Ilana Papele’s The List

Whoops, forgot to pop in last weeks list. Sorry.
No matter now – some terrific things this week:

Vassar’s Powerhouse, www.powerhouse.vassar.edu. Munch dinner on the Quad before the performances.
Pirate – Written and directed by Tony, Oscar and Pulitzer Prize-winner John Patrick Shanley, who returns to the Powerhouse with Pirate – a funny, provocative, and wildly theatrical tale of a guy who keeps showing up. Yes, it’s true, he looks a lot like Adolph Hitler, but Hitler is gone and Pirate is still with us…?$35. July 27 to 31 at 8pm; July 31, August 1 at 2pm.
Hudson Valley Shakespeare at Boscobel with Troilus and Cressida, Taming of the Shrew and Bomb-itty of Errors. www.hvshakespeare.org.
Pick Your Own at Thompson Finch in Ancramdale, 518-329-7578 and Ellsworth in Sharon, 860-364-0025.
Art of Alan McCord through July 31 at the Hotchkiss Library in Sharon. 860-364-5041 or visit www.hotchkisslibrary.org.
A second exhibit at Red Devon, paintings by Emily Fuller. Farm Exhibit by photographer Brandt Bolding, celebrating Agricultural Life of the Hudson Valley and Beyond. The exhibit will go through the summer.
The Hotchkiss Library of Sharon is accepting donations for their annual used book sale on August 7. 860-364-5041 or Sue Norris at 364-8091, sue.reg@gmail.com.
William Steig’s paintings at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. Children’s author, but also may be familiar from the New Yorker or Shrek. 9 Route 183; Stockbridge; 413.298.4100. Through Halloween.
https://apps.commerce.yale.edu/arts/norfolk/series.do for the Norfolk concert schedule. Often free during the week, nominal costs for the Friday and Saturday. Terrific music either way.
Bard SummerScape: The Spiegeltent offers family-oriented programs and evening adult fare. Admission charged. Spiegeltent, Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Restaurant open Thursdays through Sundays. For information call 845-758-7900 or visit www.fishercenter.bard.edu. Through August 22.
SummerScape: Admission charged. fishercenter.bard.edu or call 845-758-7900.
Summerscape films are neat too. This year, G.W. Pabst films are featured, 7pm, $8.
River Rep starts their season at Marist with Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. www.rivervalleyrep.com, 845-575-3133.
Glimmerglass Opera performs Tosca, The Tender Land, Marriage of Figaro and Tolomeo. Way out in Cooperstown. www.glimmerglass.org.
Williams Theatre Festival offers www.wtfestival.org, 413-597-3400.
At the Clark Museum, also in Williamstown, is Picasso Looks at Degas, through September 12. Clark.edu, 413-458-2303.
Walking the Dog Theatre in Chatham, NY, plays Wilder’s Our Town. www.wtdtheater.org, through August 1.
TriArts in Sharon. Runs through . www.triarts.net, 860-364-SHOW.
The Rocky Horror Show at the Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck. Through August 1. Complete with sass from the audience, cascading toilet paper and an array of other audience participation props, this deliberately kitschy rock ‘n roll sci-fi gothic is more fun than ever. For mature audiences. $22 adults; $20 seniors and children. www.centerforperformingarts.org to learn about the special schedule of Rocky Horror events, including special 11 pm performances, a costume party with prizes, and more.
Lombardi, a play at the Mahaiwe Theatre, Great Barrington. Through July 28. The Life of Vince Lombardi. See it before it opens on Broadway in October. www.mahaiwe.org, 413-528-0100, www.lombardibroadway.com.
One of the local plays, Imaging Madoff at Hudson’s Stageworks, made it to the NY Times. www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/theater/20madoff.html?_r=1&th&emc=th. Through August 7. 518-822-9667, www.stageworkshudson.org.

Wednesday, July 28:
Bill DelTosta, Director of Sales and Marketing at the Mid-Hudson Workshop for the Disabled (www.midhudsonworkshop.org) will be speaking at 12:15 for the Millbrook Rotary Club lunch meeting at the Millbrook Café, 3288 Franklin Avenue, Millbrook, NY. This talk is open to everyone and lunch is$14, from 12:15 – 1:30 pm. The Millbrook Rotary Club can be found online at www.millbrookrotary.org.
Wild Wednesday: Fish Printing, 4:15 – 5:15 PM. Tivoli Bays Visitor Center, Tivoli. Free. 845-889-4745 x106.
New England Baroque Soloists perform in Salisbury, 5pm, St John’s Church. Free, but donations are always welcome. 860-435-9290.

Thursday, July 29:
Opening Night for Shakespeare’s Dracula at Wing’s Castle. Thurs, Fri., Sat., and Sun. Castle grounds open at 7 p.m., show starts 7:30. $20 for adults, $10 for kids 12 and under. Wine and light refreshments are available.
Electric Open Mic and Artist Showcase with Karl at La Puerta Azul. 8:30 start.
Powerhouse Line Up:
ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER (July 29 – August 1) lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Burton Lane, with new book by Peter Parnell, based on the original book by Alan Jay Lerner, musical direction and arrangements by Lawrence Yurman, choreography by JoAnn Hunter, reincarnated and directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer, featuring Tony nominee Brian d’Arcy James (Time Stands Still, Next To Normal, Shrek The Musical) and Tony winner Anika Noni Rose (Caroline, or Change; Dreamgirls). July 29, 30 at 8:00pm, August 1 at 2:00 and 7:00pm.
The Readings Festivals July 29 – August 1) will include new works by Eve Ensler, Stephen Karam, Zoe Kazan, Romulus Linney & Eleanor Cooney, Megan Mostyn-Brown, Richard Nelson & Peter Golub, Steven Sater & Duncan Sheik, Kate Walbert, Patricia Wettig, and a screenplay by Jennifer Westfeldt. Free to the public with reservations strongly recommended. Visit or call the box office at (845) 437-5599.

