Happy Medicare 50th Anniversary, UESiders!

Amazing there was a time when millions of our elderly had zero access to healthcare…

Amazing that millions of Americans still go without…

That even given the Medicare/Medicaid and often narrow benefits, 70% of Americans with hearing deficits between the ages of 65 and 84 with hearing deficits – the third most common health deficit – are walking around untreated and without hearing aids!

Yikes!!

cyperus-trachysanthos

But as we work toward ever greater fairness in all things:

Friday, July 31st:  Annual Hearst Symposium Lecture

Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Gardens, 421 East 61st Street, 2pm

This year’s subject:  New York in the 1830’s…  A period encompassing the opening of the Erie Canal and 1828’s tumultuous election.  Presented by the Museum’s Hearst Fellows, Amanda James and Sarah Stanley.  Free with admission to Non-members, $8; Seniors & Students, $7!  Completely free to members.

Saturdays, August 1st, 8th & 15th:  Summer Streets 2015

Central Park at 72nd Street to Park Avenue to Brooklyn Bridge, 7am-1pm

Totally free of automobiles and packed with great activities/attractions for all ages, be they propelled by foot, cycles, skates or whatever non-car!  (May there be segues to ride again this year!) For further details…   

Saturday,  August 1st:   82nd Street/St. Stephen’s Greenmarket

82nd Street between First and York, 9am–2pm

Compost & Clothes Collection – 9am–1pm 

With us will also be Bread Alone, Ballard Honey, Valley Shepherd, American Seafood, Samascott, Rising Sun, Garden of Spices, Gajeski, Alewife, Cherry Lane and Ole Mother Hubbert Farms! 

Plus there’ll be music by the wonderful Andrea Wright 11am, to 1pm!

However… The Master Knife Sharpener’s will be absent but scheduled to return next week… 

Check out Valley Shepherd’s brie!  

Last week’s recycling totals:  76 lbs. batteries; 10 lbs. cords, corks, cellphones and cartridges; 9 pairs of glasses; 8 3/4 compost bins;  26 bags of clothes.

Yet again 8-plus bins!!

Sundays through November 22nd:  94th Street Greenmarket 

First Avenue between 94th & 96th Street, 9am-5pm

Compost Collection – 9am–1pm 

At their tables will be American Seafood, Bread Alone, Meredith’s Bakery, Wager’s Cider Mill, Ole Mother Hubbert, Stannart, Norwich Meadows and Phillips Farms…  And DePaolo Turkey, we hope!

(Can Market Manager Clay cook or what?!)

Last week’s recycling totals:  12 lbs. batteries: 6 lbs. corks, cellphones, cartridges and cords;   3 1/2 bins of compost.

Yup!  Another 1/2 bin gain over the previous week!

Sundays to Fridays:  Museum at Eldridge Street

12 Eldridge Street between Canal and Division Streets

Opened in 1887, the Eldridge Street Synagogue was the first great house of worship built by East European Jews in America and is now a National Historic Landmark.  (Combine with the great and newly expanded  Tenament Museum on Orchard Street!.)

Monday, August 3rd:  State of the Art – Lighting Design & Control

Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place, 6-8pm

Learn from the experts what’s required by local lighting codes, what goes into best practices and how controls can make spaces more appealing, flexible, and efficient!  Urban Green Council Members, Free to $10.  Non-members, $15.  For more and registration…

Tuesday, August 4th:  19th Precinct 2015 Night Out Against Crime

Carl Schurz Park, East End at 86th Street, 5:30-8:30pm

Mischief or more in your hood?  Avail yourself of this prime opportunity to let officers of Precinct 19 and local electeds know all about it!  That plus live music, kids’ activities (including face painting) and refreshments galore.  Cancelled if it rains.  For further info, call 212-408=0243.   

