Dominique DeVito – Owner

Dominique DeVito grew up on a farm in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia. She went to Mount Holyoke Colllege in Massachusetts, and landed in New York City, where she had a career in magazine and book publishing. She was an editor at the American Kennel Club Gazette magazine, then went on to specialize in pet publishing at Howell, Macmillan, IDG Books, and TFH Publications. She launched several successful pet care series, including An Owner’s Guide to a Happy, Healthy Pet; The Terranova series that was the first to include a care and training CD; and For Dummies books on the care of multiple companion animals.

Dominique launched a freelance career when her twin sons were young, and she has written numerous books on everything from dogs to decorating to cooking, including The World Atlas of Dog Breeds. The learning curve for the winery was steep, but rewarding. Since purchasing the house and land that are now the Hudson-Chatham Winery in early 2006, she has learned more than she ever thought she would about agriculture, wine making, marketing, retail sales, and owning a small business.

She is a huge fan of the riches Columbia County and the area have to offer in everything from local food awareness to cultural institutions to natural beauty.She serves on the board of the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce and Hudson Valley Bounty, and is very active in promoting tourism in Columbia County and the Hudson Valley.

11th Annual SANGRIA & JAZZ FESTIVAL @ Hudson-Chatham Winery Ghent

Aug 11 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm

Now in its 11th year, the Hudson-Chatham Winery’signature Sangria & Jazz Festival is on Saturday, August 11, from 11 am – 6 pm. 11th Annual on August 11th – that’s easy to remember! As always, there will be the 5 fresh-made sangrias, local food options, and tarot card readings. This year there is also LIVE JAZZ with Patricia Dalton and the Jazz Colleagues.

The Jazz Colleagues will be playing throughout the day. The six musicians who’ll be sharing the stage – including vocalist Patricia Dalton – are internationally recognized performers who will have festival goers grooving to their great jazz music. Their instruments include keyboard, bass, sax, clarinet, and trumpet. Their sound is amazing.

The food this year will be from The Taste Box and Yummy Kitchen, both from Chatham, NY. Chef Chris Morales of The Taste Box puts together some of the best Mexican food in the upper Hudson Valley, and Yummy Kitchen’s Asian fusion dishes get rave reviews wherever they’re serving. Grandma Apple’s mini cheesecakes will be here, too.

And there’s the sangria, of course! We make 5 different sangrias with our wines and fresh fruit, including our signature strawberry-lemonade sangria made with the Ghent Blush – a crowd favorite.

Admission to the festival is free! Costs are depending on what you want: $15 to try the sangrias; $8/glass of sangria; wine-tasting fee in the tasting room; and other prices are by individual vendors. The winery is also selling its book, Seasonal Sangria: 100 Recipes to Enjoy All Year Long. Festival hours are 11 am to 6 pm. Bring lawn chairs or blankets to sit on. Absolutely no outside food or beverages are permitted.

The Hudson-Chatham Winery is proud to be Columbia County’s first winery. Owners Carlo and Dominique DeVito bought the property that became the winery in early 2006, pleased by its south-facing slope, appropriate soil for growing grapes, and great location along Route 66. The site is the last 14 acres of what was once a thriving dairy farm. With the site established, the DeVitos planted the vineyard and built the tasting room. The winery opened to the public in September 2007.

Now in its 8th year, the Hudson-Chatham Winery is a well-established local and tourist destination in Columbia County, voted the Capital Region’s Best Local Winery in 2011, 2012, and 2014, and Columbia County’s Best Winery in 2014 and 2015. People come for the award-winning wines

Oskar Espina Ruiz has performed at major concert halls and festivals to high critical acclaim, including concerto performances at the Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia, and recitals in New York City, Washington DC, Moscow, Madrid, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

During the 2017-2018 season he is appearing in concert in Australia, China and the US, is getting back to the recording studio to record works by Arriaga and Isasi, and will work on a new clarinet concerto dedicated to him by composer Alfonso Fuentes, to be premiered in 2019.