Friday, July 30:
The Regional Chamber of Commerce Foundation at New Paltz will present the Professional Development Series Panel Discussion “The Fine Art of Negotiation” from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. at the SUNY New Paltz School of Business, van den Berg Hall room 110. This panel discussion is $15 for non-members of the NP C of C. Registration is required. 845-255-0243.
Amenia’s Farmer’s Market, close to the 44/343/22 light, 2 to 6pm.
Powerhouse Reading Festival continues with F to M by Patricia Wettig at 8pm. (845) 437-5599
Bard SummerScape: Opera, Through Friday, August 6. Franz Schreker’s The Distant Sound (Der ferne Klang). Schreker (1878–1934) was an Austrian composer, conductor and teacher, and a contemporary of Alban Berg’s. Although his extraordinary works are performed regularly in Europe, they only now are beginning to be known in this country. The Distant Sound had its U.S. premiere (in concert form) in New York City during the 2006–07 season of the American Symphony Orchestra. “The premise of Der ferne Klang is simply told. A composer forsakes a woman’s love for a chimeric sound that is but the distant echo of her presence. It is a tidy plot for an opera, a love story of tragic deferral and a paradoxical meditation upon the vanities of l’art pour l’art. … Schreker’s bold heterogeneity of dramatic devices and musical means and the sheer fecundity of his timbral imagination make Der ferne Klang one of the seminal works of twentieth-century opera” (Dr. Christopher Hailey, Franz Schreker Foundation). Thaddeus Strassberger, who directed this past season’s Les Huguenots, will direct this production. Four performances: July 30, August 1, August 4, and August 6. Sosnoff Theater, Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Admission charged. For ticket information and updates visit fishercenter.bard.edu or call 845-758-7900.
Join the Cary Institute for a lecture by entomologist and author Douglas Tallamy at 7pm. Drawing from his bestselling book, Bringing Nature Home, Tallamy will discuss how using native plants in the home landscape can help protect and preserve North American wildlife. Non-native plants dominate developed areas. Selected for their attractiveness, these plants often fail to support native bees, butterflies, and other insects. When beneficial insects are lost, birds and other animals suffer. Tallamy’s message is by embracing native plants, anyone with access to a patch of earth can help sustain biodiversity. Cary Institute auditorium, located at 2801 Sharon Turnpike (Rte. 44) in Millbrook, New York. For more information, call (845) 677-7600 x 121 or e-mail freemanp@caryinstitute.org. Books will be available thanks to Merritt Bookstore.

Saturday, July 31:
Millbrook, Pine Plains and Millerton’s Farmer’s Markets, 9 to 1. www.millbrookfarmersmarket.com, www.pineplainsfarmersmarket.com, www.necmillerton.org/farmers.htm.
MAG concert at the Thorne Building Bandshell, 7pm. Boreal Tordu – “Original and Traditional Music of Acadian Maineiacs” FREE.
Powerhouse Line Up:
A SHORT HISTORY OF WOMEN at 2:00pm, by Kate Walbert
OVER MARTINIS, DRIVING SOMEWHERE at 5pm by Romulus Linney & Eleanor Cooney
1940’S RADIO HOUR. By Walton Jones, Directed by Mark Linn-Baker with Music direction by Andrew Gerle. A workshop presentation of a collaboration between the apprentice and professional companies based on Walton Jones’ 1940’s RADIO HOUR. Filled to the brim with period songs, the audience will be whisked behind the scenes of a live Hudson Valley radio broadcast at Christmas-time in 1942. 8:00pm.
TriArts is pleased to announce the premiere performance of a new one-man-show, A Boy With Dreams, playing one night only in the Bok Gallery at TriArts at 8pm. Tickets for this first summer season cabaret are $15 per person. Written by and featuring Trevor McQueen Eaton, this intimate cabaret will take you on a musical journey featuring songs from the American Songbook, classic jazz standards, musical theatre songs by Sondheim and more. www.triarts.net.

Sunday, August 1:
Rhinebeck Farmer’s Market. 10 to 2. Municipal parking lot on East Market Street.
Powerhouse Readings:
FRIENDS WITH KIDS, 2:00pm, a screenplay by Jennifer Westfeldt
UMBRAGE, 5:00pm, by Steven Sater & Duncan Sheik

Music Mountain has The Zimro Project at 3pm. Prokofief: Overture on Hebrew Themes (1919), Ben-Heim: Clarinet Quintet (1941), Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B Minor, Opus 115 (1891).

Wednesday, August 4:
Wild Wednesday: Invaders! 4:15 – 5:15 PM, Tivoli Bays Visitor Center, Tivoli, Free. 845-889-4745 x106

Thursday, August 5:
Tivoli Bays Talks – Live! Hudson Valley Birds of Prey, Brittany Burgio. Tivoli Bays Visitor Center, Tivoli Free. 845-889-4745 x105, 7:30 – 8:30 PM.
“Oklahoma”, August 5 – 22, at Triarts in Sharon.
Bard SummerScape: Operetta. Oscar Straus’s The Chocolate Soldier. Straus’s 1908 charmer is an amalgam of Viennese operetta and British wit, based on George Bernard Shaw’s play Arms and the Man. When Shaw gave librettist Leopold Jacobson the rights to adapt the play it was on three conditions: None of Shaw’s original dialogue nor the characters’ original names could be used, it would have to be advertised clearly as a parody of his play, and he would not accept monetary compensation. He lived to regret this last condition, as the operetta became an international success. Nine performances within the period August 5 – 15. Theater Two, Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Admission charged. For ticket information and updates visit fishercenter.bard.edu or call 845-758-7900.

Friday, August 6:
President Obama’s “America’s Great Outdoors Initiative” seeks to develop a conservation agenda worthy of the 21st century and to reconnect Americans with our great outdoors. Citizens of the Hudson Valley have an exciting opportunity to share their ideas about conservation and outdoor recreation with senior representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other federal agencies. The public listening session on conservation, recreation and reconnecting people to the outdoors will be held from 9 a.m. to noon at the Marist College Student Center in Poughkeepsie. This event is free and open to the public. Details will be posted at www.doi.gov/americasgreatoutdoors.

