Tag: 221013

Treasure Hunt 22/10/13

Dear Donna,

Can you tell me if this small pot is old? As you can see, it says Nashua on it and a small home. It measures 1½ inches by 1 inch. Very sweet little piece of pottery.

Thank you.

Tammi

Dear Tammi,

It is a nice miniature crock. Although it’s not too old, it does have an interesting history. It was done by Sid and Eileen Vernon from Virginia.

Your little crock was created by Sid and then decorated by his wife. Eileen. They created much more as well, lots of miniature pieces made with love. After the loss of her husband, Eileen continued making and decorating pieces herself.

Even though your crock was made in the past 30 years, it’s made and slip decorated (the cobalt painting) to represent an older one. It’s a wonderful piece of miniature pottery and if you have time, Tammi, do research on the artist who made yours and many more.

Values run between $20 and $40 as long as there’s no damage. Thanks for sharing and I enjoyed the personal story of the artist.

Kiddie Pool 22/10/13

Family fun for the weekend

Festivals and expos

• Gather up the troop and head over to Bedford for the Girl Scout expo on Sunday, Oct. 16, at 10 a.m. at the New Hampshire Sportsplex (68 Technology Drive). Registration for the event closes on Oct. 13. The expo will have events including giveaways for the girls, live performances, hands-on exhibits and more. The program is appropriate for girls in kindergarten through grade 12 and adults, and they do not need to be members of the Girl Scouts to participate. Tickets for everyone cost $5 and can be purchased at mygs.girlscouts.org.

• The fourth annual Hudson Harvest Festival is happening on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Dr. H.O. Smith Elementary School (33 School St., Hudson). In addition to a costume parade for all ages with prizes to be awarded, the festival will feature games, music, vendors, craft tables and a pumpkin carving contest. See “New England Vendor Events” on Facebook for details.

• The Town of Windham is planning a harvest fest at Griffin Park (111 Range Road, Windham) on Saturday, Oct. 15, from noon to 4 p.m., featuring food trucks, family-friendly activities and more. At 3 p.m., kids can go trick-or-treating around the park. Visit windhamnh.gov for more information.

• One Church Manchester (1308 Wellington Road) will hold a fall festival on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 3 to 6 p.m., with food, games and pumpkin decorating. Volunteers can come and decorate the outpost on Friday, Oct. 14, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The event is free to attend. Visit church.one/events/fallfestivalmanch for more information.

• The Londonderry Fall Fest is going to be on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Londonderry Town Common (Mammoth Road). There will be more than 50 local vendors on hand to showcase their products, as well as various options from food trucks offering different tasty treats. Admission is free. See the Eventbrite page for more details.

Museum fun

• “My Year of Toys: An Art Journal,” theart exhibit at the Children’sMuseum of New Hampshire’s Gallery 6 (6 Washington St. in Dover), will run through Sunday, Oct. 16. The exhibit displays works by author and illustrator Sandy Steen Bartholomew, who created a drawing of one toy from her large toy collection every day for a year. Gallery 6 is free; paid museum admission (which is $12.50 per person age 1 and up; $10.50 for seniors) is not required for entrance to the gallery only. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m., and Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon. See childrens-museum.org.

Outdoor activities

• A brand new all persons trail is opening at the NH Audubon McClane Center in Concord (84 Silk Farm Road, 224-9909) on Saturday, Oct. 15. The grand opening ceremony will start at 9 a.m. and will be followed by a “birding for all” session. The trail, designed to help people with mobility challenges, was completed in September; it follows the nature trail and goes through the pollinator meadow. For more information on the trail, or to reserve a spot for the grand opening and birding outing, visit nhaudubon.org/event/all-persons-trail-grand-opening-october-15.

• The Nashua Duck Derby is going to take over Renaissance Park (23 Water St.) on Saturday, Oct. 15. In addition to the 10,000 duck drop goal, there will be a beer tent, food trucks, a scavenger hunt, games and kids’ activities. Live music by the Joe Mack Band will start at 11:30 a.m. and the duck drop will be at 2 p.m. Admission is free; to participate in the duck drop event, one duck costs $5, six cost $25, a dozen is $50, and 25 is $100. The first, second and third place ducks will win cash prizes of up to $2,500. Visit duckrace.com/Nashua for more information and to purchase ducks.

