Yes, No, Maybe

Read Shelby Warner's column in the October 25 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

So, here’s my story.  I am sentimental.  I keep things.  My closets, drawers, and cellar shelves are filled with stuff  I can’t part with.  What kind of stuff you may ask?? 

Well, I have the dresses I wore to the weddings of my four children.  They don’t fit any more, they’re out of style, I will never wear them again, but when I try to put them in the donation bag, I just can’t.  I also have every greeting card ever given me by my children and a few that amused me from friends.  My grandmother kept all her cards, too, but was smart enough to neatly organize them in scrapbooks.  Then there are the four bins of piano music, two bins of fabric which are for the quilts I intend to make someday and have intended for the last 20 years.  Oh, yes there is one bin, about 8 small containers, and 3 scrapbooks of baseball cards I once collected.  Are you getting the picture??  I have the blouse I wore on my first date with my husband which he especially liked and a cummerbund that once fit around my waist and now I might be able to wear around my thigh.

The Secret Garden

Read Marie Lydon's column in the October 18, 2013 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

I generally like to confine my amateur gardening to the backyard, assuming that no one can see me there to judge the fruits of my labor. I know this isn’t really true because, in spite of a stockade fence, any of the neighbors can look from upstairs windows and see my disorganized way of doing things: smelling the lilacs, taking pictures of the butterflies, pouncing on every dandelion I see to wrestle it out, and smelling the lilies of the valley that don’t quite smell like my favorite colognes of yesteryear.

Breaking New Ground on Television

Read the published version of Library Director Charlotte Canelli's column in the October 11, 2013 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

Note: Spoiler Alert. If you don't haven't watched the last episode of Breaking Bad, don't read any further.



Last week the Albuquerque Journal published the obituary of Walter White who died “after a long battle with cancer.” And, of course, “a gunshot wound.”

Many of us knew Walter White quite well. In fact, over 10.3 million people knew Walter White so well that they began mourning him months ago, knowing for certain that the AMC television show (Breaking Bad) that made him a household name would not end well. At least not for Walter.

Landscape of Industry: The Blackstone Valley

Read the published version of Library Director Charlotte Canelli's column in the October 4, 2013 edition of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

Part of the wonder of living in New England is the history that surrounds our everyday life. At times we take it for granted.  Often it becomes a critical a piece of our family lore, but we forget to step back and examine it closely.

My family story was woven with the threads of the history of the Blackstone River Valley. Most of my extensive family members (with surnames of Taft, Bruce, Allen, and Higgins) were born only steps and miles from the actual banks of the Blackstone River that winds from Worcester to Providence and into the Narragansett Bay.