Saturday, August 7:
For those who like to prepare for a good cause, Goals for Hope Women’s Soccer Tournament, 9am – 1pm LaGrange Soccer Fields, Stringham Road, LaGrange, benefiting Miles of Hope – 700 women of all ages and abilities competing. www.milesofhope.org.
Hotchkiss Library in Sharon’s Book Sale.

BBQ chicken dinner at Stanfordville church 3-5pm. The United Church of Christ in Stanfordville will host a takeout BBQ Chicken Dinner with corn bread, potato salad, cookies, baked beans. $10. Reservations required; call 845-266-3731 or 845-868-7444. 5928 Route 82, Stanfordville.

Sunday, August 8:
RonnyBrook Open House, 10am – 5pm, 310 Prospect Hill Road, Ancramdale. Ronnybrook Farm is opening its green pastures and energy-efficient farming and production operations for an open house about the value of natural, local agriculture and alternative energy to the regional economy. The old-fashioned day features family fun, including hay rides, farm and production facility tours, live music, cooking demonstrations featuring Ronnybrook’s wholesome dairy products, free product samples, a food tent to benefit the local Future Farmers of America and more. Ronnybrook also will unveil its award-winning state-of-the art solar thermal system, producing the hot water needed for the on-site production of milk, yogurt and other dairy products, saving the farm about 2,000 gallons of oil annually. This Hudson Valley farm has been in operation for almost 70 years by the Osofsky family and has a long history of practicing organic methods and sustainable measures while creating healthy dairy products. They use only the finest natural ingredients and milk from their own herd of Holstein Cows. Free and open to the public. Complimentary transportation options for visitors. jessicahunt@ronnybrook.com, (518) 398-6455, www.ronnybrook.com.

Bard SummerScape: Oratorio. Franz Schmidt’s The Book with Seven Seals (Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln). Franz Schmidt (1874-1939) was an Austrian composer and musician. This majestic and stirring oratorio, arguably Schmidt’s greatest work, was first performed in Vienna in 1938. The Book with Seven Seals is based on themes from the Book of Revelation of Saint John. Sosnoff Theater, Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Admission charged. For ticket information and updates visit fishercenter.bard.edu or call 845-758-7900.
Dos Diablos at Coach’s, Millbrook. 10pm start with a late night menu.

Drought in Millbrook, and the surrounding area. Please do not wash your car, water your lawn, things like that. Basis water conservation is really easy: turn it off when not actively using it. Don’t let it run. Water off when brushing teeth.
Trying to keep cool and be more energy efficient? www.mnn.com/your-home/around-the-house/stories/tips-for-cooling-off-this-summer
Vassar’s Powerhouse, www.powerhouse.vassar.edu. July 16 through 19, Romeo and Juliet, free. Martel Musical Concert reading, Martel Theater, Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film, $30) July 16 – 18 BONFIRE NIGHT. A scrappy, hilarious, and thought-provoking musical romp through history with the all-male company of BONFIRE NIGHT. July 16, 17 at 8:00pm, July 18 at 2:00. Inside Look, Susan Stein Shiva Theater, $20, July 16 – July 18. My Life With Men-And Other Animals. Internationally acclaimed performance artist Maria Cassi offers an exhilaratingly intensive course on love, seduction, death, and . . olive oil, and explodes the American myths of Italian romance and womanhood created through movies and television, exemplified by iconic stars like Gina Lollobridgida, Anna Magnani, and Sophia Loren. July 16, 17 at 8:00pm; July 18 at 2:00 and 7:00pm. Also, you can eat great food on the Quad before the performances.
Hudson Valley Shakespeare at Boscobel with Troilus and Cressida, Taming of the Shrew and Bomb-itty of Errors. www.hvshakespeare.org.
Pick Your Own at Thompson Finch in Ancramdale, 518-329-7578 and Ellsworth in Sharon, 860-364-0025.
Art of Alan McCord through July 31 at the Hotchkiss Library in Sharon. 860-364-5041 or visit www.hotchkisslibrary.org.
A second exhibit at Red Devon, paintings by Emily Fuller. Farm Exhibit by photographer Brandt Bolding, celebrating Agricultural Life of the Hudson Valley and Beyond. The exhibit will go through the summer.
The Hotchkiss Library of Sharon is accepting donations for their annual used book sale on August 7. 860-364-5041 or Sue Norris at 364-8091, sue.reg@gmail.com.
William Steig’s paintings at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. One of my favorite children’s authors, but also may be familiar from the New Yorker… or maybe you’ve heard of Shrek? 9 Route 183; Stockbridge; 413.298.4100. Through Halloween.
https://apps.commerce.yale.edu/arts/norfolk/series.do for the Norfolk concert schedule. Often free during the week, nominal costs for the Friday and Saturday. Terrific music either way.
Bard SummerScape: The Spiegeltent offers family-oriented programs and evening adult fare. Admission charged. Spiegeltent, Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Restaurant open Thursdays through Sundays. For information call 845-758-7900 or visit www.fishercenter.bard.edu. Through August 22. July 16 and 17 has John Kelly, who is reputed to be fabulous, especially for Joni Mitchell fans. Cirque Voila on July 17 & 18, 3:30, is suitable for kids.
SummerScape: Theater. Ödön von Horváth’s Judgment Day. A runaway hit of this fall’s theater season in London, Judgment Day is “a fascinating drama about guilt and the compulsion towards conformism in small communities. In balefully comic contrast to this mental turbulence, there’s the flat, matter-of-fact rancour of the townsfolk who bovinely swap one hate-figure for another” (The [London] Independent). Von Horváth was an anti-Nazi writer who, instead of emigrating like so many of his colleagues, remained in Berlin in the 1930s in order to study National Socialism at first hand. The result was a flow of work bearing invaluable witness to the mean, petty mentality of everyday life under the Third Reich. Theater Two, Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Twelve performances within the period July 13 and 25. Admission charged. fishercenter.bard.edu or call 845-758-7900.
Summerscape films are neat too. This year, G.W. Pabst films are featured, 7pm, $8. July 15, 1926 Secrets of A Soul. July 18, 1927 The Love of Jeanne Ney. July 22, 1929 Pandora’s Box. All three are silent movies.
River Rep starts their season at Marist with Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. www.rivervalleyrep.com, 845-575-3133.
Glimmerglass Opera performs Tosca, The Tender Land, Marriage of Figaro and Tolomeo. Way out in Cooperstown. www.glimmerglass.org.
Williams Theatre Festival offers Six Degrees of Separation. Through July 25. www.wtfestival.org, 413-597-3400.
At the Clark Museum, also in Williamstown, is Picasso Looks at Degas, through September 12. Clark.edu, 413-458-2303.
Walking the Dog Theatre in Chatham, NY, plays Wilder’s Our Town. www.wtdtheater.org, through August 1.