Wednesday, August 5th:  NYC Passive House Tour/Talk

951 Pacific Street, Brooklyn, 6:30-8:30pm

Our chance to set foot in NYC’s  first building to earn both Passive House Institute certification and NYSERDA Net Zero capable rating!  Tour led by none other than the architect, Paul Castrucci! This is the wave of the future, folks!  Free but donations encouraged.  For more and to register…

And then:

Friday, August 14th:  Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Night Tour

Meet at Grand Central Concourse at 7:10pm and train to Phillipse Manor

Amble among the tombstones by lantern light and learn the history of the many notables/disreputables interred in the historic graveyard.  Organized by – who else? – the Obscura Society.  Tour tickets:  $27.50.  Train ticket extra.  For more and to reserve a place…

Tuesday, August 25th:  Hooked Rugs Dialogue & Studio

American Folk Art Museum, 2 Lincoln Square, 6-8:30pm

Examine some of the museum’s finest examples, then get down to the business of making a hooked sampler under the guidance of rug artist Norma Batastini!  (These workshops are wonderful even when you discover you have zero aptitude for a given art/craft!  And plenty of guys attend!)  Members, $45.  Non-members, $55.  For details and to sign up…  

Come autumn:

Sunday, September 27th:  Edible Academy Family Garden Picnic

New York Botanical Garden, 2900 Southern Boulevard, The Bronx, 12:30-4:30pm

One great afternoon of outdoor discovery with special guests Chef Carla Hall, Andy Nusser and Anthony Sasso…  Think live cooking demonstrations, a lip-smacking picnic, kitchen crafts and organic gardening for the whole family, live music and more!  Adults, $125.  Children,, $75.  (All proceeds to fund the Ediible Academy and its many programs.)  For more…

helichrysum-splendidum

Let’s get miscellaneous:

First the 42nd Street Library…  Then the Frick…  Now “they” would like to take a big bite out of the Theodore Roosevelt Park behind the Museum of Natural History!!!   If you take issue…

So we’re all in the know about D.C.’s case of Highway Bill inertia…  Yes, and the same is true of funding for National Parks (which some would like to see open to mining/drilling)!  (Should you disapprove...)

Yet another opportunity to have your voice heard and protect our collective health…  If you think NYS should let us know whenever there’s a raw sewage spill…   

Wow!!  There’s now a printable solar cell!  Needs perfecting, of course, but what a step forward!! 

Yes, there is such a thing as “Oreo Art”!

Check the email attachment detailing a Greenmarket Recipe Series highlight:  “How To Use A Whole Ear Of Corn”!

Great outdoor staircases…?  

A map of hottest and coolest NYC subway stations and all those in between…?

oenothera-elata

Time for critters…  With Cecil in mind:

Trust the Times to tell us how to evict urban raccoons!

How strange is it that airlines have presented themselves as allies in discouraging trophy hunting..?! 

No end to canine sniffing talent…  There’re now ivory detecting dogs!!

Feeling so green,

UGS

 

Happy National Zoo Keeper Week, UESiders!

And how will we celebrating this event in NYC…?

More joy still on the establishment of 3 fabulous new National Monuments!!

furcrea-parmentieri

As for what the next seven days will include (but no air quality advisories, please):  

Saturday,  July 18th:   82nd Street/St. Stephen’s Greenmarket

82nd Street between First and York, 9am–2pm

Compost & Clothes Collection – 9am–1pm 

It’s Cooking With Kallos Saturday, folks!!

Repeating his 2014 star-turn at the chopping board/propane burner, Council Member Kallos will be serving up one of his favorite seasonal recipes approx 11am-1pm and with an emphasis on tomatoes…  That and welcoming a chat with constituents!!

Of course, with us will also be Bread Alone, Ballard Honey, Valley Shepherd, American Seafood, Samascott, Rising Sun, Garden of Spices, Gajeski, Alewife, Cherry Lane and Ole Mother Hubbert Farms! 

Yes, Rising Sun was MIA last Saturday as Farmer Sally was recuperating from a back injury. Fingers crossed she’s once again AOK!  (We want our burgers!)

