MANCHESTER — —
Gardening was Joan Kelsey’s passion, but it got harder to do when she lost the ability to walk, let alone kneel in the dirt.

Kelsey, a 30-year Manchester Garden Club member who uses a wheelchair, has struggled for years to find a green space where she can move around, with plants she can reach. That struggle got easier last week when Manchester’s Wickham Park opened a new garden to help people like Kelsey get back in touch with nature — albeit in a painstakingly constructed man-made setting.

The Sensory Garden, the latest addition to the park’s collection, is intended to be accessible to anyone. The garden is designed to engage each different human sense. So, for example, a blind person who visits the park will be able to smell the flowers, listen to recordings of nature sounds, and touch textured leaves. Someone in a wheelchair will be able to move across the brick walkways and work in the elevated planters, which lift the plants up to an easily reachable height.

And that makes a huge difference, Kelsey says.

“[Gardening] is part of who I am,” she said. “It’s my soul. I’ve had to give up the bulk of it, but I also learned there’s other ways to do it, and this place makes that possible.”

Jeffrey Maron, the park’s director, says that he expects the garden to become the park’s signature feature. It’s the largest of its kind in New England, he says, and one of the largest in the world.

The garden has six sections looped together by a brick walkway. Five are dedicated to engaging each of the different senses. In the smell area, for example, visitors are asked to smell flowers and identify different scents like baby powder, grape and peppermint. In the taste section, there are fruits and vegetables, and in the sound section, there are recordings of nature.

The sixth section is dedicated to imagination. There’s a fanciful statue and some of the garden’s stranger looking plants, like the pom-pom juniper, which looks like a Dr. Seuss creation. It’s also probably one of the few gardens in the state with a working model train.

The roughly $300,000 project took the park’s small staff more than two years to plan and build. Most of the construction was done in-house (Maron even learned how to weld) and many of the materials were donated. The donations, monetary and otherwise, marked the first time Wickham Park has turned to outside sources of funding, Maron says.

The park called in the extra help, he said, because of the special nature of the project, as well as its expense. Dozens of different organizations and individuals, including advocates for those with disabilities, local home improvement companies and several garden clubs contributed time, information and money. The help was especially useful this year after the financial crisis decimated the park’s trust left by the Wickham family by nearly a third, to roughly $10 million. The park’s annual operating budget, which is a small percentage of the trust, also declined, though slightly, Maron said.

Wickham Park consists of 250 acres of rolling greens, sports facilities, and eight different gardens. This one, Maron says, isn’t likely to be the last. It is the most unusual though, and shows promise of becoming the biggest draw.

“Where most of our gardens are tranquil,” says Maron, the sensory garden is meant to “wake people up.” It engages on every possible level, he says, meaning “everyone’s going to be here — people in wheelchairs, people who are athletic.” He says the goal is to make the appeal of gardens universal. He wants, he says, “to have people come here as a destination to see gardens and to enjoy nature.”

“We’ve still got to get the word out,” Maron said. “But this sort of thing will hopefully be the start of it.”

Source- http://www.ctnow.com/news/connecticut/hartford/hc-hc-manchester-new-garden-0524-20100523,0,1897870.story

When we’re young, we’re used to seeing our parents as the picture of health. They’re always there for us to lean on - whatever the reason.

As we reach middle age, though, we start to realize that our parents are becoming more frail and entering the stage of their lives where it’s now our turn to ensure their well-being.

The process of arranging proper care for elderly parents can be one of the most jarring a person has to go through. Many of us are already dealing with so much - kids, work, economic uncertainty… But these daily stresses are nothing compared to the emotional and financial issues surrounding our responsibility to our elderly parents. In fact, many people point to this process as the moment in their lives where they finally realize what it truly means to be an adult.

Everyone wants what’s best for their parents but, unfortunately, it’s usually not that simple. The ailments that affect the elderly, be they mental or physical, can often creep up slowly. It’s not uncommon to wake up one day and realize that one or both of our parents are no longer in a position to properly care for themselves, and when they need help, you may be the one that has to step up and arrange that care for them.

But where to start? The Yellow Pages? Spending hours driving around to look at different facilities? It’s also not uncommon for there to be disagreements between children and one or both of the parents as to the best course of action. Much as we would wish otherwise, financial considerations sometimes also have to be taken into account.

Fortunately, at this challenging time there is a remarkable organization dedicated to helping everyone involved in this decision. It’s called A Place For Mom and its mission is to provide seniors and families with one-on-one guidance and assistance as well as comprehensive resources about senior housing and elder care options so that you can make the best decision for your loved ones and for yourself.

