We hear a lot these days about “living off the grid”, but it wasn’t that long ago, a little more than a hundred years, that rural folks here in Hampton did just that. In this remarkable interview from Alison Davis’ “Hampton Remembers”, Helen Hammond Mathews, who was raised on the farm on Lewis Road, paints a pastoral picture of the natural year and all it provided, and the cultivation of one’s own land. We have glimpses of that time, in the seasons of wild strawberries and blueberries and concord grapes, in the cultivation of our own vegetables, in the harvesting of fiddleheads and walnuts and apples, and their preservation in cider and in sauce. And this month, when we turn the sap we collect from our maple trees into the liquid gold of syrup, and turn from winter to spring, the start of our growing year.

The spring meant so much to us those days, as it does today, but then we were more shut in and didn’t have all the fresh things to eat. We could hardly wait for the frost to go out of the ground to dig the parsnips and horseradish that had been there all winter. My mother loved the horseradish – and if you know horseradish you know it has a life of its own! She’d have to go outside to grate it because she cried so – and she’d grate and grate and weep and weep – with pleasure! And then she’d bring it in and put vinegar on it. Then the rhubarb was very important and came up very fast.

Some morning my father would put on his boots and get a basket and go off in the woods and gather cowslips. The woods were full of cowslips, in very wet places, that come up about the same time as skunk cabbage does. Cowslips have those lovely yellow flowers, you know, and in the book they’re marsh marigolds – but around here they were cowslips. Then the dandelions, they came along and they were so popular. All these greens were much sought after. My mother cooked them and put vinegar on them.

Everyone had their own cider vinegar. Everybody had cider – that was one of the things they didn’t do themselves, there was always a cider mill somewhere nearby, like at Jirah Hyde’s in Bigelow. We always had a barrel, or half-barrel perhaps, of vinegar. It just made itself, out of old cider. We generally had a vinegar “cruet” they call it, standing on the table – a fancy glass bottle with a stopper.

In spring they had sulfur and molasses, that was a yellow powder mixed up with molasses. And they had tonics in the spring, and sassafras tea. You see we needed something different in the spring — we had been eating salt meat all winter, lovely meat that we cured ourselves like dried beef and sausage we made – and we had lots of it, and our own potatoes – and lots of them – and the carrots and turnips and cabbage, for a certain length of time, and always apples! They did so much with apples, all kinds of desserts. And so in the spring fresh things meant a great deal to us.

The summer – we know how wonderful the summer was, and how hard they worked, with all the wonderful berries and fruits and vegetables. In that era they were beginning to have canning jars, that old-fashioned kind with the screw top that you never could open, before Mason jars. Before that they just packed their things in crocks without much cover.

They still dried apples. In our house there was a contraption, a tin thing, very bulky, that set on the wood stove, as big as the stove, and lots of little trays or shelves through it. They laid cut apples on those shelves and the apples dried without making them too dry. Otherwise they had to lay them out in the sun in the yard to dry. This was the modern way. And of course they dried the corn, and all the old houses you go into have the hooks in the ceilings where they hung such things to dry.

And then we had honey in the fall. Not everybody had their own bees but we heard stories about going out hunting for the wild honey in the trees. I remember hearing neighbors telling how they found a “bee tree”. But we had our own honey because my aunt, Miss Eleanor Sharpe, was a bee woman. She lived with us and she had her own bee outfit – hives and bees wax you prepared — and she had an outfit to wear that was really something, that she put on to keep from getting stung – a hat with a big veil and gloves. She had the pound-box frames that came flattened and you had to put them together. And you had the honeycomb cut in little squares and it had to be melted on the edges hot enough to stick in the frames for the bees to start building on. They usually filled them solid full, but sometimes the squares in the corners would be a bit empty. We had honey and we had biscuits – and they were good!

In the fall the country was absolutely covered with wild grapes. You could go anywhere and get a big, sweet kind of grape, purple, bigger and coarser than any you see today but with a very good flavor, oh so many of them around! And in that connection let me say one nice thing – we never saw poison ivy. We went through the woods and never saw any. It doesn’t seem possible now but when I was a little girl there was just one big bunch of it on the wall beside the road on the way to school and we watched it. If someone had only cut that down it would have done the neighborhood a whole lot of good.

But the big thing to do in the fall was to get bayberries to make soap. We gathered the berries and boiled the gook off them and my aunt made soap – that was better than the plain soap because it was scented. Most people made their own yellow laundry soap but if they didn’t cut it at just the right time the edges were all rough, which wasn’t pleasant.

