The Meaning of Spring

Hi All,

Well, it looks like - finally - spring has sprung!  But really, what exactly does 'spring' mean?

Indeed, click on this link from the Mother Nature Network to find an article titled 'The Meaning of the Spring Season'. 

Click on this link for more information about spring and its definitions.

And now for the fun part of the blog entry...

Click here to find 50 Fun Spring Activities from RealSimple.com. 
If you have children, you might want to click on this link from PetaKids.com which lists 10 Family Activities That You Must Do This Spring. 

And...click this link to learn how to Enjoy Spring - link is from WikiHow.com.

And finally, click on this link from SparkPeople for an entry titled 'What Do You Love About Spring?

Enjoy the great weather and the sunshine!

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

Toning, Shaping, Exercising! Spring is Here - and Summer Will Follow!!

Hi All,

Spring has sprung and you know exactly what that means!  Shorts and t-shirts, blouses and skorts!

Yes - the time has past for bundling up in sweatshirts, sweaters, wintercoats and scarves and earmuffs! Spring is here - and this is the best time for starting an exercise routine. 

So, without further ado...some really helpful exercise links to help get you started on your new routine.
Click on the following link from WEbMD entitled, 'Fitness 101: The Absolute Beginner's Guide'.  Article is authoritative, easy-to-read, and current.   Click on this next link for an article entitled, 'Top Exercises For Your Joints'.  For variety sake, you might want to visit this link from the Mayo Clinic entitled, 'Fitness Programs: 5 Steps to Get Started'.

Okay, so now that you've started an exercise routine, how do you keep going and not give up. AKA, how do you stick with the routine?  Fear not...click on this link from Sparklepeople.com to learn how to stay with an exercise program.

Click here for an exhaustive set of links of materials (books and DVD's) that we have at the library regarding exercising.  Note also that I did a subject search for the phrase 'Physical Fitness'.  I narrowed down the search to the Farmingdale Public Library and then did a Reverse Year sort so that the most current material appeared at the top of the page first. 

Finally, readers might want to signup for a program that the library is hosting on Mondays called Fit Happens: Muscle Moms.  Registration began on April 7th, but there are still 3 classes left.  Also, there are 7 spaces still available.

Enjoy the links - hope they spur you on to exercise more and make it a lifestyle change!

Regards,
Stu

Spring+Warm Weather=Gardening Time

 
Hi All,

You might not be able to recognize it from todays' weather, but spring is here. Over the last few weeks we've been getting less rain and more sun in this area and that's great for backyard gardeners.  Central Nassau - and from what I hear from patrons at the reference desk - and our patrons are ready for a traditional spring that is full of warm weather, sunny skies and blooming flowers.  Bring it on!!!!

So, without further ado, I've found a really excellent gardening site called Treehugger.com. Click here for a link to the site. 


The site has an excellent article titled '10 Great Gardening Websites You Must Read' - which is basically a list of 10 high-quality, unbiased, current gardening websites.  One of which is 'Kitchen Gardeners International'.  Tabs on the homepage of the KGI site include 'Education', KGI Garden Planner and more.

Other sites that Treehugger covers include the Royal Horticultural Society, You Grow Girl, and Plants are the Strangest People.

Plants Are the Strangest People (aka PATSP) is a self-proclaimed 'long-winded but frequently humorous blog about houseplants or working in a garden center'.  The blog has been around since 2007 and is well-written, interesting and darn clever.  The clever part is self-evident from the tab entitled  'Praise for PATSP From Spambots'. 

And finally, indulge me for a shameless plug...here it goes.


Finally, the library is hosting a program on Thursday, April 18th at 6:30pm called 'How Does Your Garden Grow?'  The program will be held in Room E and we are expecting a large turn out.  So, be sure to register for the program ahead of time on the library Calendar of Events page.  Click here for the link to that page.

Here's to all your gardens blooming and for all your plants growing abundantly this Spring.

Enjoy the sites!
Stu

Gardening Websites

Hi All,

Spring has sprung and the sun seems to be shining - occasionally anyway. With the coming of spring, homeowners everywhere on Long Island hope to have their lawns looking better than they did during November, December, January and February period.

With that introduction out of the way, I'd like to discuss - in some detail - one of the really, really excellent, educational and easy-to-navigate gardening websites that internet users can find on the web. Its name is...The National Gardening Association and you can click here to get to the site.

The National Gardening Association has a very, very helpful website - click here for a link to the site. When you visit the site, immediately on the left side of the screen you'll see a link for 'Expert Advice'. Individual links under this category include, Plant Finder, Weed Library, Gardening Articles, Q&A Library, How-To Projects, How-To Videos, Pest Control Library, Food Garden Guide and Plant Care Guides. Click on any of the previous links to go to that particular topic.

When you visit the site, you can connect to links at the top of the page like, 'Themed Gardens', 'Kids Gardening', 'National Garden Month', and 'Research'. You can also search the site by clicking on the dialog box at the top right of the homepage that says 'Search NGA'.

The site is national - I suspect that you already knew that - but one part of the site is very interesting if you are interested in getting information for different regions of the country. On the homepage, scroll down about halfway down the page and click on the link that says 'Regional Gardening Reports'. Click on this link for the current report - which deals with Hummingbirds. Meanwhile, back on the homepage, you can tailor the reports you see by entering your zip code in the dialog box.

Finally, from the homepage you can connect to other garden related links as varied as 'Garden News' and 'Tip of the Day' (the link wasn't working the night that I created this blog entry...)

Enjoy the gardening - hope your flowers and bushes grow as fast as you want them to!

Regards,
Stu

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World Record Heat!

Hi All,

Long-time readers of this blog probably realize that I tend to try to write about things that are 'out-of-season'. (Hence my blog entry from 11/12/10 on Birding and my entry from 7/26/10 on Buying Snow Shovels in July...)

Anyway, most folks on Long Island have had just about enough snow for the year...click here for a link discussing how we are in the midst of the snowiest January on record on Long Island.

That being said, I don't want to rehash that which we are tired of - ie snow - I want to talk about the polar (get the pun?) opposite of snow and freezing rain and cold: heat and warmth and sunshine. Hence the blog topic for today!

Click here for a search on Bing (Microsoft's search engine that competes with Google) using the phrase 'world record heat'. The various links are hot stuff - especially the second one entitled, 'Hottest Places on Earth'

Click here to warm yourself - in not necessarily a good way - for an article from USA Today back in July 2010 entitled, 'World Sizzles to Record This Year' Why is this not such a good way you might ask? Because many scientists think that global warming is the cause of such high temperatures we've been having recently. Click here for a quick summary of the debate from a neutral source: National Geographic. Click here for another link about the causes of global warming - this time it is from San Diego State University.

Okay, now that I've mentioned the serious aspects of heat, let's talk about all the fun ways to spend time in warm weather. Specifically let's talk about Spring Date Ideas, goofy answers from Yahoo Answers about 'what to do outside in the warm weather, and finally, from Time Out New York, an entry called, '30 Ways to Warm Up'

See, even though the temperature hit 8 degrees a few days ago, hopefully this entry will warm you right up.

Regards and let's hope for warmer weather in the near future!

Stu

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