Sandwich Newcomers & Neighbors NewsletterJan 12, 2021  · Game Night—rain Teasers Saturday Jan. 16th at 7pm No need to think twice about this fun event—join in with Sharon & John

President’s Message

2020 – THE YEAR WE STAYED HOME

We’re all anxious to say good-bye to 2020 for our own reasons. We have missed family, friends, birthdays and other milestones, holidays, dining out and many other events, which we may have taken for granted. Yes, it’s been a long year since March and we’ve all had to face obstacles and challenges of which we were unaware.

January 2021 is certainly not a totally new page but we can start off with more hope and renewed resilience. We can continue to be grateful for where we are in life and support each other in any way we’re able. Our community is strong and “stopping to smell the roses” may have helped us refocus our selves.

SNN will continue to provide on-line activities for the most part, since the weather is definitely not on our side. Please remain positive in these next few months while a vac-cine rolls out and you make decisions. January and February will be the hardest months and we can only guess about March. Who knows, maybe the worst of the snow and cold are over. It’s happened before! After all, New England weather truly is the most unpre-dictable of all.

HAPPY AND HEALTHY 2021 TO ALL!

Regards,

Jean

January 2021

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You spoke—about your experiences during the pandemic!

The assignment: List 2 or 3 words that pertain to your experiences during the pandemic. No

need to explain the words, just send me them. I've listed some examples. These are NOT ques-

tions to answer, just ideas!

The results: Thank you to everyone who answered the call for words to help build this word

cloud.

Responses: There were 30-35 responses (not sure if some were reflective of spouses or not).

Words submitted: 122

The larger the word appears on the cloud reflects the number of times the word was sub-

mitted. So it's easy to see the most popular feelings/emotions we share regarding the pan-

demic.

About 35% of the words were classified as more positive (i.e.: grateful, patience, creative,

health, appreciative, etc.)

Another 12% described positive things we were doing to pass the time (reading, knitting, pick-

leball, projects, etc.)

The remaining 53% or so described the frustration we were all having with being isolated from

the world and loved ones for so long and the fear of the unknown.

The good news is that we need to persevere a little longer but early spring is looking better

and better for a return to a safer, more open world. Precautions will still be necessary but the

hope is something we can all look forward to. HAPPY 2021 TO ALL!

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December 2020 In Review

SNN at Heritage’s Gardens Aglow

A group of Sandwich Newcomers & Neighbors with Christmas

colored umbrellas braved the rain which brought out the extra

twinkle in the beautiful lights at Heritage Gardens Aglow. Some

celebrated the season with mulled wine or beer but that didn’t

create bravery to check in with Santa to see if they’ve been

naughty or nice!

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December 2020 In Review

Book Club

Our book club met in December to discuss the month’s selection, THE HONEY BUS,

by Meredith May.

It is a moving memoir that tells the story of how helping her grandfather tend his

beehives helped the author survive a troubled childhood.

A former San Francisco Chronicle reporter, May’s parents separated when she was

5. Her troubled, emotionally distant mother moved her and her younger brother back to the

home shared by her own mother and her mother's second husband, who tended beehives

around Carmel Valley in California. It is here, with the help of her grandfather and his old

school bus which was the home to his honey bees, where May and the reader begin learning

about the intricate lives of bees and their colonies.

May weaves a wonderful narrative of her difficult upbringing, with the love and guidance her

grandfather and his lessons offer she and her brother.

This book offered up a lively discussion.

Anne Sayer....“I enjoyed learning about bees and came to admire Meredith for her courage,

strength and bravery in overcoming a very sad childhood to achieve success in life as an adult.”

Patty Williams.....“Grandpa’s truck was full of thing you might need someday”. The beehives

were a metaphor of family.”

Marsha Beaudoin....“I thought that this book was similar to the book Educated where school

and education helped save both Meredith and Tara. It was a refuge for them, and it helped to

build their self esteem when their families struggled to do that for them. I also thought that for

Meredith, despite the fact that she had no biological connection to her “grandfather”, he truly

was “family”.

Rosi Holcombe… “The book brought back so many poignant memories of not fitting in and be-

ing somehow different from the other kids in grade school. They made me cry and consequent-

ly not be able to read and I was on the clock.”

Thanks to December Book Club host, Annie Adler, for pulling together this book review.

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December 2020 In Review

Crafts Demonstration

Many of us had fun learning how to make an origami Christmas Tree and the crane. Thank you to

Candice Murphy!

Marie Luck then showed us how to display our creations as

Christmas tree ornaments. A fun time was had by all!!

Men’s Gathering at Houli's Grove

Ed’s call went out saying, “You know that serenity prayer that

urges us to "...change the things we can"? Well, we can't

change the sacred customs such as meeting on the 2nd and

4th Wednesday, but there is no biblical prohibition against

meeting at a different time. Tomorrow (12/23) mid-day is ex-

pected to be bright and sunny with temperature above freez-

ing. Perfect time for sitting out in the Covid-free air by the fire

and solving the world’s problems. Just imagine you're at the

stadium watching the Patriots play....alright, some other

team.” Thanks to Ed & Beth Houlihan for arranging the pizza

delivery and to Ed Collupy for the holiday decorations on the

golf cart and Debi’s homemade cookies.