Many people had cranberry bogs in all the swampland we had those days. It was pretty wet and boggy to pick them but we loved to go picking. They varied in size, not sorted like the ones we buy today – they petered out to nothing on the end of the stalk. There are still a few cranberries growing in Hampton even today.
There were so many nuts in those days. Chestnuts, we couldn’t wait for the chestnuts! We had to have a frost so the outside shell would pop open. And then we had hickory nuts – now we’d call them walnuts – and we had shagbark nuts that grew on that tall rather slender tree with the shaggy bark that’s falling off. We had butternuts, and butternuts are supreme! Very rich, make very nice cake!
In the garden we always grew sage and we had caraway seeds – what is home without caraway cookies! And there was always a great deal of catnip around.

We had our own meat on the farm, we had a flock of sheep and of course the dairy cattle, and of course we had pigs – or how would we get our hams and our sausages and all that sort of thing? They cured their own hams those days, and their own dried beef and salt pork. We had creamed salt pork. It sounds awful but it was so good. They sliced it, cooked it a little and threw out the water to get out the salt and halfway fried it and then added a nice cream sauce. They would always kill an old hen and we had eggs as long as they kept laying. We had our own milk and cream and butter.

And cheese – not many made cheese but my mother made cheese. She had to have a lot of fresh milk and she put it in a big tub made of tin. She put the rennet into it at the beginning. Then she let it stand and it curdled or set, like custard, and then she cut that up a little bit so it would be easier to handle and the idea was that she must have all the wetness, the drippings out of the cheese and have just the custard part left. So it was put in a cheese box of 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 pounds and in a cheesecloth and put in big presses that would do 2, 3, 4 cheeses at a time. Each press had a cover screwed down which pressed out the whey and after a few more days no more whey came out but my mother looked at the cheese each day and covered it with oil to keep it from getting too dry right on top. She trimmed the curd that squeezed out around the edges (and I was always standing with my mouth open waiting for a little bite), it took probably a matter of two or three months of her pressing it a little every day to get all the moisture out of it. When it was done she sold the cheese.

Helen Hammond Mathews

Cranberries grew in a swamp we owned which had been cleared and planted much earlier. It’s now a pond just north of where Little River crosses Route 97. But at that time there were thirty acres of cranberries. Just before frost time we would pick cranberries in there – the whole family picked and we got as high as twenty bushels in a year. We’d spread ‘em out on the floor in a big room upstairs to get color and let ‘em dry out and we’d sort ‘em a little bit and my mother’d take them to Danielson to trade for supplies.

There was a stone dam across the middle of the meadow and in the winter time they closed it up and let the water come over the cranberries just a certain depth about six or eight inches, and then in the spring they’d open it and the cranberries would grow in the sunlight. And the water ran down Little River of course. But that was the way they did it in the beginning. When we had it we didn’t do a thing of that kind – we just left ‘em the way they were and we picked all those cranberries. But the bog’s disappeared until there’s no sign of it.

Arthur Kimball

I rarely purchase flowers for their fragrance. Lilac and viburnum are exceptions, as are herbs. In my garden, scent is the pleasantest of surprises, usually appearing for the first time as I pass a garden, a trace on a current of air. And then the delightful task of locating the source, and once discovered, its perfume is the flower’s raison d’etre.

The scented year starts in our garden in late winter with witch hazel. Its fragrance is what’s noticed first, the astringent spice announcing that a few of the clusters have unfurled their sulphur spurs, small bursts of florescent yellow and a fragrance as bracing as the February air. A couple of crocus are scented – a pearly blue, an ivory, a golden with mahogany stripes – rewarding our efforts to inspect the earth for new growth and the honeybees’ search for nectar. These earliest blooms are followed by the long season of narcissus, and while there are a few fragrant daffodils, the most heavenly perfumes emit from the simple, soft white petals circling red, orange or yellow coronas, such as the old-fashioned “Poet’s Daffodil”. White flowers are often the most fragrant, as they have neither vibrant colors nor directional markings to attract pollinators.

First of the other spring scents is the hyacinth’s, one of the most perfumed of all flowers. Hyacinths require an intimate setting, so try a visited space where their luscious colors can be partnered with the velvety faces of primroses and pansies. Conversely, Lily-of-the-Valley should be planted in masses for they form excellent ground covers. Fill little bottles with little bouquets to appreciate this, my favorite scent. Clove dianthus is another carpeter, though on a lesser scale, with its silvery tufts of needled foliage. The frilly pink blossoms hold the spicy scent of cloves.

