Your guide to the heart of Litchfield County:
Discover local stories, hidden gems, and must-know events.

Gunn Memorial Library Makerspace
Beginner Sewing Club (Grades 4-5), January 10, 17, 24; 3:30-4:30 pm
Free program

Get started with the basics of sewing in this three-week workshop! Participants will learn how to cut out a pattern, thread and safely operate a sewing machine, and machine-embroider a monogram as they create their own reading pillow. Grades 4-5. Registration required. Participants must attend all three sessions.

To register: https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/category/makerspace-programs/2025-01/

Gunn Memorial Library
5 Wykeham Road
Washington, CT 06793

860-868-7586
https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/category/makerspace-programs/2025-01/

Creative Family Fun: Snowflake Symmetry | January 11, 1:00-2:00 pm

Science, math, and art collide in this month’s Creative Family Fun workshop! Did you know that snowflakes show six-fold symmetry? Learn more about different kinds of symmetry and discover how snowflakes are formed as you create your snowflake prints with stamps and paint. Ages 5+ with a caregiver. Registration required.

To register: https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/creative-family-fun-snowflake-symmetry/

Gunn Memorial Library
5 Wykeham Road
Washington, CT 06793
https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/creative-family-fun-snowflake-symmetry/

Mindfulness Meditation to balance and renew:
Learn how to grow a heart that is ready for anything!
With Sheila Klapper

Saturdays, January 18, February 15 & March 22, 2025
10:00-11:15 AM

Meditation is a time-tested, evidence-based tool for regaining balance and locating joy.
Learn how to train our minds for stability and our hearts for peace. We will explore time-honored practices that can be done anywhere to grow roots in a constantly changing world.
Together, we will look at why people meditate, discuss the benefits of regular practice, and learn important foundational techniques to support a home practice. We will:
Embrace mindfulness in daily activity
Learn ways to overcome the obstacles that arise around practice
Sit together in a guided meditation each week
Share reflections and questions as we go
Explore mindfulness in movement and eating
Discuss ways of creating a supportive home practice

Summon your curiosity and see what quieting a busy mind is like. You are welcome if you have a practice needing refreshing or are simply curious, and imagine this practice might be a valuable tool for your well-being.

BIO: Sheila Klapper’s unwavering dedication to meditation spans many decades, practicing within various traditions. In 2021, she completed an intensive 2-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training program with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach through the Greater Good Science Center, Sounds True, and the Awareness Training Institute. For 9 years, Sheila taught in community centers, adult education programs, and libraries in Northwestern, CT. During COVID, she began leading virtual groups that continued for several years. She started a bi-monthly meditation group at the Litchfield Community Center more than 5 years ago that continues to serve a welcoming group of meditators.

Sheila became a certified Kripalu Yoga Instructor in 2000 and briefly ran her yoga studio in Glastonbury, CT. Later, she brought her commitment to wellness to Hartford Hospital, where she taught yoga and meditation to both staff and patients while serving as a Medical Librarian.

Registration is required:
Session 1:
https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/mindfulness-meditation-to-balance-renew-with-sheila-klapper/

Session 2:https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/mindfulness-meditation-to-balance-renew-with-sheila-klapper-2/

Session 3: https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/mindfulness-meditation-to-balance-renew-with-sheila-klapper-3/

Gunn Memorial Library
5 Wykeham Road
Washington, CT 06793

860-868-7586

Adults

Crafting History – January 28th, 2025
2:00-3:30 PM
Free program

The Gunn Museum and Makerspace present a series of craft workshops inspired by artifacts from the Museum’s collections. These hands-on workshops blend creativity, history, and art, providing participants with a unique learning experience.

January: Wood Block Stamp Carving with CNC Machines
In January, participants will step into wood carving using Makerspace’s CNC machine to design and create their own wood block stamps. Drawing inspiration from the work of Washington’s own Herbert Faulkner—renowned painter and wood carver—participants will craft personalized stamps to embellish tote bags, coasters, or note card sets. It’s a perfect way to explore art and craftsmanship while connecting with local history!

Registration is required: https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/crafting-history-2/

The Gunn Memorial Library & Museum
5 Wykeham Road
Washington, CT 06793

860-868-7586
https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/crafting-history-2/

The January and February picks for the Gunn Memorial Library book clubs will come from the New York Times Top 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. In January, the Thursday evening Book Club will read the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tobarczuk

In a remote Polish village, Janina devotes the dark winter days to studying astrology, translating the poetry of William Blake, and taking care of the summer homes of wealthy Warsaw residents. Her reputation as a crank and a recluse is amplified by her not-so-secret preference for the company of animals over humans. Then, a neighbor, Big Foot, turns up dead. Soon, other bodies are discovered in increasingly strange circumstances. As suspicions mount, Janina inserts herself into the investigation, certain she knows whodunit. If only anyone would pay her mind . . .

