Volunteer cooks Harjit Rakra, Sukhbir Sodhi and Devinder Sodhi

Each month, more than 1,000 households benefit from the Food Shelf at the Upper Valley Haven, an on-site source of groceries offered at no cost. Six years ago, the Healthy Eating Program began, which has taken the issue of food accessibility in the Upper Valley and turned it up a notch, adding in the importance of nutrition and a little cooking wisdom.

Jennifer Fontaine, director of Community Services and Operations at the Haven, said in the past, healthier items, especially produce, were left on the shelves, prompting staff to consider how they might get guests to consider healthier choices. People in need can take a week’s worth of groceries each month from the Food Shelf and have unlimited access to breads and produce.

“We emphasize good nutrition, not just any food to keep from feeling hungry, so have worked to acquire fresh produce, dairy, and protein,” Fontaine said. She said the Haven purchases food from a variety of sources including the Vermont Foodbank and local retailers to stock the Food Shelf, but “about 87 percent of the food that is distributed is actually donated or rescued food.”

While the Haven promotes nutrition via its Food Shelf, many visitors do not have experience in cooking some of the healthier options offered. “Many of our visitors live in more rural settings where shopping options are limited,” Fontaine explained. “A lack of variety and higher prices govern their diets. Studies have shown that it costs more to eat healthfully, and that is a luxury some of our visitors do not have on their limited incomes.” Fontaine referenced a 2013 Harvard School of Public Health study on the costs of eating healthy (i.e., diets rich in vegetables, fruits, fish, and nuts) versus eating unhealthy (processed foods, meats, and refined grains). The study concluded that a healthy diet is $1.50 more per day, which, when spread over 30 days and for multiple family members, adds up quickly. (More information on the study can be found here www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/healthy-vs-unhealthy-diet-costs-1-50-more.)

The Healthy Eating Program helps community members in need to obtain healthy food and learn how to prepare simple meals with it. Volunteers at the Haven help make this happen through cooking and offering samples every day. “Volunteers come in to the Food Shelf in the morning and choose items that we have an abundance of to create their sample of the day,” Fontaine explained. “Some make up their own recipes, and some search cookbooks or online for recipes.”

Monday through Friday around 10:30 am, volunteer chefs start working on their healthy dish, ready to serve food to Haven visitors between 11:30 am and 12:00 pm. If people like what they try, they can take home a pre-made bag of the necessary ingredients and recipe so they can make it at home. While most of the volunteers do not have professional cooking backgrounds, Fontaine said “a common thread is their love of healthy cooking.”

The preparation of meals is an important element in the Healthy Eating Program. Rather than just offering fresh, seasonal vegetables in the Food Shelf, cooking these foods in front of and for guests of the Haven shows them how to easily incorporate healthy and fresh foods to their diets.

“Walking through the doors you are met with tantalizing aromas — onions or garlic cooking, a good base for a lot of recipes — or sweet spices or savory herbs,” Fontaine said. “Being able to watch food being prepared is a great lure for people. Smelling, seeing, and tasting are a great way to engage people in talking about food and getting them to consider working with and eating featured ingredient.”

Guests have responded positively, according to Fontaine. “People are taking produce that they might not have taken before, things like kohlrabi and patty pan squash, and commenting to us how it’s improved the diversity in their diet,” she said.

“Anyone in need in the community is welcome to shop our Food Shelf,” Fontaine said. “We require minimal demographic information and a few statistical points from visitors, but we do not require people to show proof of need. Our philosophy is to serve people without creating more barriers,” she added. “Anyone is welcome to sample from the Healthy Eating program. On any given day you will see other volunteers, other service providers visiting, and even staff supporting the efforts of the program to encourage our visitors to participate.”

Clothespin tree ornament made at Norwich Historical Society

The holidays can get crazy. Lots to do, never enough time. It can all easily degenerate into a Stress Odyssey. The Norwich Times asked around to find out how people manage to keep the JOY in the holidays (and hold the stress at bay).

Artist Kate Emlen lives on Elm Street. “I don’t necessarily go out looking for joy,” she admits, “but it snuck up on me yesterday while I was vacuuming my kids’ rooms and singing along with my headphones on. The kids will both be home, to be joined soon after by my three quirky brothers and families. Doesn’t get any better than that and I get a clean house as a bonus!”

Gail Langeloh, who lives on Kendall Station Road with her husband, John Roback and their two daughters, has a simple answer: “Balsam scented candles. Everywhere!!” She elaborates, “I break them out after Thanksgiving. They remind me of winter and a Christmas tree, but without the effort of getting the tree up (which happens later). I guess they keep me going because the flickering lights are pretty and they smell wonderful. They remind me that holidays are coming.”

Bill Aldrich (standing, wearing v-neck sweater) and his extended family celebrate Christmas in the parlor of the Aldrich House in 1945. Note star on top of the tree in top left corner.

Dawn Carey, who lives on Hogback Road and works at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, learned how to keep her eye on what’s really important about the holidays the hard way.

“There is nothing like breaking your wrist four days before Christmas to help strip things down,” she says. On December 21st of last year, Dawn slipped on some ice and broke her wrist. She had been on her way to a party and was all dolled-up. Always the intrepid optimist, she posted a photo of herself from the ER and labeled it “ER Best Dressed Award.” Despite the bandages and IV sticking out of her arm, she looked great. Still, it was terrible timing. “I remember sobbing on the way back from the ER, realizing that I hadn’t wrapped ANY presents, made any of our favorite foods, or done the laundry in the past week. Christmas was ruined.

“Then it slowly dawned on me that all the things that I LOVE about the holiday were still there: the snuggly-ness, all my kids in the house again, the small rituals of love. The kids, three out of four of them well into their twenties, still donned their matching jammies. We still read the letter from Santa and reveled in each others’ company. Christmas is the epitome of coziness for me.”

Jennifer Roby’s approach to the craziness that can overtake the season is a pragmatic one. “I usually keep a pretty detailed list of what I need to get done. (Of course that’s an everyday issue!) I keep my calendar open specifically around the holidays and devote whatever time I can to family. My favorite place to be is at my parents’ house, with my family, just sitting in front of the fire, chatting, laughing and reminiscing.”