Putting the garden to bed

Don’t let the bed bugs bite

Frost has already lightly brushed my garden, and hard frost is not far behind. Even in warmer spots it is good to start getting ready for winter. Let’s look at some of the key activities for all of us.

First, remember to visit and support your local garden center. They want to unload as many plants now as they can — perennials, shrubs and trees. So they are discounting plants, often 25 percent or more. I recently got some big burr oaks at a 50 percent discount, a considerable saving. And it is not too late to plant.

I have read that woody plants store up food all summer when the sun is bright, and use some of it now to extend their roots out away from the main stem. So I like to plant trees in the fall especially since it is cooler and more rain is falling now than in mid-summer. If you plant a tree, be sure to spread 2 inches of mulch around the tree to keep the roots warm as late into the fall as possible.

You may have already done so, but let me remind you anyhow to bring in your houseplants that have summered outside. Do it now, not after frost even for plants like rosemary that can sustain a temperature down to 25 degrees or so.

Aphids are the biggest pest on houseplants. Outdoors they are eaten up by other insects or washed off by heavy rains, but indoors a plant that is already sulking is ripe for an infestation. Use your hose to wash not only the tops of leaves, but the underside as well. And wash the surface of soil in the pot — do this by laying the plant on its side. This will help you to get rid of eggs and adult aphids, though a few elude me every year. Watch for aphids or their sticky droppings on leaves. If you see some, spray with Safer Soap to dehydrate the aphids and knock them dead.

Your least favorite fall activity may be weeding and plant cleanup, though I kind of enjoy it. It is very important to remove rotten fruit, stems and leaves of tomatoes, potatoes, and vine crops as they often have mildew or fungus by now. Be sure to get them out of the garden ASAP. And if you have had bugs on any plants, put them in the household trash or on a burn pile. You don’t want them wintering over in the garden or the compost pile. You don’t have to wash tomato cages; their diseases won’t winter over on them.

Getting rid of weeds now is important, but so is covering the soil with leaves or mulch so those seeds blowing in the wind don’t land on bare earth and settle in, ready to grow in early spring even before you have thought about planting next year’s veggies.

Fallen leaves are the best mulch available, and free. You can compact them and make them easier to move to the garden by running them over with the lawnmower. They will settle in and not blow around if you do this just before a nice rain. But you can use grass clippings now, before leaves have all fallen. And if you use a mowing service, ask them to leave the leaves and grass clippings for you to use. But do that only if they do not use any chemicals on the lawn. You don’t want any chemicals in your garden.

Cutting back the flower gardens is hard work and time-consuming if you have extensive flower beds as I do. Many gardeners use their hand pruners and clip away, stem by stem. Not me. That is very hard on your paws. I like to use a curved serrated knife or small “harvest sickle” to do so. I grab a handful of stems with my left hand, then slice them off with my right. One motion, and no work for my fingers the way pruners would do.

You might also consider using a string trimmer to cut back big beds. I’ve done it, but don’t usually do so. It’s fast but less precise. And I like to leave some flower stalks standing, things with seed for winter birds like chickadees and finches. I leave black-eyed susans, purple coneflowers, sunflowers and anything else that looks tasty from a bird’s eye view.

The most radical way of cutting back flower beds is to use a lawnmower. In late fall I used to put the blade of my riding lawnmower up as high as possible and ride over it, mowing it all down. Now I no longer have a riding mower, and I doubt my battery mower would chomp through it. I will have to use the string trimmer, I guess. It’s about 75 feet by 10 feet, so a motorized tool helps.

If you have dahlias and other tropicals growing in the ground and want to save the tubers for next year, only dig them up after a frost or two. Bring them into the basement or barn after you have shaken off most of the soil.

