Brattleboro Area Hospice To Offer Seven Week Grief Support Group

A new Seven Week Bereavement Support Group for adults begins on September 29th and will meet each Thursday from 6:00-7:30 pm, ending November 10th. This group is sponsored by Brattleboro Area Hospice and will meet at the hospice office at 191 Canal St. in Brattleboro. Interested individuals must meet with the facilitator, Connie Baxter, prior to the first session, so please call her at (802) 257-0775 x104 by September 23rd for a pre-group appointment. The group size is limited to 8 people.


VFW Lunch Specials 9-12 to 9-16

Menu Specials for Sept. 12th to Sept. 16th

Mon – grilled ham & cheese w/ soup
Tues – Chicken Cordon bleu w/ broccoli
Wed – sausage, peppers & onions over noodles
Thur – BBQ chicken w/ baked potato & veg.
Fri – fried haddock sandwich w/ French fries


Ear Piercing in Brattleboro?

Does anyone know of any place in town that does ear piercing? The new-ish store on Main Street – Void- was planning on offering piercing options but apparently ran into some resistance from the town and state. ‘Welcome to Brattleboro- where smal business dreams come to die.’  Anyway, if anybody knows of a place I’d appreciate the information. Thanks!


Sioux Pipeline Blockade

As many folks may know, or not know due to the ridiculous media blackout, there are hundreds of Indigenous tribes gathering in North Dakota to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Hau we are the Inyan wakankagapi otip-Sacred Stone Camp from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. We have partnership with the Oectc Sakowin- Seven Council Fires, Indians and Cowboys and anyone who is willing to stand with us against the Dakota Access Pipeline. This pipeline will cross the Missouri River and Cannon Ball River which is the life line to many tribes and non native, when this pipeline leaks it will destroy the water and land. Water is life ! So this pipeline is along the Missouri River and the KL pipeline was along the Ogall aquifer; both are important to save.


Brattleboro Senior Meals Breakfast Menu

SEPTEMBER BREAKFAST MENUS

September 2nd– Breakfast Sandwich w/Egg, Cheese & Sausage, Home Fries, Fruit, Yogurt, Juice, Coffee.

September 6th – Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Home Fries, Muffin, Fruit, Yogurt, Juice, Coffee

September 9th – No Breakfast


VFW Lunch Menu for 9-5 to 9-9

Menu for Sept. 5th – Sept. 9th

Mon – hot dog, chili, corn on the cob, and potato salad

Tues – tuna melt w/ a salad

Wed – chicken and broccoli alfredo w/ garlic bread

Thur – beef vegetable stir fry w/ rice

Fri – clam strip roll w/ French fries & coleslaw


SeVWA’s 2016 E. coli Monitoring of Local River Sites Concluded August 31st

The Southeastern Vermont Watershed Alliance (SeVWA) had the final day of our monitoring program for the summer of 2016 on Wednesday, August 31st. Volunteers collected samples from 30 sites on eight rivers and streams throughout the summer. This year, we had sites on the West River, Rock River, North Branch Ball Mountain Brook, Williams River (including South Branch and Middle Branch), Saxtons River, Sacketts Brook, and Whetstone Brook.

The huge sampling effort that SeVWA undertakes this year and every year would simply not be possible without all of our wonderful volunteers. They wake up early every other Wednesday morning to take time out of their busy lives to collect samples rain or shine. Many of our sites can be difficult to access but the results provide our community with valuable information about the state of our rivers. Volunteers also get to know their particular portion of the river and help us identify possible pollution sources and alert us to any changes that might indicate a change in water quality. Thank you volunteers, for all that you do. SeVWA really appreciates it!


Chronic Pain Workshops To Be Offered at Grace Cottage

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital is offering a Chronic Pain Self-Management Program at in the Holt Conference Room with a partnership with (Support and Services at Home). This free workshop series is scheduled to start on September 21st from 3:00 PM to 5:30 PM and continue every Wednesday ending October 26th 2016.

Living a Healthier Life with Chronic Pain Workshop is a Self-Management Program (CPSMP) designed for people who have either a primary or secondary diagnosis of chronic pain (as defined as lasting for longer than 3 to 6 months or lasting longer than the normal healing time of an injury) and focuses on problem solving, appropriate usage of medications and exercise, nutrition, emotions and communicating with health care providers. The CPSMP is a workshop given over two and a half hours, once a week for six weeks.


A Word for Wilder

Gene Wilder. Don’t know the guy at all, other than through his work, but his passing made me think again of how much I’ve been entertained by Mr. Wilder throughout the years.

