Rey Center brings Abenaki Programs to WVES

How the Abenaki Program came to be...

This year the 3rd-5th graders at Waterville Valley Elementary School (WVES) are getting to experience New Hampshire history first hand. Their teacher Kate Smarz had the brilliant idea to have social studies correlate with science. The school year began with NH's place in the World and geology, moved on to native people of New Hampshire (Abenaki) and ecosystems, and will go on to cover explorers & settlers and electricity. This year WVES is also focused on project based learning which is precisely what the Rey Center programs strive for. For the last 5 years the Rey Center has provided experiential science programs for WVES and an occasional special program like family astronomy. About a year ago Rael Gleitsman, a resident of Waterville Valley, began volunteering with the Rey Center. Rael is an avid gardener and a master potter. This summer Rael helped with our Nature Trek program making pottery with campers. Rael also planted corn & beans in the community garden and was hoping to have a feast with what he harvested. So we began to brainstorm ideas and we ended up with an Abenaki unit including gardening, pottery, games, and a harvest dinner.

The unit began with students learning about three sisters gardening and what it might have been like to find food as an Abenaki 400 years ago. At our second program students learned how the Abenaki might have made pottery and then were able to create their own bowls.

Rael prefired the bowls in the school's kiln and dug a pit in the community garden for the finishing fire. The students brought their bowls to the fire and Rael carefully placed them around the edge to heat up slowly. Once the bowls were warm they were placed in the fire pit and sticks were stacked on top.

While the bowls were in the fire students read native american legends that they wrote and played traditional Native American games like ball & triangle and little pines. The final program will be a feast with traditional Native American dishes like succotash n'nuts and three sisters soup. The best part is that students will get to eat out of the bowls that they created! By the end of the Abenaki unit WVES students will have a better sense of what it might have been like living in New Hampshire before European's arrived.

SUMMER 2013 Nature Nights

This summer we offered nature nights in Waterville Valley and at Blair Woodland in Campton, NH. The turn out was great! 119 people attended Nature Night and discovered the mysteries along the trail. Below are a few photos that will give you an idea of the topics we explored.

Seeing how many times we could flap "our wings" in 10 seconds

Using our sense of SMELL to find our match

Looking up close at some ANTS!

Up to our knees in mud exploring the vernal pool!

Turning a girl into an insect...how many legs does an insect have???

GO check out the newly updated kiosk at Blair Woodland that includes artwork by this year's Nature Night participants.

We would like to thank the Campton Conservation Commission and Waterville Valley's Town Square for sponsoring Nature Nights:)

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

Curious George Cottage Family Festival Welcomes Kids of All Ages to Waterville Valley this August

The Margret and H.A. Rey Center’s 7th Annual Curious George Cottage Family Festival returns in August to speak to the curiosity in us all. The festival is a 2-day event this August 10-11, 2013, featuring a weekend full of family-friendly activities with Curious George and the Man With the Yellow Hat.  The Festival is a celebration of curiosity, providing families the opportunity to play and learn together as they explore art, science and nature just like Curious George loves to do. The weekend includes a banana pancake breakfast with Curious George, a family nature walk, live music, a BBQ lunch with Curious George, photo opportunities with the characters, a farmyard petting zoo, Mad Science shows, games for kids, Curious George story hour and craft time, “Curious Characters” drawings by local artists, planetarium shows, weather balloon launch, and model rocket launching. All proceeds from the event support the Margret and H.A. Rey Center’s art and science education programs for all ages held throughout the year.

