Nocturnal Animals Enliven the Norfolk Darkness
By Jude MeadPhoto by Fred Knight Norfolk is considered a quiet town during the cold winter months, leading to the mistaken impression that the village rolls up its streets at dusk and slumbers until dawn. Actually that is the time when the exciting world of darkness comes alive and the stillness of the night is […]
November and December Weather and a Yearly Summary for 2018
Lots of Warmth and Precipitation By Russell Russ The year of 2018 was a wet one, and the months of November and December were also above normal for precipitation with both months adding to our yearly surplus. The previous three years were all below normal for precipitation, but 2018 ended that—and then some. The conclusion […]
Botelle Students Take On the National Great Kindness Challenge
By Lauren Valentino At the end of January, Botelle’s Student Council took on a new challenge, the Great Kindness Challenge. This weeklong event is designed to promote a positive community, with students, staff and families completing many different acts of kindness. The Great Kindness Challenge is a yearly program for schools and families across the […]
December, Winter Greenery
By Leslie Watkins This year the astronomical first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere falls on Friday, December 21. We will experience about nine hours and 15 minutes of sunlight on this shortest day of the year, the Winter Solstice. The word solstice comes from the Latin for “sol”, meaning sun and sistere, […]
Norfolk’s October 2018 Weather
An average October By Russell Russ Many recent months have been high-ranking for temperature or precipitation, or both. Something we have not seen much of lately is an average weather month, but that is just about what October was. The month started out warm with some late summer-like weather. That all changed by the […]
Education at Botelle—Building Well-Rounded Students
By Lauren Valentino If you ask 50 people what the purpose of public education is, you are likely to get 50 different answers. One reason for this is that people have different priorities: the arts, technology, world languages, raising test scores, the list goes on and on. Differences in priorities became apparent at the […]
Whiting Mills: An Old Sock Factory Stuffed With Surprises
By Sally Quale Inside a former mill building tucked behind the community college in Winsted there is a warren of artists’ spaces, craftsmen’s workshops and miscellaneous businesses. This is Whiting Mills. On any given day, a ceramicist might be glazing her pots for the kiln, a painter scrubbing his canvases, a weaver laying out […]
November, Winter Is Coming
By Leslie Watkins Along with signs like the early migration of birds and butterflies, pigs collecting sticks and an abundance of acorns, banded woolly bear caterpillars are thought to forecast a long, cold winter when they sport a narrow band of orange and are especially fuzzy. Woolly bears hatch in the fall and eat […]
Squirrels: They Are Everywhere
By Jude Mead On a good day it seems like there’s an overpopulation of squirrels this year, but the professionals disagree. According to Michael Gregonis, a wildlife biologist at the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the number of squirrels racing about in our backyards is actually lower than last year. “There has […]
Norfolk’s September 2018 Weather
Warm and Wet By Russell Russ September weather in Norfolk this year was mostly cloudy and humid for much of the month. Temperatures and rainfall were both well above normal. September is prime hurricane season, and the Carolinas were hit with a devastating rainstorm when Hurricane Florence made landfall Sept. 14. Remnants of Florence […]
