Happy days are here again...

It doesn't take much. Give me a little sunshine, moderate warmth, and apple blossoms, and I'm a happy camper.

It took several days, but the new paint job on the picket fence is done. The wire fence is up around the vegetable garden, and the beds are ready for planting. WARNING: it's still only the second week in May. If you jumped the gun and planted frost-sensitive annuals anyway, COVER THEM UP THIS WEEKEND. The temperatures are going to take a temporary dip again, and yes, it's likely we will have overnight FREEZING temperatures Sunday-Monday.

I hope this doesn't mean another year of no apples for us.

It may be a little damp on Saturday, but it's Spring Cleanup and Recycling Day at our UU Congregation on Prendergast. Although Hands On Jamestown isn't until next weekend, this day was already on our calendar, and we have submitted our team and our project (which will include picking up litter in the neighborhood) to let the organizers know we're on board and doing our part in the community.

It's also the USPS's Stamp Out Hunger food drive day, so be sure to leave a bag of nonperishable foods by your mailbox for collection by your carrier. Locally, these donations will be used to help stock the food pantries of the Salvation Army and Joint Neighborhood Project. You can also make a financial contribution by leaving a check, with "Stamp Out Hunger" written on the memo line, in an envelope for your letter carrier to collect. Let's get in touch with our humanity and show some kindness to those who, for whatever reason (it doesn't really matter), are having trouble providing for themselves and their families. Our communities are stronger when everyone has enough.

After our cleanup chores on Saturday, some of us will be heading over to the newly restored Gateway Train Station to celebrate National Train Day.  In addition to the festivities and displays, the station will be open for tours, and those of us who missed the ribbon cutting back in October will have a chance to inspect those renovations we've heard so much about. Currently, the building serves as a hub for  the Chautauqua Area Regional Transit System (CARTS) junction, bus transfer station, a visitor information center and (supposedly) a site for occasional excursion train rides. To help support the station, the concourse is also available to host special events such as weddings, reunions and concerts. There are those who envision all kinds of future development, which of course remains to be seen, and then there are those who hope that someday passenger train service will be restored! 

Silver Linings Playbook is playing at the Reg this weekend.

There's Friday Night Comedy at the JSB Arena throughout this month. The Ironmen are in the playoffs, and while the games are away this weekend, they will be shown live at the Arena this weekend.

There is live music at multiple venues and art shows and a craft fair at the Fairgrounds in Dunkirk on Saturday and nature and something for everybody all the time. So don't stay at home in front of the TV and complain that there's nothing to do. This is your life. It's not a dress rehearsal. You have to be your own director. Don't wait around for someone else to do it for you.

LIVE! Love! Puppies!