However… Fulfilling her obligations to animal charities will have Our Master Knife Sharpener’s table empty the next two weekends. 

And there’s one word from Market Manager Andrei:  “Corn!”  

Last week’s recycling totals:  81 lbs. batteries; 7 lbs. cords, corks, cellphones and cartridges; 5 pairs of glasses; 8 1/2 compost bins;  20 bags of clothes.

Another 8-plus bins!!

Saturdays, August 1st, 8th & 15th:  Summer Streets 2015

Central Park at 72nd Street to Park Avenue to Brooklyn Bridge, 7am-1pm

Totally free of automobiles and packed with great activities/attractions for all ages, be they propelled by foot, cycles, skates or whatever non-car!  For further details…  

Sundays through November 22nd:  94th Street Greenmarket 

First Avenue between 94th & 96th Street, 9am-5pm

Compost Collection – 9am–1pm 

With us will be the great American Seafood, Bread Alone, Meredith’s Bakery, Wager’s Cider Mill, DePaolo Turkey, Ole Mother Hubbert, Stannart, Norwich Meadows and Phillips Farms!

Those turkey sausages rule!

Last week’s recycling totals:  6 lbs. batteries: 5 lbs. corks, cellphones, cartridges and cords;   2 1/4 bins of compost.

Incredible for an excruciatingly hot day!

Tuesday, July 28th:  “Frozen” at Schurz Park

Park Hockey/Basketball Court, 8:30pm

This summer it’s Whatta Gal! films at the Park.  As always free popcorn and at the “Frozen” screening FREE SNOW CONES!!  

synthyris-cordata

Miscellany…  Commencing with this from our great neighbors at Thomas Jefferson Park:

FREE Sports Programs for Kids in Thomas Jefferson Park

Golf (baseball field near the Dog Run)
Mondays and Wednesdays 
9am – 10:30 from 6-9 yrs old 
10:30am – 12 noon 10-16 yrs old

Soccer (baseball field near 1st avenue ?) 
Thursdays 1pm – 3pm 
Ages: 8-12 yrs old

Track and Field 
Monday/Wednesday 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM 6-8 yr old 
Monday/Wednesday 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM 9-16 yr old

If you are wondering where your child could continue golf, there’s a new Junior Golf Center out in Bay Ridge BK (and an annex site in Flushing Meadow) that offers free golf ages 7-17 and all levels and an advanced program for kids who end up on a competitive level, applying for college scholarships.www.juniorgolfcenter.org 

Moving on to 5-point mini-rant:

Yes, it’s 2015, but there’re still some on the national stage trying to lower standards for food served at schools!  (If you disapprove…)

The same bunch are doing their best/worst to ban GMO food-labeling (with the so-called DARK Act)!  To read the grisly details…  (And if you’re opposed…)

(This while Chipotle eliminates GMOs from its menu ingredients!) 

Same old old-think presses for mine development cheek-by-jowl with beloved parks…

Think Ace and True Value Hardwares should get in step with Lowe’s and Home Depot and ban bee-killing pesticides?

Much brighter:

Who knows how, but the U.S. Senate’s anti climate science education is – for the moment – dead! (If you think including climate science in school curricula is the way to go…) 

All hail Megan Kimble who removed all processed foods from diet for a full year, learned a ton and is now sharing it…

Also good to know that there’re people like Stephen Joseph in the world…

Trust Atlas Obscura to devise a guide to great American literary road trips!

And Inside the Apple for great NYC insights/tips…  i.e. The Paramount Building!

BRIGHTEST OF ALL:

Who wouldn’t want a piece of the Smithsonian’s Kickstarter campaign to restore the spacesuit Neil Armstrong wore on the moon??!!

oreocereus-trollii

On the animal front:

Next stop for this poker face kitty??  Vegas!!

As The New York Post says, “Remember the Lhota Feline Subway Rule?”  Well…  (Thanks to reader Carol Rinzler for the tip!)