Oskar Espina Ruiz has appeared as soloist with the St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony (Russia), St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic (Russia), Orquesta Sinfónica de la Ciudad de Asunción (Paraguay) and Bilbao Symphony (Spain). His chamber music collaborations include the American, Shanghai, Cassatt, Escher and Daedalus string quartets, the Quintet of the Americas, pianists Victoria Schwartzman, Benjamin Hochman, Ursula Oppens and Anthony Newman, cellist David Geber (founder, American String Quartet) and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra artists.

He has recorded for the Bridge, Kobaltone and Prion labels, receiving high critical acclaim by fellow clarinetists Richard Stoltzman and Charles Neidich for his solo recording “Julián Menéndez Rediscovered.” He has been described by the press as a “masterful soloist” and a “highly expressive” clarinetist.

He holds a DMA from Stony Brook University, where his major teachers were Charles Neidich and Ayako Oshima.

Currently he is artistic director of the Treetops Chamber Music Society, in Stamford, CT, and the Music Mountain Festival in Falls Village, CT. From 2009 to 2011 he was on the clarinet faculty at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, in San Juan, PR, and since 2011 is clarinet artist faculty at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, in Winston-Salem, NC, while keeping a busy concert schedule.

Jimmy Greene Quartet

August 4 @ 6:30 pm

A native of Hartford, CT, Jimmy Greene is considered one of the most respected saxophonists of his generation. Jazzwise Magazine (UK) calls Greene “without doubt one of the most striking young tenors of recent years.” His GRAMMY® Nominated Beautiful Life album (Mack Avenue) has received high critical acclaim. CONCERT & DINNER PACKAGE available, including 5 PM dinner at the Falls Village Inn, a Litchfield County landmark—Classic American comfort fare, seasonal—and 6:30 PM Twilight Concert at Music Mountain. The Concert & Dinner Package must be purchased by 3 PM on Friday prior to concert.

Buy Tickets!

Find out more »

Avalon String Quartet

August 5 @ 3:00 pm

Soyeon Kate Lee, Piano

Beethoven: Piano Quartet #2 in D Major, WoO 36 (1785)

Mozart: String Quartet in D Major, K. 575 “Prussian” (1789)

Shostakovich: String Quartet #7 in F Sharp Minor, Op. 108 (1960)

Dohnanyi: Piano Quintet in C Minor, Op. 1 (1895)

Buy Tickets!

 

Organically Grown Flowers in the Hudson Valley

 

Tiny Hearts Farm of Copake, New York, with a new showroom and studio that opened May 2018 in nearby Hillsdale, is what germinates when two classically trained musicians are set loose in a new creative medium: 15 acres of gorgeous Hudson Valley soil managed by organic practices.

We—Jenny Elliott (above) and Luke Franco—are farmers, not florists, first. We’re committed to being growers of an ever-wider palette of high-quality, healthy-for-the-land, healthy-for-people flowers.

More on how we became farmers is below, but first, what we do, in brief:

We are wholesalers of homegrown, sustainably grown, seasonal flowers and foraged materials, with prominent NYC florists and others among our loyal customers. Learn more.

We do event flowers: Brides & other event clients expect our unexpected style. Whether a whole wedding or merely a centerpiece for a party, ask us for help. Learn more.

Want more flowers in your life (and live nearby)? Our effusive weekly CSA bouquets will delight those who want to subscribe and pick up weekly in season. Learn more.

The Litchfield County Choral Union, Jonathan F. Babbitt, Music Director, will offer both the Fauré and Duruflé Requiem at 3 pm on July 29th concert.

The Choral Union, founded in 1899, rehearses and performs on the stage of the Music Shed erected for the group by Ellen Battell Stoeckel and her husband in 1901 on their estate in Norfolk, Connecticut. 

