Tag: 230413

Treasure Hunt 23/04/13

Hi, Donna.

I have this Huckleberry Finn clock made by Century. The clock tells time, and the fishing pole bobs up and down and the fish area lights up as the fish move around. The case is cast metal and I think my grandfather told me it was from 1940. It’s in perfect condition. What would something like this be worth?

Thank you.

Janice

Dear Janice,

How fun is that! Your clock is from the mid-century and produced by the Century Works company of New York. There are a couple different designs and styles. The style you have, Janice, in good working condition brings around $200+. Animated clocks are tough to find in good running condition. So the ones that are hold their value.

Sweet piece, Janice. Thanks for sharing with us.

Donna

Kiddie Pool 23/04/13

Family fun for the weekend

Get outdoors

• Check out the offerings at the New Hampshire Audubon’s Massabesic Center summer camps at Summer Camp Open House on Friday, April 14, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Massabesic Center (26 Audubon Way in Auburn; nhaudubon.org, 668-2045). RSVP online to get a spot at this event, which includes a mini nature walk and an animal meet-and-greet.

Return of the F-cats

• The New Hampshire Fisher Cats continue their first run of home games (which started April 11) this season with games through Sunday, April 16, against the Portland Sea Dogs at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in downtown Manchester. Games Thursday, April 13, and Friday, April 14, begin at 6:35 p.m. The game on Saturday, April 15, starts at 4 :05 p.m. and Sunday’s game starts at 1:35 p.m. Sunday’s game will also feature a hat giveaway to the first 1,000 kids, according to milb.com/new-hampshire. Tickets start at $12. The next round of home games starts Tuesday, April 25, when the Fisher Cats will play the Hartford Yard Goats.

Book fun

• Meet Curious George this Friday, April 14, and Saturday, April 15, at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (6 Washington St. in Dover; childrens-museum.org, 742-2002). George will be at the museum for photos and high fives at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on both days (during the morning and afternoon play sessions), according to the website. Kids can also check out the Curious George-inspired activities, and museum educators will read Curious George books, the website said. Play sessions run from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m.; reserve spots and pay admission online in advance. Admission costs $12.50 for everyone over 12 months of age, $10.50 for 65+ and free for children under 12 months, the website said.

Lasers!

The Super Stellar Friday program at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center (2 Institute Drive in Concord; starhop.com, 271-7827) on Friday, April 14, features a live, family-friendly Tesla Coil and laser show with Xploration ALC, according to the website. “See electricity dance and lasers light up the night. XPloration ALC is a fun action-packed STEM organization that makes science fun for kids. Following the presentation, presenters will answer audience questions in a Q & A session, leaving time to explore the museum,” the website said. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the presentation begins at 7 p.m., the website said. Admission costs $12 for adults, $9 for ages 3 to 12, $11 for ages 62+ and $11 for ages 13 through college; kids under 2 get in for free, the website said.

Movie fun for everyone

• All three New Hampshire Chunky’s Cinema Pubs (707 Huse Road, Manchester; 151 Coliseum Ave., Nashua; 150 Bridge St., Pelham, chunkys.com) will feature sensory-friendly screenings of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which came out last Friday and is rated PG, on Friday, April 14, at 4 p.m. The theater lights will be up, the sound will be down and there will be no 3D, according to the website. Tickets cost $5.99 per seat (plus a fee).

• O’neil Cinemas Brickyard Square 12 (24 Calef Highway in Epping; oneilcinemas.com) will also offer a sensory-friendly screening of The Super Mario Bros. Moviethis weekend. Catch the adventures of Mario and Luigi at O’neil on Saturday, April 15, at 10 a.m.

Get wild

Discover WILD NH Day celebrates the outdoors

Saturday, April 15, is the annual celebration of wildlife and outdoor fun known as Discover WILD New Hampshire Day.

“When I started I would see kids coming, and now those people are bringing their kids to the event,” said Mark Beauchesne, WILD New Hampshire Day’s coordinator. “It’s pretty cool to see year after year that this is part of their spring tradition.”

The free event, now in its 33rd year, will have a little bit of everything for everyone, Beauchesne said. People can enjoy different demonstrations, meet with a local author, and participate in other family fun activities, all while learning more about ways to spend time enjoying the local environment.

