Category: Featured Content

A fruitful expansion

LaBelle opening new restaurant, culinary market and sparkling wine barn in Derry

Nearly a decade after opening their flagship location in Amherst, LaBelle Winery co-owners Amy LaBelle and her husband Cesar Arboleda are expanding to a 45-acre property on Route 111 in Derry. The new space, opening in several phases over the coming weeks and months, will introduce a brand new restaurant concept, a retail market, and an onsite sparkling wine tasting barn, along with performance and event spaces and a nine-hole golf course.

A former attorney, LaBelle became inspired to pursue winemaking following a visit to a winery while on vacation in Nova Scotia in 2001. She founded LaBelle Winery in 2005 at Alyson’s Orchard in Walpole, later moving the operations to Amherst in late 2012. Last December, she and Arboleda closed on the former Brookstone Events & Golf space in Derry.

“We’ve been trying to expand the LaBelle brand for some time,” she said. “We came and toured this property … and just fell in love with it. It’s a beautiful spot.”

In addition to offering all new types of menu options out of the restaurant and market, LaBelle said a new line of sparkling wines will be produced out of the tasting barn, which will soon be built on a three-acre vineyard. Here’s a look at each core aspect of LaBelle Winery Derry.

Americus Restaurant

With nearly 300 seats inside and more than 100 others on an outdoor terrace overlooking an onsite pond, Americus Restaurant, due to open this month, is roughly four times the size of The Bistro at LaBelle Winery in Amherst. The name “Americus” was chosen as a tribute to the American Dream — Arboleda, LaBelle said, came to the United States with his family as a child from Medellin, Colombia, while her family also immigrated here just a few generations prior.

“We both have a strong belief in work ethic and a love for this country,” LaBelle said. “We also developed a wine in tribute to the American dream called Americus. … So we decided to name the restaurant after it, because I think it follows suit that we took this huge leap of faith.”

The interior space of Americus includes multiple round booths and high-top tables, a full bar with beers and wines on draft, and a 50-person private dining room separated by glass doors.

Unlike the restaurant in Amherst, which has a heavy focus on French bistro fare as well as a concept of pairing food with many of LaBelle’s wines, Americus will offer New England contemporary farm-to-table cuisine with “lots of international flair thrown in,” she said.

Former Bedford Village Inn executive chef Peter Agostinelli was recently brought on board as LaBelle Winery’s culinary director, overseeing all of the company’s food and beverage operations. Agostinelli is a longtime friend of LaBelle’s and an industry veteran who also spent a few years at the nationally acclaimed Grill 23 & Bar in Boston.

“Peter and I really wanted to create a menu that was approachable and familiar but incredibly elevated,” LaBelle said. “You can sit in the dining room and have a fancy anniversary dinner of a rib-eye for two with charred garlic and lemons … [or] you can have the most casual meal here after you play a round of golf with your buddies, … maybe some wings or some wood-fired pizza and beer on draft. It’s going to be one of those places where you’ll see everything.”

The kitchen is also much bigger than the one in Amherst, she said, and will similarly serve as a shared space for the restaurant and the event ballroom. Much of the bulk production of items like sauces, salad dressings and pastries will also be moving from Amherst to Derry.

Americus will be open for dinner to start, according to LaBelle, with plans to eventually expand to lunch on weekdays and brunch on Saturdays and Sundays.

LaBelle Market

Housed in the former pro shop of Brookstone’s golf course will be LaBelle Market, a retail space offering prepared and made-to-order foods that’s also due to open soon.

The market will feature menu items handwritten on chalkboards, as well as outdoor seating beneath a covered veranda and windows overlooking the golf course and vineyards. In addition to coffees and espresso drinks, food offerings will include everything from house pastries like croissants, muffins, Danishes and scones, to breakfast sandwiches, platters for catering, prepared entrees, artisanal cheeses and charcuterie, prime cuts of beef, marinated beef tips and chicken, house pastas, house ice cream flavors and wood-fired pizzas to go.