Spring brings several scented shrubs when our senses are most receptive. The first is mountain andromeda, frequently included in foundation plantings for the fragrant cascades of white or pink bells dripping from the glossy foliage. Viburnum ‘Carlesii’ also merits placement where it will be repeatedly passed, its blush buds opening to white flowers producing the most exquisite of perfumes. Another heavenly scented plant, daphne ‘Carol Mackie’, hosts clusters of pale pink fragrant flowers among whorls of variegated foliage, gray-green with yellow and cream margins. This compact shrub deserves a sheltered place in the flower garden.

Larger shrubs require more room. Along with several varieties of scented azaleas, mock orange is an old-fashioned favorite with a citrus aroma. Prized solely for its scent, it should not play a prominent role in the garden. Conversely, magnolia, the most fragrant of spring’s ornamental trees, graces the garden throughout the year, their scents – floral, lemony, vanilla, musky, or even licorice — as varied as their flower forms and colors. Lilacs, the most familiar of fragrances, never fail to evoke a sense of nostalgia. Saturating the air with their perfume, lilacs often flanked the privy.

Summer introduces itself with two more of the most familiar and beloved fragrances. Peonies: shrubby perennials with attractive foliage all season and summer blooms of various forms, from delicate singles to luscious layers, colors, from pure white to dark crimson, and perfume, from sweet to spicy. The “Queen of the June Bouquet”, peonies are spectacular cut flowers lasting more than a week to form the “face” of any arrangement and scent the house. Roses: the essence of romance with their sumptuous petals and intoxicating scents. The fragrant roses are not the ones we purchase from refrigerators for special occasions. They are the old roses and the recent cultivars, such as David Austin shrubs and climbers, which belong in every garden, mingling with perennials and lending grace and structure and color and scent. Classified as sweet, fruity, or resembling myrrh, musk or tea leaves, a single rose in a bud vase will perfume an entire room, and affirm their reputation as the “Queen of Flowers”.

Later in the summer, lavender, with its silver needles and purple spikes, is recognized mainly for its heavenly fragrance believed to have a calming, peaceful effect. While the daylilies filling our summer gardens and roadsides have faint scents, Oriental lilies are flamboyant in every sense of the word, with luscious colors, enormous blooms, and intense perfumes. Two annuals come into their own in summer. Sweet Peas produce ruffled petals of pale and dark pastels with the fragrance of grapes, a must in cottage gardens twining along fences and trellises. Nicotiana, which smells like jasmine, should be planted near a window where it can be appreciated at night when it is intensely fragrant. There are also some perfumed woody plants. Honeysuckle “Scentsation” is a spectacular vine with tubular, yellow flowers brimming with nectar and fragrant from a distance. Carolina allspice is a large shrub, and though its dark red flowers are inconspicuous, its strong, fruity fragrance is what we discern. Clethra blooms at the end of the summer, its spikes of flowers, from white, through pink, to deep red, hosting a fragrant mixture of honey and clove.

While autumn is reminiscent of the ripe aroma of apples and pumpkins and the mustiness of fallen leaves, “Sweet Autumn Clematis” is the most fragrant of these vines, smothered in a flurry of tiny white flowers that gardeners liken to a delightful mixture of spun sugar, citrus fruit, almonds and vanilla. Autumn is also the season of harvesting herbs, and I would be remiss if I failed to mention them in an article on garden scents. The herb garden is where most of them dwell. Studies in color, with every conceivable green, and texture, with needled and velvety foliage, mossy carpets and feathery stalks, so many scents are associated with the names of herbs: lavender, dill, basil, rosemary, mint, thyme, sweet marjoram, sage, garlic, chives. The fragrance of herbs will linger all the way till Christmas, when we bring the seasonal scents of evergreens into our homes.

Scent relaxes us, grounds us when we’re stressed, as we absorb what we can see, listen for what we can hear, touch what surrounds us, and, above all, breathe. It’s closest to memory; we recognize certain scents as soon as we step into their realm. Scent is shared, not reserved solely for those who live among or visit our gardens, but for those who simply pass by.

Dayna McDermott Arriola

The Board of Education is heading to the Freedom of Information Commission on March 11 to again resolve issues regarding executive sessions.

