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Photo by Jen Markow
SALISBURY — Salisbury Rotary Club’s Charitable Gifts Committee presented donations and scholarships to locals Tuesday, July 16.
Marking its 75th year as a club, the Rotarians made a dinner to celebrate the occasion. Steak, shrimp cakes, veggies and desserts were paired with splendid conversation between the community and club members.
Once plates were cleared, Rotary President Paul Ramunni, owner of the accordion museum in North Canaan, presented donation checks to each recipient.
Jane Lloyd Fund received $3,000; Extras After School and Summer Program, 21st Century Fund for HVRHS and Dial-A-Ride each received $1,000; Fishes and Loaves and Corner Food Pantry received $750; Boy Scouts of America received $250.
A scholarship check was given to Housatonic Valley Regional High School graduate Grace Riva. She will attend University of New England in the fall.
Rising HVRHS junior Simon Markow was chosen for the Bob Estabrook award, given to an intern at The Lakeville Journal each summer.
While accepting the award, Markow commented on his time at the Journal so far. “I’m learning a lot. It’s a really great experience.”
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SHARON — Island hopping, usually done by boat, can also be accomplished with a little more exertion.
When friends Marci Grady and Sonja Koppenwallner asked Sherie Berk if she would like to join them for a week-long swim in the Dalmatian Islands, she agreed without a second thought. With an itinerary mapped out by STREL Swimming Adventures, from June 15 to 21, they swam for up to five hours each day.
Berk learned to swim during childhood summers in Sharon, Connecticut, but did not take up the sport competitively until age 55. She went on to become a United States Masters Swimmer with four world rankings, 16 top ten rankings, and an All-American Honor. For Berk, swimming is a total release of tension. “It’s like meditation,” she said.
Her weekly training – three or four sessions at the YMCA in Canaan, Connecticut – did not change in anticipation of the island swim and Berk worried that she had not adequately prepared.
Regardless, she boarded a plane to Split, Croatia, consoling herself that it was not a race.
The Dalmatian Islands are located off the coast of Croatia, in the Adriatic Sea. The crisp, blue waters are some of the cleanest in the Mediterranean. “I can’t even begin to describe how beautiful this place is,” said Berk.
Her days in Dalmatia commenced with breakfast spreads of fresh fruit, eggs, and European pastries. After fueling up, Berk, Grady, Koppenwallner, and twelve or so others boarded boats for rides to their morning starting points. They set off swimming around 10 a.m., boats following to provide water and rest if necessary.
Sherie Berk on a lunch break during her Dalmatian swim excursion.Photo provided
At noon, they stopped for lunch, usually on the boat, with gorgeous buffets assembled by a private chef. Once, the midday interlude included a hike (just in case they cared for some additional exercise). Then back into the water for a few more hours of paddling, to cover a daily distance of approximately four kilometers.
Active travel allowed Berk to fully immerse in her environment. Instead of admiring the glittering sea from afar, she felt the salt soak into her skin. By four pm they returned to the hotel, utterly exhausted, but drenched in awe.
Evenings were time to unwind, dining at restaurants along the water and marveling at the expanse of rocky coastline. A meal of fresh fish and a few glasses of wine repeatedly revived the swimmers and readied them for another day.
Over the course of a week, a multi-generational community formed through mutual struggle and appreciation of natural beauty. The oldest in the group, 70-year-old Berk is not slowing down. She has her eye on an island hop in Greece next year.
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Photo by Patrick Sullivan
SALISBURY — Youngsters attending a “Bio Blitz” event at the Scoville Memorial Library Saturday, July 20, came up with an impressive haul of animals found on the library grounds.
The children worked under the guidance of Bethany Sheffer, naturalist at the Sharon Audubon Center.
Speaking to the group, which ranged in age from about six or seven years old to 12 or 13, she said the Bio Blitz is an attempt to catalog as many different species as possible in a one hour window.
Less than an hour, actually, when the introduction and subsequent debrief is factored in.
Cut loose by Sheffer, the participants headed straight for the Wachocastinook stream, which runs behind the library.
There they found, in no particular order: butterflies, hellgrammites, water spiders and stoneflies.
August Schaufelberger, age 11, had a moment of triumph when he coaxed a two-lined salamander into a specimen jar. Not to be outdone, his 7-year-old sister Anna fearlessly turned over a rock and picked off a couple of cased caddis flies.
Afterward, the group discussed their findings. Sheffer explained that the presence of things like the hellgrammite indicates the water quality is good, an encouraging sign for the overall health of the local ecosystem.
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Photo provided by Eric Veden
FALLS VILLAGE — Eric Veden’s 33rd installment of video about Falls Village kicks off at the Lime Rock Station Road home of Jim and Louise March, whose home used to be the quarters for the teamsters who worked for the railroad.
Jim Marsh explains that “every room had major destruction.”
“We did one room a year.”
The video shows a photo of Louise March in the pre-rehab kitchen, and cuts to her in the modern kitchen, which is now some 20 years old.
Veteran educator Maria Bulson speaks about keeping busy in retirement. She “retired” after six and a half years as principal at the Lee H. Kellogg School but remained involved, working in different school districts in a variety of positions, from substitute teacher to vice principal in charge of discipline, before she retired for good.
The experiences “helped me come down from all my years in education.”
She describes retirement as “wonderful” but stressed the importance of staying active. Her husband fishes year-round, so she took up gardening for the warmer months and quilting for the winter.
The next segment features Daniel Karp, a photography teacher at Bard College of Simon’s Rock delivering an overview of the changes in photography from the early 20th century to the present.
The talk was given prior to the reception for “From the Great Falls to the Hilltops: Early 20th Century Photography from the Falls Village-Canaan Historical Society” at the David M. Hunt Library Saturday, March 16.
He quoted author Arthur C. Clarke: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
The final segment starts with Michelle Hansen and Andrea Downs making a quick pitch for the 100th anniversary activities of the Falls Village Volunteer Fire Department, one of which was a talk about strokes and heart attacks from Melissa Braislin of Nuvance Health.
Another fire department-sponsored event was a talk on arson investigation by veteran investigator Laura Billon.
The event was not captured on video, so Veden had this reporter, sitting in the back of his Subaru amidst fly-fishing paraphernalia, summarize the talk.
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