“You’ll be able to either grab something on site if you’re golfing … or take it for a picnic on the vineyard once it’s installed,” LaBelle said. “It will be great for people who don’t want to cook or are busy with family and saying, ‘Oh gosh, what are we going to have for dinner tonight?’ You can come here and grab everything you need. … There will be convenience items too, so good quality local milk, eggs, bread, things like that.”

Other items for sale will be from The Winemaker’s Kitchen, LaBelle’s line of artisan culinary products, which include jams, sauces, marinades, vinegars and cooking oils, as well as new offerings to be bottled, like a few new salad dressing flavors, a bloody mary mix and a triple citrus sour mix. The 2,400-square-foot building is also serving as the check-in spot for golfers.

“The pro shop that was here was mostly an empty building that was vastly under-utilized,” LaBelle said, “so now it’s really going to be brought to life.”

Vineyard visions

Directly to the east of LaBelle Market, in the area of what used to be Brookstone’s driving range, plans are currently underway to install three acres of vineyards, vegetable and flower gardens.

“It’s going to be awesome for picnicking and walking, and there will be a wedding ceremony space right in the middle of it,” LaBelle said. “So right in the middle, you’ll have this gorgeous ceremony space, and [couples] can get married among the vines. It’s going to be incredible.”

A sparkling wine tasting barn, a newly built structure for the property, is also coming soon. That will include a tasting room in the front, a production space in the back and wine storage in a basement. LaBelle’s dozens of wines will be available for sampling, plus a new line of red, white and rosé sparkling wines debuting with the space. Grape varieties set to be planted soon will take about two years to produce fruit for winemaking.

Across the parking lot from the vineyard is the newly renovated ballroom and onsite bar, which will be used for wedding receptions, baby showers, bridal showers, birthday parties and other functions. LaBelle said the ballroom will also host a 15-show summer concert series, beginning on Thursday, May 27, with James Taylor tribute act JT Express.

“We’ll be doing wine tasting classes and cooking classes too,” LaBelle said. “We developed a kids’ cooking class in Amherst last summer that was a lot of fun, so we’ll do that here.”

LaBelle Winery Derry
Includes Americus Restaurant and LaBelle Market, as well as an onsite golf course, event spaces and a soon-to-be sparkling wine tasting barn
Where: 14 Route 111, Derry
More info: Visit labellewinery.com, find them on Facebook and Instagram, or call 672-9898

The Links at LaBelle Winery
LaBelle never had a dream of owning a golf course but said she realized it’s not unlike owning a restaurant, vineyard or market.
“To me, it’s hospitality,” she said. “I’m inviting you onto my property to have an experience, to have fun, [and] to make a great memory spending time with your friends.”
The Links at LaBelle Winery, a nine-hole par 3 golf course, and a miniature golf course called Mini Links, both opened to the public on May 1 following a restoration process. According to LaBelle, the entire nine-hole course can be played in roughly an hour and a half.
Memberships are available that include two wine tasting cards, unlimited golfing access, preferred tee times and advance booking. Beginning this summer, there will also be golf lessons for adults and golf camps designed for kids.

Feautred photo: Aerial shot of the new LaBelle property opening in Derry. Courtesy photo.

On The Job – JC Haze

JC Haze

Voice-over actor, JC Haze Voice Over

JC Haze is an independent voiceover actor and producer based in Manchester and a voiceover instructor at NH Tunes in Manchester.

Explain your job and what it entails.

On a day-to-day basis, I could be auditioning for clients [based] locally or around the country and around the world. … Seldom do [clients] hire you right away. You could be auditioning with a dozen or so other voice talents. … They send me a little script … and I sit here in my in-home studio and produce a demo and send it to them and hope they call me back and tell me I got the gig. … Once they’ve hired you for the gig, the client will tell you what they’re looking for, and you just need to deliver the goods. … If I’m recording at home, I’ll send them a bunch of takes. … If you’re recording in a professional recording studio, the client will be there with you, directing you.