Headlining the festival this year is children’s musician Zak Morgan. GRAMMY nominee Zak

Morgan's unique brand of children's music delivers songs and poems with wit and charm that inspire and tickle the funny bones of children and adults alike. According to Rick Bird of the Cincinnati Post, “Morgan sounds a bit like singer Cat Stevens, and his storytelling is an inspired cross between Dr. Seuss-style word games and the sly, edginess of Shel Silverstein. In short, it's children's music that adults can love.” When he is not writing and recording, Zak performs family concerts throughout the country. His live performances are always filled with laughter and warmth as he encourages children to read, imagine and believe in themselves. Morgan has released three critically acclaimed records and one DVD for children and was nominated for a GRAMMY in 2003 – a rare feat for an independent artist. Morgan currently resides in Cincinnati, OH and is working on his fourth record. The Festival will feature a Zak Morgan performance on both Saturday and Sunday.

Also performing on the Festival stage on Saturday will be an interactive musical experience by Tony

Fonseca of All Hands Drumming. Tony has been studying, playing and teaching drumming for over 40 years. His influences are in the traditions of West African, Cape Verdean and Afro-Cuban rhythms. Tony’s interactive drum-fun entertainment is for children, youth and adults who want an exciting, fun and memorable experience. During his performance, Tony sets up a drum-circle of ten to thirty drums of various heights to accommodate children, youth, and adults of all ages and sizes. From inside the circle, Tony plays a continuous series of heart-pounding beats as he interacts with the visitors to the circle as they play along on the drums. For those at the event who do not choose to try drumming at the circle, they still enjoy watching and listening to Tony, as he keeps the atmosphere lively and upbeat with his masterful drumming style.

Mad Science will return once again this year to perform one of their edu-taining science programs, “Fire and Ice.” In the land of Fire and Ice the Mad Scientist starts with a magic trick that makes a card disappear and magically reappear. Heat and chemicals combine with an "aaahesome" result. Finally, in the ice portion of this program they will amaze children with exciting experiments using frozen carbon dioxide gas at -109 degrees F.

A festival favorite is the Banana Pancake Breakfast with Curious George hosted by The Snowy Owl Inn of Waterville Valley. In addition to an intimate visit with Curious George and the Man With the Yellow Hat, this year’s breakfast, held on both Saturday and Sunday, will feature live music by Laurel Dodge. Kids can sing along with Laurel as she plays and sings some well-loved kids’ tunes!

New to the festival this year are planetarium shows by the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center. A

Discovery Center educator will take participants on a tour of the night sky followed by an exciting journey of discovery to explore our solar system, including breathtaking images from the Hubble Space Telescope using full dome video technology in their portable dome planetarium. The Rey Center is also please to welcome FlisKits, Inc model rockets to the festival this year. Jim Flis of FlisKits, Inc will launch several model rockets throughout the day on Saturday to the delight of young and old alike. The Backwoods Farm Petting Zoo of Rumney, NH will also be joining the festival for the first time this year. Their family friendly petting zoo gives kids the opportunity to get up close and personal with their loveable barnyard critters. Other exciting additions to the weekend’s lineup are a weather discovery exhibit by the Mount Washington Observatory and a weather balloon launch by the Judd Gregg Meteorology Institute at Plymouth State University.

Wristbands for the 7^th Annual Curious George Cottage Family Festival are $23 per person for a 2-day pass, which includes all activities and performances. Children two and under get in free with a paying adult. Additional tickets are required for the banana pancake breakfast. Lunch is available for purchase onsite. A limited number of wristbands are available at the event for $28 per person; advance purchase is recommended. To view the complete event schedule and to purchase wristbands visit http://thereycenter.org or call the Rey Center at 603-236-3308.

Roper Real Estate, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Louis Karno & Company, Waterville Valley Realty, Parenting NH Magazine, ABODE Homebuilders, and Community Guaranty Savings Bank, as well as many other local businesses are generous sponsors of the Curious George Cottage Family Festival.

Curious George Goes Bananas at the Waterville Valley 4th of July Parade

Curious George Goes Bananas at 4th of July Parade

The staff of the Margret and H.A. Rey Center and Curious George cottage, accompanied by some very helpful (and hot) bananas marched in this year's annual Waterville Valley Fourth of July Parade. Along the way reminding everyone of the upcoming 7th annual Curious George Cottage Family Festival on August 10th and 11th. Tickets are on sale now!