Wednesday, July 14:
Wild Wednesday: Tivoli Bays Canoe 4:15 to 5:15. Tivoli Bays Visitor Center, Tivoli. Free. 845-889-4745 x106.

Thursday, July 15:
Veggies & Herbs for Containers, 10:30am – 12:30pm. NYBG Continuing Ed Dept (GAR 212). Learn how to grow garden-fresh vegetables and herbs in containers. Discover which varieties grow best in containers and how to care for them. Also learn about varieties that not only taste great but are attractive, with interesting or unusual blooms and foliage. Harvesting tips will also be covered so that you get the most flavor and nutrition from your container garden’s abundance. With Erika Hanson. $31. Call 1-800-322-6924 to register. Bard College, 30 Campus Road, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504. http://conted.nybg.org/.
Electric Open Mic with Karl Allweier at Puerta Azul. 8:30pm start, in the Cantina.

Friday, July 16:
Amenia’s Farmer’s Market, 3 to 7, close to the 44/343/22 light, 2 to 6pm.
Revised Washington Wetlands Law Public Hearing at 7:30 PM at the Millbrook Firehouse. Per Millbrook Matters, The Town of Washington Wetlands Committee has been working to draft a wetlands ordinance for six years now. It’s been more than a year since the draft ordinance has had a public hearing. At the last hearing in June of 2009 the ordinance was returned to committee for redrafting, mainly due to strong opposition from a dissenting member of the Wetlands Committee and concerns over difficulties of enforcement from some members of the Town Planning Board. http://washingtonny.org/legislation/Wetland law 05-13-2010.pdf
Aston Magna at Bard. Music of the 17th and 18th centuries performed on period instruments. “What Artemisia Saw.” Projected paintings of Artemisia Genteleschi, who lived and worked in Rome, Florence, Venice, and Naples. Music of Monteverdi, Caccini, Frescobaldi, Falconieri, and others. Admission charged. Preconcert talk at 7pm; concert at 8pm Olin Hall. 845-758-7887.
Romeo and Juliet at the Powerhouse Apprentice Company Performances of the Classics. Free performances at the Outdoor Amphitheater on the Vassar campus weather permitting, no reservations necessary. July 16 – 19, 6pm.
25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at TriArts in Sharon. Runs through July 25. www.triarts.net, 860-364-SHOW.
Cocktails in the Great Gardens of the Berkshires in Stockbridge. $25. www.Berkshirebotanical.org, 413-298-3926.
The Rocky Horror Show at the Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck. Through August 1. Complete with sass from the audience, cascading toilet paper and an array of other audience participation props, this deliberately kitschy rock ‘n roll sci-fi gothic is more fun than ever. For mature audiences. $22 adults; $20 seniors and children. www.centerforperformingarts.org to learn about the special schedule of Rocky Horror events, including special 11 pm performances, a costume party with prizes, and more.

Saturday, July 17:
Millbrook, Pine Plains and Millerton’s Farmer’s Markets, 9 to 1. www.millbrookfarmersmarket.com, www.pineplainsfarmersmarket.com, www.necmillerton.org/farmers.htm.
Critter Control: Outwitting Deer & Other Pesky Mammals, 10am, Phantom Gardener. One of the many joys of living in our region is the abundant wildlife. Yet you don’t need to allow critters to treat your property like one big salad bar. Neil Soderstrom, author of the most comprehensive book on the control of furry garden pests, based on the latest scientific research and his own observations and testing of mammal behaviors, provides guidance for every season, including fencing options, plant selection, sensory deterrents, scare devices, and live traps of his own design, based on low-cost repurposed materials. $15, payable in advance. 845-876-8606.
Weeding and Edging, 10-11am. Join Ulster Master Gardeners in their award-winning Xeriscape Garden for the monthly ‘Learning in the Garden’ workshop series. Learn how to edge your beds and about specific weeds and how to get rid of them. Rain or shine. FREE. No registration necessary. SUNY Ulster, 491 Cottekill Rd, Stone Ridge, NY 12484. (845)340-3990, www.cceulster.org.
Hudson Valley Architect and Artist Conrad Levenson will be opening his home, studio and garden to the public from 3-7. Located in Stanfordville, with its agrarian tradition, which values both work and the tools of labor, it provides creative inspiration and unique access to discarded objects and raw materials ripe for transformation. Through that process Mr. Levenson captures the embedded energy and inherent quality of abandoned objects and scrap materials providing new ways of thinking about and seeing them, not as trash, but as valuable environmental, cultural and artistic resources. Ergo, he calls these works SCRAPDAPTATIONS because they represent the essential contemporary connection between art and ecology. 917-656-5153, conrad@scrapdaptations.com
A Seat at the Table, connecting food, farms and community, by the Poughkeepsie Farm Project, Outstanding in the Field and the Artist’s Palate Charlie and Megan Fells. 4pm wine and hors d’oeuvres start, 5:30 dinner. $200 per person. www.farmproject.org.
Brother Victoire’s Annual Monastery Vinegar Festival, also on Sunday, 11am to 5pm. 246 Barmore Road, LaGrangeville. Vinegars, cookbooks, preserves, art, bread, olive oil, cookware, yogurt and more. I once bought some superb plants at the festival.
Dog Day Afternoon and Dog Days of Summer with Artists Unleashed. 12 Northeast artists have fun at the Berkshire Botanical Garden with dog experts, agility and obedience demonstrations and BBQ. $10 per family. www.Berkshirebotanical.org, 413-298-3926.
Millbrook Arts Group at the Bandshell, 7pm with Thunder Ridge “Kickin’ New Country and Country Rock”. Free and picnics welcome.
Explore two private gardens in Amenia. No reservations required; rain or shine. Visit website for complete garden descriptions and driving directions. Special highlights include a hillside stroll garden with an Asian flair, a collection of more than forty hardy shrub roses, and a bog garden. 10 to 4. Visitors may begin at either of the following locations: Jade Hill – garden of Paul Arcario & Don Walker, 13 Lake Amenia Road; or Mead Farm House Garden, 224 Perry’s Corners Road. $5 per garden; children under 12 free. www.opendaysprogram.org 1-888-842-2442.
Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus performed at the Berkshire Choral Festival in Sheffield, 8pm. www.choralfest.org, 413-229-1999.