How long have you had this job?

I launched JC Haze Voice Over about 14 years ago, in 2007 … but I had been doing a lot of voice recordings since I first got into the radio and broadcast business in 1979.

What led you to this career field?

I always wanted to do something with my voice. … Listening to radio commercials, I’d think, ‘I could do that. … I could use my voice to make clients happy, and to make myself happy, and to pay the mortgage.’ … When I was let go of a programming job in radio, I decided that it was time to be more of a business person for myself … so I created my own voiceover business.

What kind of … training did you need?

You don’t need a college education to be a voiceover actor. What you do need to have is thick skin. You have to be ready for a lot of people saying ‘no’ before you get the occasional ‘yes.’

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

Since I’m working in my own studio, I don’t have to worry about that, outside of the occasional Skype or Zoom call. I can wear whatever I want, whatever is comfortable.

How has your job changed over the last year?

During these days of Covid, a lot of work has been on the shoulders of the voiceover talent to do in their own studio. They record [at home] and email the to the agency or client so that no one has to go into a studio. Once Covid restrictions are lifted, we’ll probably go back to some [in-studio recording], but I think a lot of companies have realized, ‘Hey, we don’t need to have the voiceover talent drive 40 miles to come to our studio. They can do it in their own studio … and we can direct them over the phone or a Zoom call if we want to.’

What do you wish you’d known at the beginning of your career?

It’s really important to back up your audio files. I knew that, but you always think, ‘[A computer crash] isn’t going to happen to me.’ Then, you have a computer crash and you lose everything.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

We’re not making tons of money. It’s like any other industry, where there’s a top 5 percent making 70 percent of the money. You have to really want it … and you have to work really hard to make money doing it.

What was the first job you ever had?

I worked at Brooks Brothers clothing store, down in the shipping department.

What’s the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever received?

Don’t give up, and don’t stop believing in yourself; just keep plugging away.

Five favorites
Favorite book: The Art of Voice Acting by James R. Alburger
Favorite movie: Blazing Saddles
Favorite music: The Beatles and ELO
Favorite food: A good salmon and a good ravioli
Favorite thing about NH: Coming from New York, I like the slower and more relaxed pace here, and the friendly vibe.

Featured photo: JC Haze

Dropping a line

Rob Azevedo makes poetry debut

Local radio host, columnist, author and filmmaker Rob Azevedo adds poetry to his list of activities with his debut collection, Turning on the Wasp, recently released by Spartan Press.

The new venture, which he started in April 2020, came as a surprise even to himself, Azevedo said.

“For some reason, I just started getting these poetic lines in my head … and when I get something in my head, it doesn’t leave my head until I do something about it,” he said, “so I just started writing them down.”

While Azevedo has done some creative writing in the past, including the screenplays for six short films featured at the SNOB Film Festival in Concord, and a memoir, Notes From The Last Breath Farm: A Music Junkie’s Quest to be Heard, released by Plaidswede Publishing in 2019, poetry is a literary art form he hadn’t explored since his college days, he said.

“I went from having written maybe 10 or so poems in my whole life to writing 50 poems over the course of four or five months,” he said, adding that his poems now total more than 250.

With modest expectations, Azevedo submitted a few of his poems to the Spartan Press, hoping to get one featured on its website, he said, but the publisher had bigger plans for Azevedo’s poems.

“He loved them and said, ‘What do you think about putting out a book of your poetry?’” Azevedo said. “That [scenario] is unheard of when it comes to publishing — normally, getting something published is a grind … and could take years, so I really hit the jackpot.”

Turning on the Wasp features 80 free verse poems, “perfect for flash poetry,” Azevedo said, at around 100 to 150 words each. They explore a wide range of subject matter, such as love, lust, rock ’n’ roll and social issues, with a tone that Azevedo described as “darkly comic.”

