help. While social distancing remains in place, New...
City newsletter: Be on look out for these things
The city manager’s office sent out the City Manager’s Newsletter last Friday. The full newsletter can be found by going to concordnh.gov and clicking the “Newsletter” button. Here are some highlights:Fraud alertThe Concord Police would like to make the community aware of a scam that is currently taking place. Some Concord residents have been receiving phone calls from what appears to be from the Concord Police Department (225-8600)....
Book: Finding community through cooking
Angelina’s Bachelors: A Novel, with FoodBy Brian O’Reilly(359 pages, fiction, 2011)Angelina and Frank are a young couple living in Philadelphia, surrounded by a caring Italian family, and a large network of friends. They have a terrific life together, and a loving relationship. The only thing missing is a child. Angelina has a passion for cooking, and is always happy in the kitchen. Then Frank, still a young man, dies suddenly of a...
Book: A French journey
My 25 Years in Provence By Peter Mayle (208 pages, travel biography, 2018) I’m doing a little armchair traveling these days. Peter Mayle is the author of the books A Year in Provence, Toujours Provence, Encore Provence and more. Twenty-five years ago Peter and his wife Jennie decided to move from England to a small village in Provence. Peter writes about all manner of things Provence: the beauty of the landscape with its...
Book: Friendship brightens life
The Brilliant Life of Eudora HoneysettBy Annie Lyons(372 pages, fiction, 2020)Eudora Honeysett is an elderly woman who lives in London. She doesn’t have anything to live for. She has no friends or family, and a cat who bites her. She doesn’t want to have her last moments be in an ambulance, racing to a hospital. She wants to die on her own terms, and so she contacts a clinic in Switzerland. She wants to go there to die. The people at...
This week in Concord history
March 26, 2003: Roland Allen of Penacook dies at the age of 82. For more than 60 years, Allen involved himself in nearly every aspect of Penacook life. From running the Penacook Fibre Co. to founding the village community center to serving on the local school board, he seemed to have been everywhere in town at once. In his spare time, he was a prolific songwriter, an amateur inventor and (gasp!) a devoted Yankees fan. March 26,...
