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.

This past Memorial Day weekend we camped out at the Strange Creek music festival in Greenfield, Mass. Great site, great weather, we all had a good time, and the kids had a blast!

Everyone tried out the "Orbitron" (see one like it here, lower right photo), except Jambandfan, who had cervical spine surgery in mid-April. It is really cool and fun!

I really liked this article from the March/April 2007 Orion Magazine on the burgeoning movement to reconnect children with nature, and the potential benefits of doing so. "Leave No Child Inside" by Richard Louv.

Full of good points and ideas, along with some depressing – and some hopeful – statistics. I love the Ansel Adams story! The whole piece is well worth reading.

Yet another reason NYC is cool! Today's AM New York had an article reporting that today is one of the two days each year when the setting sun lines up exactly with the East-West streets above 14th St. (where I used to live) in Manhattan. The next time will be in July.

I've seen this, just by happenstance, a few times when I was living and working in Manhattan (1986-1999). It is wonderful. The director of the Hayden Planetarium gave it the name "Manhattanhenge."