Sunday, July 18:
Happy Birthday Mom!
Rhinebeck Farmer’s Market. 10 to 2. Municipal parking lot on East Market Street.
An Afternoon of Chamber Music at Vassar, 3pm. Features violinist Joseph Genualdi and pianist Richard Wilson performing works by Bach, Mozart, Wilson, and Beethoven. Free and held in the acoustically superb (and air-conditioned) Martel Recital Hall of the Skinner Hall of Music on the Vassar College campus. (845) 437-5370 or www.vassar.edu/summer.

Monday, July 19:

Tuesday, July 20:

Wednesday, July 21:
New England Baroque Soloists perform in Salisbury, 5pm, St John’s Church. Free, but donations are always welcome. 860-435-9290.

Thursday, July 22:
Lombardi, a play at the Mahaiwe Theatre, Great Barrington. Through July 28. The Life of Vince Lombardi. See it before it opens on Broadway in October. www.mahaiwe.org, 413-528-0100, www.lombardibroadway.com.

Acoustic Open Mic and Artist Showcase with Alfred Sire at La Puerta Azul. 8:30 start.
And coming up next weekend is Fitch’s Corners. A weekend filled with equine events, but there is also a terrific market of things you’ll never see at a Walmart, the famous Blue Jean Ball on Saturday and the Spectator’s Luncheon on Sunday. There is usually a parade of fancy cars. The luncheon benefits the Millbrook Rescue Squad, ergo, it benefits every resident who may required their services and every taxpayer who otherwise would have to pay for what many people volunteer their time and skills to their community. www.fitchscorner.com.

Creature Feature is about turkeys, again, but not just on them dying.
It’s about the true cost of food and the $13 turkey at Thanksgiving.
Heritage breed poults (ones that can reproduce naturally) cost about $10 each. Non heritage breeds around about $5. Without feeding them, just including shipping, you can already see the $12 bird is unrealistic.
The thing about turkeys is that they are incredibly fragile. As one person told me “they look for an excuse to die”.
Just the math here: I bought 24 poults, heritage and non heritage breeds, to accompany my five heritage poults hatched here that were well over a month old. That’s $180, birds and shipping for the ones I ordered. Let us estimate an extremely low amount for the birds we had at $15 each ($75), plus two bags of feed ($50) in that month, not including days the incubator sucked up the electricity ($100 is not unrealistic).
So, for reasons I cannot understand, bought turkey poults started dying at a month old. Add on another $75 for feed, $30 for antibiotics (only used when really necessary). We lost 20 of the 24 bought, we’re not sure two remaining will survive and four of the five hatched here also perished. There are few symptoms, necropsies (autopsies for livestock) are expensive. No other animals seem to be affected.
Where I’m going with all this is that food is expensive. The real cost of food is expensive. After adding this up, I will be buying my birds from Janis & Jim at Elk Ridge this year. Could have bought three of their birds for what mine cost, not including hours spent agonizing over them. And theirs come plucked.

More to do this weekend than I could possibly want to type nor would you want to read. Apologies now if I’ve forgotten your event or favorite place.
The Millbrook Fire Department Carnival opened yesterday and continues through July 10. Thursday is pay one price for rides and karaoke for kids from 8 until 11 pm. Friday, there will be Live Music and pay one price for all rides. Saturday, the Fire Departments Parade starts at 6pm. Karaoke and raffle drawing is held. The carnival grounds open at 7pm each night.
Estate sale Saturday, July 10 at 403 Camby Road, Verbank. Dealers 8am everyone else 9-12. English and American furniture and antiques, porcelain, silver, lamps, paintings, prints etc. cash only. Not one of those horrid things run by a professional company. If you go, fresh eggs just down the road at #329.
The Wedding Singer at TriArts in Sharon. Runs through July 11. www.triarts.net, 860-364-SHOW.
Vassar’s Powerhouse www.powerhouse.vassar.edu. This week, We Are Here, through July 11 with a post show discussion on the matinee of the 10th and workshop A LONG AND HAPPY LIFE (July 9 – 11). Powerhouse Apprentice Company Performances of the Classics (Free performances at the Outdoor Amphitheater on the Vassar campus [weather permitting]. No reservations necessary.) July 9–12
MACHINAL By Sophie Treadwell, Directed by Tomi Tsunoda, July 9, 10, 11, 12 at 6:00pm. Also, you can eat great food on the Quad before the performances.
Wizard of Oz at the Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck. Showtimes are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are $22 for adults and $20 for seniors and children under 12 and are available through The CENTER Box Office at 845-876-3080 or by visiting www.centerforperformingarts.org Box Office Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday from 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Through July 11.
Hudson Valley Shakespeare at Boscobel started their season. Troilus and Cressida, Taming of the Shrew and Bombitty of Errors. www.hvshakespeare.org.
Pick Your Own at Thompson Finch in Ancramdale, 518-329-7578 and Ellsworth in Sharon, 860-364-0025.
Art of Alan McCord through July 31 at the Hotchkiss Library in Sharon. 860-364-5041 or visit www.hotchkisslibrary.org.
Farm Exhibit at Red Devon, by photographer Brandt Bolding, celebrating Agricultural Life of the Hudson Valley and Beyond. The exhibit will go through the summer.
Eating Well In Four Dimensions: A week-end get away on July 10,11,12 at Pumpkin Hollow Retreat Center in Craryville. Qi Gong, Meditation and Initiation to Seasonal Eating. Three complementary approaches to help you understand the benefit of healthy living. Zion Huang and Therese Balagna offer you a weekend of well being to savor the serenity of the moment. Andrea Henkels, L.Ac 845-797-7755 or amhenkels@gmail.com.
The Hotchkiss Library of Sharon is accepting donations for their annual used book sale on August 7. 860-364-5041 or Sue Norris at 364-8091, sue.reg@gmail.com.
Local artist Bob Warner’s photographs at the Millbrook Library through June.
William Steig’s paintings at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. One of my favorite children’s authors, but also may be familiar from the New Yorker. .. or maybe you’ve heard of Shrek? 9 Route 183; Stockbridge; 413.298.4100. Through Halloween.
https://apps.commerce.yale.edu/arts/norfolk/series.do for the Norfolk concert schedule. Often free during the week, nominal costs for the Friday and Saturday. Terrific music either way.