Humans vs. Ants…?  May  humans prevail in this instance… 

Awwww…  Can’t know enough about our city squirrels!!  (Like darker fur better maintains body heat!)

As ever green,

UGS 

 

 

 

Happy Hello Pluto, UESiders!

Can’t have these leaps forward in knowledge, adventure and accomplishment often enough!

FYI: The New Horizon Mission’s quite fabulous site and PBS’s “Chasing Pluto” doc…

Something to tell your daughter/grand daughter:  A third of the space scientists/engineers who guided that tiny bit of metal zillions of miles across the solar system are women!! 

Meanwhile…

Back here on earth the Endangered Species Act was renewed!

And this Saturday’s the New York City of Water Day! 

allotropa-virgata

No kidding, we have one great week ahead:

Saturday,  July 18th:   82nd Street/St. Stephen’s Greenmarket

82nd Street between First and York, 9am–2pm

Compost & Clothes Collection – 9am–1pm 

At their tables will be  Bread Alone, Ballard Honey, Valley Shepherd, American Seafood, Samascott, Rising Sun, Garden of Spices, Gajeski, Alewife, Cherry Lane and Ole Mother Hubbert Farms! 

Yes, and our Master Knife Sharpener will honing like crazy, too!

From Market Manager Andrei…  In case you missed his (Russian) family pickling recipes:

Fresh Pickles:

1 quart of water, 4 tablespoons salt, 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1 bay leaf, and as much dill as you want. Boil the water, then mix in the salt, vinegar, dill and bay leaf, then pour over the Kirbies (as in Kirby cucumbers) in a sealable jar.   (Amount/size of the cucumbers will vary, so just make sure that there’s enough liquid to cover).  Keep the jar in your fridge for at least three days.  Pickles should last for a couple weeks.

Quick Pickles:

1/2 cup vinegar, 2 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. honey/sugar, black pepper/dill to taste.  Combine the ingredients and bring just to a boil, then pour over sliced Kirbies.  Cover and let sit for at least one hour.  

Last week’s recycling totals:  76 lbs. batteries; 12 lbs. cords, corks, cellphones and cartridges; 8 1/2 compost bins;  15 bags of clothes.

Back in our 8-plus bin mode!

Saturday, July 18th:  2015 Chelsea Garden Club Tour

Meet in front of Papaya Hot Dog Shop, Seventh Avenue & 23rd Street, 9:30am or in front of Dallas Barbecue, Eighth Avenue & 23rd, 10am

Learn from and admire the handiwork of the prodigious green thumbs of those who originated the art of Bicycle Island Gardening! (And their islands are beautiful!)  Free.

Saturday, July 18th:  2015 City of Water Day

All Over Town

Every summertime activity we love either on, in or by our city’s fabulous H2O!!  For the schedule of events…  And in our own hood?  As of 11:45am, the great East River Crew will moving their two wonderful boats onto the Esplanade and into the East River!  Be good to yourself and go for a ride!! 

Sundays through November 22nd:  94th Street Greenmarket 

First Avenue between 94th & 96th Street, 9am-5pm

Compost Collection – 9am–1pm 

With us will be the great American Seafood, Bread Alone, Meredith’s Bakery, Wager’s Cider Mill, DePaolo Turkey, Ole Mother Hubbert, Stannart, Norwich Meadows and Phillips Farms!

Yummm!

Last week’s recycling totals:  4 lbs. batteries:  5 lbs. corks, cellphones, cartridges and cords;  1 pair of glasses:  2 3/4 bins of compost.

Another week…  Another half-bin jump!

Sunday, July 19th:  Make Music New York at Schurz Park

Carl Schurz Park, East End Avenue & 86th Street, 4-7pm

One great evening of open air music by Sara DeLeo, the Impact Repertory Theater, Eric Koppelman & Riley Fitzsimmons, Daniel Hartig, the Arrow Band and Hungry Marching Band!  Refreshments, too!! Brought to us by the Schurz Conservancy and Borough President Brewer (who’ll be attending).   Free!

