Is it really spring now?

We spent the week out of state--had to celebrate the grandson's third birthday with him!

Yeah, we went all last century and drove like it was 1970 and gas was 35 cents a gallon.  Living local is complicated when your kids live on opposite coasts. We'll have to work on that.

We came back to find the grass in need of mowing (if the rain ever stops) and the leaves popping out on the trees.

That's why I am asking--are we there yet? Really? It's been such a long time coming this year. But now, it's almost time to begin sowing those first seeds in the new vegetable bed, and I'm all psyched about that.

Some of this week's local happenings:

First Friday Lunch Bunch at the Audubon Nature Center
Friday, May 6 at 11AM
This month's speaker is Jennifer Schlick on Wildflowers of the Forest Floor. Bring your own lunch, coffee and tea are provided.

Excellence on Ice at JSB Ice Arena
Saturday, May 7 shows at 3 PM and 7 PM

Performances by members of the Jamestown Skating Club, tickets available online.

Mothers Day Brunch at Chautauqua's Athenaeum Hotel
Sunday, May 8, 11 AM - 2 PM
For Reservations please call (800) 821-1881, more info here


Chautauqua Regional Youth Symphony Spring Concert
Sunday, May 8,   4 PM at Reg Lenna Civic Center

Over the next two weeks, the BPU will be holding the annual Spring Clean-up in Jamestown. Residents have the opportunity each spring and fall to clean house and put out the extra trash (above and beyond their usual weekly garbage pickup) as long as items are landfill disposable and less than 40 lbs.--old clothes, housewares, small pieces of furniture, garden hoses, lawn chairs, carpet cut into small pieces, and so on.

The obvious challenge is to NOT do it, if you seriously want to be kinder to the planet. Things that are unwanted but salvageable  should be sold or given away via Craigslist or Freecycle, or donated to charity.Many items can be repurposed with just a little creativity, wherein a vintage suitcase becomes a cat bed, rolled magazine pages become stylish picture frames, old clothing becomes pillow covers, quilts, cloth shopping bags, or entirely redesigned pieces of clothing, keys and buttons become art or jewelry, and so on and so forth. Think about it. Google it.  Our throwaway habits are all kinds of expensive. We don't have to be that way.