Memorial Day traditionally marks the beginning of a new season even if summer officially is a few weeks off. Our streets become parade routes festooned with flags and marching bands. The busy lives we live don’t always allow for time to stand on the roadside and patiently watch for the first sign of a fire truck coming down Main Street, or pause on the sidewalk to wait for the advancing sounds of a marching band.

We see young and old pass in procession. And we applaud and cheer. There is palpable excitement when the sirens wind up. We look around and nod with our neighbors. A wave and a hello leads to conversation, often small talk but the totality of this Memorial Day moment is the connective tissue we depend on as a community. We take time out to visit.

Families and neighbors and friends come together. Children race around the lawn. Dogs pull on their leashes. Mothers and fathers push strollers. An older generation totes folding chairs and settles in before the speeches start.

By the time the ceremonies conclude, and we exchange friendly parting words with our neighbors and friends, we have once again been reminded of the solemn nature of what we all just witnessed. Americans have been recognizing our fallen soldiers since the years following the Civil War. In 1868, a group of Union veterans calling themselves the Grand Army of the Republic established Decoration Day, a time to place flowers on the graves of war dead. May 30 was chosen as a ideal day for the observance because flowers would likely be in bloom all across America.

This year our reporters witnessed Memorial Day celebrations in towns throughout the Northwest Corner. (Please see our coverage here.)

While Memorial Day has become synonymous with the advent of a welcome season of summer vacation from schools, graduations and time to enjoy the outdoors and plan a family vacation, as a nation we also bookend this time with a day to soberly reflect and remember those who went before — who gave their lives in service to our country. We especially appreciate the words of Jonathan Ialongo, a Millbrook native who served two tours in Afghanistan, who delivered heartfelt remarks on Monday, May 27. “Many people always wonder how you honor those who make the ultimate sacrifice,” he said. “And I always say, be somebody worth that sacrifice.”

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Club baseball at Fuessenich Park

Travel league baseball came to Torrington Thursday, June 26, when the Berkshire Bears Select Team played the Connecticut Moose 18U squad. The Moose won 6-4 in a back-and-forth game. Two players on the Bears play varsity ball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School: shortstop Anthony Foley and first baseman Wes Allyn. Foley went 1-for-3 at bat with an RBI in the game at Fuessenich Park.

 

  Anthony Foley, rising senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, went 1-for-3 at bat for the Bears June 26.Photo by Riley Klein 

 
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

Richard Kraft

Siglio Press is a small, independent publishing house based in Egremont, Massachusetts, known for producing “uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.” Founded and run by editor and publisher Lisa Pearson, Siglio has, since 2008, designed books that challenge conventions of both form and content.

A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

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Cycling season: A roundup of our region’s rentals and where to ride them

Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

Alec Linden

After a shaky start, summer has well and truly descended upon the Litchfield, Berkshire and Taconic hills, and there is no better way to get out and enjoy long-awaited good weather than on two wheels. Below, find a brief guide for those who feel the pull of the rail trail, but have yet to purchase their own ten-speed. Temporary rides are available in the tri-corner region, and their purveyors are eager to get residents of all ages, abilities and inclinations out into the open road (or bike path).

For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit lakevillejournal.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

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