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Discover local stories, hidden gems, and must-know events.

Barn Talk: The Elegant and Edible Garden: Designing a Potager Livestream Presentation

Presented by: Linda Vater
March 5 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Explore the French tradition of the potager—artful kitchen gardens where colorful flowers, fruits, vegetables, and fragrant herbs grow side by side. Drawing from her award-winning book The Elegant and Edible Garden, Linda Vater guides you through the process of designing a kitchen garden that is as beautiful as it is productive. At the heart of her approach is the principle that successful kitchen gardens begin not with plants, but with an honest assessment of time, lifestyle, space, and expectations. Learn how to identify your priorities and translate them into confident design decisions, creating a potager that is uniquely your own.

From formal, geometrical layouts to loose, edible borders, small plots to raised beds and containers, Linda will inspire you with a range of kitchen garden design options—both structured and more relaxed. Start designing a kitchen garden that will delight both the eyes and the palate.

Linda Vater is a self-taught garden designer, stylist, author, and media creator known for her thoughtful approach to garden design and garden-inspired living. Her gardens—originally developed at her 1935 English Tudor home in Oklahoma City and now evolving at her current residence—have been featured in numerous national and regional publications. She is the author of the award winning The Elegant and Edible Garden: Design a Dream Kitchen Garden to Fit Your Personality, Desires, and Lifestyle, and The Garden Journal. Her most recent book, A Year of Garden-Inspired Living: Season by Season, offers readers new and creative ideas for connecting with our gardens and with each other. Linda writes and produces garden content for television, magazines, social media, and her own website LindaVater.com as well as other online channels.

All Participants $25

Live Online presentation organized by Hollister House Garden

The Elegant and Edible Garden: Designing a Potager Livestream Presentation

“Abigail Adams”, a LIVE portrayal by Sheryl Faye.
Experience an engaging live portrayal of Abigail Adams, one of America’s most influential Founding Mothers. Through vivid storytelling and historical insight, Abigail comes to life as she shares her perspectives on independence, women’s rights, family, and her extraordinary partnership with John Adams during the nation’s formative years. This captivating presentation offers a rare glimpse into her letters, her wit, and her unwavering belief in liberty—inviting audiences to step into the world of a woman whose voice helped shape a new nation.
3:00 PM
Free, Donations will be accepted at door. Pre-registration required for lunch.

Litchfield Community Center
421 Bantam Road
Litchfield, CT 06759
860-567-8302

Abigail Adams: LIVE Portrayal by Sheryl Faye

Join us February 22nd for an epic 7.8 mile loop of picturesque Lake Waramaug – this annual winter tradition attracts hundreds of area runners. The Run starts at 11 am.

Powered by a team of more than 75 volunteers, we’re committed to delivering a fantastic experience for all participants and to raising both awareness and money for Guiding Eyes for the Blind. We’ve donated over $45,000 to date and we’re running towards our next milestone of surpassing $100,000 in total donations. The Polar Bear Run is a 501 ©(3) registered nonprofit.

The scenic course travels counterclockwise along the shoreline of the glacial lake while passing through Washington, Warren and Kent. The route is primarily flat with a few gentle rolling hills. The final .2 miles provides a true test for all as runners ascend the unforgiving Hopkins Hill to the finish line at Hopkins Vineyard.

The top three male and female finishers receive prizes. First place overall wins a $100 TrailHeads gift card and a bottle of wine from Hopkins Vineyard. Age Group Awards are presented for the top 3 in each category:
18 & under / 19-29 / 30-39 / 40-49 / 50-59 / 60-69 / 70 & over

Walkers have the option of an early start at 10:15 am; to partake please arrive at the start/finish line by 10:00 am.

*** Be Sure to Sign Up Early – The Race is limited to 700 participants ***

Lake Waramaug

Directions:

From the South: From the South: Head north on Route 202, take a left onto Route 45. Continue on 45 straight through the stop sign. Turn left onto Curtiss Road. Turn left onto Hopkins Vineyard Rd. Parking will be on the left. Registration takes place at Hopkins Vineyard.

From the North: Head south on Route 202, take a right onto Route 45 and follow same directions as above.