“They could be prompted by a line in a song, something I’m watching on TV, a work of art or something that happened in my own life,” he said. “Whatever [causes] that rush of poetry in my head, I just go with it and dive right into it.”

In the title poem, for example, Azevedo reflects on a near-death experience that he had two years ago, when he was stung by a wasp. He went into shock and stopped breathing.

“It’s all about me getting back at that wasp that almost took me out,” he said.

Azevedo continues to write poetry every morning, he said, and has no plans of stopping.

“I can’t seem to get away from it; I’m hooked,” he said. “It has consumed me to the point where I’m barely writing anything else.”

He has already assembled a collection of poems for another book, which he intends to pitch to his publisher at the end of the summer and, if approved, release in the winter.

“I’m just going to keep writing more and more poetry until this phase of my creative life is over and I move on to a new one.”

Turning on the Wasp by Rob Azevedo
The book is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord. Find Azevedo on Twitter (@robazza33) or email him at onemanmanch@gmail.com.

Play Ball!

Baseball returns as the NH Fisher Cats take the field

Panoramic view of Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester, home of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Courtesy photo.

It has been more than 600 days since the New Hampshire Fisher Cats last played a home game at Manchester’s Northeast Delta Dental Stadium, in August 2019. On Tuesday, May 11, the minor-league Double A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays will hold its season opener for the 2021 season, ending the nearly two-year professional baseball drought in the Granite State.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am to be able to welcome fans back to the ballpark,” team president Mike Ramshaw said. “I’m sure it’s going to be an emotional day for a lot of people.”

The Fisher Cats’ front office team has been closely following guidance from the State and from Major League Baseball, implementing a number of safety measures ahead of this season. Here’s a look at what you can expect when you come to the ballpark, plus some other events and happenings the front office has in store for this season.

Safety first

Northeast Delta Dental Stadium will be operating at 50 percent capacity, meaning it will be capped at just around 3,000 fans per game. In an effort to maintain social distancing, tickets will only be sold in “pods,” limited to two, four, six, eight or 10 people, with at least six feet between pods. At least 12 feet also separates the first row of seats from each dugout and bullpen.

“We’re really encouraging digital ticketing this year, just to try to limit the interaction between our staff and the fans,” Ramshaw said. “We’ll have ticketing that can be emailed or texted to you, and then [our staff] can just scan it and you’ll be good to go.”

Fans will not be allowed to congregate during any pregame happenings such as team batting practice, nor will there be autograph signings this year. During game play, Ramshaw said, masks or face-coverings are required for everyone over 2 years old, even when seated, except for when actively eating or drinking. Seats not in use during games will be Velcro-secured.

The types and sizes of bags that fans are allowed to bring into the park will be limited, also in an effort to limit staff interaction. Only necessary items such as medical bags, diaper bags and small clutch purses of about four-and-a-half by six-and-a-half inches will be allowed.

All of the concessions on the concourse, which include everything from hot dogs and hamburgers to french fries, peanuts, popcorn and domestic beers, will be open during games. Team officials are encouraging credit and debit card use whenever possible.

Both team stores will also be open, but at limited capacity. Ramshaw said there will be continuous sanitation throughout the park, especially on the concourse and in other high-traffic areas. In the event of rain delays, fans will be encouraged to return to their cars for the duration of the storm to avoid large gatherings. The Planet Fitness children’s play area will be open, but the bounce house has been removed in favor of other games that can be easily sanitized, like a giant inflatable tic-tac-toe game with basketballs that will be set up.

Coming out swinging

Despite the new precautions in place, the Fisher Cats will still be holding many of its usual special events throughout the season, including fireworks and giveaways.

“It will be a little different experience from what the fan is used to … and we just ask for our fans’ understanding and patience as we go through Covid,” Ramshaw said. “Minor league baseball is always about the player and fan interaction … [and] we want to still be able to bring as much as possible during a pandemic.”