Chiara Rothwell-Ferraris and Jane Korey at NHS

Family is the focus of the season for Bill Aldrich too. Bill, who has lived in Norwich his whole life and is surely a fixture in town, says he “does nothing really out of the ordinary” during the holidays. “We just enjoy family, which is close by.” Over the years, Bill’s extended family, some eight or nine generations of it, has been rooted here at least since the early 1800’s.

“The MOST important thing,” Bill explains, “is when the grandchildren all read a page out of the Story of Christmas all the way to the end. They start as soon as they are old enough to sound out the words.”

Growing up with extended family all around town, generations of Aldriches – including Fullingtons, Grays, Wallaces and Wests, Bill and his many cousins and other relatives gathered at his grandparents’ house, known to this day as the Aldrich House at 16 Beaver Meadow Road.

“I guess I’ve learned over the years to go with the flow. In my working days, I worked a few Christmases. Since I’ve retired, my wife and children make it go easily. We all get together here on Christmas Eve and exchange gifts with the grandchildren. We give our kids and spouses a card with the easy-to-give gift: cash. Then they can get what they need. We have a lunch or dinner, according to the time of day, and then we chat while we slide into our usual comfort of enjoying the day. Then on Christmas morning we’ll go to our kids’ homes and watch the grandkids open their gifts. We’ll have lunch at one place or another, and then return home to watch football. Or not!”

Dawn Carey after breaking her wrist in December 2014

Once the kids have grown up and Santa is no longer coming down the chimney, many people find a solution to holiday financial-overextension and exhaustion by shifting the focus from gift-giving to family activities. “We finally did away with gifts and made a game of it,” offers Martha Sass who works at Zuzu’s. Martha’s children are now college-age. “Last year we each spent Christmas morning writing an original poem. The poems went into a jar and we read them aloud at dinner. Everyone had to guess who wrote which poem. It was really fun.”

“We also make up variations to the old Yankee Swap,” she continues. “Last year we did a sort of Yankee Swap/Bingo thing. We had a grab bag of small items, all wrapped-up. Everyone pulled a gift out of the bag. Then we read The Night Before Christmas [a.k.a. Clement Clarke Moore’s poem A Visit from St. Nicholas] aloud. Every time the word ‘the’ was read, you passed the gift in front of you to the person on your right. When the story ended, whichever gift you had in front of you was yours! It was fun.”

Clothespin tree ornaments made at NHS

Any effort made at the holiday season can be appreciated. Eileen McHugh, owner of Zuzu’s, recalls a wayward Christmas gift that managed to hit the mark anyway. “One year my sister, who I think was in high school or college at the time, tried to make a Christmas stocking for our mother. She embroidered her name on it and everything. But she didn’t finish it in time. My mother still uses that half-made stocking, every year.”

Creating something helps bring color and joy to the holidays. For several years running, the Norwich Historical Society held a yearly ornament decorating party for all comers, young or old. Free and open to anyone, the event featured tables spread with all the materials needed for creating something sparkly. Cookies and beverages were provided. Strangers (with or without crafting experience) gathered to chat over glitter and glue, and find the Zen of working with their hands to create something beautiful. People who hadn’t known each other before had a chance to chat without feeling self-conscious or forced, using ornament-making as a good excuse just to play.

Devotees of the 1990’s TV show Seinfeld will remember Frank Costanza (Jerry’s pal George’s contrarian dad, played by Jerry Stiller) explaining his own, made-up holiday called “Festivus.” Created in real life in the 1960’s by the father of one of the show’s writers in response to family holiday tension, “Festivus” found its way into a script and made its way into popular culture as an alternative to the commercialism of Christmas and the relentless pressure to be inclusive. In the 166th Seinfeld episode called “The Strike,” Festivus is celebrated by the fictional Costanza family “anytime from December to May.” It includes such annual rituals as “The Airing of Grievances” and “Feats of Strength.” Instead of a Christmas tree, the Costanzas erect a naked aluminum pole. Frank Costanza’s fervor for Festivus with its motto “Festivus for the rest of us!” is well worth watching online and remains a gentle reminder not to get too crazy.

Kate Emlen and her “3 quirky brothers” circa early 1960s

“The warmth of friends and family fills me with the joy of Christmas,” Dawn Carey concludes. “It burbles up when I revisit small touchstones of connectedness. I still bawl my eyes out at the Norwich Pageant and while watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Every. Single. Time.”

Looking Ahead Through the Rear View Mirror

Marcos Stafne, hands-on Executive Director of the Montshire Museum

Grandchildren were my original passports to Norwich’s Montshire Museum of Science. Starting as toddlers with Andy’s Place, the Bubbles exhibit, Science Park, and then a few summers in the Museum’s outstanding camp program, all three of these kids not only had a great time but also developed a sense of curiosity and engagement with science that continues today. In fact for my granddaughter, Eliza, now 15, the Montshire was, without a doubt, an inspiration in her choice to enroll in a residential semester program in Freeport, Maine, where a primary goal is to support and enhance the education of young women in the sciences.

Naturally, my grandchildren’s love of the Montshire ignited mine, and I became active as a volunteer on the Montshire Fund Committee and in various educational pursuits over the years. These connections have led to what I now see as my “grown-up,” ongoing engagement with this wonderful educational, scientific, and outside-the-box-fun resource, right here in town.

I was delighted to have the opportunity one afternoon this past fall to sit down with the Montshire’s new Executive Director, Marcos Stafne, who began work here in April. I wanted to know more about what he believed that he brought to his new job, what stood out about the Museum for him in his early months here, and what his thinking is as he contemplates his role in leading an institution turning 40 on January 10, 2016.

Marcos Stafne’s life history and job experience are very clearly museum based. He grew up in Orlando, Florida, where he spent a lot of kid time as a visitor to the Orlando Science Center and where he worked during college, as a program presenter as well as an actor performing shows about science, both of which, he says, “provided me with a great background for understanding the different ways that one can communicate science. I enjoy taking difficult concepts and making them accessible to folks at various levels.”  Marcos brings expertise from his work at the Orlando Science Center, the New York Hall of Science, the Rubin Museum of Art, and most recently, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum.

