President's Letter March

Dear March, come in!
How glad I am!
I looked for you before.
Put down your hat–
You must have walked–
How out of breath you are!
Dear March, how are you?
And the rest?
Did you leave Nature well?
Oh, March, come right upstairs with me,
I have so much to tell!

-Emily Dickinson

Our March 7^th meeting was a welcome treat which we welcomed in. As the wind howled around the Jones Auditorium, we learned how to open the apertures of our cameras, control our shutter speed, and compose photographs with leading lines. Rich Pomerantz encouraged us all to think of patterns, of hot and cold colors, of taking our time, and of moving closer and, at the same time, he displayed his beautiful photographs of peonies, echinops, daylilies, crocuses, and iris. How wonderful it was to gaze upon a shovel learning against a well-placed sundial – harbingers of spring projects soon-to-come!

Our meeting also afforded us an opportunity to applaud and thank our members:

• We congratulated Vicki Arkins whose beautiful floral table arrangement entry won a blue ribbon in the Federated Garden Clubs Flower Show in Hartford, ‘Capture the Magic’.
• We cheered the team of Lisa Lovejoy, Cordalie Benoit, Amy Estrabrook, and Susan Ehrenkranz whose breathtaking arrangement and spine-tingling brews in the class of “Lotions and Potions” brought so many awards to our Club – a blue ribbon, the Club competition award, and the Nell McGuiness Award. Bravo!
• We thanked Mikey Hirschoff who represented us so ably at the Legislative Conference in Washington, DC.
• We were ever so grateful to Nancy Duble for hosting a wonderful Prospective Members’ wine and cheese party in her beautiful home.

This month our committees are busy planning for spring activities. Cordalie Benoit has published a Phelps Triangle work schedule (I hope that everyone will take part in the clean-up effort); Lisa Lovejoy has planned for a Kitchen I workshop; Amy Estabrook is arranging a ‘Shoot and Share’ event; Betsy Hartmayer is organizing a delicious wine-tasting party as a fund-raiser for our Zone II meeting; and Susan Ehrenkranz has invited us all to join her to sort through Garden Club archival materials that have been culled from closets, attics, and cellars. In addition, Debbie Edwards reports that the Project Tree committee is hard at work both on developing a walking tour of the New Haven Green and on gathering historical materials for the documentary. Please do check the website blog for upcoming dates and details for all of these.

During our business meeting next month I plan to provide everyone with an overview of the steering committee’s ideas for the GCA Zone II meeting that our Club will host on October 26^th & 27^th. This event will be a wonderful way to showcase our Club activities and our community but it will require a great deal of effort and help from everyone. Please think about how you would like to be involved – hosting a dinner? participating in the exciting flower show that Vicki and Lisa have scheduled? working at a registration table? designing invitations? There will be many opportunities!

I do want to update you on the plans for our Garden Club cookbook. I am so grateful to Betsy Hartmayer for taking on this initiative. She encouraged us all to submit our best recipes, she (along with Susan Ehrenkranz) typed and typed and typed them according to the publisher’s format, she has worked relentlessly on editing them. Despite her considerable efforts, we have not amassed the numbers of recipes needed to make a cookbook financially viable. Given that fact, we have decided not to proceed with this project as planned. However, we will capture the submitted recipes in a different format. Stay tuned!

I end my notes this month with fond thoughts of two of our members.

One is Nancy McAllister, a lifetime member of our Club, who died peacefully last week. Nancy joined the Club in 1966 – 45 years ago. She was described to me as a fun-loving, witty woman who enjoyed every minute of her more than 90 years. Her friends remember her delicious dinner parties, her fondness for music, and her love of dance – an art form that she found simply irresistible. A memorial service will be held for Nancy at a later date, most likely in the summer.

Buck Gentry wrote to inform us that a celebration of Betsy’s life will be held at the New Haven Lawn Club on Sunday, April 17^th from 1-5 pm. The family welcomes all of Betsy’s Garden Club friends.

With hopes for an early spring,

Carol

March, 2011