Board member Juan Arriola filed a complaint last fall concerning the September 25, 2024 meeting in which an executive session was held “To discuss an attorney-client privileged communication related to an employee.” The complaint alleges that “board members discussed a communication from the former principal’s attorney” during the executive session, thus the client “was the former principal, not the Board of Education.” Arriola also noted that the principal was no longer an employee when the executive session was conducted, and that the communication “does not claim pending legal action against the board.”

Arriola claimed that at the time “I could not address my concerns regarding the appropriateness of holding an executive session to discuss the matter because I was the only board member who was not sent the communication prior to the meeting, and therefore did not know its contents”. Though Arriola was the subject of the attorney’s correspondence, which lists as recipients all of the board members except Arriola, he did not receive it until September 28 in response to a Freedom of Information request.

The second complaint concerns the October 23 meeting when an Executive Session was held for a “discussion concerning an attorney-client privileged communication regarding a complaint pertaining to the conduct of a Board member.” When Arriola was informed that he was the subject, his request for an open session was denied, the complaint states, because of a communication from the board’s attorney on the matter. According to the governing statutes, persons being discussed during executive sessions have the right to an open, rather than a closed, session. In his complaint, Arriola suggests that “while the attorney client privileged information was appropriately held in a closed session, the rest of the executive session…should have been held in an open session, per my request”.

Arriola requested that both parties use the commission’s ombudsman program to resolve the issues, so that taxpayers wouldn’t incur exorbitant legal expenses. Though board members never discussed the possibility, or even the complaints themselves, as of press time, Superintendent Skarzynski and Arriola have both been in contact with the commission in the hopes of resolving the first complaint and sparing the town the legal fees associated with the hearing.

Last year, the Board of Education spent approximately $5,000 arguing the case against Arriola regarding former Superintendent Sarli’s presence at an executive session, with commissioners unanimously siding with the hearing officer’s decision that concluded the school board breached the statute regarding attendance at closed executive sessions. The board spent an additional $2,264 when attorneys representing them asked to reopen the hearing, a request that was denied by the commission. At no time did the board vote or even discuss the complaints and how to proceed in resolving them.

Though the board budgeted $20,000 for legal expenses in FY2023-2024 to cover contract negotiations, which ultimately cost only $5,194, $46,998 was spent. Of that amount, approximately $18,000 was spent on the investigation of a complaint lodged against former principal Patrice Merendina by former custodian Armin Harris, though the board did not vote to hire attorneys to investigate the complaint and has yet to review the results of the investigation. A Freedom of Information request for the report remains unanswered.

Gazette Staff

A second complaint has been filed with the Commission of Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) against the Board of Education in connection with the case involving former custodian, Armin Harris. Lodged by board member Juan Arriola the complaint alleges retaliation due to his advocacy of school employees who filed complaints of discrimination with the CHRO against school officials. Connecticut General Statutes 46a-60(b) (1) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits actions “against any person because such person has opposed any discriminatory employment practice or because such person has filed a complaint or testified or assisted in any proceeding under section 46a-82, 46a-83 or 46a-84.”

Arriola points to instances of retaliation that stem from his support of Yvonne Bowen and Harris, both persons of color and former employees of the school who filed complaints against school officials with the CHRO. Reportedly, Arriola volunteered to provide testimony for Bowen; however the offer proved unnecessary when Bowen’s complaint was successfully settled with her receipt of unemployment compensation and a $20,000 settlement.

As to the case involving Harris, the complaint states that Arriola informed him of school policies when the former custodian reported a racial incident which occurred on school grounds to school officials and to the police. Per policy, Harris filed a discrimination grievance against former Principal Patrice Merendina, and later with the CHRO. At Harris’ request, Arriola attempted to attend a disciplinary meeting on June 21, 2024 with Harris and two administrators, and distributed Harris’ letter of resignation at the July 26 meeting, though the meeting did not, ultimately, take place, and the letter of resignation was confiscated.

Though Arriola states that he “was only ever acting in the board’s interest by assisting employees who were being discriminated against,” these actions, the complaint alleges, lead to retaliation.

The complaint details the board’s September 19, 2024 meeting called to discuss “the performance of a board member”, during which certain school officials “accused me of instilling an environment of fear, slandering the principal to the public by speaking to the media, and handicapping the Board’s ability to hire new staff because of my alleged actions”. According to the complaint, one board member attempted to have Arriola removed from the board and, failing that, censured.

