July 2019 North Canaan CT Railroad Days, Parade and Fireworks as well as Poetry Is Music A Whopping Success!
Great batch of pictures on the Northwest Corner Chatter on FB inspired this post. The photos of fire trucks and ambulances and many towns coming together with their volunteers marching all deserved great applause and monetery support (in other efforts such as the Falls Village Car Show which benefitted the Falls Village Fire Department for 10 years running now.) Thanks for donating yout time, talent and treasure and living safely and respectfully in the communities as a way of being a team player and sharing your thanks too.
One parade photo by Kevin Miller also included a sign of "Speed Limit 30" is important for everybuddy to keep in mind for town main roads (slower even better where people are pulling in and out of McD's and at the intersections and basically throughout the rural areas since too many people speed, miss stop signs, pass and do other reckless things...even pushing luck with driving in bad weather when it's not necessary.)
That said, let's keep the support and encouragement going for all to learn good self-care (and share the load of housework or even overseeing homework grade by grade by a few parents in a public place since good grades can help kids succeed in life and 'stay out of trouble'..a common fact that I have been sharing for decades
. Timing which year a child enters kindergarten to have them be more mature (so 5 rather than 4..and even 6 rather than 5...) to learn to read and handle work loads is a discussion rarely had, but hopefully we can have a team in every state helping parents and schools make sure kids are 'developmentally ready' to handle work schools need to teach.
Daycare and support for all young families needs to be a bigger priority for more than just the parents. We likely need a special event and parade for these issues too! Applause for all who showed up to march and for the excellent efforts they put forth over the years, and for the spectators sharing their appreciation as well. Best to all...now onto August with one last day of July to savor.
Congratulations to all in the Canaan Railroad Days Extravaganza and a special shout out to the dedication of the AmeenPoetry Is Music event running strong and inspirationally (over the top really) for almost 25 years! Woo-hoo...more shared on livfully.org to keep the train wheels of community and teamwork running strong.
The services at the new church by the Doughboy Monument will be held by various groups renting the space, including an Anglican Catholic service at 10am on Sundays. Marshall Miles and others have encouraged people to look into the history of any church group, including the Knights Templar..and there may be various divisions of that. Ideally we would have a local community friendly group of advocates like a church but more ecumenical and serving the basic needs and bridging services.
Any church could network with non-profits and others possibly to use their facilities to serve the communities in many ways, and network with schools.
Or maybe individual efforts could be made..maybe non-profits can't always work together 'so as not to mix church and state.
These are questions and points for discussion so more people can understand what they have access to and what might help our communities recruit more people, workers, service and volunteer people and so on...and educators and tutors to help all youth succeed and young children and elderly and others in need have ongoing care and support options.
Likely a listing of all faith services in the area would be handy to post on this site...and more encouragement for people to start their own get-togethers (FB pages and meetings) as well... These are the things that inform our lives one way or the other. More discussion to keep people safe at all times would be a good community wide topic...and yes I explore that on the blog too. Best to all with greater good in mind..
At the Canaan Railroad Days about a half hour before the parade started I walked along the parade route on the each side of the road to greet people. That could likely be an idea to develop for many parades and events, and have some people as 'floating ushers and extra support to make sure the route stays clear, that stray cars know not to come through (which one happened to do shortly after the parade likely by mistake, but better barriers should be manned at each end of any 'closed side' of a street if there is not solid barrier in place.)
The people throwing candy was in improvement from having it tossed from trucks where children tend to run close to in order to get the candy. Yet still some was landing in the road, likely spilling ou with the handfuls dished out to toss. People passing out candy could walks along the edge of the parade so extra goodies (toys or healthier snacks would be nice too...) would be safer to get. There could also be people who could interact more with the crowd before and after the parade to 'hand or toss things out' so there is no the worry that can sometimes spike with kids running in the road during a parade.
During the parade I had the display of flowers and bright flags on display for the oncoming marchers and those in vehicles (which included amazing large fire trucks as well as response vehicles, ambulances and charming antique firetrucks from as far as Warren. There was one 'privately paid for emergency vehicle' so that may be of interest for more people to think of sponsoring. There are many other ideas on this livfully.org public service blog to encourage people to 'think peace, safety, healing and prevention on many levels.
Ideally like private funding for emergency vehicles and for town emergency services, more people could contribute to funding bloggers and the cost of blogging. I have always welcomed that support and people mention they appreciate it. There are many technical aspects I have had to learn about and have been rescued by helpful friends often in the nick of time before my initial blog was almost 'done in' by the software programming no longer being offered.
A very competent person spent hours over the course of a stressful summer shifting my posts one by one. I need to do that Again if I want to transition to Word Press which I do. So don't delay in letting me know if you are a local person who could help with that or a funder from anywhere willing to help keep the Livfully.org blog going strong. I would be interested in other collaborative efforts as well, including fact checking the identity of any person who is reported as hurt, missing or as of dying.
That errors occur even in this modern day in the news is a clue more of us could take to heart...whether it is someone tripping or being near a dangerous situation intentionally (for fun or due to the nature of work or due to wanting to push a limit recklessly, those each need consideration for improving the odds of responsible people overssing or monitoring by video certain activities and places as may be conveyed to all 'on camera' much like stores and streets have video cameras running.) These could be used intermittently and voluntarily and often are when people are 'doing stunts.' That is another area to have some serious discussions about since some people 'do not feel fear' and may have mental health or other conditions that may put them more at risk for harming others or themselves.
For an hour after the parade, I set up a spot to enjoy sharing a lovely array of herbs and flowers in a red wagon and letting some people take time to learn about them and take a picture for free. I also had a friendly Humpty Dumpty doll a talented woman made with a smiling face and pillow type body.
That idea or having a stuffed animal or doll in a car seat that one moves to the front seat as a reminder to check periodically on one's child during a drive (especially a long one say every 30-60 min as one can, and even stopping to stretch to avoid any clots or cramps in one's system from being in the same position too long, same with on an airplane...and to help one stay awake whether before or after work --common times to get dozing off due to low blood sugars) or when late or driving long distances (to avoid going into a kind of trance...)
Okay so the main idea is not to leave kids, elders or pets etc alone in a car AT ALL since a car's interior can get quite hot (and it's illegal in many states...)That may seem 'almost impossible' but it's really something to strive for and make plans with others to watch kids, do errands and have things delivered etc.
Okay maybe others can enjoy doing outreach informally with setting up kid-friendly pop-up reading blankets, safe toys (so no small parts etc) and sharing their talents and ideas for gardening ( CT's Sharon Garden Club offers a nice set of talks for free and again many people likely have their own social groups yet maybe could share with their faith and school communities to let more people have a taste about the fun of digging in the dirt.) When I encouraged one person a decade ago along those lines they didn't think it was important..and now they have a farm. So be prepared for the possibilities!
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