Litchfield BZ - HOME & FAMILY

Obituaries

Celebration of Al DeAngelis

Join the family of Al DeAngelis on Sunday, 26th of February to celebrate Al, who passed peacefully from this life after a short illness on the 15th of January 2012. A Mass of Intention will commence at 10:30 am at St Anthony of Padua Church in Litchfield by Father Tucker. Family and friends may also share recollections and happy memories of Al at his former home, Rose Haven in Litchfield from 2-3 pm (please RSVP to: sylviade@hotmail.com or phone 1-347-414-3543). more information

Lenten Reflection Day

Saturday, February 25th, 9am – 4pm

@ Lourdes in Litchfield

A LENTEN REFLECTION DAY: Who Do You Say That I Am? will be held at the Montfort Retreat House, 53 Montfort Rd. Rte. 118, Lourdes in Litchfield, on Saturday, February 25th, 9am – 4pm. Offering: $35, which includes lunch. more information

The Litchfield Garden Club Presents

From the White House to Your House

with Ruth Loiseau

a nationally recognized master floral designer and lecturer

The Litchfield Garden Club will host an open meeting with Ruth Loiseau, a nationally recognized master floral designer and lecturer in The Art of Floral Design who will present From the White House to Your House. She will speak of life experiences flavored with White House anecdotes while demonstrating the art of floral design and creating one-of-a kind arrangements.

Ruth has created floral arrangements for White House events under the Administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush. Today, Ms. Loiseau remains on the staff of The White House flower shop for special events for the Obama Administration and is owner of Ruth L., a floral design firm based in Suffield, CT. Ruth Loiseau's floral perfections have graced events from a dinner for The Queen to a Congressional BBQ to a Special Olympics event. In 1998, she was presented with a Certification of Appreciation by Mrs. Hillary Clinton.

The open meeting of The Litchfield Garden Club will be held at The Litchfield Community Center, 421 Bantam Road, Litchfield, CT at 2:00 pm on Thursday, March 15th. Snow date: March 16th. In case of inclement weather, please call Sylvia Abbott at 860-567-8848 or Drew Harlow at 860-567-0263. Admission is free. No reservations required. Light refreshments will be served.

The Litchfield Garden Club is a Member of The Garden Club of America, The Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut, Inc., and National Garden Clubs, Inc.

Liam Update: February 7, 2012

Liam had surgery on his right leg on February 1st to insert an artificial knee, remove HO, transplant a tendon from a cadaver, make a flap bringing part of a calf muscle up over the knee and graft some skin from his thigh to his knee. The surgery took a little over 10 hours. Both the ortho and plastics doctors are very pleased with their handy-work. Two drains have been removed, but one remains. He should be discharged from the hospital when the last one can be removed, hopefully in another day or two. He will now have to be non-weight bearing on the right leg for 3 months. During this time we are hoping to have reconstructive surgery started on both the right arm and foot. He has started some OT and PT and is in very good spirits.

Laurie

Support Liam during his recovery

One of Litchfield's own, Sgt. Liam Dwyer, U.S. Marine, was severely injured by an IED on May 22, 2011 in Afghanistan. He is the son of Litchfield resident, Laurie Parmentier.

Liam attended the Possum Queen Contest on January 1st

Send a note to Liam via editor@Litchfield.bz - we will post on our "Liam" page - Liam will be able to read your notes. Video interviews with Liam were recorded on his first visit home on September 6th.

A fund has been established at Litchfield Bancorp to help Laurie and Liam. As you can imagine this has been a major financial burden for the family. If you'd like to help, please mail to:

Litchfield Bancorp

Dwyer/Parmentier Recovery Account

Attn: Paula Farrington

PO Box 997

Litchfield, CT. 06759-0997

Report of VOSH-Connecticut Mission

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

January 7-14, 2012

VOSH-Connecticut held its eleventh annual eye care clinic in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua on January 7-14, 2012. This was the fourteenth year of service at this site to the San Juan del Sur area, the eleventh under the auspices of VOSH-Connecticut, along with three previous missions under the auspices of VOSH-NECO. The team consisted of six Connecticut Optometrists led by Dr. Matthew Blondin and included: Dr. Jerry Hardison (9th VOSH-CT mission), Dr. Brian Lynch (11th VOSH-CT mission) (CAO Legislative Liaison), Dr. Abby Quinn (10th VOSH-CT mission), Dr. Robert Mingrone(4th VOSH-CT mission), Dr. Thomas Margius (3rdVOSH-CT mission) and we had an additional 31 mission members including Dr. Danielle LeFever from California, 16 Berkeley Optometry students, a Dispensary Chief and Assistants, Translators, Pre-testers and other mission volunteers.

continued

8 Weeks of Vintage Cinema at the Goshen Public Library

Starting on Friday, January 6th until February 24th we will be having weekly Vintage Movie Times. These sessions will start at 11:30 am and go until about 2:00 pm (or until finished). The sessions will include a cartoon short, movie serial, and then movies from the 1930's or 1940's.