The alleged slander relates to a September 13 article in The Willimantic Chronicle which included a communication from former Superintendent Sarli that summarized the investigation into Harris’ grievance and “substantiated some of (Harris’) allegations, specifically that Ms. Merendina engaged in certain inappropriate conduct towards (Harris) at times”. Arriola has repeatedly denied any communication with the reporter, who he has urged officials to contact for verification. He has also denied having a negative impact on school staff. Though staff present at the meeting were not allowed to speak publicly, after the meeting concluded several privately assured members of Arriola’s family that this was not the case, the complaint states.

At a subsequent meeting on September 25, an executive session was called to discuss a correspondence from Merendina’s attorney concerning Arriola, which was sent to all board members except Arriola who obtained it three days later via a Freedom of Information request. At the board’s October 20 meeting, Arriola attempted to read a statement refuting allegations raised in the correspondence, “namely any inappropriate conduct related to my support of Harris, communication of any type with any media, and evidence to support the positive relationship I share with staff.” Chairman Rose Bisson confiscated the letter, stated she would read it at the next meeting, and later informed Arriola that she lost it. At this meeting, the board voted to seek legal counsel in investigating the complaint lodged against Arriola by the former principal. At a December 18 meeting of the school board, Bisson informed Arriola of his removal from all committees due to his “involvement” in personnel issues, an action, Arriola claims, that is against board policy and state statute.

The board’s attorneys have requested and been granted an extension of time to answer Arriola’s complaint.

Gazette Staff

Fletcher Memorial Library has a new librarian. Beth Desjardin, who has been running the library on a temporary basis, has been hired to fill the position. One of our long serving and invaluable volunteers, Beth has worked nine hours a week for the last six years to help keep Fletcher running smoothly.

Although her previous professional work was in accounting, Beth can honestly say that she started out in library science. She was a teenaged page in her local library and she has never lost her love for books. Friendly and efficient, Beth is an enthusiastic reader, always willing to share information about a new author or a good book. She knows our patrons and is familiar with all the necessary programs and procedures.

We are fortunate to have her services.

Janice Trecker

Hampton Elementary School’s first and second grade students recently studied penguins. Here they share some of what they learned.

Did you know that yellow eyed penguins live in the woods? They live in a warm environment. Black foot penguins live in a hot environment. They sound like a donkey. Some penguins live in Africa. The baby penguins that live in Africa are brown and fluffy. The penguins that live in Africa have black beaks and black eyes and black feet. They take mud baths when they are hot. Mom and dad penguins take turns carrying the chick. Mom and dad take turns going hunting out to the sea. They go hunting for 4 weeks at a time. Did you know that penguins are curious and friendly? There are 18 different kinds of penguins. Penguins eat fish and squid and krill. Penguins live in colonies to stay safe. Penguins cannot fly.

Avory

There are 18 kinds of penguins. The mom and dad go out in the sea for 1 month. Penguins lay 1 or 2 eggs. Penguins cannot fly. There is a macaroni penguin.

Skylar

Penguins go out in the sea for one month. Dad penguins put the baby on the ice. Then the mom scoops the baby up. The first baby to hatch tweets to the next. Penguins keep their eggs safe. Baby penguins are very furry. They get bigger and bigger. Mom penguins go out to get fish for 4 weeks.

Evin

Did you know that emperor penguins weigh 38 kilograms? I knew that. Did you know that there are 18 kinds of penguins? The reason they call the macaroni penguin is because its head looks like macaroni. Baby penguins jump from huge cliffs! African penguins take mud baths to keep cool. African penguin feathers are brown. African penguins don’t have yellow heads like emperor penguins.

Felix

Penguins go tobogganing. If a baby stays on the ice too long it will die. Penguins dive for a month. The parent penguins take care of the little one.

Emeline

Did you know that penguins eat fish krill and squid? Some penguins live where its warm and some live where its cold. Mom and dad take turns carrying the chick. Dad hides the baby penguin under his pouch. African penguin babies like to swim in the mud to cool off. Yellow eyed penguins live in the woods. There are 18 different kinds of penguins. Penguins are very cool divers. They can swim. Emperor penguins weigh 38 kilograms. The dads line up for the moms. If the baby stays on the ice too long it dies. Penguins are very smart

Carlie

Penguins swim in deep water. Their feathers hold air or oxygen when there are snow storms. Penguins live in cold homes and they eat fish. They live in the arctic. The biggest penguin is the emperor. They jump off foot high cliffs. There are 18 types of penguins.

Collin

Emperor penguins weigh up to 38 kilograms. All baby penguins will die if they are on the snowy ground for too long. Did you know that there is a king penguin called the emperor penguin? They have yellow bellies. Blue penguins are so cute. Macaroni penguins have giant yellow eyebrows. Emperors are the biggest penguins and blue penguins are the smallest penguins.