I store my dahlia tubers in a cold basement that doesn’t freeze. I put them in a box or tub with some sphagnum moss that is lightly moistened, and spray some moisture on in February. You can also store them in a plastic bag with holes punched in it and some bedding sold for gerbils in it, lightly moistened.

I love winter, but I’m always sad the morning after the first hard frost. Most of my annuals will have fallen, like wounded soldiers. But I also know that at my age, a season of rest from the garden will be good, too.

Featured photo: A harvest sickle. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

See the Squash-bucklers

The Goffstown giant pumpkin weigh-off and regatta is back

By Katelyn Sahagian

[email protected]

Giant pumpkins will take over the Piscataquog River in Goffstown on Sunday, Oct. 16. The day before, the pumpkins will be weighed, hollowed out and decorated for the race.

The event, which started as a way for local giant pumpkin growers to see who had the best crops, has become a national — and international — phenomenon.

“We were contacted by a television company in Japan to see if they can get involved somehow,” said Tina Lawton, president of Goffstown Main Street Program. “It’s known far outside New Hampshire. People come from all over to come and see it.”

Back in 2000, when James Beauchemin started the pumpkin weigh-off, he said that there was nowhere in New Hampshire for giant pumpkin growers to show off the squashes they had spent weeks growing and caring for. He and a few of his friends created the New Hampshire Giant Pumpkin Growers Association and decided that they could hold their own showcase.

Beauchemin wanted something special to happen with the pumpkins after they had been weighed. He said he had heard of a group in Canada that did a pumpkin boat race, where growers hollowed out their giant pumpkins and used kayak paddles to see who could get to the finish the quickest.

“There was one giant pumpkin club in Nova Scotia that did pumpkin races. … They may even still do it,” Beauchemin said. “But I brought it to America.”

The biggest difference between the boat race in New Hampshire and the one in Canada is that Goffstown’s regatta has motors fitted to the boats, giving the pumpkin vessels a little more speed and the captains a greater chance for competition.

While the growers were the first to compete in the makeshift boats, the regatta has become less something for regular people to race in, and more something for public figures in Goffstown and southern New Hampshire in general, Lawton said.

In addition to a few popular teachers racing the boats, WMUR anchor Erin Fehlau will be captaining one of the boats. In the past, Hippo has even sponsored a boat.

While the regatta is the star of the show, Lawton said, there are other events that people can check out throughout the weekend.

Saturday will be the day that all the pumpkins are weighed and, when that’s ended, they’ll be moved closer to the river, Lawton said. The captains will begin the process of hollowing out and decorating their boats in line with this year’s theme, “There’s no place like home.”

“The theme for this year’s decoration is Wizard of Oz,” Beauchemin said. “I was told someone is going to build a tiny house on top of a pumpkin with legs of the Wicked Witch of the East sticking out.”

Sunday will start with a 10K race, and right before the regatta there will be the ever-popular pumpkin drop. Beauchemin said the pumpkin this year will be more than 2,000 pounds, and it’ll be dropped from approximately 75 feet.

In addition to the pumpkin-related events, there will be a slew of local vendors selling handmade crafts, different food options to choose from, a dog costume contest, an art show, a pie eating contest and live entertainment.

Every year, the event seems to grow in popularity, said Lawton.

“We get emails and calls from people all over the states asking when it’ll be,” Lawton said. “Lots of residents have families schedule their visits around this event.”

Goffstown Pumpkin Weigh-off and Regatta
Where: Main Street, Goffstown
When: Saturday, Oct. 15, starting at 9 a.m.; Sunday, Oct. 16, starting at 8 a.m., Regatta begins at 3 p.m.
Price: Free
Visit: goffstownmainstreet.org/regatta

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

The Art Roundup 22/10/13

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities

• Tell me more, tell me more: Tickets are on sale now for the Palace Theatre’s production of the musical Grease, which will be on stage at the Palace (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; 668-5588, palacetheatre.org) from Friday, Oct. 21, through Saturday, Nov. 12. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and most Saturdays throughout the run, 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets start at $25.