A deeply satisfying thriller cum fairy tale, Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead is a provocative exploration of the murky borderland between sanity and madness, justice and tradition, autonomy and fate. Whom do we deem sane? It asks. Who is worthy of a voice?

Copies of the book are available at the library circulation desk

Register at: https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/gml-thursday-book-club-drive-your-plow-over-the-bones-of-the-dead-by-olga-tobarczuk/

Gunn Memorial Library
5 Wykeham Rd
Washington, CT 06793
https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/gml-thursday-book-club-drive-your-plow-over-the-bones-of-the-dead-by-olga-tobarczuk/

The January and February picks for the Gunn Memorial Library book clubs will come from the New York Times Top 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. In January, we will read Maggie O’Farrell’s beautifully written page-turner, Hamnet.
England, 1580: The Black Death creeps across the land, an ever-present threat, infecting the healthy, the sick, the old, and the young alike. The end of days is near, but life always goes on.
A young Latin tutor—penniless and bullied by a violent father—falls in love with an extraordinary, eccentric young woman. Agnes is a wild creature who walks her family’s land with a falcon on her glove. She is known throughout the countryside for her unusual gifts as a healer, understanding plants and potions better than she does people. Once she settles with her husband on Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon, she becomes a fiercely protective mother and a steadfast, centrifugal force in the life of her young husband, whose career on the London stage is just taking off when his beloved young son succumbs to sudden fever.

Please register at: https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/gml-friday-book-club-hamnet-by-maggie-ofarrell/

Gunn Memorial Library
5 Wykeham Road
Washington, CT 06793
860-868-7586
https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/gml-friday-book-club-hamnet-by-maggie-ofarrell/

David Grausman will be appearing at Community Table Restaurant & Bar on Christmas Eve, Tuesday, December 24th from 7:15 – 10:15 PM and
New Year’s Eve: Tuesday, December 31st from 8 – 11 PM.

$50 minimum at the bar.

Reservations recommended. Please click below for more details.

Community Table Restaurant & Bar
233 Litchfield Turnpike (Rt. 202)
New Preston, CT. 06777
860-868-9354
https://www.communitytablect.com/general-1

Online event (Zoom link is provided when you register on our website)

Three town libraries – Roxbury, Bridgewater, and Washington – collaborate to present you Introduction to AI with Mary McPheat (2 Sessions)

Session #1: Concepts, Demos, and Safety
January 28, 2025, 6:00-7:30 PM

This session will briefly introduce artificial intelligence in just 60 minutes, covering key concepts, generative AI, and privacy considerations. It features demos to help you grasp the technology’s power and hopefully spark some creative thinking about its possibilities.
To register, visit /www.minormemoriallibrary.org

Online event (Zoom link is provided when you register on our website)To register, visit:
https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/mary-mcpheat-intro-to-ai-session-concepts-demos-and-safety/
or
https:///www.minormemoriallibrary.org

Create Your Vision Board | January 7, 6:00-7:00pm

Visit the Makerspace to craft an inspirational vision board collage for the new year! Relax, reflect, and have fun using magazines, photo printers, Cricut cutters, markers, glue, and other art supplies to create a visual reminder of your goals and dreams for 2025. All supplies are provided, but you can bring images and objects to include on your board.
Free. Ages 18+. Registration required.

To register, visit https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/create-your-vision-board/

Gunn Memorial Library
5 Wykeham Rd
Washington, CT 06793
(860) 868-7586
https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/create-your-vision-board/

Kick Off the New Year with a Fun Movie Matinee at the Gunn Memorial Library!
Join us for a delightfully spooky movie matinee this January as we screen the 2024 sequel to Beetlejuice!
After an unexpected family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return to their home in Winter River. Still haunted by the mischievous Beetlejuice, Lydia’s world is upended when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid, stumbles upon a mysterious model of the town in the attic. Chaos unfolds when the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened, and it’s only a matter of time before someone says his name three times, summoning Beetlejuice back to wreak havoc in both realms.
Don’t miss this entertaining film with humor, heart, and mayhem.
To register, visit www.gunnlibrary.org/

Gunn Memorial Library
5 Wykeham Road
Washington, CT 06793
https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/monday-movie-matinee-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/