GO BANANAS!

Curious George Nature Trail to Get a Facelift This Summer

Dave Gaudioso of Like Father, Like Son Landscaping
preparing the trail for resurfacing.

With generous support from Eagle Scout candidate Ian McKinnon, the Town of Waterville Valley, Dave Gaudioso of Like Father, Like Son Landscaping, as well as other local businesses, the Curious George Nature Trail will soon once again be an accessible place to learn about and experience the ecology of the forests that surround us. The Curious George Nature Trail was originally created in 2004 as a tribute to Curious George authors and former Waterville Valley residents, Margret and H.A. Rey and was designed to be an outdoor classroom for learning about local ecology. The Margret and H.A. Rey Center uses the trail for its many hands-on science and nature programs with schools and families, and the trail is open to the public to explore and enjoy.

Before Dave started, you couldn't even see this
section of trail!

The Trail was originally designed to be wheelchair accessible but had become very overgrown in the last 10 years. This summer’s project will be done in stages with the first stage being done by Dave Gaudioso of Like Father, Like Son Landscaping and the second stage being done by Eagle Scout candidate Ian McKinnon. The first stage includes reestablishing and resurfacing the trail. Dave Gaudioso began this stage of the project by cutting back the vegetation that had encroached on the trail to bring the trail back to its original width and will then resurface the trail with ledge pack to create an even and level surface. Like Father, Like Son Landscaping is generously donating the labor costs associated with this stage of the project and have kindly offered to support Eagle Scout candidate Ian McKinnon with his stage of the project as well.

Once the resurfacing is complete, Ian McKinnon will oversee the next stage of the project in partial fulfillment of the Eagle Scout community service project requirement. This stage of the project will include repairing the large bridge near the start of the trail, reestablishing the section of trail removed during the relocation of the Curious George Cottage in 2010, sealing and sanding the benches along the trail, removing hazards such as dead and downed trees and vegetation near the trail, and redefining two drainage channels that are supposed to move standing water away from the sides of the trail. Ian will certainly have his work cut out for him this summer! Contact the Rey Center if you are interested in volunteering your time and talents to be a part of this great project (603-236-3308 or TheReyCenter.org). We invite you to take a lap around the Curious George Nature Trail a few times this summer and watch the transformation happen! 

Rey Center Garden Volunteer Day

On Saturday, June 15 several volunteers joined Rey Center staff for Garden Volunteer Day at the Curious George Cottage. Projects for the day included creating the new Noon Peak Road entrance to the Mary Bierbrier Community Gardens, installing the new community gardens hand-painted sign, lots and lots of weeding and fluffing of mulch, and relocation of a few shrubs and plants.

Thank you to the volunteers who joined us, without them there would be no Garden Volunteer Day! Thank you to Maryellen Sakura, Sylvia Taub, Rael Glietsman, Birdie Britton, Will Twombley, and Dave Gaudioso of Like Father, Like Son Landscaping.

Pictured from L to R: Leigh Ann Reynolds (staff), Maryellen Sakura, Birdie Britton,
Sylvia Taub, Rael Glietsman and Denise Siraco (staff) in front of the new garden sign.

The project of creating the new garden entrance got a huge helping hand from Dave Gaudioso of Like

Father, Like Son Landscaping who brought his skid steer over to remove the section of berm between the garden and the road that is now the new entrance. Dave really saved the day, as we were planning to do this by hand with shovels. We might still be over there digging if it weren’t for his help! The new entrance will provide accessible access to the community gardens for everyone. Like Father, Like Son Landscaping is also donating granite curbing to outline the berm along the road and help define the new entrance. Along with the new Mary Bierbrier Community Gardens sign, hand made and hand painted by the Rey Center’s Denise Siraco, which was installed on the berm, the garden entrance is really coming together. Stop by the gardens located next to the Curious George Cottage on Noon Peak Road to see the improvements. The Mary Bierbrier Community Gardens provide community members the opportunity to grow vegetables, flowers and herbs and to share that experience with others. The Town of Waterville Valley, the Bierbrier Family, Like Father, Like Son Landscaping, and Environmental to Residential Landscaping are proud sponsors of the community gardens.