Braydon

Emperor penguin babies sometimes jump off 40 or 50 foot cliffs. Penguins slide on their bellies which is called tobogganing. African penguins live in warm environments. Penguins dive into the water. Emperor penguins are the largest. They weigh 38 kilograms. Penguins can jump. Penguins lay one or two eggs. When the mommy penguins come back the daddy penguins line up so the mommy penguins can find their dad penguins. Penguins cannot breathe under water. Fairy penguins are the smallest penguins. Penguins eat fish, squid and krill. Penguins are curious. Most penguins live in warm places. Sometimes penguins jump 8 feet onto the water or slide onto the ice.

Berlin

Penguins have sharp things on top of their mouths. When baby penguins first do their swimming they jump off a cliff. Emperor penguins are the largest, they can weigh up to 38 kilograms. When penguins preen they collect air in their feathers. When they dive deep the air releases and they launch out of the water

Andrea

Facts about penguins. Baby penguins are so so cute. Baby penguins take baths in mud to cool off. Baby penguins take swim lessons with friends. Baby penguins can jump onto the water when they slide on their bellies. That’s called tobogganing. Did you know that penguins can jump? They cannot fly. They eat fish, squid and krill. They lay eggs, 1 or 2 eggs. Baby penguins are gray and fluffy. They cannot breathe under water. One fact about penguins is sometimes they die on the ice. When its moms turn to take care of the baby mom penguins go out on the ice to hunt for food. When they come back it’s the dads turn to take care of the baby.

Charlotte

Penguins dive for their food. The mom goes out to sea till when the dad goes. Dad penguins hide the eggs under their pouch on top of their feet.

Logan

Penguins can jump. They take turns feeding the babies. Baby penguins take their first steps on the ice. It’s cool to see the penguins jump off the ice. Emperor penguins are cool to see when they dive in the water. Little blue penguins or fairy penguins weigh 1 kilogram. If a chick stays on the ice too long it will die. Penguins slide on their belly. Did you know that dad penguins hide the eggs under his pouch on top of his feet? Penguins eat fish, squid and krill. They have a black back with white bellies. Penguins are flightless birds. Penguins slide on their bellies. It is called tobogganing. Mom penguins chew the fish and spit it out in the babies mouth.

Abby

Did you know that there are 18 types of penguins? Penguins are so friendly to people. Little blue penguins are only 30 cms tall and only weigh 1 kilogram. They live in a burrow. Yellow eyed penguins live in the woods right next to stone. Did you know that emperor penguins collect air in their feathers? They dive down and go up and let go of the air. And they launch up on the surface. Emperor penguins weigh up to 38 kilograms.

Wyatt

About penguins. Did you know that daddy penguins are gray and fluffy? They cannot breathe under water. Did you know that they lay eggs, 1 to 2 eggs. Did you know that there are many different kinds (18) of penguins? Did you know that penguins eat fish, squid and krill? Did you know that babies take their first steps after a few months.

Gunnar

Did you know that there are 18 species of penguins? Penguins are friendly. Penguins eat fish. Penguins are black and white. Penguins slide on their bellies. It’s called tobogganing. Emperor penguins are the largest. They can weigh up to 38 kilograms. Some penguins live in hot places. When penguins preen they collect air in their feathers. When they dive deep the air releases and they launch out of the water.

Owen

Did you know that a little blue penguin or fairy penguin is the smallest at 30 cms tall and 1 kilogram? They can slide on their stomachs. They cannot fly. They eat fish, squid and krill. Penguins are cool. Emperors are the largest type of penguin. They weigh up to 38 kilograms. When the chick is born it peeps to another egg. The egg cracks and 2 chicks are born. Sometimes penguins don’t like to get out of their mother’s stomach. She flings her penguins out on the ice. Sometimes the ice is so cold that he goes to huddle up with his friends.

Juneau

African black footed penguins live in Africa. They sound like a donkey. Penguins eat fish, squid and krill. There are 18 kinds of penguins. Penguins can jump. Penguins huddle in storms to keep warm. Little blue penguins are the smallest at 30 cms tall. They weigh 1 kilogram. Baby penguins jump off a 50 feet tall cliff. Emperor penguins are the biggest.

Clark

Penguins hold their eggs on their feet to keep them warm. Penguins can jump off 50 foot high cliffs. Penguins eat fish. Penguins slide on their bellies. Penguins swim really fast and fly out of the water.