“This event, it’s a good way to make some connections with organizations that provide resources to the great outdoors,” Beauchnese said. “We’ve got a lot of different things that will connect people with getting outside.”

The biggest goal of WILD New Hampshire Day is to expose people to all the Granite State has to offer in outdoor recreation, but it shows people how to protect the local ecosystem and wildlife as well. Volunteers and experts from New Hampshire Environmental Educators, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, and the New Hampshire Audubon will all have booths set up.

Beauchnese said the recreational booths will have something for people of all levels of outdoor sporting skill. Whether it’s learning about off-road vehicles, hunting and fishing, or how to easily plan a family hike or the best ways to start a backyard garden, there will be a group ready to show the visitor the ropes.

“A good, large portion of the U.S. and the world look to New Hampshire for outdoor recreation,” Beauchesne said. “This gives us an opportunity to get closer to it and connect to the live outdoors.”

In addition to the booths and outdoor recreation demonstrations, there will be craft spaces, dog show demonstrations from Rise and Shine Retrievers, live animal presentations and more. The event will also have an assortment of food trucks from Smokestack, Bugaboos, Cody’s Sausage and Hotbox.

Last year approximately 8,000 people came to the event, Beauchesne said, and his personal favorite part was the first big event of the day: opening the gates.

“It’s the countdown, from 10 to ‘Happy Discover WILD New Hampshire Day,’” Beauchesne said. “People flood in, and it’s such a fun feeling. You can really feed off of that.”

Discover WILD New Hampshire Day
Where: 11 Hazen Drive, Concord
When: Saturday, April 15, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Visit: wildlife.state.nh.us/events/dwnh.html

More chores for spring

Walk gently and carry a soft rake

Although I still have some snow around the house here in Cornish, New Hampshire, many of you may be looking at brown grass and mud. It will be some time before real spring weather is safely ensconced. We all want to get outside and enjoy warm, sunny days, and most of us are itching to do some work in the garden.

If you do go outside, please be extra careful where you walk. Your lawn and gardens are probably soggy, and your footsteps can easily compact the soil and damage roots. Take a different route to your garden each time you go out. Game trails in the forest can be made by animals as small as a housecat due to compaction if they follow the same path, day after day. Plants do not thrive if their roots are in compacted soil.

I live on a dirt road, and each year the town plows dump sand and gravel mixed with snow on the lawn. I try to shovel that grit and snow back onto the road or haul it away while it is still mixed in with snow to cut down on raking later in spring. Use a soft rake, one with bamboo or plastic tines, when you rake the lawn so you will be less likely to tear up the grass as you rake.

If you have decorative grasses that overwintered, they are probably pretty bedraggled by now. It is better to cut down tall grasses before they start growing. Last year’s stems will not turn green- they grow new stems each year. The only problem you might have now is that they may be in a garden bed that you wish to avoid walking in. I use a serrated knife for the job, but pruners will work, too.

If you want to work in flower beds, find a couple of 3-foot-long 6- to 8-inch-wide planks. Place them in your garden bed and step on them instead of the soil. They will distribute your weight and allow you to work while avoiding the problem of compacting the soil.

If you have bluebird boxes or other nesting boxes, this is a good time to clean them out. I don’t know just when the bluebirds arrive and claim their nesting places, but I want to be ready for them. This would also be a good time to put up a bat house. Bats eat lots of mosquitoes, so you should welcome them to your garden. Pre-made bat boxes are available, and directions to make your own are available online.

I love art and whimsy in my garden, and I have all kinds of interesting art placed around my property. I recently noticed that some of it has tipped or fallen over. Depending on the nature of the whimsy, you might be able to right it now. Others, such as wire sculpture that has rods designed to go into the soil, might have to wait. My soil is still frozen, which deterred me from fixing all of mine that needed straightening.

It’s too early here for me to rake leaves and clean up garden beds that need it. But I am picking up sticks that were blown out of trees. After a little drying time in the barn they will provide me with kindling for my woodstove.

In the past I piled up broken branches each year and burned it all in late winter while there was still plenty of snow around the pile. I have stopped creating burn piles, for two reasons. First, little animals may have settled into the burn pile over the winter, and I don’t want to evict them or possibly kill them. And certainly there are lots of insects that overwinter in dead branches and stems of things like goldenrod and bee balm, which used to go into the burn pile (but are now composted).

