Summer BBQ'ing

Hi All,

Its that time of year again! Summer is here and - as a I mentioned in the prior post - the livin' is good. What better way to cook in the summer than to BBQ?  Its fast, easy and you get to spend time outside in a backyard or a park or tailgate. 

Without further ado here are four sites that have awesome links to grilling and summer bbq recipes:
Foodnetwork.com/Grilling
CountryLiving 
Delish.com 
NYTimes Cooking 

Click on any of the following links for some specifics on how to make the bbq extra special! 
BBQ Guru - Beginners Guide to BBQ 

The Guardian - BBQ Do's and Don'ts 

Weber - Grill Skills - Mastering the Basics 

Kathy Maister's Startcooking.com 

Finally, click here for a link to an article from CNN titled ''11 Facts to Raise Your Grilling IQ".

Enjoy the links and all those summer bbq's!

Regards,
Stu 

Hi All,

With Memorial Day being over now, folks can move on to the next big thing...which is....Summer.

Traditionally Memorial Day is the start of the summer holiday season.  Forth with...a few sites that will assist you in enjoying those beautiful days off during a Long Island summer.

One of the better 'things to do' links for Long Island is the site LongIsland.com - it bills itself as 'your guide to Long Island since 1996 (which makes it almost 20 years old!)

Some of the better features of the site include links to Restaurants, Hotels, Nightlife, Weddings, Kids Fun, Day Camps, Wineries, Events and Guides.  Click on any of the previous links and you'll go to that part of the website.

Newsday - the Long Island newspaper - has a special section on their website for 'things to do on Long Island'.  The link comes from the Lifestyle section and can be found by clicking here.

The current page has link for the 2015 Jones Beach Air Show, 50 Must-Have Summer Toys for Every Kid, Your Ultimate Guide to 99 Long Island Beaches, 12 Favorite Outdoor Dining Spots on LI, 10 Safety Tips When Boating With Kids and more.

Finally, for another point of view, users might want to visit the Long Island Convention & Visitors Bureau and Sports Commission website. The site has links to Arts & Culture, Beaches & Ocean Fun, Golf/Sports/Outdoors, Wine and Dine, Shopping, Kids and Families, Farms and Orchards, Maps and Transportation and Coupons/Brochures.  Its a great site to get ideas to do things during the Summer - and Winter and Spring and Fall!

Enjoy the links,

Regards,
Stu

City Travel Planner - Plnnr.com

 Hi All,

Just found out about this wonderfully odd, interesting travel planner website called Plnnr.com.

So, what does Plannr.com do for you? Plnnr automatically generates your free personalized ready-to-use itinerary in a few short seconds.

Clicking on the 'Get Started Now' icon on the Plnnr.com homepage takes you to the Plannr.com wizard.  There are five steps to get your itinerary:
1. Where to
2. Dates
3. Theme
4. Intensity
5. Luxury Level

Clicking on Where to leads you to a screen with  choices like Amsterdam, Berlin, Dublin, London, Milan, New York City, Paris, Rome, San Francisco and more.

Clicking on one of the options - I chose Rome - sends you to a page where you choose the date you intend to leave - and an option for you to select how long your trip will be.  Length of trip runs from 2-7 days.  I chose, a four day trip.

Next you come to a screen that asks you to select what your trip is going to be like?  With Kids, Outdoors, The Best of..., or a Culture based trip.  I chose Outdoors.

Users can make choices that vary from Light, Easygoing, Moderate, Vigorous and Extreme.  I chose a Moderate trip.

Users are then brought to a page where you can select the number of stars for your hotel (1-5).  I chose 3 stars for the hotel.

At this point the Plnnr wizard jumps into action and a new screen appears with the trip options that you've chosen.   Users can click on the orange dialog box to view the final results.  And oh, what results! Users can see the itinerary day by day. 

There is a list of sites to visit - and the length of time it should take to view the site.  Specific category of the particular site is listed as well (historic site, panorama, world heritage, history and culture and more). Users have the option to 'rank' the particular sites to either include them in their itinerary or not.

A map of all the sites is available as well.  Users can also book a hotel on Plnnr.com in order to actually make the trip a reality.

Finally, on the right side of the page are a few choices that users can use to further customize their trip. Most importantly is the 'Trip Profile' option which lets users change  the number of adults, the number of rooms, update the mode of preferred transportation and intensity of the trip.

There is also a 'word cloud' in which users can change each category weight to best match their trip preferences.  That is, users can add, delete or enlarge or shrink various categories - which will then be used to further customize the trip experience.