How did he get to Vermont?  By car, he states, driving up for the first time from New York during a snowstorm!  Encouraged by various colleagues to put his hat in the ring for the Montshire job when David Goudy’s retirement was imminent, Marcos arrived for an initial interview at the peak of last year’s intense winter. “When I drove toward the Museum from Hanover,”  Marcos says, “I was awestruck by its majestic position along the frozen Connecticut River. The building isn’t ostentatious, but the aesthetics project it as a place of importance,” an observation that Marcos elaborated on as our conversation continued:

“When I entered the building for the first time, I noticed how engaged all the visitors were. The exhibits allow you to bring your imagination to the table. In essence, a visitor plus the exhibit equals the experience. The Museum needs people to activate it; that each visitor experiences the joy of engagement rings true to my own personal connection with science.”

As the new Executive Director, Marcos Stafne succeeds David Goudy, who held the job for 34 years. I was interested in how Marcos contextualizes for himself the connection between the past and the future, in thinking about his role here:  “There’s a reason, according to folk wisdom, that cars have windshields that are bigger than their rear view mirrors.” Going on to explain, Marcos affirms that the Museum was “built on a strong foundation, and my role is to take advantage of what is already working incredibly well, sharpen our focus, and keep the Museum relevant to the community.” Glancing backwards to identify strengths and depths that are synonymous with our identity, he suggests, we use that retrospective view to help sort through the choices ahead and make rock solid decisions.

David Goudy had “real vision,” Marcos commented. With dedicated and highly competent staff members and volunteers, he led the Museum to develop the hands-on opportunities that characterize visitors’ experiences here. He forged strong connections with local institutions like Dartmouth and with more distant pinnacles of the scientific world such as the Association of Science and Technology Centers, the National Institutes of Science, and the Noyce Foundation, whose aim it is to help develop leaders in the areas of math and science. Under David Goudy’s guidance the Museum also established multiple programs designed to deliver good science education to local school children and professional development opportunities to teachers.

Director of Education Greg DeFrancis created the School Partnership Initiative, further strengthening the Museum’s dedication to meaningful science education. Since its inception, the Museum has welcomed thousands of school children annually, through carefully planned school programs orchestrated by its highly skilled educators.

But that’s not all. It was under David Goudy’s leadership that the Museum expanded its footprint; built walking trails; began programming for adults; created the outdoor Science Park, recently renamed in his honor; and dedicated the Hughes Pavilion.

That’s a lot to work with, and Marcos looks forward to a future that will include expanding ties with Dartmouth and the community, exploring opportunities to utilize the Museum’s 110-acre campus, and increasing the educational programming. He also sees additional priorities on the horizon. Already, under the leadership of Jennifer Rickards, Director of Development and Visitor Services, the Montshire offers a “Warm Welcome” program, which provides greater access to the Museum for economically disadvantaged children and families.

Emphasizing a broad sense of inclusiveness will be a definite intention as the Museum looks ahead. “My short term focus has been to get to know the Montshire; listen to what folks have to say about the Upper Valley, Vermont, New Hampshire, New England; and interpret people’s perceptions to ensure that the Montshire is meeting the community’s needs,” says Marcos. On his list of possibilities down the road, he names improving access and opportunities for those with special needs, diversifying adult programming, providing connections for senior citizens, and exploring engaging programs for teens that can strengthen their ties to science in a supportive environment. Marcos envisions a museum that is both a community hub as well as an exciting destination for visitors from far and wide. Expanding partnerships and collaborations is on his radar as an essential pursuit in the years ahead. Community engagement in all aspects of science will be crucial.

As the Montshire Museum of Science celebrates its 40th anniversary, the leadership plans a year full of superb exhibitions, programs, and events beginning January 10 with a community Open House. The thematic mantra will be to cultivate the Joy of Science.

Human Plus: Real Lives + Real Engineering (January 30 – May 8, 2016) is a 2000 square foot interactive exhibit that offers visitors a chance to explore and create a range of low-tech and high-tech tools that extend human abilities.

Prototype Showcase: Making Music: The Science and Art of Instrument Design (May 16 – June 6, 2016) will allow visitors to share their input as the Montshire creates a new exhibition focused on the art and design of musical instruments.

The Tinkering Loft (June 25 – August 28, 2016) will be the Museum’s marquee exhibition for summer 2016. Based on the Montshire’s work piloting activities in the Tinkering Lab over the past 18 months, The Tinkering Loft will provide an extended environment to engage all visitors in tinkering, designing, and building.

And dinosaurs will be back next fall when the Montshire hosts Dinosaur Revolution. (September 24, 2016–January 1, 2016)

Please join me in wishing Norwich’s Montshire Museum of Science a very happy birthday, and also in welcoming Marcos Stafne as the new Executive Director of this

very impressive institution. As the Museum builds on its past and looks toward its future, may the goal of experiencing the joy of science lead to an even more vibrant and inspirational 40 years ahead, on all fronts!

Dan Kelly and son Sam

Their location may change, but their occupation is always animal health. Norwich residents, Dan and Jodi Kelly, founded the first Stonecliff Animal Clinic in Bradford, VT, in 1991. At the time, Jodi says, they had a “pretty historic” farm tucked under the cliffs north of Bradford, where they raised replacement heifers. Dan made farm calls as a large animal vet, and the Clinic began in order to care for the pets of these farmers.

The Kellys dreamed of opening an emergency hospital for animals, a service that was not then available; owners of seriously ill pets had to take them to Burlington or Concord, NH. The junction of two interstate highways seemed like a smart location. They started a satellite Stonecliff Clinic at West Lebanon Feed and Supply, since they “really clicked” with the owners there, and in 2010, they opened SAVES (Small Animal Veterinary Emergency Service) in Lebanon near the high school. (The clinic moved into that building, too.)

Dan, Sophie, and Elliot take a break to shoot some hoops

Success has haunted the Kellys, and as the business grew to almost 30 employees, they found themselves spending more and more time on administrative tasks, and less time with the animal care they love. It was time for another change. Last October they sold the hospital business, staying on to create a smooth transition, which is now accomplished. They have opened the Stonecliff Clinic at 227 Mechanic Street, across from Longacres. (The Bradford clinic was also sold.)