The second reason is environmental: The bonfires I enjoyed in the past send up a lot of smoke and air pollution, and I want to avoid doing that. Instead of burning those branches, we bought a chipper/shredder to make chipped branches that can be used on pathways to keep down weeds. Or they can be double-ground and the fine results are good for mulching or mixing with food waste in our compost pile.

Chipper shredders come in many sizes. We bought a gasoline-powered machine that will allegedly take 3-inch stems but is actually better for things half that size and smaller. Manufacturers want to sell their products, so they tend to exaggerate a bit. But buy the most powerful machine you can afford. Ours cost $600 and is good for our needs.

What don’t they tell you? Chipper/shredders are noisy and can be dangerous. Mine does not start in winter. One pass though the machine makes a rough mixture of shredded branches that is not aesthetically pleasing to my eye as a mulch. But this material is easily dumped in the top hopper for fine grinding. Electric machines are out there, but the ones I’ve tried are not as powerful as a gas-powered machine. Good for small branches and leaves, I suppose.

I’ll start my tomato seedlings around April 10 indoors. These I will plant outdoors around June 10. Vine crops I’ll plant later — early May will be fine for cukes, squash and pumpkins that will go out in mid-June. I don’t need to tend seedlings any longer than need be.

Spring and summer are just around the corner. So try to be patient and avoid compacting your soil. If you see footprints in the soil, you should stay off it. Or wear your snowshoes to get around the garden!

Featured photo: This plank will let me cut down this decorative grass without compacting the soil. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Henry is a UNH Master Gardener and the author of four gardening books. His website is Gardening-Guy.com. Reach him by email at [email protected].

The Art Roundup 23/04/13

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

• New at the Currier: The photography exhibit “Seeing is Not Believing: Ambiguity in Photography” has opened at the Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org, 669-6144). “This exhibition explores photographs that make us question what we are looking at. Still lifes, abstract images, and manipulated photographs heighten our sense of wonder,” according to the Currier’s website. The Currier is open Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (with Art After Work, when admission is free, between 5 to 8 p.m.), and Friday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This Thursday’s Art After Work performer is Isha from 978, and the 6:30 p.m. exhibition tour will examine “Seeing Is Not Believing.”

• Photography from the garden: The New Hampshire Audubon’s McLane Center (84 Silk Farm Road in Concord; nhaudubon.org) will display “A Garden Story Photography Exhibit” through July 5. The center is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• … another man’s treasure: The Mosaic Art Collective (66 Hanover St., Suite 201, in Manchester; mosaicartcollective.com) is exhibiting “Trash to Treasure” in partnership with the New Hampshire Art Association. “This environmentally conscious show invites artists to reimagine their recyclables, giving new life to objects in unexpected ways,” according to a press release. The exhibit will be on display through Sunday, April 30. See the website for hours or information on making an appointment or to see the exhibit digitally.

• Lesley Stahl: Journalist and author Lesley Stahl will discuss her career and politics and take audience questions in an event on Friday, April 14, at 7:30 p.m. at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org). Tickets start at $66 with some VIP tickets that include a meet-and-greet also available.

• History events: To celebrate New Hampshire’s John Stark Day, the New Hampshire Historical Society (30 Park St. in Concord; 856-0644, nhhistory.org) will hold a “Collections Highlights Talk: General John Stark” on Saturday, April 15, at 2 p.m. featuring objects and documents related to Stark, according to a Historical Society press release. Admission costs $7.

Photo exhibit
Photo Retro (141 Route 101A, Unit B7, around the back of the plaza, in Amherst; photoretro.biz) will host the exhibit “I want to be where the people are” featuring the film photography of Eddy Pula and will hold an opening reception on Saturday, April 15, at 5 p.m. The exhibit features 24 photos and will run until Sunday, May 28. Photo Retro is open Fridays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.