Every Tuesday:  Rowing with the East River Crew

East River Esplanade at 96th Street, 4:30pm

Row or just go out on the water for the ride and a most wonderful, later afternoon summer experience! Truly, one of the UES’s treasures.  Open to one and all and unbelievably…  Free.  For more… 

jatropha-gossypifolia

And your serving of miscellany:

Hummm…  Sorry to say that Amazon – the world’s largest cloud hosting company – is way behind running its empire with clean energy!

On the flip side:

NYS will be expanding our Renewable Energy Program to include more New Yorkers! 

Bowing to widespread outrage, our NYC Landmarks Commission’s backed off trashing the 95 meaningful structures that’d been “calendared” (but unlandmarked) for more than 5 years and proposed  a Backlog Initiative that’s receiving citywide praise!      

Who knew NYC had a law (Local Law 84 – LL84) requiring benchmarking of energy and water use by private buildings of more than 100,000 square feet and almost all city-own structures?

A 20-year old NYU student’s brainstorm’s making electric light affordable (and green) for India’s poor! 

This while Masai women and their donkeys equip rural Kenyans with solar panels!  

Japan’s converting its super-abundance of golf courses into solar farms!

No wonder Bloomberg’s so sanguine about the future of renewable power…  (For highlights of the report…) 

Meanwhile, France’s just banned Round-Up! 

On completely different tangents:

In case you haven’t seen the latest map of UES Citibike locations…

Eight years later, the two wonderful fountains at the 42nd Street Library back in working order!

Thanks to our Master Knife Sharpener for alerting us to the newest in urban greening…  Pot hole garderning:

Oh, those animals:

Holy crow!  There’re American dogs out there who’re trained to locate truffles!

This while a Roman cat engages in archeology!

And the Acro-Cats…  Well, here’s their site… 

When a baby owl and duck become best friends… 

(Too bad the Kirkleatham Owl Centre‘s in England!)  (Check out the tawny frogmouth owl!)

And the world’s most trafficked critter is…  The pangolin!

Wrapping up with this from the Hudson River Almanac:

Hyde Park, HRM 82: A louder than usual rustling in the woods this evening attracted my attention. The grasses at the edge began to sway. Then out on to the lawn tumbled a red fox kit followed by another in hot pursuit. Then Mama appeared, followed by three more kits. We watched them race and romp and even perform the classic “pounce.” Two hours later they were still playing hard. I’d say Mama had her paws full. – Barbara Wells 

As we await that ever-so-green shredding poundage total,

UGS

Happy U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Parade Day, UESiders!!

May the skies be blue and the team members receive in the best NYC salute ever!!

(For a brief history of the parade route…)

Oh, yes, and happy end of Shark Week, too!)

(Why not sign those new – #9 and #10 – Pledge2Protect letters now?)

huperzia-rubra

Then move on to the busy 7 days to come:

Friday, July 10th:  NYSkies Astronomy Seminar

McBurney House, 125 West 14th Street between Sixth & Seventh, 6:30-8:30pm 

Why is there a mass turnover of deep-sky features from spring to summer as the Milky Way migrates into high sky?  Starmaster John Pazmino and he’s willing to share!  Always fascinating… Always free!

Saturday,  July 11th:   82nd Street/St. Stephen’s Greenmarket

82nd Street between First and York, 9am–2pm

Compost & Clothes Collection – 9am–1pm 

They’re all back!!  Bread Alone, Ballard Honey, Valley Shepherd, American Seafood, Samascott, Rising Sun, Garden of Spieces, Gajeski, Alewife, Cherry Lane and Ole Mother Hubbert Farms will all be at their tables! 

Add our Master Knife Sharpener to the list of returnees!

Plus the wonderful Andrea Wright will be making her beautiful music again!

Newsflashes from Market Manager Andrei:  “Look for corn, tomatoes, a variety of eggplants and rumor has it that striped bass season is open!  You don’t want to miss Ole Mother Hubbert’s great new gelato – a ton of great flavors – either!” 