• What big ears you have: In the meantime, inspire your next generation of stage performers when the Palace Youth Theatre takes the stage to present Red Riding Hood Tuesday, Oct. 18, and Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. at the Rex Theatre (23 Amherst St. in Manchester; 668-5588, palacetheatre.org). Tickets start at $12 for this show featuring students in grades 2 through 12.

• A new view: Your favorite work at the Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org, 669-6144) may be presented in a new context. Many of the museum’s galleries, including the entire second floor, have recently gotten some new additions, according to the website. The museum is open Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Friday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission costs $15, $13 for 65+, $10 for students, $5 for 13 to 17 and free for kids 12 and under. Admission is also free to all on Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m during Art After Work. This week’s (Thursday, Oct. 13) live entertainment is “Doctor Gasp’s Halloween Special” featuring Halloween-themed folk and ragtime songs (see the story on page 38). The tours at 5:15 and 6:30 p.m. are “Myths at the Museum.”

Halloween magic
Master illusionist David Caserta will present Haunted Illusions on Friday, Oct. 14, at the Dana Center for the Humanities at Saint Anselm College (100 Saint Anselm Drive in Manchester; tickets.anselm.edu). The show features feats of levitation, disappearance and reappearance and more, with dramatic lighting and pyro smoke, according to the website. Tickets for the general public cost $45.

• Fashion, art, music, comedy: Support NAMI NH at Live Life Loud, an event featuring Doublesolid Apparel that will showcase new designs as well as music, art and comedy on Sunday, Oct. 16, at Angel City Music Hall (179 Elm St., Unit B, in Manchester), according to a press release. Proceeds from the event will be donated to NAMI NH (National Alliance on Mental Illness), the release said. Doors open at 6 p.m.; general admission tickets cost $20; VIP tickets (which include a T-shirt, swag bag, preferred seating and more) cost $100 (plus fees for all tickets). Showtime is at 7 p.m. and the event will feature Drag Queen Diva Amanda Playwith as the emcee. For tickets, go to angelcitymusichall.com.

• Classic Phantom: Before there was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera there was Lon Chaney’s take on the classic horror character. Chaney starred in the 1925 silent big screen adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera, which will screen Friday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. at the Derry Opera House (29 West Broadway in Derry) featuring live musical accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis. The event is free and open to the public.

ART

Opening

• “THE WOODS WRAP AROUND YOU” Creative Ventures Gallery (411 Nashua St., Milford, creativeventuresfineart.com) will have an exhibition, “The Woods Wrap Around You,” on display during October, featuring hand-colored monoprints by Loretta CR Hubley. A reception will be held on Friday, Oct. 14, with wine and hors d’oeuvres at 5:30 p.m., followed by a presentation by the artist and a live piano performance inspired by the exhibition.

• “FROM THE HIPPIE TRAIL TO THE SILK ROAD” exhibit fromTwo Villages Art Society will run at the Bates Building (846 Main St., Contoocook) Oct. 21 through Nov. 12. This is an exhibition by Kathleen Dustin that includes her original artwork, inspired by and juxtaposed with jewelry and textiles from around the world that Dustin has collected during her travels. The opening reception will take place on Saturday, Oct. 22, from noon to 2 p.m. Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Visit twovillagesart.org or call 413-210-4372.

Exhibits

• “MY YEAR OF TOYS: AN ART JOURNAL” at Gallery 6, the art gallery at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (6 Washington St., Dover, childrens-museum.org), on view now through Oct. 16. For this exhibition, author and illustrator Sandy Steen Bartholomew created a drawing of one toy from her large toy collection every day for a year. Gallery 6 is free and open to the public; paid museum admission is not required to enter. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon.

• “STORIED IN CLAY” The New Hampshire Potters Guild presents its biennial exhibition “Storied in Clay” at the exhibition gallery at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen headquarters (49 S. Main St., Concord) through Oct. 27. Visit nhpottersguild.org.