Hope you enjoy the site - Plnnr.com is a great way to get a customized trip if and when you want to go to some of the worlds greatest cities.

Regards,
Stu

Adorable Baby Photos

Hi All,

A few weeks ago I blogged about Adorable Pets. I posted links to website for absolutely adorable pictures of cats, dogs, hamsters and birds.

And do you know what? The blog got so many darn hits! Way cool. Oh, and I was able to bring lots of smiles to a lot of people just by posting the links to these picture websites. Talk about satisfaction!

So...with thoughts of that very popular entry in mind, I began to get a bit creative...and I came up with...Adorable Baby Photos.

As I am musing to myself, I'm thinking about how to divided these photos up.

The only fair way is to post these photos by subject ... And so a blog post is borne. Forthwith several links to adorable baby photos. Enjoy the babies!

Starting out with a very generic - but adorable, that is the key here - Google search for 'baby pictures' you'll find this link. OMG! These little guys and gals are just too cute for words! Click here for the link.

How can anybody refuse a smiling baby? Indeed, one would be hard pressed to refuse one of these little gems. Click here for smiling baby pictures. Note that you can rate the picture - use the 'Next' icon on the page to see the next baby picture on the site.

(Sidenote: Just got detoured...if you want to learn how to take your own pictures of smiling babies, click on this link...from Ehow.)

Now, back to the regularly scheduling blog programming...

Somewhat similar to Flickr (I'll get to that in a minute - or, more likely, in another blog post), Photobucket is another photo sharing website. Click here for a bunch more photos of smiling babies. Awwww...how cute.

What can possibly be more adorable than a website full of babies in the bath? Think about it, they are clean (or about to be), pink and rosy cheeked, and of course, smiling. Check this out and you'll be giggling the next time that you take a shower and think about these photos!

Finally, check out these photos of babies in the great outdoors and sitting and laying in grass in the nice warm sunshine - too cute for words, eh?

Enjoy!

Stu

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Birding on Long Island

Hi All,

You see them all around - possibly even feeding some of them. They have vibrant colors, sing wonderful songs in the morning and have adorable shapes. What am I talking about you ask? Birds of course!

And Long Island is home for some fantastic birds! Click here to find a small article about Suffolk County birds. The article discusses Dune Road in near Shinnecock and Moriches.

If you are a beginning birder this site from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a must see. Birding Basics, bird guides and more are all available from this very authoritative website. Note that users can find birds by name, bird shape, bird family and more.

Furthermore, when you find a particular bird, users get a picture of said bird, identification methods, a life history of the bird, sounds the bird makes and video of the bird. There is also a range map which describes the locations and geographical places that the bird can be found.

This is a wonderfully comprehensive birding website even for the intermediate birder in your life.

Click here for the Wikipedia entry on birding. The entry gives context to the hobby and is well written. Notice also that the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is mentioned about half-way down the article. The SSAS has a wonderful mission statement that can be found on the home page link.

The organization sponsors birding outings and is active in promoting environmental education. Definitely worth looking into if you like birding or if you think you might like birding, click here for a more informal view of Long Island birding from Long Island Birding.com.

Going back to a site that I use often in this blog is About.com. Click here for the About.com birding entry - which, while somewhat similar to the Wikipedia entry, is more thorough and more comprehensive. Click here for About.com entry on '3 Steps to Easy Bird Identification'

Reades should note that there are many, many organizations dedicated to birding, especially on Long Island. Click here for the South Shore Audubon Society webpage.

Finally, click here for a more informal view of Long Island birding from Long Island Birding.com.

Regards and happy birding!
Stu

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Finding Fall Foliage on Long Island

Hi All,

Fall is definitely here! Did you see the thermometer temperature last night? Brrrr...time to get your longjohns out, your sweatpants on, and start thinking about snow shovels and the holiday season. But before we get into the holidays maybe you can have some outdoor fun by seeing some local fall foliage on Long Island perhaps?

Click here for a link from Tripcart which has some links to Fall foliage on Long Island. Click here for a foliage color report for all of New York State. Note that the reports are updated and that this entry is from 10/23/10.

I never thought about it but the Weather channel should (and in fact does) have foliage maps. Obviously it is an authoritative site - click here to see the link from the Weather Channel. Notice that there is a legend at the bottom right part of the map that, if you click on, will tell you 'How to Read This Map'.

Finally, you can use this link to identify trees - if that is your interest. The link is from About.com and is called Tree Identification Using a Tree Leaf Key.

Enjoy the great outdoors.

Stu