The concert will feature organist David Enlow, soprano Alexandra Whitfield, mezzo-soprano Allison Messier, and baritone David Tinervia.

Jonathan F. Babbitt holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Yale University and the Yale School of Music, where he was Director of the Yale Freshman Chorus and Associate Director of the Yale Glee Club under the tutelage of Fenno Heath.  Active as a teacher, clinician, conductor, recitalist, adjudicator and composer, Mr. Babbitt has appeared across the United States, Canada and Europe as both organist and conductor, performing repertoire from the Renaissance to the contemporary.  His compositions have premiered at the prestigious International Contemporary Music Festival in Bonn, Germany, and at Connecticut and Rhode Island Music Educator’s Association events here in the United States.

Babbitt has more than two dozen recordings to his credit, including CDs of War Requiem by Benjamin Britten, the Verdi Requiem, Mozart’s Grand Mass, Litanies of the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, Requiem, and assorted shorter works, and three CDs of a capella part songs with the Chamber Singers of Swanhurst Chorus, which he conducted for 26 years.

A life-long church musician, Babbitt cut his musical teeth as an 8-year-old boy soprano in Litchfield, Connecticut.  His first position as Organist came at the age of 14; 2015 marked his 40th anniversary as a professional liturgical musician, and he remains an active and involved member of the American Guild of Organists.

Mr. Babbitt holds concurrent appointments as Director of Choral Activities and Coordinator of Applied Music Studies at Mitchell College in New London, Connecticut, Music Director of the Litchfield County Choral Union at the Yale Summer School of Music and Art in Norfolk, Connecticut, Music Director of the Greater New Bedford Choral Society in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Music Director of the Westport Point Methodist Church in Westport Point, Massachusetts, and Artistic Director of the New England Sacred Camerata, based in Adamsville, Rhode Island, where he also maintains Sakonnet Music, a private teaching and recording enterprise

Organist David Enlow, hailed for his “enormous virtuosity” (Stuttgarter Zeitung), “arresting performances” (The American Organist) and his “nimble accounts full of singing detail” (Choir & Organ), is a concert organist and church musician who performs and teaches across North America and Europe. His recordings include Pater Seraphicus, a three-disc set of the Franck organ works, Piano á l’orgue, an album of piano transcriptions, andBach on Park Avenue, recorded at New York’s Church of St. Ignatius Loyola.

Mr. Enlow is organist and choir master at the Church of the Resurrection in New York, where he directs a professional choir that offers over fifty settings of the mass each season, often works of Mozart and Haydn with orchestra. He is also a member of the organ faculty of the Juilliard School, where he is responsible for the service-playing component of the curriculum. Active in the American Guild of Organists (AGO), Mr. Enlow is a past Dean of the AGO’s New York City Chapter, has served on its national professional certification committee, and continues on its board of examiners. His work in early music includes serving as organist of the Clarion Orchestra and as répétiteur of the Clarion Choir, both highly acclaimed ensembles. Mr. Enlow regularly offers lectures, workshops, and concerts for chapter, regional, and national gatherings of the AGO and the Royal Canadian College of Organists.

Notes on the Fauré

Fauré’s reason

Black Bear Sighting Report Form

If you have seen a black bear in Connecticut, you can use the form below to report your sighting to the DEEP’s Wildlife Division. If you need immediate assistance concerning a black bear, you should call the DEEP’s 24-hour hotline at 860-424-3333.

 

 

Listing of Connecticut Black Bear Reports

Black Bear Fact Sheet

Black Bear Do’s and Don’ts

 

 

 

Connecticut Wildlife Division

Black Bear Report Form

Use the tab key to move between fields. Fields marked with an asterisk (*) must be filled in. Before submitting the report, please check your entries and select “Yes” to indicate that your report is complete.

