Nini’s House
The Child Care and Learning Center hosted an opening ceremony for Nini’s House this past Saturday and 65 of CCLC’s sponsors braved the rainy weather to attend.
Nini’s House is dedicated to the memory of Linda Dietel — long-time resident of Rappahannock County and a founding leader of CCLC.
Linda cared deeply about children and families in Rappahannock County. She had an outsized influence in creating programs to serve them. Linda’s grandchildren referred to her lovingly as Nini. The Dietel family attended the ceremony and widower Bill and daughter Betsy Dietel both spoke of Linda’s lasting legacy in the county.
According to Clare Turner, the new building is one of the outcomes of a 2018 study by Child Focus commissioned by the Child Care and Learning Center Board of Directors. The board sought guidance on priorities for services and possible areas for growth.
Among other recommendations, the Child Focus study strongly suggested that CCLC seek to ll
additional service gaps in the county while attending to its building and grounds which had not had any significant updating or renovation in nearly 40 years.
Nini’s House is opening just two years after the completion of the study. In these two years the board and executive director oversaw a successful fundraising effort, commissioned and oversaw the new building to house its school-age programs and preschool. As a bonus, the new building has space to support a small behavioral health section to serve programs for young children and their families.
Nini’s House will host a partnership with the Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services Board to deliver family and child behavioral health services, said Turner.
BOOK BARN OPENS
The Book Barn will be open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon. You are invited to stop by and pick up some excellent reading material for the winter months. They would appreciate no book donations at this time. Please wear a mask and practice social distancing.
THE SEVEN SISTERS
“Have you ever looked up high in the sky on a dark moonless night and seen a tight group of stars off to the right of Orion following the line of three stars forming his belt? If so, you have located the famous Seven Sisters, also known as the Pleiades,” educates Torney Van Acker
“The County Park and RLEP co-sponsored the latest dark sky event on Oct. 17, sharing views of Pleiades and other objects in the skies with over 60 adults and children. The event featured presentations about choosing smart street lighting and which planets and galaxies were on display.
“After the presentations, the audience viewed the skies through telescopes provided by members of the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club (NOVAC) and amateur astronomers like the county’s own LytWood. Visitors took turns peering at Mars with its polar cap, Jupiter with its bands of gas clouds and four moons, and Saturn with its glorious rings. NOVAC’s James Granahan demonstrated how to find the Andromeda galaxy by star hopping from the Great Square.”
The next Dark Sky event at the park will be Saturday, Dec. 21 at 5 p.m. Saturn and Jupiter will appear to touch each other — an event occurring every 20-years.
BIRTHDAY WISHES
Birthday wishes go out to one amazing woman — Elizabeth “Betty” Buntin — who will celebrate her 104th birthday on All Saints Day, Nov. 1. Betty has lived in the town of Washington, since 1946. Happy Birthday Betty, may you have many more.
FALL BACK!
Daylight Saving Time comes to an end this weekend. You should set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed Saturday night. The change officially comes at 2 a.m. local time on the first Sunday in November. Sunday’s change means the sunrise and sunset will be one hour earlier on Nov. 1, meaning there will be more daylight in the morning hours.
Daylight Saving Time is also the perfect reminder to change the batteries in smoke detectors.
BOO!
Halloween is the time for the young (and not so young) to hit the streets and visit your doorstep for trick-or-treat. Halloween may look a little different this year due to COVID-19.
Firehouse Treasures Thrift Shop will be open for their "regular" hours on Halloween from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Stop in with your little ghosts and witches and they will have treats waiting.
The Child Care and Learning Center will be hosting its first Trunk or Treat on Friday, Oct. 30, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Come and take a walk down their “Boo Trail” and into the “spooky forest.” Enjoy some hot dogs and warm drinks. Decorate your car and sign up to give out treats. Call 540-675-3237 or email rappcclc@gmail.com
Guess what? Halloween night will feature a spooky spectacle in the sky. There will be a full moon, which is called the blue moon, it is the second full moon we had this month. Let’s hope it will be a clear night.
Have a great week!