Veterinary surgery and medicine have made astounding advances in recent years. Dan mentions an x-ray they show to children on school tours, of a cat with an arrow shot into both thorax and abdomen. “You wouldn’t believe the things we’ve taken out of dogs,” he exclaims (though most dog owners certainly would). He is pleased to have the skills to heal even extreme cases, though he laments the suffering of the animals he sees.

“Another big concern in general – this is something we worry about – as animal care becomes more advanced, it also becomes more expensive,” Dan says. “We don’t want to see people priced out of caring for their pets. We make a point of working with people to figure out the level of care that will provide the best for the pet and still be workable for the owner. For us it’s never ‘Go big or go home.’”

Dan and daughter Sophie

Dan has a special interest in orthopedic surgery. He’s been trained in a recently developed technique of knee repair for dogs who rupture their ACL. “We’ve created problems without realizing it,” he explains, “by breeding for certain characteristics,” and ignoring changes in conformation. He has studied wild canids, such as coyotes found as roadkills, and seen that the angle of bones making up their knees averages 10° nearer the horizontal than in domestic dogs. The domestic dogs’ steeper angle  changes the forces within  the joint resulting in torn ligaments.  “There’s a paper there,” says Dan, “but I don’t have the time.”

Animal care has always been a family affair for the Kellys, whose four children have all worked in the clinics and on farm calls as well as just spending time with animals. Jodi notes one of the benefits of this involvement: “Many of our clients have been with us for 20 or more years and have watched the kids grow up. The clinic is more like a huge family than a business.”

Jodi Kelly

“My kids have learned so much about life working in the hospital. Lots about how to listen,” says Jodi. Their oldest daughter is now completing a master’s degree in Colorado, aiming for a career in counseling. As far as Jodi knows, none of the children intends to be a vet. “We kind of burned the bridges on that,” she admits. “They saw so much of how it takes so much time. And they have spent many hours cleaning kennels, and waiting for their parents to finish treating just one more sick patient.”

But Dan and Jodi are doing what they love: caring for animals and calming their owners. As the form of their business metamorphoses yet again, they look forward with pleasure to the future, because, says Jodi, “It’s where our heart and soul is.”

Have you hiked the Gile Mountain trail to the fire tower recently? If not, you will be surprised to see the upgrades taking place along the trail. On a recent beautiful, late summer August evening, my companion and I took the drive up Turnpike Road to the trailhead, to make the short 1.4 mile round trip to the fire tower and back.

The first thing I noticed upon arriving was the number of cars parked in the small lot, most of which with license plates other than NH and VT. Mid week, late in the day (but not sunset), late August, I did not expect this many fellow hikers, even on a near perfect late afternoon.

I should not have been surprised, however. Russ Hirschler, executive director of the Upper Valley Trails Alliance, told me “Gile Mountain gets between 5,000 and 10,000 visitors a year,” making it one of the Upper Valley’s most popular hiking areas.

The first section of the trail is the same as I remember from my last hike on it – a wide, dirt path with numerous tree roots to dodge. It wasn’t until I passed the clearing along the power lines that the changes came into focus. We passed a pile of hardpack gravel, and then encountered an impressive stack of flat stone for building steps. Terraced steps made from landscape timbers, recently filled with the hardpack, ushered us into the woods.

A little further up the trail, we saw how those large, flat stones were fashioned into steps. They appeared to be laid in a very professional manner, and would look just as good leading up to a beautiful home as part of a residential landscape design. Yet here we were on a trail in the woods. Every so often, the stones were laid in a manner to allow water runoff to pass through without damaging the trail. I counted somewhere around 90 of these impressive stone steps on the short trail, with more stones awaiting installation. “How did they get these stones and gravel up here, by helicopter?” asked my hiking companion.

George Clark, a member of the Norwich Trails Committee, said several methods were used to transport materials for trail building up the trail. “In the past they’ve used horses, Belgians,” said Clark. Other methods for transport are a narrow, mechanized wheelbarrow-like vehicle, and zip lines, which can help move considerable weight, said Clark.

Russ Hirschler said the movement of materials for trail building is a big part of the work on the trail. “We’ve moved hundreds of tons of material on the mountain,” he said. Being a short trail has made the job a bit simpler, said Hirschler.

Hirschler said the materials moved to the trail include large, flat stone for steps, crib stone, used to build up the sides of the trail, coarse gravel, and hardpack, both used in creating part of the walkway.

Mechanized vehicles get the material to spots along the power line clearing, said Hirschler, then the material is moved by draft horses pulling a sled, small-scale mechanized wheelbarrows, a zip line grip hoist, which utilizes steel cable, and, of course, volunteers.

Those volunteers have been key to the effort, since the current phase of trail work began in 2011. Hirschler said volunteers from the Upper Valley High School Trail Corps, the Tuck School at Dartmouth, King Arthur Flour, Hypertherm, as well as local volunteers organized by the Norwich Trails Committee have all had a hand in rebuilding the trail. The week we were on the trail, Tuck School students, working on various community projects in the area, were taking their turn trail building.

We weren’t the only ones to notice the high level of maintenance on the trail. We encountered a pair of hikers, returning from the fire tower as we made our way up. Here from Scotland, the couple spent the summer at Dartmouth, and wanted to make the trip to the fire tower before returning to Edinburgh. “The view from the tower is marvelous, and this trail is in great condition,” one of them told us.

Upon reaching the tower, we saw several others making their way to the top to enjoy the view. Between a healthy fear of heights from open platforms, and a leg that does not always function as it should, I decided to not make the trip all the way up, though my companion bounded up the seven flights of stairs to the top. A younger couple, making their way down, noticed my hesitance. The woman said “I don’t like heights, but I felt okay because there is fencing and railing.” I commended her for going up, and wondered if I was the only one hesitant about going up the tower. I doubted it.

Trail building is not the only project that’s taken place on Gile Mountain. George Clark said the tower itself was refurbished about a dozen years back, keeping it safe for visitors.

Heading back down, the change of direction gave us a different perspective on the trail work, and the step construction. Curious about the cost of the work, Hirschler told me, “We are on our third grant for work on Gile Mountain.” Grant money received through the Vermont Recreation Trails Program has totaled about $60,000, and with matching funds and in-kind labor, the project is up to about $90,000, said Hirschler.