For me, Willy Wonka is perhaps one of the more inspirational movies from childhood that I return to over and over in my life. A poor nothing of a boy gets a lucky break, explores a highly creative manufacturing establishment, and ends up being given the chocolate factory. Wilder’s Wonka is the only one worth watching.

A few guiding lessons that stick with me from lyrics and lines in the film:

1. If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. Anything you want to, do it. Want to change the world? There’s nothing to it.


BMH Offers Free WRAP Wellness Workshop Series

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital is offering a WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) workshop series scheduled on September 23rd (3PM – 8PM), 24th (9AM – 6PM) and 25th (9AM – 5PM) in Brew Barry Conference Room 2. This free workshop, conducted in three sessions, provides participants with tools to deal with life’s complications and to plan for the inevitable bumps along the way.

WRAP was developed in 1997 by a group of people searching for ways to overcome their own mental health issues and move on to fulfilling their life dreams and goals. It is now used extensively by people in all kinds of circumstances, and by health care and mental health systems all over the world to address all kinds of physical, mental health and life issues.


Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire’s Wings of Hope Butterfly Release event

SEVENTH ANNUAL WINGS OF HOPE BUTTERFLY RELEASE FLUTTERS ONCE AGAIN ON SEPTEMBER 10
Purchase of Butterflies Raises Money for Hospice Programs

Lebanon, New Hampshire, August 29, 2016 – On Saturday, September 10th, hundreds of majestic Monarch butterflies will take flight simultaneously during the Wings of Hope butterfly release event to be held in Colburn Park in Lebanon from 1-3 p.m. The annual fundraiser, now in its seventh year, is presented by Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire (VNH) and is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the non-profit organization. Purchase of a butterfly for release is $20 and proceeds help support hospice care programs, patients and their families.


Gnarcissus on Olympus

Skateboarding is Coming to the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020. The “sport”, was chosen along with a handful of others, (surfing, baseball, climbing, karate) for inclusion in the next set of Games. Some serious mixed and polarizing feelings have been engendered on all sides by this decision.

While this post pertains to skateboarding, I’m sure there’s crossover spill for each of these lifestyle activities that have deep personal and often iconoclastic attachments, with corps of aficionados who eschew commercialization. There is even an , asserting skateboarding is not a “Sport”, and should not be set up for exploitation and subjugation to Olympic formats.


Coffee Break Fundraiser

The Brattleboro Area Jewish Community will be hosting a “Coffee Break”  all day Friday September 2, 2016 at the Welcome Center in Guilford, Vt. on I-91 to kick off the Labor Day weekend holiday.   Starting at 7:30am, we will offer hot coffee and tea; bagels; hot oatmeal, apple cider donuts; an assortment of homemade muffins, pastries, and other home-baked goods; egg salad, tuna salad, and cheese sandwiches; tastes of various flavored challah; Vermont-made yogurt;  a variety of cold drinks, including freshly squeezed lemonade. 


VFW Lunch Menu for 8-29 to 9-2

Menu for Aug. 29th to Sept. 2nd

Mon – soup and a sandwich

Tues –  liver & onions w/ mashed potato

Wed – spaghetti w/ homemade meatballs & a salad

Thur – cheese & spinach stuffed pork loin w/ couscous

Fri – baked stuffed haddock w/ rice & veg.


Get Out Your Credit Card and Join Our Revolution

Our Revolution is being touted by progressives as the “future of our political movement” and features participation by our own revolutionary sweetheart, Bernie Sanders.  Bernie himself will be speaking at a kickoff forum tonight in Burlington, VT.  This seemed noteworthy, so I decided to stop into the OurRevolution.com web site to see what it was all about.  My first surprise was that it was a dot.com.  I had been expecting a dot.org.  But there you are, everything  is commercial these days, even “our revolution.” (Fine print reveals that “Our Revolution will operate as a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization.”)


Stroll the Grounds & Join Us for A Community Shabbat Dinner

On Friday August 26, come mark the shift from summer to fall with a stroll on the Brattleboro Area Jewish Community’s land followed by a delicious Shabbat dinner with songs, blessings, and a story. Dinner will be supplied by Cantor Kate Judd, Chelsa Roy of Monkey Moon Challah & Catering, and others.

At 5 pm Kate will lead a reflective walk on the land with prayer and song. At 6 we’ll gather to light candles, share blessings, and sit down to eat together. Following the dinner we’ll enjoy our dessert accompanied by a story from Rebecca Golden. We’ll wrap up with Birkat HaMazon (blessing after the meal) and some z’mirot (Shabbat evening songs).