Thursday, July 8:
There isn’t usually a Washington/Millbrook Historical Society meeting in July, but this month is watershed month and it’s important to understand the role our watershed played in the village’s evolution. WIC (Watershed Intermunicipal Council) and the Millbrook Historical Society will be co-hosting the Wappinger Creek History Night: History of the Hart’s Village Mills. 7:30pm at the Millbrook Library. The Library will be displaying historic maps that show the mills, waterways and early structures of the area and photographs of the remnants of a working mill that still exist in one of the homes in Millbrook. A panel will discuss the history of mills in the area, the process of restoring mills and the importance of the Wappinger Creek watershed in the community’s past. Should be a very informative event, with David Greenwood leading the panel and in air conditioning.
There will be a rabies clinic sponsored by the Dutchess County Health Department, at the Dover Highway Garage, 126 East Duncan Hill Road (behind the Town Hall), Dover Plains, from 11 am to 3 pm. Free to county residents, $10 for non-county residents. Dogs on a leash, cat and ferrets in carriers please.
Sunset Sensations at Locust Grove, 5:30 – 7:30. Featured chef is Alfred Casella of Babycakes. Tour the heritage gardens (where the idea from A framed tomato support came from), eat really good food paired with Arlington Wine’s suggestions. About $25. 454-4500, www.lgny.org.
Bard SummerScape: Trisha Brown Dance Company. The most widely acclaimed choreographer to emerge from the postmodern era, Trisha Brown first came to public notice when she began showing her work with the Judson Dance Theater in the 1960s. This “hotbed of dance revolution” was imbued with a maverick spirit and blessed with total disrespect for assumption, qualities that Brown still exhibits today, even as she brings her work to the great theaters and opera houses of the world. The TBDC will bring to the Fisher Center two of her famous collaborations with Robert Rauschenberg, in addition to a duet from her 1996 piece “Twelve Ton Rose,” with music by Anton Webern. Four performances: July 8, 9, 10 and 11. Sosnoff Theater, Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Admission charged. For ticket information and updates visit fishercenter.bard.edu or call 845-758-7900.
Bard SummerScape: The Spiegeltent offers family-oriented programs and evening adult fare. Admission charged. Spiegeltent, Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Restaurant open Thursdays through Sundays. For information call 845-758-7900 or visit www.fishercenter.bard.edu. Through August 22.
Acoustic Open Mic and Artist Showcase with Alfred Sire at La Puerta Azul. 8:30 start.
River Rep starts their season at Marist with Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. www.rivervalleyrep.com, 845-575-3133.

Friday, July 9:
Amenia’s Farmer’s Market, 3 to 7, close to the 44/343/22 light, 2 to 6pm.
Join Cary Institute educators for an interpretive hike along the Wappinger Creek Trail. 5pm. Family friendly event will engage children and adults in hands-on activities. Participants will sample macro-invertebrates (creek “bugs”) and learn about water quality issues. Wear sturdy waterproof shoes and bring your camera and drinking water. Picnic tables are available if you’d like to pack a dinner to enjoy after the hike. 845-677-7600 ext. 121. Free and open to the public. To RSVP for the Bird Walk and/or Creek Walk, contact Pam at 677-5343 or freeman@caryinstitute.org.
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies will host a Forum on Opportunities in Ecology. The event, free and open to the public, will provide undergraduate and graduate students with firsthand insight into a variety of career paths in ecology. The forum will be divided into a morning and an afternoon session. During the morning session (9am – 12:30pm), ten speakers will discuss the rewards and motivations involved in their ecological work. During the afternoon session (1:30pm – 3:30 pm), speakers will join small groups of attendees for informal discussions. (845) 677-7600 x326.
Aston Magna at Bard. Music of the 17th and 18th centuries performed on period instruments. All Pergolesi, celebrating his 300th birthday; his opera buffa La Serva Padrone, his cantata Orfeo, and a trio sonata. Presented in cooperation with The Bard Center. Admission charged. Preconcert talk at 7:00 p.m.; concert at 8:00 p.m. Olin Hall. For tickets call 845-758-7887. Delightful concerts.
Glimmerglass Opera starts their season with Tosca, way out in Cooperstown. www.glimmerglass.org.

Saturday, July 10:
Millbrook, Pine Plains and Millerton’s Farmer’s Markets, 9 to 1. www.millbrookfarmersmarket.com, www.pineplainsfarmersmarket.com, www.necmillerton.org/farmers.htm.
Welcome Home Sampler celebration at the Millbrook Library. Kathy Morey and David Greenwood will be giving a short history before refreshments. This is a fabulous 19th century sampler by a student at the Nine Partners Boarding School.
Watch the World Cup finals at Red Devon, starting 1:30.
The Millbrook Yacht Club is hosting an Art Exhibition and Sale in their clubhouse upstairs at The Stissing House. A generous percentage (minimum 20%) of the proceeds will go to support Millbrook Early Childhood Educational Center. There is a wonderful selection of artists represented with most of them in residence that night to meet and greet.
Wine & Food Pairing Seminar on Grilled Foods & Wines, 6 to 8pm, at the Millbrook Winery. Led by Culinary Institute of America Wine Instructor, Steven Kolpan. Join up under the new tent and enjoy an al fresco food and wine pairing session featuring foods prepared by our favorite way of summer cooking – grilling! Four individual flights will showcase Millbrook wines with other wines from around the world paired with a grilled food (tasting portions). Space is limited to 40 participants and reservations are required. Cost is $45 per person. To make reservations or for more information call (845) 677-8383 ext. 17 or visit www.millbrookwine.com