Other projects for the day included weeding the perennial beds around the Curious George Cottage and the berm in front of the community gardens along Noon Peak Road. The weeds were winning the war, but by lunchtime the volunteers had successfully reclaimed the perennial gardens and the berm, and the plants and shrubs will certainly be happier for it. Now we just need to stay one step ahead of those weeds…let us know if you want to volunteer a hand to help out!

Thank you again to all the volunteers who made this day a success! To learn more about the Margret and H.A. Rey Center or the Mary Bierbrier Community Gardens visit TheReyCenter.org or stop by the Rey Center on the second level of Waterville Valley’s Town Square.

New Exhibit in the Rey Center Gallery

 

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WATERVILLE VALLEY, NH – The Margret and H.A. Rey Center Art Gallery opens an exciting new art exhibit on Saturday June 29, 2013. The exhibit entitled “Nature Interpreted: A Printmaker’s View” is a collection of work from some of the area’s most talented printmakers. This exciting new exhibit will feature a variety of printing techniques as each artist interprets nature through their own eyes and using their own process. The exhibit also includes an exciting printmaking workshop with Golden Artist Colors, Inc. on Saturday August 3^rd from 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. The exhibit runs from June 29 through September 1, 2013. There will be a gallery reception on Saturday, July 6 from 6:30–8:00 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public and refreshments will be served. Regular gallery hours are Wednesday–Saturday 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Meet the artists:

Arlington, MA artist, Adria Arch, is a non-representational painter and mixed media artist whose work features strong graphic elements and vivid color. Her recent work explores the representation of energy through the human mark, in particular the doodles we all make while in a state of reverie. Adria is a technical consultant for GOLDEN Artist Colors. She teaches privately and at local museums and art centers and will be conducting the printmaking workshop at the Rey Center in August. She lives with her family and dog in Arlington, MA.

            Plymouth State University Adjunct Faculty Member, Anita Dillman, is a visual artist with a Master of Fine Arts degree in Experimental Studios from Syracuse University School of Visual and Performing Arts. She is primarily a printmaker and draftsperson, although her interests move in many directions. She has taught virtually all ages, from pre-school to 78 year olds, and believes that everyone has artistic potential and that living artfully is a worthy ambition. Anita has won awards for her prints as well as (antithetically) having had her lithograph, “Vote Issues not Image,” banned from a pre-presidential election show in Berkeley, CA. She has exhibited in national venues and has given workshops in stone lithography at a cooperative studio in New England.

Peterborough, NH artist, Soosen Dunholter, is often inspired by images that are fleeting and frequently overlooked. Her works on paper investigate images snatched from those final moments before waking when you grasp the vagueness and mystery of those last uncertain threads of the dream state with futile attempts to remember the fading fragments of reverie. She likes to bring order to her world by collecting, sorting, organizing and categorizing things into their proper place. Soosen creates calm in her universe by orchestrating the chaos around her until all the diverse elements find their perfect fit and coexist in harmony.

Professor of Art Annette Mitchell is Coordinator of the Drawing Program at Plymouth State University in Plymouth, New Hampshire. She is known for creative innovations in the areas of printmaking and art quilting. American Artist Magazine published an article titled "Creating Elegant Prints From A Foam Plate" about her work. Annette has published articles in many academic publications including SchoolArts Magazine as well as publishing a book, DVD, and video about the foam plate printing process that she uses. Foam Is Where The Art Is--New Ways To Print has become a popular resource for studio artists, art teachers, and art quilters alike.