• Wells Fargo wagon is a’comin’: The Palace Youth Theatre will hold auditions for The Music Man Jr. on Monday, April 17, at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. for a production scheduled for early June, according to a press release. Rehearsals will be Tuesday and Thursday night and Sunday afternoons, the release said. Auditions are open for performers in grades 2 to 12 and will be held at Forever Emma Studios (516 Pine St. in Manchester); auditioners should come prepared to sing a short section of a song a cappella, the release said. Schedule an audition time by emailing [email protected] with the performer’s name, age and preferred audition time, the release said.

• Photograph nature: The New Hampshire Audubon Society’s Massabesic Center in Auburn will host a photography workshop on Tuesday, April 18, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. with local nature photographer Tracy Brunner. The workshop will feature an evening photo hike along Lake Massabesic. Registration is required and costs $15.

• Catching up: Nova Scotian singer-songwriter Dave Gunning was slated to play Bass Hall at Monadnock Center (19 Grove St. in Peterborough in 2020; he’ll finally make it there Friday, April 14, at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $25 in advance, $30 at the door; doors open 6:30 p.m. See monadnockcenter.org for tickets and davegunning.com for more on Gunning, whose most recent album, The Same Storm, was released in Oct. 2022.

• Acoustic jam for seniors: A new acoustic music jam session will launch on Sunday, April 16, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Londonderry Senior Center (535 Mammoth Road in Londonderry), according to a press release. Called “For the Love of Music,” the jam will feature local musicians and is open to senior center members and Londonderry residents over 55 to “stop in, hang out or participate,” the release said.

Music and art collide

NH Philharmonic brings Drawn to the Music back for 15th year

For 15 years the New Hampshire Philharmonic has worked with schools across the state, encouraging kids kindergarten through grade 5 to listen to classical music and draw something inspired by it.

“This year we had over 700 drawings from nine schools from all over the state,” said Toni DeGennaro, the executive director of the Philharmonic. “We get the drawings, pick 300 winners and have concerts … on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m., with each school represented on a certain day.”

Kids who were selected will get a chance to hear the music they listened to, Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, and see the art they created projected on a screen over the orchestra. The artwork is divided evenly across the two performances, so 150 drawings will be featured each show.

Winners of the competition are invited to attend, as well as their parents or guardians and their art or music teacher who helped them with the project.

When it comes to the artwork, DeGennaro said she was impressed to see how creative the students were. Each year the kids are given a series of scenes they use to inspire the artwork. Since Appalachian Spring is a ballet, DeGennaro said, there were more options for scenes.

“We give them scenes, so they picked which ones they wanted to draw,” DeGennaro said. “There’s some of the bride, some of the duel for the bride…. Lots of brides and farmer pictures and it’s really cute.”

Drawn to the Music isn’t going to be the only competition where winners will celebrate, said conductor and music director Mark Latham. Evan Huang, a high school senior at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., will be performing Piano Concerto No. 2 by Frederic Chopin.

“It’s very romantic and full of various emotions; he plays it extraordinarily sensitively,” said Latham. “He deserved first place of the competition.”

Huang was the grand prize winner of Sempre Music Competition in 2022, a national competition in which students of all ages compete for a chance to solo with the New Hampshire Philharmonic, among other prizes.

While classical music can seem intimidating at first, Latham said his main goal with the Phil is to make it more accessible to every generation.

“Some think classical music is stuffy and my philosophy is try to make it a great time,” Latham said. “If [kids] want to jabber or applaud at the wrong time, if you let loose on how you feel about something, that’s excellent.”

After the concert, kids will be invited on stage for “touch an instrument,” the Phil’s take on touch-a-truck, to help expose young children to music and to make it more inspiring, DeGennaro said.

DeGennaro said that Drawn to Music is one of her favorite events, not only to see young people engaged with classical music but also because of the awe and excitement that she sees on kids’ faces.

“We are so kid-friendly, if kids are running around in the halls, that’s great. We’ll drown them out with the music,” DeGennaro said. “Just the sound of the 70-piece orchestra in that little concert hall is mesmerizing. It’s a great experience for them.”

Drawn to the Music
When: Saturday, April 15, and Sunday, April 16, at 2 p.m.
Where: Siefert Performing Arts Center, 44 Geremonty Drive, Salem
Price: Adults are $30, seniors are $25, students are $8, and students of Salem are $5
Visit: nhphil.org

Featured photo: Drawn to the Music projection 2018-2019. Courtesy photo.

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