• “STILL: THE ART OF STILL LIFE,” a contemporary art exhibit at Twiggs Gallery (254 King St. in Boscawen; twiggsgallery.wordpress.com, 975-0015), will feature work by artists Caleb Brown, Shela Cunningham, Bess French, Marcia Wood Mertinooke, Barbara Morse, Shawne Randlett and Marlene Zychowski and will run through Saturday, Oct. 29.

Get into the groove

Let’s hear it for the ’80s band

By Mya Blanchard

[email protected]

We may not have time machines to bring us back to the past, but we have music that allows us to relive those moments. This is what the audience will experience at the Back to the Eighties Show with New York City-based band Jessie’s Girl at the Palace Theatre in Manchester on Friday, Oct. 14.

Jessie’s Girl vocalist Mark Rinzel, who is originally from outside the Washington, D.C., area, moved to New York after college. He recalls walking the streets of Manhattan visiting his brother in the early ’90s and knowing that he, too, wanted to be there. Rinzel got involved with music when he was 5 or 6 years old. He started picking up instruments like the piano and the bass, and participated in musical theater.

Once in New York, Rinzel joined his brother’s band and auditioned for musicals. He started producing and performing with independent rock bands, became a professional thespian touring with Jesus Christ Superstar and, around 15 to 16 years ago, started performing in tribute bands.

Meanwhile, Jessie’s Girl had been doing an ’80s show at the now-closed Canal Room on West Broadway.

“It ended up being one of the most successful nights that the bar had. Once a week, hundreds of people would come, so clearly there was an audience for it,” Rinzel said.

Their lives collided when the members of Jessie’s Girl saw Rinzel performing in a Police tribute band.

“The guys from the ’80s show saw me doing this about a little over 10 years ago and they were looking to add new singers to the mix,” Rinzel said. “So they saw me singing all this Sting stuff and they were like, ‘Hey, do you want to join our ’80s band,’ and I said ‘That sounds fun.’”

Since then Jessie’s Girl has performed with some of the biggest names in ’80s music, like Colin Hay, Howard Jones and Berlin. They have also been a part of a popular weeklong ’80s-themed cruise, in which they are typically one of the favorite acts.

According to Rinzel, ’80s bands are not hard to come by, but coming across one that is on the level of Jessie’s Girl isn’t something you see every day.

“You can go … all over the country … even up and down the eastern seaboard, and you can find ’80s bands in every town. … [I always joke] we’re about 10 times better than we even need to be. I think that’s what people respond to,” Rinzel said. “Almost all of [the band members] are sort of veterans from the Lower East Side.”

The level of talent in conjunction with the high energy makes for a show that’s in a league of its own.

“It’s a mixture of … [a] high-caliber performance but also just a lot of spontaneity and fun, and I think people respond to that.” Rinzel said.

In 2020 the nights of performing came to a halt due to the pandemic.

“We had to put it away for a year and that was very painful for a lot of us, for everyone,” Rinzel said. “And of course there was so much suffering everywhere, and if the worst you can say is I didn’t get to sing in my ’80s band for a year, you did alright.”

For him, the opportunity to be on stage and make others happy has always been one of the things he’s loved the most about performing. But it’s the early post-Covid shows that rank high as his favorite part of his history with Jessie’s Girl.

“The show has become for me … just a lot more meaningful post-Covid. … When people started to come back to the shows, you kind of realize how much you missed something,” Rinzel said.

With the pandemic on a downward curve and safety precautions in place, the Back to the Eighties Show with Jessie’s Girl returns to New Hampshire for another ecstatic performance. “It’s not just bringing them back to the ’80s. It’s also just getting them out of their seats and having a lot of fun with it,” Rinzel said. “We play with hits. We give people what they want to hear.”

Back to the Eighties with Jessie’s Girl
When: Friday, Oct. 14, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester
Tickets: Tickets range from $35 to $42.50
More information: Visit palacetheatre.org or call the box office at 668-5588 to purchase tickets

Featured photo: Mark Rinzel of Jessie’s Girl. Courtesy photo.

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