The company, which is based in Seattle, has offices in 40 states and employs over 300 Eldercare Advisors. They work directly with seniors and their families on a one-on-one basis to analyze the individual needs of the family and prepare a variety of options taking into account medical, financial, geographic and other important factors.

The many options they can help walk you through include assisted living communities, Alzheimer’s care, nursing homes, respite care, retirement communities, residential care homes, home care, and hospice care.

This personalized service is offered free to families, as many of the nation’s care communities reimburse the company for its services. A Place For Mom has been so successful at meeting this need that they have grown to be the nation’s largest elder care referral service.

The suspect in a triple homicide at the WoodCliff Estates apartment complex May 6 was captured Wednesday in New York, police said.

Horvil “Trix” Lebrick, 31, was arraigned Wednesday on fugitive charges in New York. He is awaiting extradition to Connecticut.

New York police detectives and police officers surrounded his home in Brooklyn about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, police said.

He surrendered without incident about three hours later, said East Hartford police spokesman Hugo Benettieri.

Lebrick will be charged with felony murder and home invasion when he gets to Connecticut. He is currently being held in New York.

East Hartford police detectives have traveled to New York and interviewed Lebrick, said Benettieri.

He said police are still investigating the incident at 115 Nutmeg Lane, where Andrew and Andraw Moses, 21-year-old twins from Brooklyn, and Shawnalee Hudson, 26, were gunned down.

Police believe Lebrick went to East Hartford apartment with the twins, perhaps to collect a debt, then fled when his two alleged conspirators were killed. A man who arrived to help Hudson was wounded by gunfire.

In addition to felony murder and home invasion, Lebrick faces charges of first-degree burglary, first-degree assault, attempted first-degree robbery, and conspiracy charges. Bail on the warrant is set at $3 million, police said. The warrant has also been sealed. A judge signed the warrant Friday.

Anyone with information about the triple homicide is asked to call East Hartford police at 860-528-4401, Det. William Turley at 860-291-7605 or Det. Jodi Eberl at 860-291-7545.

Source- http://www.ctnow.com/

MERIDEN — A 38-year-old man who was hit by a car Tuesday night while crossing the Berlin Turnpike is in critical but stable condition at an area hospital, police said.

Police are withholding the pedestrian’s name until his family is notified.

The accident was reported at 9:30 p.m.

[Register on CTnow.com for a chance to win an iPad]

Witnesses told police the man may have been intoxicated when he attempted to cross the four-lane road and was struck by a northbound vehicle. He had just left Amazing.net, at 1919 North Broad St., also known as the Berlin Turnpike.

Source - http://howlifeworks.com

On Saturday, October 17, Jasper Howard, a cornerback for the UConn football team, spearheaded the Huskies’ defense in a 38-25 win over Louisville at Rentschler Field. Nine hours after his career-high 11 tackles and a forced fumble that halted a Louisville comeback, Howard was dead, yet another victim in our nation’s continuing saga of on-campus violence.

Lesser tragedies have decimated football teams before. Indeed, UConn’s next three games—at West Virginia, Rutgers, at Cincinnati—were heartbreaking last-minute losses.

Something happened after that—a season that could have gone sour turned into a season of heroes. It started with an overtime victory at Notre Dame, which UConn coach Randy Edsall called the biggest win in the history of the university’s football program.

In its last two games, UConn demolished Syracuse and—in drama befitting such a season—defeated South Florida on a last-second field goal. The Huskies will try to win one more for Jasper Howard when they play South Carolina at the Jan. 2 Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Alabama.

What are heroes made of?

The cells and tissue in the human body renew themselves so quickly that we have new skin every 30 days. Even more surprisingly, we have a new skeleton every six months. Change isn’t just inevitable—it’s always happening, day by day, hour by hour.

When we understand that nothing stays the same—not even our skeleton—we’re better prepared to cope with potentially devastating changes, such as the loss of a loved one.

When a change in your life seems more than you can manage, or when change is terrifying, take heart: Even heroes feel afraid. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.”

What are heroes made of? They’re made of the same cells and tissue as the rest of us. This New Year we’re all Huskies: Be a hero today to someone who needs you.

It only takes five minutes.

Share your story

Are you dealing with the loss of a loved one this New Year? Share your grief with us so that we might also share in your healing.

Scrooge Should Have Filled Out the Memorial Service Pre-Planning Guide

If Ebenezer Scrooge had taken the time to fill out the Memorial Service Pre-Planning Guide, he could have slept soundly through that terrifying Christmas Eve. The ghost of Jacob Marley would have had no reason to visit him.

The Pre-Planning Guide is an important part of your will and estate planning. First, it’s your way to make sure your family has detailed information concerning your wishes for a funeral or memorial service. Second, it’s a vital element in the healing process for your surviving loved ones.