Both the first home game of the season on May 11 and the game on Saturday, May 22, against the Portland Sea Dogs, for example, will wrap up with a fireworks show courtesy of Atlas Fireworks. Several giveaways are also planned, like for a magnet schedule on May 11 and May 12, and for a youth shirsey from former Fisher Cats player (and current Blue Jays major leaguer) Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on May 16.

The Fisher Cats will honor local essential workers and first responders, during the games on May 13 and May 14, respectively. Saturday, May 15, is Game Show Night, when fans will be challenged with trivia questions, puzzles and more in styles of popular game shows like Family Feud, Jeopardy! and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? More upcoming promotions will be announced on a monthly basis as the season goes on.

Nashua Silver Knights
Where: Holman Stadium, 67 Amherst St., Nashua
When: Home opener is Thursday, May 27, at 6 p.m., against the Worcester Bravehearts (this game will also include a championship ring ceremony)
Cost: Single game tickets start at $8 (limited to groups of 10 people); concessions are priced per item. Season ticket rates are also available.
Visit: nashuasilverknights.com

Following a championship-winning 2020 season, the Nashua Silver Knights will aim to defend their title in 2021, holding their home opener on Thursday, May 27. They will face off against the Worcester Bravehearts at Holman Stadium in the Gate City.
The Silver Knights are one of eight teams of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, a summer league gathering college baseball players from throughout the New England area. Although the start of the team’s 2020 season was delayed by about a month, front office general manager Cam Cook said the Silver Knights were able to play a shortened season that began on July 2.
For much of the 2020 season Holman Stadium was only filled at 25 percent capacity, or around 750 fans. This year, Cook said, it will likely be raised to 50 percent, pending final City approval. The home opener will feature a championship ring ceremony, while other promotions will include several fireworks nights on game days throughout June and July.

Schedule and league changes

In ways similar to those of Major League Baseball teams in 2020, the pandemic has impacted the Fisher Cats’ schedule as the team tries to limit the amount of out-of-state travel among players.

The team will host the Portland Sea Dogs, Double A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, 18 times in 2021 — a record since the Fisher Cats’ first season in New Hampshire in 2004.

“I know many of our fans always enjoy seeing the future Red Sox play here, so that’s going to be a big perk,” Fisher Cats broadcasting and media relations manager Tyler Murray said. “[The Sea Dogs] are coming three different times, each for a six-game series.”

In fact, adjustments to the Minor League Baseball schedule have the Fisher Cats either at home or on the road for six-game series matchups throughout the entire season, from Tuesday through Sunday with Mondays always designated off days. Half of the team’s 120-game season will be played within New England, with the exception of a few trips to New York and Pennsylvania, and one trip to Bowie, Maryland, at the end of June.

Due to a reorganization of certain team classifications that begins in 2021, the Fisher Cats will be playing a new rival during their opening homestand — the Somerset Patriots, who were announced as the new Double A affiliate of the New York Yankees late last year.

Under Minor League Baseball’s new scheduling format, there will be no All Star Game or playoffs this year. The Fisher Cats will close out their 2021 season with a series at home against the Harrisburg Senators, Double A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, from Sept. 14 to Sept. 19.

Field of opportunity

Even though the Fisher Cats didn’t play a single game in 2020, the team’s front office stayed busy throughout the year, hosting all kinds of socially distanced events on the field.

“The staff … worked so hard to try to find ways that we could stay engaged in the community and still pull off some of the events that we could do in the absence of baseball,” Ramshaw said. “We didn’t actually find out that the baseball season was going to be canceled until closer to July. … So for us, we were just trying to figure out how we could do other things in the interim.”

Immediately turning out to be a success, he said, was hosting local high school and college graduation ceremonies on the field. As the summer and fall went on, the Fisher Cats office hosted everything from a food truck festival and “Dinner on the Diamond” events to socially distanced movie nights and an outdoor concert series in partnership with the Palace Theatre, as well as a cornhole tournament, a fashion show, and even a Shakespeare-esque performance from members of the Cue Zero Theatre Co.