Kimberly Anderson Ritchie is an artist and teacher. She is the Printmaking Coordinator and Instructor at Plymouth State University in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Ritchie is constantly reading, researching, collecting, and exploring the natural world. Her love and respect for the natural environment has directed her artwork. Her current work evolves around an in-depth study of environmental issues, from global climate change affecting Colorado glacial retreat to algae blooms in the Gulf. The artwork is a response to the research; some works simply use the issue as a starting point while other work clearly displays the concern. Kimberly is trying to bring the beauty, mystery, curiosity, and conservation of the land back into our daily focus through the image-making process. The artwork is her way of internalizing the natural world and expressing her concern. 

Waterville resident and artist, Maryellen Sakura, is a practicing artist who has over 38 years of teaching experience. She has exhibited her work at the Rey Center and in galleries in New Mexico, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Her work is in collections in Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Japan as well as this country.

Boston artist, Anne Silber, was born in New Jersey and studied at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and has lived and worked in the Boston area since 1977. Silber's work has been shown in numerous one-person and group exhibitions around the U.S. and Europe, and her prints are included in many corporate and museum collections. Her work has also appeared on the sets of a large number of television series and major motion pictures.

Cambridge artist, Susan Wood, has had a life-long interest in the visual arts, but it was not until the spring of 2008 that she took her first drawing course at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education (CCAE). The following year she took her first printmaking class, also at CCAE. Since retiring in December 2009, she has made art her primary occupation, continuing with classes in drawing, printmaking, and watercolor at CCAE, but also adding classes at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Kaji Aso Studio in Boston, and workshops in the US and abroad. Susan has showed at several juried and invitational shows in Cambridge, MA and Delaware.

            Also showing: Woodprint artist, Matt Brown, PSU’s Karl Drerup Gallery Director, John (Terry) Downs, and PSU’s, Henreike Strecker.

Wildflower Walk with WVES K-2 Class

Each year the Margret and H.A. Rey Center works with Waterville Valley Elementary School to provide their students with hands-on science programs. Join me on photo journey of a wildflower walk with the Kindergarten-2nd grade class.

The first wildflower spotted was Trillium!

We continue up the trail...

Investigating the flowers on a tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We add Lady-slippers to the list!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking closely at moss and Starflowers.

Who lives in that hole?

Heading down to look at the BIG Pines!

On the hunt for more wildflowers...

K-2 Class

            

The Curious George Cottage Goes Green

The Curious George Cottage in Waterville Valley, NH is the former summer home of Curious George authors, Margret and H.A. Rey. The Reys built their cottage in 1958 and spent many summers enjoying all that Waterville Valley has to offer. The lives of Margret and H.A. Rey were filled with continued learning and community service. The Reys were active in writing and illustration; astronomy; natural history; photography; environmental action (including calls for renewable energy); concern for animals; the simple joys of gardening, walking and bicycle riding; and, of course, children's experiential learning. These life pursuits of the Reys form the basis of Margret and H.A. Rey Center programs, a nonprofit organization formed to honor the Reys’ spirit of curiosity and discovery by helping people of all ages to learn about and experience art, science and nature. This mixture of art and science, the physical and intellectual, young and old, and ever-present curiosity is the foundation for the Rey Center, a multigenerational center for learning and exploration.

After having enjoyed their summer home for over 30 years, Margret Rey sold their cottage in 1992 as she approached the age of 90; Hans had passed away in 1977 at the age of 79. The new owners, Joe and Dottie Highland, in cooperation with Margret, donated the cottage to the Town of Waterville Valley. At that time, the cottage was moved across town to its location adjacent to the Waterville Valley Recreation Department and Elementary School and became known as the Curious George Cottage. Today, the Margret and H.A. Rey Center manages the cottage in partnership with the Town of Waterville Valley. The Rey Center hosts a variety of programs for youth and adults at the Curious George Cottage as well as holds open hours where families can come visit the place where the Reys worked on several of their Curious George stories.

The Cottage being placed on the insulated concrete form
foundation in 2010.