A note regarding parking: Parking is available in several lots near the intersection of North Shore Rd and Hopkins Rd. Please consider carpooling with your fellow runners.

https://www.trailheads.com/lake-waramaug-polar-bear-run?srsltid=AfmBOoqlOZJVK9ngEkQ1jA_ECxld0i8GR0zRZh-34OTPex23VFm32D_2

6:00-7:00 PM
FREE

The Gunn Memorial Library is pleased to welcome Vickie Dauphinais of the Litchfield Hills Audubon Society, who will share insights into the vital role birds play in our backyards, the benefits they bring to our ecosystems, and the challenges they face today.

Wild birds, our closest neighbors, are essential to human welfare. They provide a multitude of ecosystem services to improve and support human life. Scientists routinely use birds to gauge the health of ecosystems. Equally important are the personal benefits we receive from their physical beauty, fascinating behavior, and melodious vocalizations.

These precious creatures face many deadly threats in the human landscape. Vickie Dauphinais will discuss a major threat birds face in our own backyards – glass collisions. She will explain how widespread the problem is and, most importantly, offer easy, economical approaches that can be used at our homes and places of business to address it.

Vickie Dauphinais is a member of the Litchfield Hills Audubon Society (LHAS). She serves as chair of the education committee and leads the pollinator garden committee. Vickie enjoys hiking and birding with her Audubon friends. Since retirement from healthcare, she has taken an active role in fulfilling LHAS mission to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on wild birds and their habitats.

Registration Required

Gunn Memorial Library
5 Wykeham Rd
Washington, CT 06793

2026-03-12

https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/making-your-windows-safer-for-wild-birds/

FREE
6:00-7:00 PM

The library’s book clubs are participating in the Winter 2026 Reading Challenge, which highlights titles from the Booker Prize reading list. Join us for another vibrant discussion.

Confined to a hospital bed in London, elderly and unflinching Claudia Hampton drifts through the fragments of her life as memory and consciousness begin to blur. A celebrated writer of popular history, Claudia insists she is embarking on her final—and most ambitious—project: a history of the world. What unfolds instead is a richly layered mosaic of her own life and the lives intertwined with it.

At the heart of Claudia’s story is Tom, the great love she found and lost amid the heat and chaos of wartime Egypt. Fiercely independent and often difficult, Claudia has lived on her own terms, forging intense, sometimes fraught relationships that refuse to settle neatly into the past.

As friends, family, and acquaintances visit her bedside, their voices fracture and reshape the narrative, shifting perspective, pace, and tone. Each encounter reveals another angle of Claudia’s life—and the lasting imprint she has left on others.

Winner of the Booker Prize and a modern literary classic, Moon Tiger is a haunting, provocative, and dazzlingly original: a novel of memory, love, loss, and the many ways a life can be told—making it an ideal selection for book club conversation.

Registration is required.

Copies of the book are available at the circulation desk.

Gunn Memorial Library
5 Wykeham Rd
Washington, CT 06793

2026-03-26

https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/gml-thursday-book-club-moon-tiger-by-penelope-lively/

FREE
1:00-2:00 PM

The library’s book clubs are participating in the Winter 2026 Reading Challenge, which highlights titles from the Booker Prize reading list. Join us for another vibrant discussion.

On a cold February afternoon, two longtime friends, Clive Linley and Vernon Halliday, reunite among mourners gathered outside a London crematorium to honor the life of Molly Lane. Once, both her lovers, Molly was a brilliant, charismatic woman whose influence lingers long after her death. Now in middle age, Clive is a celebrated composer at the height of his career, while Vernon is a powerful newspaper editor navigating the ethical tensions of modern journalism.

As memories of Molly resurface, so do old rivalries, ambitions, and resentments—complicated further by her past affair with Julian Garmony, a controversial right-wing politician poised to lead the nation. In the aftermath of the funeral, Clive and Vernon enter into a seemingly simple pact, one born of friendship and moral certainty. But as personal failings and public pressures collide, their agreement sets off a chain of events neither man could have anticipated.

Sharp, darkly comic, and unsettling, Amsterdam is a provocative exploration of friendship, morality, and the dangerous ease with which principles can be compromised.

Registration is required.

Copies of the book are available at the circulation desk.