“We’ve always thought about a lot of the things that we were able to do last year, but never really had the bandwidth or time to do them,” Ramshaw said. “I think people and companies are realizing that we’re not just a ballpark but we’re a venue … [and] when you spread everybody out socially distanced, the park looks empty with 1,000 people.”

In 2021, Ramshaw said, events are already being booked for dates when the team is on the road, including graduation ceremonies. There have also been conversations to bring back the outdoor concert series in the summer months.

“Hopefully as things start to change throughout the duration of the summer, we can try to get some more fans out to the ballpark,” he said. “I think the ultimate goal would be that we’re able to be at 100 percent capacity by the end of the year.”

Upcoming NH Fisher Cats team promotions
• Tuesday, May 11: Atlas Fireworks show
• Wednesday, May 12: Magnet schedule giveaway
• Thursday, May 13: Essential Workers Night
• Friday, May 14: First Responders Night
• Saturday, May 15: Game Show Night
• Sunday, May 16: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. youth shirsey giveaway

News & Notes 21/05/06

Covid-19 updateAs of April 26As of May 3
Total cases statewide93,93595,506
Total current infections statewide2,7171,979
Total deaths statewide1,21,28601,305
New cases2,152 (April 20 to April 26)1,571(April 27 to May 3)
Current infections: Hillsborough County806558
Current infections: Merrimack County225168
Current infections: Rockingham County477386
Information from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services

Covid-19 news

During the state’s weekly public health update on April 29, state epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan reported that New Hampshire has averaged between 250 and 300 new infections per day over the previous week, numbers that continue to trend down. He later added that, as of April 29, New Hampshire has seen a total of 88 confirmed “breakthrough” infections of Covid-19, meaning those that occurred despite individuals being fully vaccinated. “The majority of these are not variants of concern,” Dr. Chan said, adding that only seven of the 88 infections were with the B.1.1.7. variant. “Whether it’s a variant of concern or not, we know that breakthrough infections can and do occur, but the vaccine continues to be important for limiting the burden of disease, preventing hospitalizations, preventing deaths and preventing asymptomatic infection.”

Dr. Beth Daly, Chief of the Bureau of Infectious Disease Control of the New Hampshire Department of Health & Human Services, also provided an update on vaccine distributions in the state. As of April 29, roughly 50 percent of New Hampshire’s population (about 687,000 people) has received at least one shot, while a third of the population (about 446,000 people) is now fully vaccinated. An additional 4,500 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was recently recommended by the CDC and the FDA to resume administration, were allocated across three fixed sites in Concord, Nashua and Newington on May 2.

Later during the press conference, Gov. Chris Sununu announced that the “universal best practices” guidance documents for state businesses would be released that day, with the guidance itself going into effect May 7. “What we’re really trying to do is keep it truly universal,” he said. “We’re just kind of re-emphasizing the most important parts of the guidance and mandates that we previously had in place. … This is a bit of a reminder going into the long-term.” Separate “overnight congregate settings for children” guidance documents have also been released, for businesses like overnight summer camps. Both sets of documents can be viewed online at covidguidance.nh.gov.

Housing markets

New Hampshire has two of the top 10 emerging housing markets in the country, according to a study released last week by the Wall Street Journal and realtor.com. Concord and Manchester-Nashua ranked 8th and 9th, respectively. The new Emerging Housing Markets Index used housing market, economic vitality and quality of life metrics to determine its rankings for 300 of the largest metropolitan areas in the U.S., according to realtor.com. “Out of the top emerging 10 housing markets in the country, New Hampshire was the only state in the nation with two markets in the top 10,” Gov. Chris Sununu said in a statement following the study’s release. “With a superior quality of life, thousands of high-paying jobs, and no income or sales tax, it’s no surprise people are looking to move to New Hampshire.” According to realtor.com, the top 10 housing markets have strong demand and somewhat limited supply, and home prices are expected to continue rising; they’ve seen an appreciation of about 27 percent, on average, in the last year, compared to 14 percent across all markets.