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December 2020 In Review

Thanks to our December Game Night organizers, Can-

dice & Ron Murphy, for putting together a fun couple

hours of trivia that certainly made us realize there is so

much that makes up this wonderful holiday season.

Teams were quickly formed and named:

The questions challenged the teams and the Snowflakes

showed their advantage of having Bob on their team,

since he had many of the early answers.

So you know for next year -

The 2nd busiest Christmas shopping day is the Satur-

day before Christmas

Silent Night was written in Austria

The most popular Christmas Day meal in Japan is KFC

Chicken

The 1st official Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center

was put up in 1933 but there are arguments about

this date since in 1931 workers put up a tree on the

plaza

And...the largest

Snowman, ac-

cording to the

Guinness Book of

World Records -

22 feet tall - was built in Maine

Versus

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Upcoming January Member Activities

Calling all dessert lovers!

Friday, January 22nd at 3:00pm.

If you want a simple, but elegant, make ahead dessert, Annie Adler will be doing a Zoom on making CREME CARAMEL. If you have rame-kins on hand and a few basic ingredi-ents, then you are all set. RSVP to [email protected] by Tuesday, January 19 to be included and she will send the full recipe and list of needed ingredients. If you're unsure about this, check the photo!!!

Book Club Our November Zoom meeting was very well attended. This gives me hope that we will contin- ue to have great discussions each month until the warm weather re-turns and we all are vaccinated. Our January selection is Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. Our Zoom dis-cussion will be January 12, 2021 at 1:00 pm and Anne Sayer will be the leader. Please let Anne ([email protected]) know if you will attend. – Patty Williams

Game Night—Brain Teasers

Saturday Jan. 16th at 7pm

No need to think twice about this fun event—join in with

Sharon & John Hunt who will host Brain Teaser night using a variety of riddles, word and

math & other types of games. Sharon said this Game Night will “wake up their brains as we

will be have a bunch of brain games. Winner will get a new brain.” To join us please email

Candice at [email protected] by Thursday,

Jan. 14 and you will be

sent the Zoom link.

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January 2021 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1Happy

New

Year!

2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 1111am

Board

Meeting

12 1pm

Book

Club

13 14 15 16 7pm

Game

Night

17 18 19 20 21 22 3pm

Cooking

Demo

23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

31

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ACTIVITIES The Women’s Daytime Book Club meets 2nd Tuesday of each month at 1:00PM.

New members are welcome. Coordinator is Patty Williams, ([email protected])

Biking: Riding the pathways and the rail trails of the Cape, lunch at a local favorite.

Patty Williams, Coordinator, ([email protected])

Men’s Poker Group meets first and third Tuesdays of the month at 7:00 PM . Coor-

dinators are Paul Pronovost ([email protected]) and Henry Jablecki

([email protected])

Girl’s Night Out: Ladies go to early movie, and then supper at local restaurant. Contact Kitty Ott,

([email protected])

Special Events (maybe with lunch or dinner): Contact Kit Sullivan/Rosi Holcombe

with any of your ideas. ([email protected]/[email protected] )

Kayak Caucus: Sliding Quietly through the Cape’s bays, ponds, marshes and rivers. All

levels of Kayaking welcome. Please email Coordinator Ed Houlihan at

([email protected]) to confirm you want to be included on the Kayak Caucus list.

Please include your email address and the phone number where you can be reached

on the day of the scheduled kayak trips.

Walking/Hiking Group: Walking/Hiking Group: Get outdoors and walk the trails of Sandwich

and neighboring towns. All levels of walkers welcome! We usually meet at 9:30 am a few

times per month, weather permitting. Emails are sent out to inform members of the date,

time, and location of the next hike. Coordinator: Candice Murphy, contact Candice

at [email protected]

Guy’s Get Together: Guys meet for coffee-breakfast and discussion of issues, large and small. 2nd

and 4th Wednesday every month at the Marshland Too . Coordinator TBD

Patty Williams

Rosi Holcombe

Candice Murphy

Ed Houlihan

Kit Sullivan

Henry Jablecki

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Board of Directors—Contact Info

President, Jean Dorcus - [email protected]

Vice President, Lee Burns - [email protected]

Secretary, Jeannie Dodson-Edgars - [email protected]

Treasurer, Annie Adler - [email protected]

Membership, Marsha Beaudoin - [email protected]

Newsletter, Ed Collupy - [email protected]

Publicity, Leslie Zicko - [email protected]

Special Events, Rosi Holcombe & Kit Sullivan - [email protected] & [email protected]

Wine Socials, Candice Murphy - [email protected]

Photos Credits

Thanks to Ed Collupy, Jean Dorcus & Ron Murphy for their photography in this month’s newsletter.

Masthead photo: Sandy Neck Beach right after the New Year’s Storm 2014, Sandwich, MA, Photogra-

pher: Mary Penza

You too can be a contributor to our Monthly Newsletter! Send along pictures of group activities and help make a SNN event come alive.