Amenia Garden Tour, 10 – 4. Visit Amenia’s hidden gardens, including two new gardens this year. Rain or Shine. $20. www.ameniagardens.com.
Lens & Brush: the natural year in photographs & paintings by Ellen Stockdale-Wolfe at the Merritt Bookstore, 57 Front St., Millbrook. Opening reception 6 – 8 pm. Regular shop hours Mon.-Sat. 9-6, Sun. 10-5 845.677.5857. This exhibition of over 50 pieces is comprised of digital and film photographs, watercolor and oil paintings. The photographs and paintings span a period of ten years and endeavor to portray the splendor of the Millbrook countryside and its inhabitants in all four seasons. Ellen’s work is an attempt to capture the abstract in nature as well as the stunning beauty of the Millbrook/Millerton area with a plea for its conservation, as well as the preservation of its wilderness and wondrous creatures.

Sunday, July 11:
Rhinebeck Farmer’s Market. 10 to 2. Municipal parking lot on East Market Street.
Stissing House celebrates their third annual Bastille Day Celebration. Beginning at 12 noon there will be a Grand Aioli with bottomless glass of Rosé, a lively competition of the French bowling game Petanque and (hopefully) live coverage of the FIFA World Cup Soccer Finals! $40 all inclusive. Reservations essential!
Watch the World Cup finals at Red Devon, starting 1:30.
Yoga at the Millbrook Winery, 10:30 – 1:30. An hour of yoga followed by lunch and tour. $35, rain or shine. www.millbrookwine.com, 677-8383.
CT Clean Energy Fund – 2-3:30pm at Sharon Town Hall, www.sharon.audubon.org, Route 4, Sharon, CT, (860) 364-0520.

Monday, July 12:
Grace Golf Tournament/Dinner. Grace has a mission larger than the church. There is activity here every day starting at 8 am and ending after 9 pm. ESL, seniors, youth group, AA, volunteers serving at two food pantries and a farm, preschool, adult ed, men at grace, women of grace, Sunday School, services for immigrants, counseling for many (mostly non-parishioners). They also offer religious activities.
Play golf for $125, Golf with dinner is $175, Dinner only for $100. Dinner includes an auction and they are still taking donations of artwork, vacation homes, tickets, etc. You can also sponsor a tee or green or even the golf balls. There is an interesting speaker during dinner, the entertaining, lawyer/minister/comedienne Susan Sparks. This year’s honoree is Felicitas Thorne, who has done an amazing amount for this community.

Tuesday, July 13:
Summer Propagation, Locust Grove, 5:30 – 7:00. Two-part workshop. Second session meets on August 3rd. Learn how to start a variety of unusual perennial seeds and cuttings in session I of this horticulture workshop; transplant in session II. At the end of the workshop, attendees will take a plant home. $25, includes supplies. Locust Grove – Samuel Morse Historic Site, 2683 South Rd (Rt 9), Poughkeepsie, 845-454-4500 http://www.lgny.org/.
Bard SummerScape: Theater. Ödön von Horváth’s Judgment Day. A runaway hit of this fall’s theater season in London, Judgment Day is “a fascinating drama about guilt and the compulsion towards conformism in small communities. In balefully comic contrast to this mental turbulence, there’s the flat, matter-of-fact rancour of the townsfolk who bovinely swap one hate-figure for another” (The [London] Independent). Von Horváth was an anti-Nazi writer who, instead of emigrating like so many of his colleagues, remained in Berlin in the 1930s in order to study National Socialism at first hand. The result was a flow of work bearing invaluable witness to the mean, petty mentality of everyday life under the Third Reich. Theater Two, Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Twelve performances within the period July 13 and 25. Admission charged. fishercenter.bard.edu or call 845-758-7900.

Wednesday, July 14:
Wild Wednesday: Tivoli Bays Canoe 4:15 to 5:15. Tivoli Bays Visitor Center, Tivoli. Free. 845-889-4745 x106.

Thursday, July 15:
Electric Open Mic with Karl Allweier at Puerta Azul. 8:30pm start, in the Cantina.

Friday, July 16:
Aston Magna at Bard. Music of the 17th and 18th centuries performed on period instruments. “What Artemisia Saw.” Projected paintings of Artemisia Genteleschi, who lived and worked in Rome, Florence, Venice, and Naples. Music of Monteverdi, Caccini, Frescobaldi, Falconieri, and others. Admission charged. Preconcert talk at 7pm; concert at 8pm Olin Hall. 845-758-7887.
Rocky Horror at The Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck. Complete with sass from the audience, cascading toilet paper and an array of other audience participation props, this deliberately kitschy rock ‘n roll sci-fi gothic is more fun than ever. For mature audiences. $22 adults; $20 seniors & children. Through August 1. (845) 876-3080. www.centerforperformingarts.org

Creature Feature has been become a popular tidbit for those interested in farm life and animals. Apologies it’s been so macabre recently. Sadly, that is our farm and probably most small farms. So, I’m taking a week off from the dead animals count (about eight turkeys and at least a half dozen chicks, countless wandering adult birds and trying to sort out if it’s a fox or something else) and will delve into something else.
Racism in Poultry, sometimes referred to as “Birds of A Feather Stick Together”.

