The National Parks Conservation Association is lobbying to stop a bill that would permit visitors to national parks to carry firearms even when not hunting in a designated area. This is such a bad idea I don't even know where to begin! The parks staff can barely handle the problems they've already got, thanks to underfunding.

You can find out more and send an email to your representatives here:
NPCA Action Center.

I recently decided to unsub from the Sierra Club's general newsletter, and in doing so found their Daily Ray of Hope, which is just a simple nature photo and inspirational quotation by email each day, so I signed up for that. Readers can submit photos via Flickr group, so I decided to sign on to Flickr and contribute a few of my best shots.

And they used this one!

I took it on Scoobymaniac's very first camping experience, at Promised Land State Park in the Poconos, on Labor Day weekend in 2002.

Other interesting events that weekend: I lost my wallet, and despite having (I thought) thoroughly searched for it at the time, I found it in my duffel bag when packing for another trip several years later!

Spring is here, so naturally gardens and gardening are coming up all over (puns intended!). Not that I've done anything with my own garden yet. Slate has a couple of very good, recent articles – one on creating a habitat garden to shelter small creatures, birds, and butterflies, and one on gardening with children. Enjoy, and get some good ideas.

Click here to go to the Wildlife Watch site.

I liked this, from a "Green Parenting" article by fellow NYC public school parent Melanie Hoopes in our PTA newsletter.

"Leave No Child Inside

"Get out! Get out! Pick activities on the weekends that get the whole family outside. There are hundreds of destinations accessible by the MTA that will put you and your children in touch with nature.
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We decided early last week to go away for the weekend, and reserved Cabin 16 at World's End State Park (love that name!) in the Poconos area of northeastern PA. We left Saturday early afternoon, and it's about a 4-hour drive, so we arrived about 6:30 after stopping at a Super Walmart for groceries - not a great selection, nor great prices.

The cabin had a notebook for campers to write their experiences, and this is what Legomaniac wrote:

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... was October 15th, so I missed it. Oh well. Here's a link to the site, and I hope to do better next year.

Blog Action Day site (Note: there's music, so turn down your volume if you're at work!)

We spent the weekend at the annual Gathering of the Vibes music festival, returning to its former location of Seaside Park in beautiful downtown Bridgeport. It was our first time there, and our first festival at the seashore.

From National Wildlife again, an article on the health and productivity benefits of contact with natural surroundings: Inviting the Outdoors In.

The annual "Great American Backyard Campout" is Saturday, June 23rd. Probably not coincidentally, NYC's Cub Scouts will be camping on the Brooklyn Cyclones' outfield at Keyspan Park in Coney Island.

Here's the website for the Great American Backyard Campout if you want more information.