There is still more work planned for the trail. “We’re a couple years away from having everything done,” said Hirschler. “It’s pretty technical work, and slow and steady wins the race.”

I like the day,” says Ned Redpath with his characteristic smile. “I’m up at 5. I like the people I work with – there’s a good energy in the office.” He should know: he’s shaped his business over 36-plus years in the Upper Valley, first as an independent office, then gathering a team of realtors into the Hanover franchise of the Coldwell Banker group.

Not many children would say “I want to be a realtor when I grow up,” but Ned became interested in the profession about as early as anyone. His roommate at St. Lawrence University was the son of realtors in Montclair, NJ, where Ned had lived for his last two years of high school. The two young men talked about the business a lot. After college and a tour in the military (where the luck of the draw put Ned in Germany instead of Vietnam), he went to work for the roommate’s parents. Ned enjoyed living in Montclair, which had some green space and very easy access to the entertainments of New York City, but, he says, “There was just something missing. It turns out it was the lifestyle.”

Ned, Woody, Kelsey, Amy, Bo and Cathie Redpath at Christmastime

Ned had grown up with occasional visits to his grandmother’s big summer house in Nelson, NH and he was drawn to New England; perhaps it was the call of his preschool years, spent on the South Shore, in Cohasset, MA. “I woke up one day and told my wife at the time, ‘We’re going to New Hampshire,’ he recalls. “I wanted a college town, for the culture and sports, and to be involved in the community.” Before long, he had a job with Linwood Bean, owner of Webster Associates. Bean’s son Clint was also just out of the military and joining the business. Before long, they bought out Clint’s father. “I had the experience and Clint had the bloodlines,” laughs Ned. “It was much better here than in Montclair – in 1972 there was only one stoplight” in Hanover.

After about five years, Ned took a year off to be executive director of a regional professional tennis tour, a fundraiser. He would line up about 20 players for a specific tournament, paying them with seed money from a sponsoring charity. Selling lessons, exhibitions, and tickets to the tournament would recoup the seed money, and more. Sometimes Ned would play to fill out the draw, a challenge he enjoyed. “These guys were good, they weren’t on the circuit, but they were very good,” he recalls.

“Tennis has been a phenomenal door-opener most of my life,” notes Ned. When he moved to the Upper Valley, he joined the Varsity Courts Club, which rented time on the Dartmouth courts. It was a good way for him to stand out. “I guess I was OK – people said, ‘Oh my god, who is this guy?’” Ned recalls. He adds, “My hero was Chuck McKinley. He was a smaller stature guy, like me, and he played serve and volley too.” At the nearby squash courts he met Cathie DeYoe, and eventually the pair realized they were a good match. Next year they will celebrate 30 years of marriage.

Ned and Cathie

In late 1978, Ned opened his own office in Hanover on Main St. in a third floor walkup, but moved to more convenient quarters on Main Street above the old Peter Christians, then moved 10 years later to his present site on West Wheelock. Over 30 years ago he joined the Coldwell Banker franchise. National franchises give local businesspeople national reach, explains Ned: “If someone sells their house in Texas to move here, and they’re looking to buy, say they’ve had a good experience with Coldwell Banker selling their house, they’re more likely to turn to us.” Success breeds success, he finds; now over 70% of clients are repeat customers. The office sells between 400 and 500 units each year.

Though Ned himself now spends more time in administrative work, and less time listing and selling, he enjoys helping people and is willing to flex to meet the expectations of others. “You can’t just be yourself,” he says. “You have to be apolitical, a-religious. You dress up, not down. And have a clean car, no dogs!” He admits that his family’s fondness for Labrador retrievers has clashed with this stricture.

Ned is happy with the community he’s found in Norwich. “Definitely, without question, we’re dirt-road people,” he says. “We have a post-and-beam, Norwich mentality. In Montclair it was wing-tips, suits, and camel-hair coats.”

Ned is in a line of work that makes him keenly aware of development pressures, though it would be shooting the messenger to think that realtors cause growth. He recalls a trip to Tucson: “It was all parking lots and shopping malls and golf courses; the poor desert was really taking it.” Fairly recently Norwich was a small farming town, he says, but now the land “is a little bit in danger, because it’s just too valuable” unless it’s in conservation.

You might wonder if there’s a genetic component to choosing to be a realtor. Ned’s daughter Amy works with Redpath and Co. His daughter Kelsey is a realtor in Park City, UT. Maybe so, laughs Ned, “it could be, or something learned from watching. It’s personality and the ability to be a chameleon.” Wanting to help people – and being willing to help them through times of major decision and stress – are necessary traits. It’s not about architecture and design features; as Ned points out, “It’s a people-oriented business.”

Lindsay McClure and Scott Miller of World Story Exchange

For Scott Miller, the world is full of stories from many cultures, waiting to be told.  And he thinks that by sharing them, the world has a chance of becoming a better place.

“It started on a study abroad to Spain when I was in college,” Scott explains.  “While on the Iberian Peninsula I kept noticing the architecture, the mingling of influences.  In Cordoba I saw the La Mezquita Cathedral which was used by Muslims, Jews and Catholics – multiple faiths worshipping in different ways – in different sections of the same building, each section adorned with details from the others’ traditions.  I found it amazing.”

He noticed that this melding of influences extended to textiles, iron work, tile, and agricultural practices.  “Crops brought from the Middle East – lemons, limes, almonds, oranges, date palms”, he explains, “all originally came to Spain from Arabia. Farming techniques were brought over, too.  The aqueducts built by the Romans are still standing.”

To Scott, these centuries-old elements evidenced the ability of differing ethnicities to live side-by-side and prosper together.  “I came to the conclusion that this peaceful co-existence happened because of leadership.  If the leaders at the time hadn’t seen the value of co-operation, it wouldn’t have been possible.  In fact, diversity is necessary for cultures to flourish.”

This aqueduct, built in Roman times, modified for agriculture under Arab rule, still brings water from the Alpujarra Mountains onto the arid plains of Iberia where crops such as date palms, citrus and almonds thrive – all crops imported from the middle-east while Iberia was under Arab rule.