Bryce

Did you know that penguins can jump? They can eat squid and fish. They are birds and they lay eggs, 1 or 2 eggs. The emperor penguins are the largest penguins. Little blue penguins or fairy penguins are the smallest at 30 cms. They weigh 1 kilogram. Baby penguins jump off a cliff that is 50 feet high. Emperor penguins weigh about 38 kilograms. They can’t fly but they can swim.

Jack

Penguins take turns hunting out to sea. They go for 4 weeks at a time. They get in line for the moms to find their mate and chicks. Babies take their first steps after a few months. Penguins are very curious. Penguins are also very friendly. There are many different kinds of penguins, 18 to be exact. Penguins cannot fly. Penguins slide on their bellies. When penguins fly on their bellies it is called tobogganing. Penguins lay 1 or 2 eggs. Baby penguins are gray and very fluffy. Penguins cannot breathe under water. Daddy penguins hide their egg under their pouch on top of their feet. Penguins eat fish, squid and krill.

Waylon

Here are seven haiku poems that students wrote as part of a lesson about snowflakes. These student authors are from “Team C” at Hampton Elementary School, which combines fifth and sixth graders. The lesson integrated math, science, and social studies. Students learned that three kinds of snowflakes are most common: dendrimers, plates, and stellar plates. Dendrimers are the fluffy, feathery snowflakes, plates have six sides, and stellar plates have six broad arms, resembling a star. Students learned that snowflakes will have six points because of how the water molecules, with two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom bonding together, freeze to form snow crystals. This gives snowflakes hexagonal or six-fold symmetry, ensuring that you won’t see an eight-pointed snowflake in nature. Team C students made paper snowflakes with six-fold symmetry as part of this lesson, and they also learned about haiku.

Haiku is a style of poetry invented in Japan. Haiku poems are often about nature, they have a specific rhythmical structure, and they consist of three lines. The first line always has five beats, the second has seven beats, and the third and final line has five beats. Can you count the beats in these poems to discover that pattern? It might be fun to examine snowflakes with a magnifying glass as well to check for the six sides or points!

Snowflakes are so cold
Cold and tasty like ice cream
Scientific too

Madison

Snowflakes sprinkle high
Snowflakes come out of the clouds
The ground is white, bright

Austin

Snowflakes are pretty
They are winter’s special joy
Snowflakes are awesome

Addie

Snowflakes are pretty
Falling, shining, snow–capped hill
Beautiful snowflakes

Hudson

Dancing in the air
Snowflakes are so beautiful
When they fall down here

Lyela & Ms. Paterson

Snowflakes falling down
From the sky so beautiful
Gently to the ground

Jace

Snow comes in winter
There are three types of snowflakes
Snow: cold in winter

Niamh

Dear Auntie Mac,
I have a question. I work as a cashier at a busy grocery store and sometimes customers come through, and I notice they have something lodged between their front teeth, like a bright green piece of lettuce. Do I tell them? If it’s a friend, I always do. But strangers? Common courtesy? Or insulting? I don‘t want to embarrass anyone, but I don’t want anyone to be embarrassed later, especially if they are meeting someone important next.

A Caring Cashier

My Dear Neighbor:
Your question is both timely and prescient (and Auntie Mac thanks you for allowing her to use “prescient” in a sentence). In fact, an examination of it reveals its root conundrum as a microcosm of a larger issue that we deal with daily, and increasingly, to our own detriment.

There are situations in which we find ourselves confronted by an absolute abnormality, as plain to us as let us say a leaf of lettuce wedged between a stranger’s teeth. More and more often, out of what we console ourselves is a sense of propriety and concern for others’ feelings, we hesitate to point out the glaring error, but wonder, later, if it would not have been more helpful to just identify the obvious before more harm was done. What is really going on underneath the sheen of gentility and “fear of insulting” someone is fear for ourselves—for the lettuce-wearer to not appreciate our assistance, for others to judge us for speaking up, for us to be “noticed” and marked as a troublemaker (even if those judging us are as inconsequential as nameless shoppers in a grocery queue whom we will never meet again). In other words (and Auntie Mac has quite a few of them), we more and more value our own emotional comfort over speaking out and rendering a helpful and honest, although possibly temporary painful, kindness that allows the unknowing wearer of leftover lunch the ability to quickly change course and venture forth with an unblemished smile.

