Bonni Brodnick Blog

"TALK OF THE TOWN" By Bonni Brodnick P ound Ridge is alight with holiday glow after last weekend’s nor’ easter that brought several inches of snow. In an excerpted letter from my book, Pound Ridge Past: Remembrances of Our Townsfolk , Joseph D. Quillian, Jr., the Community Church pastor (from 1946-50) wrote: “I always remember with great warmth, and a sense of lift of spirit, the Christmas Eve services at Pound Ridge Church. Frequently, we would have had a beautiful snowfall that evening. On either side of the front of the white church were two trees decorated with blue lights. Inside, there were candles and beautiful crystal chandeliers. The service consisted of Christmas scriptures intermingled with solos and duets, and my brief sermon. We always started at 11 o’clock and concluded on the stroke of midnight, at which time one of the parishioners went over to ring the only bell in town, which was at the Presbyterian Church [now Conant Hall]. As he rang the church bell, p...

By BONNI BRODNICK “ I should have known better than to leave Pound Ridge for Hee-Hawville,” said Larry Greene , proprietor of L.H. Greene, Inc. Florist, Antiques and Objects, after returning from Michigan. “I have a heck of a lot of nice customers here. It’s great to be back in town.” His full-service flower shop also offers an eclectic selection of French, English, Italian, African and Chinese antiques, vases and other objets d’art. And the artful owner can make a lamp out of anything—from tea tins, antique wagon wheels, candlesticks, pots and horns. “Our style has a traditional look. Not modern and jazzy. It’s sort of ‘uptown/downtown, East meets West,” he said as he held up a Rothschild Lily and a Zinnia. For the holiday season, he has a beautiful selection of amaryllis, which has become increasingly popular, undoubtedly because the bulbs bloom freely indoors. They aren’t difficult to grow, and if the plants are treated correctly, they can be brought into bloom every year. The lar...

"Talk of the Town" By Bonni Brodnick N otice some town swaggery going on? The Pound Ridge Garden Club has once again added their seasonal flair by hanging evergreen swags to road signs throughout town. Along with the snowstorm over the weekend, the swags make our beautiful town look like it is straight out of a page from Courier and Ives. We are truly blessed to live in what author Jay Harris called Pound Ridge, “God’s Country.” Carrie Sears , master gardener and Horticulture Chair of the Pound Ridge Garden Club, offers a few good tips for holiday evergreens: if you are buying a cut tree, hold it upright by the trunk, raise it off the ground, and tap the cut-end once or twice on the ground. Choose varieties that are known to last a long time, e.g. Scotch or White pine; or Balsam, Fraser, Nobel, White or Douglas firs. “When buying evergreens, look for dark or bright green, flexible branches that are holding their needles,” advises Carrie. “Store greens that you can...

"TALK OF THE TOWN" By Bonni Brodick M aybe it’s the economy, but “Yankee Swap” seems to be a popular variation on gift giving this year. Each participant brings a wrapped, unmarked gift. Guests are given numbers as they arrive, or their names are randomly drawn, and they select and unwrap gifts from the pile in that order. The person who receives number 1 picks a gift from the pile and opens it for all to see. You’re allowed to inspect the gifts, pick them up and gently shake them. Person number 2 chooses a gift and opens it, then decides whether to keep or swap it for the first player’s gift. Each person, in order, then gets to select a present, open it and decide whether to keep it or swap it for any other gift someone has already opened. Finally, the person who picked first gets to choose from all the gifts or keep what he/she has already received. In the end, the gift you are holding is the gift you take home. (Having fun yet? Whatever ever happened to getting a gift,...