Job fairs

The State of New Hampshire is hosting 10 virtual job fairs between the first week in May and the first week that the work search requirement resumes, on May 23. Those collecting unemployment will need to show proof that they are searching for work while collecting benefits. “This return to our traditional, more normalized system is a sign that we are getting back to normal,” Gov. Chris Sununu said in a press release. The virtual job fairs are:

May 6 veteran virtual job fair in partnership with NH DMAVS

May 11 student virtual job fair in partnership with Pinkerton Academy

May 11 student and adult education virtual job fair in partnership with Pinkerton Academy

May 13 construction industry virtual job fair in partnership with ABC NH/VT

May 18 Great North Woods region & Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee region

May 19 Seacoast region

May 20 White Mountains region

May 25 Lakes region

May 26 Monadnock region

May 27 Capital & Southern region

Employers looking to register their company and job seekers looking for work can register for one of the job fairs by going to virtualjobfairs.nh.gov. All New Hampshire Works Jobs Centers across the state will be open to the public by May 10, the release said.

The New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton recently recognized 29 employees with 460 years of combined service to the State of New Hampshire, according to a press release. The employees who were honored have been working at the home for at least 10 years, and the longest-serving employee has been there for 35 years, according to the release.

Sarah Lenau of Manchester has been named a 2021 Camp Champion by Camp Casco, a nonprofit organization offering free camps and socials for childhood cancer patients, survivors and siblings in New England, according to a press release. She will soon join a crew of athletes to take on the Presidential Traverse to raise awareness and funds for childhood cancer survivors.

Bedford residents are invited to a virtual public information meeting Thursday, May 6, at 6:30 p.m., when the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services will provide updates on the status of PFAS in the community. According to a press release, the meeting will include information on the current status of PFAS in Bedford, what it means to residents, actions to help mitigate exposure, a question-and-answer session and more. Pre-registration is recommended; visit bedfordnh.org for the link.

Exeter High School graduate Hunter Long has joined the Miami Dolphins, according to an April 30 report from WMUR. Long, who helped earn Exeter a state title in 2015 before playing for Boston College, was the 81st pick in the third round of the NFL draft and is seen as one of the best tight ends in the nation, according to the report.

Behind the masks

My father passed away last summer during the midst of the pandemic in Illinois. I am so grateful I was able to be with him for much of the summer despite the challenges of Covid-19. He was extremely hard of hearing, and he had been for several years. He was dead set against getting hearing aids. Any time this was discussed, he would politely inform us that he could hear everything he wanted to hear just fine. When I was sitting with him in the hospital, he kept telling me to take my mask off. “I can’t hear you,” he would say, even though I was doing my best to speak loudly and articulate clearly. I realized then how much he had been relying on lip reading for clues as to what we were saying.

I have always prided myself on having good communication skills and being able to read people’s emotions well. Throw a pandemic in the mix where the world wears masks in public, and that changed relatively quickly. While I didn’t need to read lips, I soon realized how much I relied on facial clues to gain a sense of what somebody was thinking. The smile, the frown, the clenched jaw, the pause, the “but I am about to interrupt you” look. All these things are a piece of a puzzle that is now hidden.

I have retrained myself to look in the eyes for clues. I can see the pain in my mother’s eyes since my dad passed, and I am sure many days it is still evident in mine. I can see beautiful smiles in my grandchildren’s eyes above their little masks when I see them. And on any given day I can see joy, frustration, amusement, annoyance and a whole variety of emotions in my 16-year-old son’s eyes. I see anger in eyes now, and I see compassion. I see hurt, and I see understanding.

My mother says I have my dad’s “snappy brown eyes,” and she can always tell when I am mad. I didn’t realize that, but I am so grateful that I do. While I can’t wait for a time when it is safe to live our lives without masks, I will still be looking in people’s eyes for a piece of the puzzle. I highly recommend you give it a try. Only then do you really get the full picture.

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