Scott himself had a kind of multicultural upbringing.  From the time he was a tiny baby until he was 12-years-old, he spent six months of every year in Norwich and six months in Nairobi, Kenya.  His dad, anthropologist/political scientist Norman Miller, PhD holds a research professor appointment at Dartmouth Medical School and specializes in global heath, the environment and human rights.  As part of Dr. Miller’s work, he took his family with him on his annual research trips to East Africa.

“I was always the new kid,” Scott says of his bi-continental upbringing.  “I had to be friendly and outgoing.  And I learned to make friends quickly.”

Still, he thought of the house in Norwich as home.

“I had everything a kid could ask for,” he says of the family’s house on New Boston Road.  “We had woods all around and a pond in the backyard…  It was my playground.”

Educated concurrently in the Hanover-Norwich schools and in British schools in East Africa (with a dose of home schooling thrown in), the scientist’s son possessed a good measure of on-board curiosity from the get-go.  He did his own kind of field work, right in his Norwich backyard.

“I became a master of catching amphibious creatures,” he says, reminiscing.  “I would put on a mask and snorkel, and go down to the pond to look for turtles.  I’d swim up underneath them, and watch to see what they did.  Sometimes I would catch them and – very, very gently – put them in a bucket for a day or so.  But I always put them back in the pond.  I never killed things.  I was more of a curious gatherer.”

He might not have made the connection himself, but it is clear these two abilities in concert – a knack for adapting quickly to new settings and the practice of close observation without interfering – along with a life-long habit of traveling globally, made Scott particularly well-suited to his chosen profession of photojournalism/ethnography.

Scott and his new wife and business partner, Lindsay

On that junior year abroad, the larger questions of how people from very different cultures and opposing religious views work together and prosper captured his imagination.

Then 9-11 happened.  Suddenly the notion that people from varying cultures and religions might live together in peace took on a new and urgent relevance.  Soon after, Scott joined forces with Hanover native Wynne Washburn, and together they launched the Regarding Diversity Project.

In the spring of 2004, Miller and Washburn went back to Spain to document evidence of the pluralism that had been the norm centuries earlier.  They photographed buildings with tile roofs, built with a technology harkening back to the Middle East and China.  They captured Spanish citizens practicing Tai-chi in courtyards that were originally modeled on Middle Eastern open-air patios.  They photographed dancers and street-corner protestors, painters and craftsmen.  They found evidence of cultural medley everywhere they looked and learned a good deal of history in the process.

La Mezquita/Cathedral (Mosque/Cathedral) was built in Cordoba under Arab rule, with successive Christian rulers keeping the structure intact while adding a gothic cathedral in the middle. The structure remains a site of pilgrimage for both muslims and christians.

“As the variety of artists styles and ideas grew in medieval Spain, the inspiration for craftsmen, musicians, poets and other artists grew exponentially,” they wrote.  “Jewish poets began to write verses in Hebrew using the structure of Arabic poems as a base.  Musicians from Bagdad were invited to the Court of Cordoba to teach a new form of musical notation – the form we use today.”

During 2005—2006, ten years after the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords, the partners took their cameras to Bosnia-Herzegovina where the former Yugoslavia had been fractured by decades of war.  Communities and family members of different religions and belief systems, who had lived and worked side-by-side for generations, were suddenly forced to choose sides.  Miller and Washburn traveled from town to town by bus to meet local people and get their perspectives on the aftermath.

“We were interested in meeting people, learning about the current situation with regard to religious tolerance and understanding how people view the progress of healing within themselves and their country,” they wrote at the time. “We knew the peace accords had physically re-integrated the population that had lived side-by-side in Yugoslavia for 46 years, but we wondered if integration is really what the people wanted.”

What they found was an institutionalized fear of “the other.” In the new paradigm of post war Bosnia- Herzegovina, separate schools were established for each language or dialect. “There were multiple schools in the same village the size of Norwich or smaller, each teaching a different version of the same history in a different language. And each municipality was making up its own rules for its schools,” Scott explains.

They visited a high school in the city of Mostar which had separate classes and teachers for Bosnians, Croats and Bosiniaks, though these same students interacted with each other in the hallways and at lunch.

Above and below are photos from a workshop Scott and Lindsay taught earlier this year in the town of Kuta, on the Island of Lombok, Indonesia.

Part III of the Regarding Diversity Project took place in 2006-2007 when they went to India to explore the southwestern state of Kerala where a 5,000-year-old culture had been built on a philosophy of pluralism. Here they explored the harmonious co-existence knitted together by Jews, Muslims, Hindis and Christians. “Our most important finding,” Miller and Washburn wrote, “…was that economic interdependence between religious groups provides an incentive for tolerance.” Muslim fishermen knew that if they fought with their Hindu neighbors as was happening elsewhere in the country during the riots of 1992 and again in 2002, they would lose their customers. “If we riot with the Hindu merchants,” explained the fisherman, “who will buy our fish?”

Eventually, Miller went to graduate school and earned a Masters degree in International Affairs and Ethnographic Studies from the New School in NYC. While in New York, he took part in the Global Video Letters project in the South Bronx. He and others went into the community and, working with NGOs and community activists, taught kids the skills they needed to “tell their own stories about what they see, experience and want to share with the world.”

Then in the fall of 2010 and the winter of 2011, Miller completed a documentary film called “Our Global Campus” in St. Johnsbury. He worked with adults with developmental disabilities for six months, teaching them the basics of filmmaking and helping them to complete video projects about their lives. The result is a startlingly personal record of the everyday lives of these Vermonters. They play sports, they socialize, they talk about what they care about, they make plans – all right to the camera, in their own words.

“My approach has always been to ‘capture’ what I see on film. Appreciating what is all around – wanting to participate but not influence,” Scott says about his work. “As a photographer and explorer, my work begins with a question: how can we all live together in peace?”

Lately Scott, along with his wife and business partner Lindsay McClure Miller (they were married this past August) work together on a project called World Story Exchange in which they “…invite all people to observe their place and create documentary art for global exchange.”
Scott and Lindsay travel around the globe, putting cameras in the hands of children, showing them how to use the equipment and then inviting them to make mini-documentaries to tell their own stories or those of their families and friends.

“There are two basic philosophical foundations for my work,” Scott explains. “First, I am interested in using youth-made media to create bridges of communication, and thus foster new understandings and appreciations between participants. These bridges can connect people from different generations, different cultures, different socio-economic groups, and others.