Date of Observation*      Time of Observation  

Town where bear was observed * Select  a TownAndoverAnsoniaAshfordAvonBarkhamstedBeacon FallsBerlinBethanyBethelBethlehemBloomfieldBoltonBozrahBranfordBridgeportBridgewaterBristolBrookfieldBrooklynBurlingtonCanaanCanterburyCantonChaplinCheshireChesterClintonColchesterColebrookColumbiaCornwallCoventryCromwellDanburyDarienDeep RiverDerbyDurhamEast GranbyEast HaddamEast HamptonEast HartfordEast HavenEast LymeEast WindsorEastfordEastonEllingtonEnfieldEssexFairfieldFarmingtonFranklinGlastonburyGoshenGranbyGreenwichGriswoldGrotonGuilfordHaddamHamdenHamptonHartfordHartlandHarwintonHebronKentKillinglyKillingworthLebanonLedyardLisbonLitchfieldLymeMadisonManchesterMansfieldMarlboroughMeridenMiddleburyMiddlefieldMiddletownMilfordMonroeMontvilleMorrisNaugatuckNew BritainNew CanaanNew FairfieldNew HartfordNew HavenNew LondonNew MilfordNewingtonNewtownNorfolkNorth BranfordNorth CanaanNorth HavenNorth StoningtonNorwalkNorwichOld LymeOld SaybrookOrangeOxfordPlainfieldPlainvillePlymouthPomfretPortlandPrestonProspectPutnamReddingRidgefieldRocky HillRoxburySalemSalisburyScotlandSeymourSharonSheltonShermanSimsburySomersSouth WindsorSouthburySouthingtonSpragueStaffordStamfordSterlingStoningtonStratfordSuffieldThomastonThompsonTollandTorringtonTrumbullUnionVernonVoluntownWallingfordWarrenWashingtonWaterburyWaterfordWatertownWest HartfordWest HavenWestbrookWestonWestportWethersfieldWillingtonWiltonWinchesterWindhamWindsorWindsor LocksWolcottWoodbridgeWoodburyWoodstock

Exact location*  

(Street Address, closest intersection, or landmark)

How many bears did you see? 

Did the bear have ear tags?    Yes     No      Not Sure

If you saw ear tags, briefly describe the color and

any numbers/letters you could see on the tags.  

Additional Comments  

Please tell us how we can contact you if we need additional information.

Name*

Telephone*

E-mail

Report Complete?* NoYes        

 

 

SUPERTONE 2018

Roeliff Janssen (Roe Jan) Park, 9140 Route 22, HIllsdale, NY 12529

SATURDAY, JULY 28TH

Gates Open at 3:30pm….music at 4:00 pm ‘til Midnight

Advanced Ticket $23 BUCKS! (Gate $30)

Kids 14 and under are free

SUPERTONE TICKETS HERE!

2018 LINEUP!

THELMA & THE SLEAZE

BAT FANGS

JON HATCHETT BAND

THE LONESOME DOVES

THE NICE ONES

EL FRONT

DONNY & THE DRAG

BURT MURDER

BLACK LAKE

NATURE FILMS

DJ LUNAR MOSS

CAPTAIN MINX

LIKE OUR FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM PAGES FOR UPDATES:

@SUPERTONEFEST

https://www.facebook.com/SUPERTONEfestival/

https://www.facebook.com/oldtonenative/

SUPERTONE ROOTS, ROCK, & HONKY TONK FESTIVAL

“OLDTONE GOES OFF THE RAILS WITH SUPERTONE!”

The music and arts event features a unique blend of eclectic Rock, Honky-Tonk & Roots music.  The line-up has over 12 acts including well known regional and New Orleans performers, with the headliner Bat Fangs, just off a nationwide album release tour to rave reviews.  The Washington Post’s Chris Richards wrote in reference to the band; “This isn’t rock-and-roll revivalism, revisionism or reanimation. It’s metaphysical inheritance cranked up to 11”.  At SUPERTONE 2017 Bat Fangs’ classic hard rock anthem sounds were a hit with the crowd, and the duo is excited to headline the show again. Guitarist Betsy Wright stated: “We can’t wait to set SUPERTONE on fire.  Psyched to return to that technicolor stage!”

