Labor Day 2017

Hi All,

As if you didn't already know it, but the summer is slowly drawing to a close.  Yes - that means Labor Day is fast approaching!

And with that begins the yearly routine of students returning back to school classrooms, college students returning to college, the weather changing and becoming a bit more brisk and holidays are on the horizon.  Yep - things are changing in the early Fall!

But what are you going to do on Labor Day 2017? You might not know right now, but we've got a few ideas for you to choose from!

Long Island Pulse has an interesting, trendy, current article titled, Long Island Labor Day Celebrations 2017.  The article discusses festivities in Seaford, Long Beach and Smithtown among other locations.

Discover Long Island has an article under their Featured Events section of their website.

Long Island.com has a list of events to do on Labor Day as well. Users can search for events by day and by category. 

Finally. Newsday's Entertainment section has an article on 'Best Things To Do This Week and Weekend on Long Island' - which covers the Labor Day weekend.  

Enjoy the last weekend and enjoy the Labor Day holiday!

Regards,
Stu

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 

Things To Do In the Summer With Kids On Long Island

Hi All,

Its summertime and the livin' is good - as they say.  But wait...you've got kids and you need to keep them occupied - you don't want them on a tablet or a phone or a tv or a computer screen all day!  What's a person to do?

Great question and we've got some answers at least.

This first link is from Click on this link from Mommypoppins for an article titled Summer Fun Guide For Long Island Kids. There are some great ideas lurking in there!

The next link is  also from Mommypoppins - this link is titled 50 Free Things To Do With Long Island Kids This Summer.  Awesome resources and ideas. 

A website called TripSavvy got into 'let's keep kids busy during the summer racket' with a link on their site called 'Top 10 Children's Attractions on Long Island'. 

Mommypoppins seems to be a getting a lot of play on the blog today.  Here's another valuable article titled '25 Things We Can't Wait to Do With LI Kids This Summer' - note that the article is very, very recent - as in from June 2017.

Finally the Long Island Press wrote an article titled '43 Things To Do With Your Kids on Long Island' some time ago.  The article is well worth taking the time to peruse if you want to keep the little ones busy this summer!

So there you have it - a bunch of websites that'll help you keep the kids busy this summer.  Remember there are about 65 or so days left until school starts! :)

Enjoy the resources and if you think that I've missed any good ones send me an email at fdaleref@nassaulibrary.org and I'll include them in an upcoming blog post!

Regards,
Stu

Memorial Day 2017

Hi All,

Memorial Day 2017 is right around the corner.  This short but sweet blog entry will give you some help with all your Memorial Day festivities!

These next 3 links talk about the history of Memorial Day.  Read on for what History.com has to say about Memorial Day.  As well as MemorialDay.org and the US Department of Veterans Affairs.


Traditionally, Memorial Day has been the 'unofficial' start of the summer season.  And what better way to start summer than with a barbecue! Read on for more bbq tips, ideas, recipes and more.  Delish has an interesting take on bbq's with an article called 'The Perfect Memorial Day BBQ Menu'.

Allrecipes has a whole section devoted to Memorial Day BBQ and Grilling Recipes - OMG, its  more than you shake a stick at - there is so much information here!  Awesome.

Finally, the New York Times has a link to all things BBQ and Grilling. Yum and yum!

So now that you have figured out what the eats are going to be on Memorial Day, click on these links for what to do on Memorial Day 2017.

MommyPoppins has an article titled 'Memorial Day Weekend Events On Long Island'. Long Island.com has a very comprehensive list of Memorial Day Events at this link. 

For those inclined to visit New York City this weekend check out this link from Curbed New York titled 'Memorial Day 2017: 5 Things To Do in New York This Weekend'.

Finally, click on this link to find out what the all-important weather is going to do this weekend. Wunderground, Weather.com and ABC Channel 7 Weather.

So there you have it - eats, visits, weather and fun stuff to do on the opening weekend of the summer - and Memorial Day 2017!

Enjoy the weekend.

Regards,
Stu

A Little Summer Turbulence in Farmingdale

Hi All,

Summertime means fun in the sun and days at an amusement park or beach or park or kayaking on the water or well, anything to do with the 'great outdoors'. 

So what better way to say summer than an article about Farmingdale's Adventureland?

Indeed, a brand new, $5 million roller coaster opened at Adventureland amusement park recently. 
Click on this link to read more about this - directly from The Farmingdale Observer - from an article written on 6/2/15!

Click on this link from Adventureland to see a few pictures of the new behemoth roller coaster. While on the site, users can buy season passes, get park information, learn about birthday parties, where to eat, shop the online store and see pictures of the various rides/attractions at the amusement park.

Enjoy the summer - enjoy your trip to Adventureland!

Finally, if you like roller coasters or amusement parks, click on this link which goes to the library card catalog where you'll find books on amusement parks and roller coasters - we have - or can get any of the books on the list for you!

Enjoy the links!

Regards,
Stu

Things to To on Long Island This July 4th

Hi All,

The July 4th holiday is right around the corner once again!  What is there to do? Plenty!  Just read on!

Regular readers will know that this site that I've mentioned the site LongIsland.com...well, its still a good, local area website with timely and useful articles. The site has an interesting article titled 'Long Island's 2015 4th of July Weekend Guide: Fireworks, Fairs, Fun in the Sun & More!' 

Click on this link from Mommy Poppins (Get more out of LI with kids) which also talks about 4th of July Fireworks on Long Island.  Click on this link for a list of Free Summer Concerts on Long Island (from About.com Travel).

Finally, click on this link for the current version of the Explore Long Island/Funbook from Newsday.

Happy 4th of July - and enjoy the summer weather!

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

Waterparks - For a Cool Summer!

Hi All,

Okay, its just about 95 degrees outside right now.  What do you need besides for a cold drink or iced tea or lemonade?  Yep - a dip in a very cool pool would be just great right about now.

Without further ado...click on this link for Waterparks.com.  The site has a tagline that it is 'Your Official Guide to Waterparks Around the World'.  Now that is ambitious! And a great idea.  Especially now that we in the midst of our first heat wave of the summer season.

Waterparks.com has links on the left side of the page for topics like, Finding a Water Park, What to Bring, General Water Park Tips, Sun Safety, Being Water Aware, Water Park Safety Links, Discount Information, Birthday Information, Fun Facts and Weather Information.

Waterparks.com is well organized and the links are easily navigated.  Oh, and the site is colorful and fun to use!

Enjoy the site - hope it helps to cool you off!

Regards,
Stu

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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