Happy 22 Days to Spring, UESiders!
And what better way to approach the season than with a new survey that finds 66% of Americans believing it’s a moral obligation for world leaders to address climate change!
Even more impressive: 73% see confronting the issue as a personal ethical obligation as well!
On those most affirmative notes, our week ahead:
Saturday, February 28th: 82nd Street/St. Stephen’s Greenmarket
82nd Street between First and York, 9am –2pm
Compost & Clothes Collection – 9am – 1pm
A second Saturday with no snow predicted! Hurrah!!
Maybe even some of the ice melted on our one day above freezing this week… Thus allowing American Seafood to return to its accustomed spot in the churchyard!
Regardless, look for our full compliment of farmers/fishermen/bakers/beekeepers: Bread Alone, Ballard’s Honey, American Seafood, Samascott, Gajeski, Rising Sun and Back to the Future Farms!”
(Okay, you have to try Back to the Future’s cheese!)
Last week’s recycling totals: 76 lbs batteries: 26 lbs cords, corks, cellphones and cartridges; 7 compost bins; 25 bags of clothes.
7 bins and 25 bags on a 20 degree day? Amazing!!
Thursday, March 5th: Tasty History – American Values Reflected in Food
American Folk Art Museum, 2 Lincoln Square/Columbus between 65th & 66th Streets, 7pm
Trace the evolution of American eating with Dr. Libby O’Connell of the History Channel and author of The American Plate: A History in 100 Bites, then chat her up over the wine and cheese refreshments that follow! Members: $10. Non-members: $12. For more and tickets…
Friday, March 6: Audubon’s Aviary – The Final Flight
New York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West at 77th Street
Chapter III in the Historical Society’s epic, tripartite exhibition of every Audubon print in their unequaled collection! (Best copies don’t hold a candle to being upclose and personal with the real thing!) For details, hours and more…
On the horizon:
Friday, March 13th – Sunday, June 7th: Life of Cats – Selections from the Hiraki Uiyo Collection
Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street
And we quote, “Since arriving in Japan aboard Japanese ships transporting sacred Buddhist scriptures from China in the mid-sixth century, cats have proceeded to purr and paw their way into the heart of Japanese life, folklore, and art”… As in 120 of Japan’s finest examples of feline imagery! For details, including days and hours…
Wednesday, March 25th: Trash Free Water Initiatives in NYC
City College of New York, Room 105, corner of 140th Street/St. Nicholas Terrace & Convent Avenue, 9:30am
Haven’t we had enough of refuse on the shore of every body of water, huge, floating gyres of waste in every ocean. Time to get down on this totally man-made disaster. Free. For more and to register…
Coming up in April (!):
Sunday, April 12th: “The Travel Assignment” Photography Seminar
Lighthouse International Executive Conference Center, 111 East 59th Street, 9am-4pm
National Geographic Traveler emeritus photographers Dan Westergren and Jim Richardson share their wisdom of decades of capturing fabulous travel pix. $199 (includes lunch). For more and to register…
Saturday, April 18th: Cares’ Spring Cleanup NYC Day
All Over Our City
Even without this year’s ferocious weather, NYC emerges from winter as something of a mess. The remedy? Turning out for a few hours to tidy up shorelines, tree beds and public spaces of all kinds! (Perfect prelude to It’s My Park Days!) For projects and to sign up…
Miscellany:
In the must-be-an-upstate-thing-department: The temp may be below 32, there may be 30 inches of snow and first aid kits, snow shoes and more de rigueur, but the NYS DEC is wanting us out on Adirondack high altitude trails!
(Thank goodness for Forest Rangers!)
On the other hand, DEC’s urging ice fishermen/persons and snowmobilers to be super cautious!
For those of us lacking East River views… The current study in ice!
Short breather:
Yup, we’re kind of suckers for kitchen gadgets/gizmos, but think July and strawberries and then check out this Ball Freshtech Automatic Jam & Jelly Maker! (Lots of vendors have it for $79!)
The Brooklyn Brainery does such great stuff (and we continually urge them to bring at least some of it to us)… Case and point: Making bread as we did in colonial times… Baking With Fire!
Is this an amazing plant seed or what?
(Brooklyn’s Old Stone House – NYC outpost of fire baking – looks pretty fabulous, wouldn’t you say?)
Yes, food podcasts!!
Then in the civic groove:
Okay, right now there’s not enough $ for lighting ballfields in Riverside Park… How long before a big spender steps in to fill the breach? (Not very, given the admirable history of giving to the West Side’s “esplanade”.)
Always good to see the frequently lethargic NYC acting to protect a surviving stop on the Underground Railroad!
Think we could do without growth hormone in our milk?
The semi-counter balance to our food waste crisis: Big food’s experiencing serious revenue downturns!
Like the documentaries you see on Channel 13? Let them know! (They’d like to relegate POV and Independent Lens to the Siberia of WLIW!)
Nominate your choice for the Municipal Art Society’s best architecture/urban design project completed in NYC in 2014… (And good luck coming up with one!) (Check the map. There’ve been zero winners on UES over past years.)
Back to the all-consuming subject of weather:
And we think we’ve had snow! Check out Russian winters of times past… (Maslenitsa being a celebration of the end of winter.)
On to the world of the furry and feathered:
Bears mentioning again: There is an organization specifically dedicated to the health and welfare of… Trout!
So great those 19 manatees were saved from that Florida storm drain!
And the top 3 dogs in NYC are…
As if we didn’t know cat purring is good for human body and soul…
What a combination: Eagles and romance!
Wow! We’ve got (they’re useful birds) vultures in our skies, too, as per the Hudson River Almanac:
2/15 – Manhattan, HRM 5: As I was taking a Riverside Park sunset walk along the partially frozen Hudson River at the 70th Street Pier, looking for any sea life sheltering from the cold, I spotted four black vultures flying very high over the West Side Highway. I was hoping they’d come closer but they were catching the fierce northwest tailwind, headed inland. – Alan Drogin
Yours in greenness,
UGS