To honor the Reys’ passion for environmental action and renewable energy, the Rey Center and Town of Waterville Valley have been working to make the cottage more environmentally friendly. In 2010, the Curious George Cottage was relocated and renovated to help transform the cottage from a summer building to an efficient, year-round facility. Renovations and updates completed include an insulated concrete form foundation, new energy efficient windows, the addition of exterior wall and attic insulation, new high efficiency heating system, dual flush toilet, energy star appliances, insulating blinds for living room windows, and perennial gardens designed to attract pollinators and reduce the high maintenance of a lawn. These renovations, which significantly reduced the energy demands of the cottage, were made possible with funding from the Town of Waterville Valley and with additional support from ABODE Homebuilders, Pella Windows, Rod Ladman Window Designs, Gary and Cheryl Moak, the NH Conservation License Plate Program and Wayside Farms.

Once the energy usage of the cottage was reduced through the 2010 renovations, the Rey Center could look to renewable energy as the next step in greening the cottage. In the spring of 2013, with funding from the New Hampshire Electric Coop Foundation and support from the Town of Waterville Valley, Plymouth Area Renewable Energy Initiative, and Ted Hammond Construction, two solar photovoltaic panels were added to the roof of the Curious George Cottage. The solar panels are calculated to produce approximately 590 kilowatt hours of electricity per year, or about half of the cottage’s current annual electricity demands. The solar panel system installed at the cottage, two SolarWorld Sunmodule panels with Enphase Microinverters, is designed so that additional panels can easily be added at a later date to increase the energy production capacity of the Curious George Cottage.

In 2012, the Rey Center partnered with Plymouth State University’s Sustainable Structures class to

The Garden Shed built by students in Plymouth State
University's Sustainable Structures Class.

build a garden shed for the Mary Bierbrier Community Gardens located next to the Curious George Cottage. The community gardens provide local community members with the opportunity to grow vegetables, herbs and flowers; an opportunity that many Waterville Valley residents don’t have since they reside in condominiums. The garden shed, designed and built by the students with the guidance of their instructors Bryan Felice and Steve Whitman, is a showcase of sustainable building techniques. The shed uses locally sourced wood and materials and features several different external finishes including board and batten siding, live edge siding, a cord wood wall, and wattle (a woven lattice of wooden strips or branches) under the eaves. The building is timber frame construction featuring mortise and tenon joints with all locally sourced wood. Not only is the shed a wonderful educational tool demonstrating sustainable building techniques, but it is also a work of art. Stop by the Mary Bierbrier Community Gardens to have a look!

The Rey Center has plans to continue greening the Curious George Cottage campus through measures such as LED lighting, rain barrel water catchment systems and edible landscaping. Interested in learning more? Stop by the Curious George Cottage this summer on Thursday mornings between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. or Saturday afternoons from 2:00-4:00 p.m. and we will give you the grand tour!

The Margret and H.A. Rey Center is located on the second level of Waterville Valley Resort’s Town Square. Learn more about Rey Center programs by visiting TheReyCenter.org or calling the Rey Center at 603-236-3308. 

Trout in the Classroom at WVES Update

As part of the Rey Center's school science program at Waterville Valley Elementary School, the students raised brook trout from eggs. After four months of caring for brook trout and watching them go from eggs to fry, the moment came on May 13th for the students to release the trout into the Mad River. In the words of Ray Kucharski, "432 Brook Trout graduated from the Waterville Valley Elementary School to the Mad River. About 50 of their schoolmates remain at WVES for graduate studies." The students will feed and watch the remaining 50 fish grow until the end of the school year. The pictures below capture the excitement of release day.

In the Gallery...
Recognize this image? If you are familiar with Waterville Valley, you are familiar with our local "ruins".

