‘Each day is a gift’

SALISBURY — The Salisbury School boathouse on Twin Lakes was the venue for the fifth annual Cancer Survivors Day celebration on June 7. This celebratory event is organized by Tri-State We Can Row, with assistance from a large group of area organizations, health-care providers and businesses. The joint chairs are Donna DiMartino of the Sharon Health Care Center; Jim Hutchison of Sharon Hospital; Harriett Weiss of the Health Care Auxiliary for the Tri-State Region and Noreen Driscoll of Sweethaven Farm. Approximately 100 cancer survivors and their family members attended the event.DiMartino is a five-and-a-half year cancer survivor. “This event is a celebration for cancer survivors,” she said, adding that, “For survivors, every day is a celebration.”Tri-State We Can Row is a group of female cancer survivors who meet during appropriate weather to row in a crew shell on the Twin Lakes. Women of all ages participate. They row to celebrate their life and health and the friendships they treasure. They do it for the exercise. And they do it for the pure joy it brings them. “This is our fifth year. Each year new people join us,” DiMartino said. “And we are all survivors.” Surviving begins, she added, on the first day of diagnosis.In addition to celebrating their own lives, Tri-State We Can Row members want this celebration, and every day, to honor the families, the caregivers and all the other people who have helped them. “Surviving cancer is a team effort,” DiMartino said. “We could not do it without each and every person helping us.”With a big smile on her face, she added, “This is a day of celebration. Today is the day I am here and I’m glad. Each day is a gift.” In addition to speeches, congratulations and a trip out on the water, Cancer Survivors Day Celebration also included food and drink and a raffle for an airplane ride over the Twin Lakes.The rowers also demonstrated their crew skills, working together to lift the shell over their heads. “This is what cancer survival is all about,” one woman said. “Teamwork!”Joe Loverro, cancer survivor and former radio personality for radio station WQQQ-103.3FM, was the disc jockey for the event. Joe Hajek, husband of a cancer survivor, said the rowers and their families all enjoy coming to this beautiful spot. Nicholas Bruehl, whose wife Martha is a six-year survivor, said the Twin Lakes provide a peaceful and beautiful setting for the rowers and their spouses. “With the hills in the background, it’s like being in Switzerland,” he said.

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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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