 

The lineup includes the New Orleans Jump Blues, Honky Tonk, Rockabilly and Western Swing of the Jon Hatchett Band and Erika Lewis’s (Tuba Skinny) The Lonesome Doves, known for their original songwriting with vintage instrumentation, dreamy sounds, and authentic performances. Thelma and the Sleaze are a recent and exciting addition to the lineup. Regional favorites like Donny and the Drag, Burt Murder, Black Lake, The Nice Ones, El Front, Nature Films, DJ Lunar Moss will offer classic sounds and avant garde entertainment.

The festival is held in an open barn at the Roe Jan Park with ample cover in the event of rain. Farm to table food, local beer, visual art and craft vendors, national and local talent, affordable tickets and a family friendly community spirit make this the best party in Columbia County all summer long.  A portion of the proceeds will go to benefit the Hillsdale Fire Company and The Roe Jan Park.

Roeliff Janssen (Roe Jan) Park, 9140 Route 22, HIllsdale, NY 12529

 

https://youtu.be/-izu_aNxslA

The White Gallery opens “The Art of the Print and Works on Paper” on Friday, July 20th with an opening artist reception on Saturday, July 21st from 5 – 7 pm.  Discover the best etchings, drawings, and mixed media on paper from these artists.

“There are eleven Connecticut artists as well as two from France. The colors of the images are unique to each of these artists whether stone prints, intaglios, monoprints or other works on paper, each have mastered the techniques with beautiful results. The variety of techniques and subjects are enjoyable to work with and to exhibit. Truly an opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of Prints and Works on Paper,” said Tino Galluzzo, Director of The White Gallery. “A portion of the proceeds of this show will benefit The Lakeville Conservancy to help advance their mission of beautifying our Lakeville Community.”

The show includes the works of local tri-state artists Allen Blagden, Ann Chernow, Naomi Grossman, Joan Jardine, Natasha Karpinskaia, Nancy Lasar, Alan McCord, Terri Moore, Constance Old, Randy Orzano and Nancy McTague-Stock.

“We enjoy curating this event every several years because it gives us the opportunity to highlight the work of many talented artists working on paper in one exhibit,” said Galluzzo.

Blagden is one of the most outstanding watercolorists and print artists of his time.  His penetrating renderings of sky and water, of people, birds, and landscapes fall within the academic traditions of the best of American realist painting.  

Highlighting the scenes from 1930’s and 1940’s movies, Chernow, uses film characters and period settings to create a sense of déjà vu or nostalgia without the sentimentality often associated with specific film stars.

Abstract artist Karpinskaia is enticed by the primary artistic elements that abstract offers – color, shape, line, and texture.  She works in layers, printing, and painting over previous surfaces many times.

Moore, inspired by nature, works in oil, graphite, charcoal, and watercolor to reflect life and the environment.

McCord’s intaglio prints are technically succinct as they delicately capture the beauty of the natural world around us.

Taking advantage of the excesses of the consumer economy, Old captures the spirit of the 21st century using everyday materials to attempt to make fleeting aspects of human experiences ‘concrete’.  Similarly, Mctague-Stock uses paint, print, and digital media as a process-oriented bridge, to combine her technical grounding in artistic tradition with 21st-century innovation.

Most unusual is Orzano’s work done in ‘collaboration’ with bees.  By placing paper and canvas in beehives, the bees put wax and propolis on the surface and remove the paper by tearing off pieces and discarding them.

Although, Grossman’s work often deals with issues of power, control, relationships, silenced voices and finding an ‘authentic voice,’ her new pieces for this exhibition evidence subtle tranquility in the form of sunflowers.

Energizing space and the passage of time is the focus for well known local artist Lasar with her drawing, painting, and printmaking.

