With limited availability, The Preservation Society is announcing the sale of tickets for the 2022 event planned for June 17-19 at Rosecliff.

Returning with features the public recalls from previous shows, this year’s spectacular will include hundreds of colorful creations by floral designers, horticulturists, and botanical artists, following the theme, “Eden…A Personal Paradise.” Entries will be displayed in the Rosecliff ballroom and salon, while other exhibits will be set in the Courtyard of Love and the oceanside terrace and lawn.

“The Newport Flower Show is growing back, step by step, from the COVID pandemic,” said Trudy Coxe, CEO and Executive Director of  The Preservation Society of Newport County, which has hosted the show since 1996. “This year’s event will not include the lectures, demonstrations, or champagne brunch of past Flower Shows, and the vendor marketplace will be smaller. But, after having no Flower Show in 2020 and a small-scale version called ‘Back in Bloom’ in 2021, the 2022 edition will be a step forward,” Coxe said.

All proceeds from The Newport Flower Show are dedicated to the ongoing restoration and preservation of The Preservation Society of Newport County’s 88-acres of gardens and landscapes.
To reserve your place, visit newportmansions.org.

Classical Music At The Mansions
Classical music by internationally known performers has plans to return to the Newport Mansions this July. The Newport Classical series starts July 1 at The Breakers with the Grammy-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Altogether, 10 of Newport’s 24 Classical concerts will be held at The Breakers, four at The Elms, two at the Chinese Tea House, one at King Park, one at Blithewold Mansion, one at the Newport Art Museum, one at Castle Hill Inn, one at the Norman Bird Sanctuary, one at The Great Friends Meeting House, one at Redwood Library & Athenæum and one at Emmanuel Church.

Being staged at such magnificent properties, guests will relax and enjoy the refined and timeless entertainment in the most opulent settings possible.

The partnerships between The Preservation Society of Newport County/Newport Mansions and Newport Classical allow for the finest in summer entertainment.

For tickets and concert information, contact newportclassical.org/music-festival.

t is too easy to look to the past when a problem or difficult situation arises and think a previously failed attempt to resolve the same or a similar issue might work this time. You can be confident that choosing an old path will not provide the desired outcome and instead keep you trapped in repetitive and useless problem-solving techniques. For this reason, people complain they don’t feel like they are getting ahead or their lives and are at a standstill.

In the words of motivational speaker and personal development mentor of millions, Tony Robbins is clear about changing your life when he says to his followers, “I can tell you the secret to happiness in one word: progress.” And, to think about it, what better advice can be shared? If you are at a standstill, then get up and get moving!

Before we get started, a few things need to be put into focus; first, you are not at fault for the haze blocking your view—it happens to everyone. Secondly, the last couple of years have been nothing short of hell on earth; the pain of restrictions, social isolation, and ill-health took a toll on many but will hopefully subside, and long-term solutions will be discovered. Once accomplished, we’ll reinvent, redirect, and meet our objectives head-on.

The first step in personal development is doing an inventory of self-awareness and an assessment of satisfaction. Questions regarding romantic relationships, career, family interactions, and finance are a great start. Each is an essential component for building a secure future and plays a role in influencing others.

Upon identifying and listing what makes you feel uncomfortable, it’s time to dig down and learn why they are repetitive in your identity, it’s also the time to take action.

It is essential to know what lurks in your conscious and unconscious minds if you’re involved in a relationship (and who isn’t?). Our perception of who we are, specifically who we are attracted to and feel comfortable interacting with, results from our earliest experiences. From birth to about two years old, accompanied by traumas endured later in life, our ability to bond is either reinforced or left unresolved. Early childhood development directly impacts the enjoyment of adult partnering; it also determines the mental health of individuals and whether their brain function is complete or subject to serious personality disorders.

by Rob Saint Laurent, M.Ed

There’s another health crisis in the US, and it’s been hiding in plain sight.

In September 2021, word broke of new data by the CDC showing America’s adult obesity rate in 2020 was at an all-time high of at least 35 percent in 16 states—versus 12 states just a year earlier. In an already upward trend, this was a significant rise, thanks to pandemic-fueled stress. Keeping with current trends, the increase was mostly seen in the US South and Midwest regions, and minority populations in particular.1

In 2018, 42.4 percent of US adults were considered obese (defined as a body mass index/BMI of 30 or greater). Comparatively, 30.5 percent of us were obese in 2000. At the same time, the rate of severe obesity (a BMI of 40 or higher) jumped from 4.7 percent to 9.2 percent. Though obesity in adults and children has been the norm in US culture for some time, it is still considered a serious and underappreciated chronic disease that can lead to cardiovascular and metabolic problems, cancer, and now increased risk of severe COVID-19 illness.2

In 2008, obese people averaged more than $1,400 greater medical costs than people with a healthy weight.2

Born on Long Island, David Rogers learned to weld at the age of 13. By 15, he experimented with forest materials using dried branches and rope-lashing techniques to assemble various abstract structures. At this early stage, he had already steel-welded his first two insects—a dragonfly and a housefly.

He later apprenticed with a builder/restorer of wooden sailboats and cabinetry; worked as a house carpenter on historic Victorian age homes; did stints as a cab driver; was a magician’s assistant; an actor, in Shakespeare summer stock; and also a sailboat delivery crew member on the eastern seaboard.
With a devotion to a rustic form of design, using all-natural materials, he began constructing various styles of furnishings and garden structures employing multiple types of limbs and techniques. He developed a very ornate bent-sapling construction style called “Victorian Rustic.”

Renowned American psychologist Abraham Maslow had a keen understanding of what drives people. To explain human motivation, Maslow conceptualized a “hierarchy of needs.” The behavioral model consists of five levels, most often arranged as a pyramid: at its base is bodily needs (food, clothes, shelter, rest); the next level is safety (job security, for instance); then, the need for love and a sense of belonging (intimate relationships); esteem (personal accomplishment and respect of others); and self-actualization (reaching one’s full potential and experiencing self-fulfillment, as through creative pursuits). A person must meet each underlying level of need in the pyramid before being able to move up to the next tier.1

Humans are hardwired to want to ascend Maslow’s pyramid and achieve the vision they have of themselves. But, is the ability to succeed inbred, or is it something we develop?

Research suggests it is a mix of both.

by Rob Saint Laurent, M.Ed

The art of communication in print is alive and well, although becoming rare. And, when my wife and I recently received a thoughtful hand-written note from a couple we hold in the highest regard, we celebrated its arrival and opened it immediately.

It was around January 2019 when we, and those we enjoyed spending time with, went into a self-imposed hibernation to avoid being infected with COVID-19. During the hiatus from civilization, we found it difficult to reconnect with our friends; it seems that texts, emails, and the phone don’t share the same level of sincerity realized when face to face.

The letter is important to us, and we will cherish the script forever, but also included with their kind words was a story tucked into the envelope.

Quite moving, with the ability to bring a flood of tears with without warning, we wish to share one of the most touching chronicles we have ever read—or been delivered to our attention.

We hope you enjoy this message as much as we have, and of course, we urge you
to forward it to a friend or family.