Meanwhile, there’ll be a new person at the recycling table this week.  Holly’s been promoted to a GrowNYC farming project up in the Bronx, but she’s promised to keep us in the loop!

Last week’s recycling totals:  73 lbs. batteries; 15 lbs. cords, corks, cellphones and cartridges; 5 compost bins;  19 bags of clothes.

Great for a holiday weekend!!

Sundays through November 22nd:  94th Street Greenmarket 

First Avenue between 94th & 96th Street, 9am-5pm

Compost Collection – 9am–1pm 

Yup!  Those tomatoes and that corn is coming in big time!!  Norwich Meadows has some incredible berries, too!  Look for Ole Mother Hubbert/Back to the Future Farm’s great gelato, milk, eggs, chicken, yogurt and cheese!

Last week’s recycling totals:  8 lbs. batteries:  3 lbs. corks, cellphones, cartridges and cords;  2 1/4 bins of compost.

An increase of a whole half compost bin!

Sunday, July 12th:  Shred-A-Thon – Pre-Bastille Day Edition

First Avenue between 94th & 95th Streets, 11am-2pm

AT LAST!!

Bring on the paper!!

Just keep in mind:

NO cardboard or handled shopping bags.

And please remove those paper clips and spiral bindings. 

NO HARDCOVER BOOKS.   (But we do accept paperbacks.)

Take your hardcovers over to Goodwill.

We’re going for a record breaking 9,000 lbs, people!!

(We thank Council Members Kallos and Garodnick for their green and very generous grants!)

Sunday, July 12th:  Bastille Day on 60th Street

60th Street from Fifth to Lexington Avenues, 12-5pm

French-American electro-swing band Gingoa, singer Benjamin Swax, wine, beer, chocolate and champagne tastings!  Just the thing after Greenmarket and a lot of shredding!

Tuesdays through August 11th:  Audubon Twilight Bat & Insect Walks in Central Park

Meet at 103rd Street & Central Park West, 7:45pm

Naturalist Paul Keim leads the search for ever-fascinating bats and the many curious nocturnal insects – think crickets and katydids – inhabiting our great park!  Adults, $32.  Teens, $20. Kids under 12, $14.  To reserve a place… 

Thursdays through August: Waterfront & Wildflower Garden Tours

Meet at Randall’s side of 103rd Street Footbridge, 11am

Organized by the great people of Thomas Jefferson Park!  Free.

Saturday, July 19th:  2015 Chelsea Garden Club Tour

Meet in front of Papaya Hot Dog Shop, Seventh Avenue & 23rd Street, 9:30am or in front of Dallas Barbecue, Eighth Avenue & 23rd, 10am

Learn from and admire the handiwork of the prodigious green thumbs of those who originated the art of Bicycle Island Gardening! (And their islands are gorgeous!)  Free.

 

cadaba-farinosa

Especially miscellaneous:

In case you haven’t heard, seems the NYS Supreme Court ruled in favor of NYU’s expansion plan which’ll absorb city land long considered/deemed parkland by area residents/electeds/preservationists.  

Very sad, the present mess at Whole Foods…  Trouble that’s more than allegations of over-pricing of packaged food in NYC…

On the other hand,  the NYS Appellate Court delivered a decision against building a mall on a corner of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park! 

We say Community Board 8 needs to get our hands on (kidnap even) NYPD Officer Vincek – current NYC record-holder for issuing tickets to bike riders and presently assigned to Precinct 20 – and install him at Precinct 19!! 

(FYI:  Paris requires payment of tickets on the spot or bike/car is taken into custody!)

Want to camp out under the stars and watchful eyes of Rangers in Central Park?  Well, there’s a lottery for that!  For the lowdown and get your name in play…

Of course, NYC would have a Haunted Hologram Museum! …  Temptingly located on Governors Island!

And now The Times weighs in on the city’s best outdoor pools…

Yup, the Statue of Liberty arrived on these shores in 350 pieces!