The Margret and H.A. Rey Center Art Gallery opens an exciting new art exhibit on Saturday May 18, 2013.  The exhibit entitled “Impressions of the North Country” by visiting Russian Artist Boris Oskin is the product of a two-month visit by Russian artist, architect and diplomatic attaché, Boris Oskin and his wife Elena back in1992. Boris’ watercolors, sketches and personal letters and correspondences will be on display in the gallery from Saturday May 18- Saturday June 22, 2013. The collection left behind by Boris upon his return to Russia is now part of the personal collection of local Watervillian, Chris Larsen, who has generously offered to share its contents as well as his personal stories and experiences with the Oskins.  An opening reception will be held on Saturday May 25 from 6:30 -8:00 p.m. giving visitors the opportunity to see our landscape through the eyes of a Russian artist and hear the stories of his unique relationship with our own late Donald Jasinski, who was responsible for bringing Boris to the United States. Come hear stories of Boris’ antics as well as how the trip was only possible after he left the employ of the Communist Party. Rey Center Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Boris Oskin was born in Moscow in 1935, but evacuated with his family from the city during the German invasion. At the age of fifteen he started work as a metal smith at the famous “Pravda” newspaper plant in Moscow. In 1952 he graduated from school with a gold medal for his artistic abilities. While his school directors urged him to pursue a career in painting, his practical grandmother persuaded him to become an architect. As an architect, Boris designed and supervised the construction of many important buildings around the world including the Soviet Consulate in Geteburg, Sweden and the Soviet Embassy in Guyana. Boris’ free time was spent painting and sketching, completing a series of oils for the Gusevasholm Castle in Kunkbacks, Sweden. Boris enjoyed working in oils, watercolors and sketches in graphite, drawing his inspiration from the local scene, wherever in the world his work and art took him.

Boris Oskin and Donald Jasinski met in 1974 at an architectural convention. After exchanging the traditional niceties of invitations to each other’s homes, Donald and Boris went their separate ways. They kept in touch through letters for a short period of time and Donald would send Boris and his wife cosmetics and toiletries that they were not able to get in their country. At some point, Boris went to work for the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the USSR and was no longer allowed to have contact with his friend Donald, sadly telling him so in a letter. Seventeen years later, in 1991, Boris reconnected with Donald after leaving the Foreign Affairs Ministry and asked for a formal invitation from Donald to visit the United States. The rest is history painted in the watercolors on display in “Impressions of the North Country”.

Dark Sky Stargazing

Each month the Margret and H.A. Rey Center holds Dark Sky Stargazing, which is FREE and open to the public thanks to our generous sponsors, the Snowy Owl Inn, Golden Eagle Lodge, and New Hampshire Astronomical Society. A knowledgeable volunteer from the New Hampshire Astronomical Society sets up a telescope and shares the wonders of the night sky with visitors. Here is what our March volunteer, Dave McDonald, had to say….

“I had the privilege to share the wonders of the night sky with 45 people at the skywatch at Curious George Cottage at Waterville Valley.

It was a clear night with some haze low in the westerly direction.  People came and went through out the evening from 6:45 - 9:00.  I would say there was consistently 15 people always there until 8:30 or so.  Some were getting cold so only a few hardy soles stayed until 9:00.  I used my 8" Orion XT with 25 and 10 mm eyepieces.

I introduced the folks to the concept of star color - which most never bothered to notice.  We viewed Sirius, Betelgeuse, and Capella to compare color.

We looked at M42, the Pleiades, Praesepe, double cluster in Perseus, Mizar.  I always love hearing the "WOW" factor.  Jupiter was certainly a favorite with all four Galilean moons showing with IO on one side and the other three on the other.  We looked at other random "empty" pieces of sky and demonstrated what can be seen with the aid of a telescope.  More "WOWs."

As our time was ending Arcturus was rising over the mountains in the east.  Sparkling as a bright jewel, the few that were there to see it were amazed at how it shimmered so many different colors.  A good time was had by all…”

You can stay for the whole two hours or just a few minutes, but you won’t be sorry you came. If the sky is clear there is always something interesting to see.

Join us for Dark Sky Stargazing. See schedule below.