The Goshen Public Library will provide coffee and dessert and we are asking the participants to bring their own brown bag lunch.

This will be a wonderful opportunity to see some great classics from Columbia Studios, MGM Studios, and Warner Brothers. continued

Imagine Nation Museum Pass at the Goshen Public Library

The Goshen Public Library is proud to announce that we have added "Imagine Nation" of Bristol CT to our Museum Pass List. This museum is for children and families. The Imagine Nation is open Wednesday through Sunday. The museum pass allows 4 people in for free during normal museum hours (after hour programs are an extra fee). Some of the exhibits that they have include: Greenscape, Sandsational, Dolls of the World, and the Space Exhibit. continued

"Great Decisions"

(current events discussion group)

at the Goshen Public Library

The Goshen Public Library will be hosting the Foreign Policy Association Great Decisions Series this year from January through April on alternate Mondays starting January 23rd at 4 PM.

This year's topics include: Middle East Realignment, Promoting Democracy, Mexico, Cybersecurity, Exit from Afghanistan & Iraq, State of the Oceans, Indonesia and Energy Geoplitics.

Course books are published by the Foreign Policy Association and cost $20 each. Each course will include a short video clip by subject specialists (produced by FPA) and group discussion time based on the articles that participants read prior to class. This is an excellent time to learn about current events and meet new people. continued

The library does have extra copies of the book available for patrons. continued

Veteran of the Month Ceremony

Cornwall French and Indian War Army Captain

honored as Post 44 February Veteran of the Month

Saturday, February 4, 2012 @ Bantam Borough Hall

Joseph Bierce of Cornwall, CT in 1783 served as a Lieutenant in the Continental Army during the American Revolution and later achieved the rank of Captain in the Connecticut Militia. According to Bierce's grave marker In the Cornwall Cemetery, and French and Indian War History, Bierce served in the Fourth Company that was commanded by Samuel Whiting of the Second Regiment Commanded by Colonel Nathan Whiting, and the grave marker inscription also notes “Revolutionary War Joseph Bierce, Captain in Beardsley's Co. continued

FOUR CHAPLAINS ALSO HONORED

The "Four Chaplains"" who gave up their life vests to GIs aboard the sinking troop transport "Dorchester" during World War II were also honored on Saturday, February 4th for their heroic acts.

LENT BEGINS

Rev. Robert F Tucker

St. Anthony of Padua, Litchfield

For the Christian, Lent is the season of looking at life with a better or new outlook. It may be just realizing that if everything’s going your way, you might well be in the wrong lane. For many years, Lent for most of us, was a time to give up things or adding extra prayers and good deeds to our way of acting. It always seemed that it was a time to accomplish things that we put off before in regard to living the two great commandments of love of God and Neighbor. It was a time to get the heart in order and to be more flexible in our actions, words, dealings and relationships with God and others. The Latin adverb “lente’ means slowly. It is a time to slow down and look at what really matters in life and make and live better priorities! However, the main point of Lent is to truly find God in the busyness of daily life and let Him transform and renew our faith, hope and love. As a member of a family it may be the chance to take apart the letters of F A M I L Y and discover them to mean “Forget About Me I Love You!” We know we could and should be a better person and now is the time to DO IT! Insanity may be defined as doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. This is the time to change our ways and know there will be different results! Even to daily realize and live like there is no time like the present and to be more pleasant in word and deed!

Most of us look at a problem or a person in trouble and think, “Somebody should do something to help.” This is the time for a better response: “I am somebody! I should do something to help!” It is easy to look at all the people and situations that are hurting but it is now the acceptable time to bring healing, even in a small way, through YOU! Our minds and hearts are like a muddy pond or a dirty mirror that are cluttered by so many distractions from living a humble heart response to God and Neighbor. Look at your junk drawer or drawers and start to clean out one or two of them and know how hard it is to focus and act on them. So we need to use these 40 days of Lent to get some of the junk out of our minds and heart! Remember not the events of the past but spring forth now out of the desert of negative thinking, faults, sins and blaming others. Say, “YES” and mean it and work on making the “YES” a reality of your life. As the friends of the paralytic had to open up the roof to get him in before Jesus, so now is the time to open up your own roof and heart. Let the Lord in to work in and through you in offering blessings and healings, “Forget about me, I love you.” for a better world. You and God might be astounded and amazed at what can happen by Easter in your own heart or in the words of others you will hear, “We have never seen anything like this.”