“Secondly, I am interested in fostering active citizens through the creation of documentary artwork. My students are typically assigned some type of community questioning, either making interviews with others or asking students to critically assess the positive, and negative, aspects of their community. Through these acts of on-the-street questioning and engagement, the student is no longer a passive body, no longer a bystander, but is now an active participant in the social order, a citizen, perhaps an activist in the making.”

They have traveled to Vietnam, Brazil, Cambodia, Thailand, Nicaragua, Indonesia, and all over the state of Vermont, teaching children to use still photography, video and audio equipment. Working with the Vermont Folklife Center through its Education Outreach program and “a wide variety of organizations, including K-12 public schools, homeless shelters, teen & parent-child centers, senior centers, public libraries, and organizations for adults with differing abilities,” they have made over 200 short documentaries.

“I continue to be fascinated by humanity,” Scott writes, “I am simultaneously inspired and saddened by our capacity to create and destroy, socially and ecologically, the groups we live among, and the places we share.”

Lisa Cadow (left) and Lisa Christie (right), founders of Book Jam

Long-time Norwich residents may disagree with Neil Gaiman’s assertion, saying that Norwich’s career as a fine town antedates the arrival of the Norwich Bookstore, but who would not agree that the Bookstore improves the town? Not just books, but community-building ideas hatch at the Bookstore, such as the Book Angels program that provides donors an opportunity to give books to children at Christmas. And, through the energy of two booksellers, “The Book Jam,” a jazzy blog, was born in 2010 to spread news of good books. Lisa Christie and Lisa Cadow stated their mission: “We’re here to help you out of those troublesome ‘book jams.’ You’re in a ‘jam’ when you ask: ‘What should I read next?’ ‘What’s the best new cookbook to give Mom?’ ‘What do I, rural girl in a flannel shirt, give my sophisticated best friend who lives in New York City or Seattle?’ We aim to put the right book in the right hands at the right time.”

The Book Jam’s roots are both practical and idealistic. Christie explains, “The blog started because the Bookstore needed a stronger internet presence. And we both really strongly believe in the power of books and stories to change lives.” She adds, “Basically, we decided the blog would not be ‘work.’ We’re not book critics per se – if we don’t like something, we don’t review it.” Enthusiasm shines through the blog and makes you want to abandon other projects and run to the library or the Bookstore or your “to read” shelf and start reading!

The two Lisas read whatever catches their fancy, whether because of reviews, events in the news, or their own family or travel plans. There have been posts on Pakistan, natural disasters, and Iceland’s Nobel-prizewinning Haldor Laxness. After reading independently, the Lisas consult with each other and find a theme developing for the blog. There’s a new post every other Monday, except in the summer, when they take a “Gone Reading” break from posting – but never from reading. The blog has over 500 subscribers and gets about 1,000 hits a month.

Eventually the Lisas decided to put on a live event, and in April 2012 introduced Pages in the Pub, a sort of speed-dating for books, and a fundraiser for the Norwich Library, held at the Norwich Inn. Four local book mavens each reviewed three books; admission tickets covered a drink and a donation to the library. The Bookstore took book orders. The event sold out and then some, and in later years Lisa Christie has taken it on the road, linking up with independent bookstores in northern Vermont and Rhode Island to spread enthusiasm for good books. (Early notice is here given: Norwich’s next Pages in the Pub will be the week after Thanksgiving.)

Lisa Cadow, who is on the board of the Norwich Library, discovered “Tables of Content,” another fundraising idea. Hosts pick a book they love – “in that year, or in their lives” says Cadow – and guests sign up for a dinner gathering based on the book, not knowing who the hosts are. “Almost more important than the book discussion is the community-building,” Cadow says, though the several thousand dollars each event raises are helping the library achieve opening on Sundays during the school year.

Lisa Christie currently devotes most of her time to parenting, but B.C. – Before Children – she spent several years donating her talents to a non-profit called “Everybody Wins!” which links adult volunteers with children for a once a week reading session. “It’s a great story, how it got started,” says Lisa, launching into her story like the Ancient Mariner. “It began in New York City in 1992. A businessman in the garment district walked by a school every morning on his way to work, and he went in to the principal and said he’d like to read to some of the kids. I guess she looked at him as though he had twelve heads, but he persuaded her and eventually she said OK. He had so much fun doing it, he talked about it at work and got everyone doing it.”

The model is simple: one adult meets once a week with one child to share reading and discussion of a book. Meetings are at lunch or recess, so they don’t disrupt the school program, and it’s supposed to be fun; if the child doesn’t like one book, help them pick out another.

The program attracted the attention of Senators Jeffords and Kennedy, who headed the HEW committee, and they sicced their staffs on investigating. The report came back, “It’s fabulous!” so the senators challenged colleagues and staff to try it at a local elementary school. Apparently the school nearest the Capitol is not a high-performing school, but rather, says Christie, the kind of place where there are shots on the street corners. The program was a success in D.C., and spread to several other cities. An effort was made to bring it to Vermont, but failed.

When she moved to Vermont in 1999 and couldn’t find a paid job, Christie took up the challenge to restart an “Everybody Wins!” program in the state. The first year she established the program in Rutland and Barre. A $2,000 grant from CVPS covered the cost of local coordinators. Her goal was to have 20 volunteers working in each city; by the end of the year she had 40 in Barre and 100 in Rutland. After 4 years she had 17 schools on board, with about 600 volunteers. In the White River School, the closest participating school to Norwich, there has been a volunteer for every kid in the school.

“Teachers in Vermont consistently say, no matter what school, that the people who benefit most are not the highest or lowest performing students, but the average kids in the middle. Is it because they usually don’t get much attention? Who knows, but they become more confident, and more interactive in the classroom.”

Christie is not fussy about formats: paper, e-reader, audiobook – she enjoys them all. With her characteristic gusto she exclaims, “Anything that gets people reading, I’m all for it!”

None of them is Lance Armstrong, but these road warriors are committed and motivated to ride

Riders prepare their bikes for the Wednesday night group ride from the Bike Hub on Route 5 in Norwich.