If Ebenezer Scrooge had filled out the Pre-Planning Guide, his answers might have looked something like this:

Question: The things in life that have given me the greatest enjoyment are:

Answer: Expressing my disgust for Christmas celebrations. Bah, humbug!

Question: If I could live my life over again, I would spend less time:

Answer: Exploiting my employees and lashing out at people who love me.

Question: If I could live my life over again, I would spend more time:

Answer: With my family and friends…uh, the few that can stand to be near me.

Question: Something I always wanted to do but never got around to:

Answer: Creating lasting, loving relationships with the people who care about me.

In A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens’ classic tale of redemption and transformation, Ebenezer Scrooge repents and makes amends for a lifetime of bitterness and greed.

Like Scrooge, we all need to ask the right questions while we still have time to act on the insights they give us. As long as we’re breathing, we have an opportunity to rewrite the future.

You can get started today by answering the questions in our Guide. Download our Memorial Service Pre-Planning Guide and sleep soundly through all your Christmas Eves.

Tell us your thoughts!

How would you answer these four questions? We would love to hear your thoughts.

Tell us about something you always wanted to do but never got around to. Then ask yourself, what’s stopping me from doing it now?

Remember: The real tragedy in life is not death, but never having lived.

If you are planning to be away from home for a while for business purposes, a special end of week break, or for a family holiday, getting ready to go can take time and make you feel stressed out before you go. Adding more to the list of things to take care doesn’t help matters at all, but making sure things are done properly can make it easier when you get home and stop you worrying about it while you are away. There is nothing worse than being away from home and suddenly wondering if you remembered to take care of an urgent bill, or take care of the dog.

There are four important things to remember before setting off on vacation and a few ways to make them easier here:

You should make sure your home looks inhabited, even if you are thousands of miles away. A couple of timers which are quite inexpensive can be set to switch TV’s, lights and radios on and off. Make sure you stop your paper deliver as a heap of these by your door will make it obvious there is no one home. Ask the postal service to hang onto your mail while you are away. You can easily do this by printing off a form from the USPS site (www.usps.com), or go over to paperless billing and stop the problem of all that unwelcome mail.

If you arrange for payments for utilities to be taken automatically when due, you are not in danger of forgetting them while away from home. You can also do this by Visa card and pay the bills without hassle, while saving time too. There are various ways to set this up and you can find details at www.visa.com/billpay.

You also need to make arrangements for your animals and houseplants. Arrange for a pet-sitter or book your animals into a kennel so that you know they are properly taken care of. Arrange for someone to tidy your yard and water plants inside and out, unless you are only away for a short time when you can always put a timer on your sprinkler and put houseplants in the shade so that they get watered by the sprinkler. If you have someone you can trust to come and attend to these things, that’s even easier.

Ensure that you cut down on energy costs while you are away, by switching off water and gas and removing the plugs from things such as microwaves and televisions which have standby lights and waste electricity. This also stops damages done by electricity surges. Lower the thermostat on you heating or turn it off, if you are away for a longer period of time.

From simple things like fitting a timer to lights to arranging for your bills to be paid on time, using these hints can make going on vacation less stressful and make sure that you don’t come home to any nasty surprises.

Howard K Hill Funeral Services -website ( http://www.hkhfuneralservices.com) Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/hkhfuneralservices) YouTube: ( http://www.youtube.com/HowardkHill)
Many of our clients have stated they found their way to our website by using the following terms on the major search engines: Funeral Director New Haven CT, Funeral Director East Haven, Funeral Director Hartford, Funeral Director Bloomfield, Funeral Director Windsor. Funeral services New Haven CT, Funeral services East Haven, Funeral services Hartford, Funeral services Bloomfield, Funeral services Windsor, cremation New Haven CT, Cremation East Haven, Cremation Hartford, Cremation Bloomfield, Cremation Windsor.

An emergency first aid kit is an essential thing for every home to have, especially if there are children around. Just knowing that you have the basic equipment to deal with first aid emergencies is one less thing to worry about within the household. The following list is the minimum requirement for a basic first aid kit:

1. All wounds and scratches need an antiseptic to keep away infection, so you will need something like Bactine, or a similar product. When it is not possible to wash a wound thoroughly, an antiseptic gets rid of any foreign bodies that may be in the wound and is also very soothing. Antiseptics are available as creams or sprays too, so choose whichever you prefer.

2. Adhesive bandages like Band-Aid, or similar, are useful if you get a pack which contains different sizes of dressing. Gauze pads in bigger sizes can easily be cut down and are excellent for treating more severe injuries.

3. Scissors are an essential item in any first aid kit. They are useful for cutting gauze pads or clothes if it is necessary. They are requires for cutting surgical tape.