Auntie Mac will now descend from the extension ladder of metaphor and offer this real-world advice, dear, in case you may have missed it: When doing a kindness for others (and you yourself know it is a kindness), first admit to yourself that it is for yourself that you are concerned, in your wish to avoid possible negative feelings directed at you, and then find a way (and there are many) to inform the person in question of the issue without drawing the interest or attention of those around.

And even after you have done your best to point out this improper wearing of greenery discreetly, you will most likely find that the recipient’s reaction is to include everyone within earshot in an elaborate outburst of gratitude, apology, semi-comical pronouncements of how embarrassing that would have been, etc. Your good deed, then, will be shared with the recipient by many, in the exact opposite manner that you feared.

Speaking truth to salad has a way of doing that.
Your Auntie Mac

Angela Fitzgerald Landolphi passed away on November 7, 2024 at the age of 57 after a long and arduous battle with multiple health and spinal issues. Born on June 9, 1967 in San Diego, Angela earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature at Villanova University in 1989, and a Master’s Degree in Communication Sciences at UConn in 1998. She served as a Legislative Aide and Assistant to Governor Lowell Weicker and spent 25 years as a Birth-to-Three Speech and Language Pathologist. A devout Catholic, she cared deeply for others, especially children with special needs and their families. An avid runner, she spent early mornings logging miles before work, competing in local races, and running half marathons, enjoyed hiking and vacationing with her family, and watching her sons excel at everything they did. She is survived by her husband, Robert, her sons, Joseph, Andrew, and Stephen, several sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews. Our condolences to all.

Dorothy “Sunny” Peterson passed away on December 17 at the age of 92. Born on April 24, 1932 in Framingham, MA, she and her husband, Carl, lived in many places around the world before settling in Hampton in 1966 to raise their family. Since World War II, when she accomplished many necessary chores for a growing small after-work farm meant to feed the family during those years of shortages, she was always drawn to the earth and the Nature Kingdom. Gardening and herbal remedies were her passion. She also enjoyed choral singing, plays, painting, sewing, and storytelling, and she always assumed a leading role on the stage of the Hampton Community Players. Among her other volunteer activities were mentoring elementary school children and hosting exchange students. Our condolences to her family, her four children Greg (and Mary), Cort (and Sue), Xanthé (and Keith) Zinelle (and Doug), her six grandchildren, and her great grandchild.

Paula Lynn Maddaloni passed away on January 30, 2025 in the 61st year of her life. Born on September 18, 1964 in Windham, Paula was a president of Swift Water Artisan’s Coop, where she left a mark on her community. She was predeceased by her husband, with whom she shared over 30 years of marriage. She was a dedicated mother of Jennifer Welker, Joseph Galipeau, and Vanessa Maddaloni, as well as a proud grandmother to her six grandchildren. She was also a devoted advocate for her son, Joseph, and fought tirelessly for his special needs services. She was one of the first individuals in Connecticut to secure a grant to keep him at home. She enjoyed spending time surrounded by family and friends, including her many adopted sons and sons-in-law: Randy, Dan, Jason, Victor, Ty, and “her hero”, Haisan. Our condolences to all.

Ronald Gluck passed away peacefully on February 12, 2025 at the age of 84. Born on May 15, 1941 in Plainfield, Ron was a long-time resident of Hampton where he farmed and helped to create one of our most pastoral scenes in town with his horses, cows, sheep, and lambs in the spring. He was the first president of the Central Cycle Club for local motorcyclists participating in trail riding and scramble races, and here in Hampton he served on the Agricultural Commission. Most residents remember him from the Hampton General Store, where he was a friendly presence and conversationalist, in the Memorial Day Parade, where his team of oxen pulled flatbeds for the town’s organizations, and on Plow Day, the annual April event he organized for teams of horses from area towns which drew spectators from near and far to witness the plowing of the fields. Our condolences to his wife, Eunice Fuller, and her family.

Diane Joan Castillo passed away on February 14, 2025 in the 86th year of her life. Born on May 18, 1939 in Clarks Falls, she graduated from Stonington High at the top of her class and worked at Groton Sub base as a secretary where she met the love of her life, Conrad Castillo, who predeceased her not long ago. She later worked at UCONN in acquisitions, a male dominated job at that time, until her retirement. She loved working in her gardens and playing her fife. Mostly, she loved her family and always found an occasion where they could all be together. She leaves behind her son, Mark Castillo and his wife, her daughters, Elaine Duchaineau, Michelle Leon and her husband, Mary Blankenship and her husband, and lots of grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Our condolences to all.