Meanwhile…  Who knew aviators once made their way across our continent by following giant concrete arrows!! 

Just how are great works of art restored/repaired?

Could a mushroom be a remedy to soil contamination?

Got a surfboard you need repaired?  Of course, there’s a guy in NYC who does expert work!

And just how is a wind turbine built?  (Thanks to reader Nell Semel for the tip!) 

Ahem…  Isn’t it time Miracle Whip got rid of the GE/GMO eggs in its bottle?  

asphodelus-aestivus

Animals:

Spotted – in more ways than one –  on a nasturtium leaf on a First Avenue bicycle island…  A pair of baby lady bugs!

Watched on First Ave in front of Bed Bath…  A pair of fledglings still more fluff than feathers on a sickly honeylocust tree:

Observed on York Avenue and 65th Street (but no pix)…  A pair of courting lightning bugs!

Trust The Times to provide a 24-hour compendium of much more exotic NYC wildlife viewing… 

We’ll all be so much greener after the Sunday shred,

UGS  

 

 

Happy July 4th, UESiders!!

Needless to say, there’s no place in the U.S. of A. –  maybe even on earth – that’s more dedicated to fabulous summer holiday fun (and the best fireworks ever) than our NYC!

For a sampling of all there is to do…    (Can we believe Funkadelic’s still alive and playing music?!!) Then there’re Parks’ suggestions…   

And once you’ve taken care of writing that 91st Street MTS letter to the DEC (for points to make and more just scroll down to last week’s newsletter)…

Then…

We know there’s  one activity many an UESider will be including in their weekend… Celebrating the nation’s founding Greenmarket-Style: 

Saturday,  June 27th:   82nd Street/St. Stephen’s Greenmarket

82nd Street between First and York, 9am–2pm

Compost & Clothes Collection – 9am–1pm 

Risisng Sun, Garden of Spices and Ballard Honey are giving themselves a well-deserved weekend off, but friends Bread Alone, Valley Shepherd, American Seafood, Samascott, Gajeski, Alewife, Cherry Lane and Ole Mother Hubbert will all be with us! 

Yes, and our Master Knife Sharpener will also be AOL…  (But we forgive her for being up in Connecticut, floating in a pool.) 

Newsflashes from Market Manager Andrei:  Cherries and Gajeski’s 2015 potatoes are in!  Plus Andrei’s planning a quick pickling demo!  (Indeed, why insult great, home-crafted BBQ with pickles of the industrial/processed/supermarket kind!) 

Last week’s recycling totals:  76 lbs. batteries; 11 lbs. cords, corks, cellphones and cartridges; 3 pairs eyeglasses; 8 1/2 compost bins;  25 bags of clothes.

Amazing!!

Sundays, June 28th – November 22nd:  94th Street Greenmarket 

First Avenue between 94th & 96th Street, 9am-5pm

Compost Collection – 9am–1pm 

Guess what?  This temporary location is just great!  So is the addition of Dipaola’s Turkey!  And Norwich Meadows joins the five-star farmer/baker/fisherman/dairy line-up this Sunday!!

Stop by and say hi to new Market Manager Clay who’ll be serving up red, white and blue fruit with a yogurt parfait!  (Fruit from Phillips Farm and yogurt from Back to the Future/Old Mother Hubbert Farm!)

Last week’s recycling totals:  TBA batteries:  TBA corks, cellphones, cartridges and cords;  TBA eye glasses;  1 3/4 bins of compost.

One great first week!

Saturday, July 11th:  Untold Secrets of Central Park Walking Tour

Meet at the Central Park West 66th Street Entrance, 2-4pm

Given that it’s organized by those wild and crazy folks at Obscura Society, this won’t be your usual (but always great) CP Conservancy tour…  As in – just for openers – did we know Transcendentalists were much involved in Central Parks’s founding and design?  $25.  For more and tickets (buying in advance is advised)…

And then the long-awaited:

Sunday, July 12th:  Shred-A-Thon – Pre-Bastille Day Edition

First Avenue between 94th & 95th Streets, 11am-2pm

Just two weeks and we’ll be pulverizing tons of paper on First Avenue!