Jardine, a colorist, and contemporary impressionist discovered color and the painting knife which had an enormous influence on her work.  Her artwork focuses on color and seeing the way the atmosphere affects objects.

The exhibit also includes works by French artists Nathalie Chabrier and Roger Forissier. Chabrier, a former pupil of the Beaux-Arts in Paris and an emblematic painter of the 21st century, practices engraving and lithography of typical Paris. Forrisier over his lifetime painted thousands of landscapes, still lifes and portraits all over Europe. He is also well known for his lithography.

The White Gallery is one of Northwest Connecticut’s and the Tri-State regions premier art galleries, presenting Modern Contemporary Masters and the best of emerging artists. Located at 342 Main Street, Lakeville, C

The final session of the Partners in Community Safety presentations which will take place:

Substance Abuse Prevention:  It’s Never Too Early, It’s Never Too Late

Thursday, July 12

Bittermann Center

2 Daisy Hill Road, Canaan, CT

Pizza and soda provided 6pm – 6:30pm

Babysitting provided

Presentation from 6:30pm – 8pm with time for Q&A

The Berkshires’ second annual Jewish Festival of Books will take place at Hevreh of Southern Berkshire in Great Barrington, Massachusetts from Thursday, July 26th through Sunday, July 29th.

Co-presented by Hevreh and Jewish Federation of the Berkshires, in partnership with the Jewish Book Council, and with the generous support of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, the festival will feature free and fee-based lectures, teachings and readings by internationally acclaimed authors in genres ranging from adult fiction to children’s literature to cookbooks.

The opening night author on Thursday, July 26th at 7 p.m. is Jewish and Feminist icon Francine Klagsbrun who, among the more than a dozen books she has authored, also edited The First Ms. Reader, and Free to Be … You and Me. Ms. Klagsbrun will be discussing her latest book, Lioness, the definitive biography of Golda Meir. The book won the top prize at this year’s National Jewish Book Awards when it was recognized as the Everett Family Foundation Book of the Year.

The festival ends with another literary lioness and National Jewish Book Award Winner on its closing day, on Sunday, July 29th at 10 a.m., when Rachel Kadish reads from and discusses her latest novel, the National Jewish Book Award Winning The Weight of Ink, which interweaves the story of two remarkable women and scholars – a 17th century Jewish scribe in London, and the 21st century researcher who discovers her. Ms. Kadish will be interviewed by Judith Rosenbaum, Executive Director of the Jewish Women’s Archive, which is co-sponsoring this event.

In between these two signature events, other highlights of the festival include the following:

On Friday, July 27th at 10:45 a.m. renowned Jewish cookbook author, Paula Shoyer, discusses her latest book, The Healthy Jewish Kitchen. Who knew there was such a thing?

That evening, on Friday, July 27th, following the 6:15 p.m. Shabbat evening service, and again at 12 p.m. on Saturday, July 28th immediately following Shabbat morning services at 10 a.m, Rabbi Judith Schindler will share separate teachings from her latest book, Recharging Judaism: How Civic Engagement is Good for Synagogues, Jews, and America. Rabbi Schindler is Rabbi Emerita of Temple Beth El in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the Sklut Professor of Jewish Studies and Director of the Stan Greenspon Center for Peace and Social Justice at Queens University of Charlotte.

 

Then on Saturday, July 28th at 4 p.m., as part of the internationally acclaimed Drag Queen Story Hour, the festival will feature a Sparkle Havdalah and reading of Leslea Newman’s Sparkle Boy. Children and parents will have the opportunity to get their sparkle on, and enjoy a hands-on Havdalah and some sweet Shabbat treats. All of the other festival events will also offer refreshments, and The Healthy Jewish Kitchen event will include lunch featuring recipes from the book.

For more information, or to make reservations, call Hevreh at 413-528-6378, or visit hevreh.org. Hevreh will also have books available for advance purchase in the lobby, which the authors will be happy to sign at the festival.