4. Ace bandages, or similar, can be useful when treating sprains and breakages.

5. Hot and cold packs are made to be used once only. They instantly give heat, or cold to reduce swelling and pain, in cases of sprain, bruising, and various other knocks and bumps.

6. Surgical tape is very useful in a first aid kit as it can be used to stick gauze in place, and to make sure that other dressings stay where they should be.

7. Things like scissors and tweezers are very often forgotten but they are often very useful. Tweezers are excellent for pulling out stings, extracting in-growing hairs.

8. Latex gloves are essential to give protection. They make a barrier against bacterial infection, blood and other body fluids. These are vital to protect yourself during an emergency situation.

9. Analgesics are pain killers. These may include aspirin, or ibuprofen, and are used for the treatment of headache or pain resulting from injury.

10. Antibiotic cream is very useful and may be applied to scratches, wounds, and other injuries where the skin is broken, to fight off infection.

11. Disinfectant, or plain rubbing alcohol is useful for wiping clean bites or stings from insects, or cleansing injuries. It is possible to buy disinfectant wipes which are more convenient for keeping in a first aid kit and take up little space.

12. Allergies can be uncomfortable to deal with and keeping an antihistamine on hand can help to relieve symptoms.

13. Last but not least important, keep a list of useful phone numbers on a card in your first aid kit. The numbers of a doctor, the poisons centre for your country, or area, and any information about the medication members of the family take regularly may be useful too.

Howard K Hill Funeral Services -website ( http://www.hkhfuneralservices.com) Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/hkhfuneralservices) YouTube: ( http://www.youtube.com/HowardkHill)

Many of our clients have stated they found their way to our website by using the following terms on the major search engines: Funeral Director New Haven CT, Funeral Director East Haven, Funeral Director Hartford, Funeral Director Bloomfield, Funeral Director Windsor. Funeral services New Haven CT, Funeral services East Haven, Funeral services Hartford, Funeral services Bloomfield, Funeral services Windsor, cremation New Haven CT, Cremation East Haven, Cremation Hartford, Cremation Bloomfield, Cremation Windsor.

A wedding is a special occasion for the two people concerned and for their family and friends. The gifts offered at the wedding are a token way of celebrating and expressing feelings for the couple concerned. Care needs to be taken when making a choice of gift and things like what the couple might prefer need to be considered. The cost of the gift is not important but it should always be chosen to suit the receiver.

Sometimes it can be really difficult to choose a gift that’s different, because of the wide range of possibilities out there. It can take some time to search the internet, and look around the stores to find the ideal gift without spending too much.

Something personalised is always a good choice and a carefully chosen crystal, or even matching wristwatches engraved with dates is a gift that is unique to the occasion and the bride and groom.

If the couple marrying are close to you, an album of family photographs is a great idea for a gift. Things like plates with painted portraits of their family, special quilts made with family photos on them, or purpose made wedding celebration plates with the couple on them are all unusual ideas which can be investigated on the internet.

Keen golf players might even like a personalised golf set with their names on each item, but make sure they both play golf first.

A nice leather Bible with the details of the wedding written in it is a thoughtful gift for a religious couple. Here again, make sure that you have done your homework and know that this would be appreciated.

The range of interesting and unusual gifts is huge if you find out what the couple like first. Gift certificates, things for the home, silver items, or things to remind them of their special day are all options, depending on what you think the couple would like.

The choice of gift from bride to groom and vice versa, is up to the couple concerned.
They can choose from a wide range of things from matching items of jewellery, to specially written poems, scrolls, or even more lavish gifts, according to what they wish to spend.

The bride and groom may give gifts to their parents and the choice of these is also very wide from a special, relaxing spa weekend, down to framed photographs, or poems. Once again it is the thought behind the gift that matters, not the amount of money spent.

Sometimes parents organise bridal showers so that the couple can get to know the family, or they may give the couple something personal. Gifts do not need to cost a lot of money but they should take the preferences of the individual receiving them into account.

Howard K Hill Funeral Services -website ( http://www.hkhfuneralservices.com) Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/hkhfuneralservices) YouTube: ( http://www.youtube.com/HowardkHill)

Many of our clients have stated they found their way to our website by using the following terms on the major search engines: Funeral Director New Haven CT, Funeral Director East Haven, Funeral Director Hartford, Funeral Director Bloomfield, Funeral Director Windsor. Funeral services New Haven CT, Funeral services East Haven, Funeral services Hartford, Funeral services Bloomfield, Funeral services Windsor, cremation New Haven CT, Cremation East Haven, Cremation Hartford, Cremation Bloomfield, Cremation Windsor.