And you do recall:

NO cardboard or handled shopping bags.

And please remove those paper clips and spiral bindings. 

NO HARDCOVER BOOKS.   (But we do accept paperbacks.)

Take your hardcovers over to Goodwill.

(Thanks to Council Members Kallos and Garodnick for their green and generous grants!)

Tuesday, July 14th:  Mary Badham Reads From “Go Set a Watchman”

92nd Street Y, Kaufman Concert Hall, Lexington Avenue at 92nd, 7:30pm

Rather, Scout Reads From (Harper Lee’s recently unearthed and just published) “Go Set a Watchman”.  Some compelling combination even 50-plus years later.  Tickets from $24.  (For more and tickets…)

On the horizon:

Wednesday, July 22nd:  “Mourning Lincoln” Lecture

Bryant Park, Sixth Avenue at 42nd Street, 7pm

On the 150th anniversary, CSpan (yes, CSpan!) aired Springfield, Illinois’ fascinating reenactment of Lincoln’s Funeral.  Now, there’s Martha Hodes’ delving into personal responses to the assassination by great and ordinary persons of the time..  Organized by the NY Historical Society and Oxford U Press.  Free.  (For more…) 

Wednesday, July 29th:  “Cost of Courage” Lecture 

Bryant Park, Sixth Avenue at 42nd Street, 7pm

Stories of WWII heroism are inexhaustible and ever amazing…  In this case, Charles Kaiser’s account of the 3 French siblings who orchestrated resistance efforts in Northern France. Sponsored of the NY Historical Society and Oxford U Press.  Free.  (For more…) 

In the miscellaneous category:

Job opportunity ahoy!  And in the non-profit sector so many are interested in!! Check out this offering from the Commercial Free Childhood organization…  

On the serious side:

Opaque as where – citywide – our public moneys are going can be, we’re getting more transparent locally…  i.e. (and scroll down) CM Kallos’s list of his bigger ticket grant allocations…  (To review the full array of Council Member grants…)

Forces wishing to develop on the Grand Canyon rim and even into the canyon itself just keep coming…  (If you feel moved to keep holding the line against…) 

(This while China develops a systems based on our array of national parks!)

Should you support efforts to end the mountain-top method of mining…

Believe it or not, powers-that-be still allow the dumping of fracking water in local water treatment plants!!  Should you believe this practice ought to come to an end… 

And now for our smiley face:

We revere all citizen science (real science!) projects, but here’s a particular winner:  What’s become a worldwide effort to monitor phytoplankton (vital to the ocean’s food web) in our warming oceans and involving a device invented 1865! 

A host of great NY Botanical Garden gardening courses and at their midtown location, too!

And a ton of available fun in nature in NYState’s July Outdoor Discovery newsletter…  (Check out the Hike of the Month in Palmer’s Pond State Forest!) 

Times Square as it was 97 years ago…  (Too bad we didn’t get a replacement building as good-looking as this!)

Courtesy of our great public library (and reader Kathleen Treat), we can now easily check out rather fabulous vintage pix of our own hoods!  

Get ready for animals:

Love that the NYS DEC’s announced a final plan to protect the northern cricket frog!   (We can be proud this is our state’s only endangered frog!)

Birth of a baby puffin…!!   (Tiring work for the little chick!) 

Cat vs. mountain lion…

Yes, our Master Knife Sharpener has an alter ego…  That being Madrette, paw reader for the canine set and in which capacity she’s raised many dollars for animal charities…

Madrette and Friends

Okay, it’s a long weekend so we have time to recover from a dose of incredible cuteness…  As in pix of parenting in the wild!  (Thank you, reader Jan Colucci!)

Then there are the adorable tarsiers of the Philappines…

We’ll be keeping it green while we’re waving the red, white and blue,

UGS