Gunn Memorial Library
5 Wykeham Rd
Washington, CT 06793

2026-03-13

https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/gml-friday-book-club-amsterdam-by-ian-mcewan/

2:00-3:00 PM
FREE

The Judy Black Memorial Park & Gardens & The Gunn Memorial Library present a special collaborative event featuring the talented musical group Kitchen Céilí. This concert promises an afternoon of vibrant music, community spirit, and cultural celebration. The event will take place at Judy Black Memorial Park & Gardens.

Join us for this concert of traditional Irish and New England music! As their name implies, the traditional Irish/New England band Kitchen Céilí aims to serve up healthy portions of spirited tunes and songs in unpretentious good humor. Their repertoire includes the driving reels and lilting jigs and hornpipes one would find in an Irish pub session, as well as stately waltzes, slow airs, and old and new songs of emigrants, soldiers, lovers, and lawyers from both sides of the Atlantic. The band features George Wilson on fiddle, banjo, and vocals, Dora Hast on tin whistle and recorders, Stan Scott on guitar, mandolin, banjo, and vocals, and Sam Scheer on vocals and guitar.

George Wilson is a talented multi-instrumentalist whose repertoire draws on traditional and folk styles from New England, the Adirondacks, Quebec, Cape Breton, Ireland, Scotland, and Shetland. Dora Hast has collected a unique repertoire of traditional tin whistle tunes through many trips to Ireland. Her book Music in Ireland (Oxford University Press), co-authored with her band-mate and husband Stan Scott, is a standard resource in traditional Irish music studies. Stan Scott is a composer, singer, guitarist, and mandolinist whose eclectic musical interests have led him to India and Ireland many times, where he has lectured and performed at the Willie Clancy Summer School and the Clare Festival of Traditional Singing. Sam Scheer received his MA in English at Oxford University and has been a long-time teacher, guitarist, and songwriter. He has recorded several albums of original and traditional songs, including Somewhere in the Middle of Your Life with Stan Scott that are available on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple.

Registration is Required

Gunn Memorial Library
5 Wykeham Rd
Washington, CT 06793

2026-03-14

https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/kitchen-ceili-2026/

3:00-4:00 PM
FREE

Ready to sharpen your French conversation skills and connect with an international group of interesting people? Make 2026 your moment to step into an hour of immersive French conversation at Gunn Memorial Library.

Each session, participants will read articles from French magazines that cover cultural topics and current events. Guided discussions encourage stimulating and meaningful dialogue—perfect for sharpening your French and deepening your understanding of Francophone culture.

This is an excellent opportunity to connect with fellow Francophiles from diverse cultural backgrounds, exchange ideas, and celebrate the beauty of the French language in a warm, welcoming environment.

Registration is required.

Gunn Memorial Library
5 Wykeham Rd
Washington, CT 06793

2026-03-19

https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/march-french-club-for-adults/

FREE
6:00-7:30 PM

Practice speaking English in a casual setting at the library. Tutors from Literacy Volunteers on the Green will be on hand to keep the conversation flowing.

Registration Required.

Gunn Memorial Library
5 Wykeham Rd
Washington, CT 06793

2026-03-05

https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/esl-cafe-at-the-library-6/

Jeanine Chayka continues to offer meditation and sound healing. Her sessions activate the body’s relaxation response, calm the mind, release physical tension, and restore balance to the nervous system.
Using the soothing sounds of crystal and Himalayan singing bowls, drums, and other vibrational instruments, Jeanine leads participants through immersive meditations that transport them to a state of deep healing and renewal.
Jeanine believes that self-care is the foundation of true healing. She approaches every session with the belief that each individual is worthy of compassion, care, and inner peace. Through her work, she helps others cultivate balance, positivity, and spiritual nourishment.
Jeanine Chayka is the founder of Inspired Vibrations. She is a certified Practitioner of Sound and Vibrational Therapies, holds Reiki I & II certifications, and is a skilled meditation guide. Since 2020, she has facilitated sound meditations, guided sessions, and private retreats for individuals and groups—creating customized, deeply restorative experiences for each participant.

Gunn Memorial Library
5 Wykeham Rd
Washington, CT 06793

2026-03-07

https://www.gunnlibrary.org/calendar/the-art-of-sound-meditation-5/