Behind the windows of The Bike Hub on Route 5 South next to the Farmer’s Market in Norwich are all the sexy toys that makes the two-wheel spandex crowd go weak in the knees: acres of carbon fiber; curvy, other-worldly frame designs, seemingly inspired by the space shuttle. But the shop offers more than eye candy for the road biker – true to its name, it has become the nexus for a vibrant scene of recreational (if sometimes quite competitive) group rides several times a week throughout the summer and early fall.

At 5:30 on a Wednesday night, a cacophony of beeps can be heard across the parking lot as dozens of GPS devices are reset. Guys – and a few women – of all ages, in loud spandex and varying degrees of fitness, astride bikes ranging from “good enough” to “only the best will do” prepare to embark on a 25 mile ride around the Upper Valley. It’s early in the season, so only about two dozen riders have shown up; later, the group swells to 40-50 riders. Usually, the pack will divide into at least two, sometimes more groups, each riding at its own pace, and riders self-selecting where they want to be. The “A” group consists of a ferocious bunch of riders eager for an opportunity to push themselves and each other to the limit. It’s all in good fun, but not without some blood, sweat and tears at times.

The Wednesday night rides from he Bike Hub are as much a social event giving local riders a chance to catch up with one another as it a chance to get out and ride together.

Still, David from Grantham is eager to put the ride and the riders into perspective and dispel some myths while he waits for the rest of the pack to form up. “Honestly, nobody is trying to be Lance Armstrong here,” he says with a laugh and nods of approval from the bikers around him.

Nik Fiore, a regular from Lebanon, describes the dynamic of the group ride this way: “It’s first and foremost a social event that gets each of us out to ride after work at least once a week. Then, once you start riding with a group, they’ll start expecting you to show up, and to be ready to ride at their pace, so suddenly you feel compelled to stay fit between the weekly rides.”

Bike Hub owner Bill McFadden (center) gives the assembled Wednesday night group riders a quick recap of do’s and don’ts before sending them on their way.

Of course, that level of self-imposed pressure may not be for everyone, and Bill McFadden, who owns the Bike Hub and launched the group rides about five years ago, acknowledges that some may find the format of the Wednesday night ride daunting and intimidating. “Even the slow groups ride fairly fast,” he says, and tools like the activity tracking app, Strava, has made it easier than ever to measure your efforts against your fellow riders and to feel compelled to push harder. McFadden does worry that this may keep some from showing up, but while the shop promotes the ride and offers some support, the group has taken on a life of its own and is not for him to change.

But if the Wednesday night Bike Hub ride is too challenging, other group rides continue to pop up in the area. Some are exclusively for women, others are geared towards those who are new to group riding; still others are established as preparation for the Prouty or some other charity ride.  And, regardless of your level of ambition, skill and equipment, a group ride is a great way to get out on the roads. The Upper Valley Velo group on Google is probably the best place to find one and connect with fellow cyclists.

And they’re off. Bike Hub owner Bill McFadden (grey t-shirt) watches as the assembled Wednesday night group riders set off on their ride.

The Rosemary Littledale Rieser Trail and Sample’s Woods Project

Just in time to savor sunlight filtering through the pine woods and hear the sounds of frogs and birds from a mossy bog and a rushing brook, Norwich will soon have a new trail for walking and observing nature. Thanks to the generosity of 105 members of the community, the Norwich Conservation Commission, and the Rieser children – Abby, Tim, Len and Ken Willis – a conservation easement and designated trail is being added to the 11-acre property that borders Blood Brook, Hopson Road, and nearby Pine Tree Road.

The Rieser family has been an important part of the Norwich landscape since the late Rosemary Littledale Rieser (pictured below) and her esteemed physicist husband Leonard first took up residence in the village of Norwich in 1953. While Leonard immersed himself in academic life and administration at Dartmouth, starting in the Physics Department and progressing to Provost and Dean of the Faculty, Rosemary devoted herself to raising her family, tending to home, vegetable and flower gardens, enjoying the outdoors, and sharing her talents and thoughtfulness through volunteer community activities. She loved walking her dog and interacting with neighbors. Rosemary and Leonard were among the original signers of the Warner Meadows conservation agreement held by the Upper Valley Land Trust (UVLT), and they further demonstrated their commitment to conservation by purchasing and maintaining the adjacent Sample’s Woods parcel beginning in 1965.
Today, a 24 member group owns and maintains the meadow on which a portion of the trail access easement will reside. In the years following Rosemary’s death in 2012, the Rieser children decided to honor their mother’s memory, love of walking, and devotion to Norwich by granting public access to a trail to be designated as “The Rosemary Littledale Rieser Trail”. To guarantee protection of the pine grove, wetlands, ski jump, and ecologically significant brook corridor, a fundraising campaign for $50,000 was organized in late March with a team assembled from local residents and friends of Leonard and Rosemary Rieser, the UVLT, and the Upper Valley Trails Alliance (UVTA). Over six weeks, this hard-working group raised the sum required with enough additional resources to support trail building and stewardship.

While the length of the trail is relatively short, the richness of the area speaks volumes to scenic quality, open space, abundant birdlife, beaver activity, historic significance, and environmental education. During the Earth Day walk and talk presented by UVLT and UVTA, Lindsay Putnam, an environmental educator at the Marion Cross School, explained how students learn, share, and begin to comprehend natural systems through science class outings she leads to the meadow and brook.

Another feature of this special spot is the naturally contoured ski jump, known to former Ford Sayre ski jumpers like Mike Holland, Walter Malmquist, and Buff McLaughry, as Sample’s Jump. Paul Sample, the local painter of familiar scenes around the valley, owned the land prior to the Rieser family and the jump bears his name. Visitors to the woods can view the jump takeoff and landing and imagine themselves flying through the air as many young boys did during the winters of the 50’s and 60’s.

The Rieser family’s 50 year ownership and care of this parcel is exemplary, and it is thanks to their vision for its future and the help of many generous and thoughtful friends and neighbors, that its future status and use will be permanently protected for all of our benefit. Like the Bill Ballard Trail and the Milton Frye Natural Area, it is wonderful to be able to recognize and celebrate a similar conservation spirit, that of Rosemary Rieser, with this very personal and public project. After an anticipated easement closing in late June, information about the trail, its status, and how to access it will be available at uvlt.org and uvtrails.org.