It is true birds prefer to be around their own kind. There are exceptions, like gosling Rollo and duckling Duck Duck (as in Duck, Duck, Goose, which made more sense before Lulu ate the other two ducklings). Like one turkey hen and her trio of guinea fowl. But we’ve also inherited some chickens because they were one shade, the rest of the flock was another and they were just tortured. Chickens can be as mean as high school girls. They may ostracize an unliked hen or just attack her. Roosters pick up on the weakest hen and participate too.
I am hoping a new hen, a cool breed called a Buckeye, will eventually learn there are other red hens and join them. As of now, she’s too scared to move out of her area. We took in a beautiful white cochin, who has become buddies with the white leghorn someone else dropped off months ago – terribly treated by the other hens until there were more that looked like her and she suddenly had buddies.
But back to the macabre, it’s about chicks.
I’ve been trying to preserve an adorable breed of chicken that are ancient, tiny and were used for sitting on eggs. Nankin Bantams, one of the few authentic bantam breeds with no larger version. Very fragile little birds who tend to be very personal. Our first bunch included Button, who would stand on my shoe until I lifted her up onto the roost. Yes, she trained me well.
Anyhow, I must have had 30 possible Nankin eggs hatch out, with a horrific success rate. Many died in their first week. They were the first to die as older birds not long ago. I had about five chicks left. Two mysteriously died and I moved in some new mothers with their chicks. Two were more died and the last seemed to have survived by escaping from the chick coop. However, it also died. It’s been a bad year for me and Nankins.
Mothers will often attack other chicks, or full grown birds, trying to protect their chicks, whether or not there is a threat. The problem is that they attack what is different, not what is dangerous. This is the second time I’ve seen a hen wipe out an entire breed or chicks. The first time, a black hen took out all of the yellow chicks and had started on the buff chicks, presumably in her mind protecting the black chicks. Little day old chicks are threats to no one.
I guess the smaller lesson is to not mix fragile breeds with bigger, hardy ones. The bigger lesson for me has been the dangers of racism. We live in a really big world with some really huge problems. Is it that important what people – or chickens – look like?

Storm damage from last Thursday was horrific in parts of the county. Germond Hill and Oak Summit Road were particularly hard hit. Looks like Spring Hill could lose about half the trees lining Route 82. Very, very sad. Many thanks to the Fire Departments who dropped everything to redirect traffic and make sure we were all travelling safely. And for this week’s creature feature, it’s about the impact of such storms on farm animals.
Egg special at Village Wine and Spirits through July 4th. Two dozen, fresh, organically fed, colorful eggs from truly free ranging hens of various heritage breeds for $10. Cheaper than the supermarket for better quality. Ask Carl what is new on the shelves that he’s excited about. Pimm’s in stock.
The Wedding Singer at TriArts in Sharon. Runs through July 11. www.triarts.net, 860-364-SHOW.
Vassar’s Powerhouse season starts! Incredible, well known actors in new plays. www.powerhouse.vassar.edu. This week, Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir and We Are Here.
Wizard of Oz at the Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck. Showtimes are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are $22 for adults and $20 for seniors and children under 12 and are available through The CENTER Box Office at 845-876-3080 or by visiting www.centerforperformingarts.org Box Office Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday from 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Through July 11.
Hudson Valley Shakespeare at Boscobel started their season. Troilus and Cressida, Taming of the Shrew and Bombitty of Errors. www.hvshakespeare.org.
Strawberry picking at Thompson Finch in Ancramdale, 518-329-7578 and Ellsworth in Sharon, 860-364-0025. Raspberry picking and blueberries too.
Art of Alan McCord through July 31 at the Hotchkiss Library in Sharon. 860-364-5041 or visit www.hotchkisslibrary.org.
Farm Exhibit at Red Devon, by photographer Brandt Bolding, celebrating Agricultural Life of the Hudson Valley and Beyond. The exhibit will go through the summer.
Eating Well In Four Dimensions: A week-end get away on July 10,11,12 at Pumpkin Hollow Retreat Center in Craryville. Qi Gong, Meditation and Initiation to Seasonal Eating. Three complementary approaches to help you understand the benefit of healthy living. Zion Huang and Therese Balagna offer you a weekend of well being to savor the serenity of the moment. Andrea Henkels, L.Ac 845-797-7755 or amhenkels@gmail.com.
Peter Woytuk sculpture at the Morrison Gallery in Kent, 5 – 7. Runs to July 4. www.themorrisongallery.com. Also in Kent, an installation by sculptor of stone, Boaz Vaadia, www.eckhertfineart.com.
The Hotchkiss Library of Sharon is accepting donations for their annual used book sale on August 7. 860-364-5041 or Sue Norris at 364-8091, sue.reg@gmail.com.
Local artist Bob Warner’s photographs at the Millbrook Library through June.
William Steig’s paintings at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. One of my favorite children’s authors, but also may be familiar from the New Yorker. .. or maybe you’ve heard of Shrek? 9 Route 183; Stockbridge; 413.298.4100. Through Halloween.
https://apps.commerce.yale.edu/arts/norfolk/series.do for the Norfolk concert schedule. Often free during the week, nominal costs for the Friday and Saturday. Terrific music either way.

Thursday, July 1:
Electric Open Mic with Karl Allweier at Puerta Azul. 8:30pm start, in the Cantina.
Tivoli Bays Talks – Bridge Project: Art from the Walkway, Michael Ciccone. Tivoli Bays Visitor Center, Tivoli . Free. 845-889-4745 x105. 7:30 – 8:30pm.

Friday, July 2:
Amenia’s Farmer’s Market, 3 to 7, close to the 44/343/22 light, 3 to 7pm.
NASCAR Doubleheader Race Weekend at Lime Rock. Big day is Saturday, but starts Friday. The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is coming to Lime Rock Park for the first time ever, joining the K&N Pro Series race weekend! The K&N Pro Series is NASCAR’s primary driver-development series, which means you get to see tomorrow’s Sprint Cup stars bangin’ fenders today. And the super-quick Whelen Tour Mods have not raced on a road course of any kind in 10 years! www.limerock.com
Rodeo and Fireworks at the DC Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck. 876-4000.

Saturday, July 3:
Millbrook, Pine Plains and Millerton’s Farmer’s Markets, 9 to 1. www.millbrookfarmersmarket.com, www.pineplainsfarmersmarket.com, www.necmillerton.org/farmers.htm.
Bake Sale by The Church of St. John in the Wilderness at the new Copake KOA campground, 2236 County Route 7 in Copake, from 11am to 1pm. Ken (518) 329-3674. I love bake sales.
A Taste of Sharon, 10 -4. Sharon Historical Society, On the Green. 860-364-5688. www.sharonhist.org.
Bubble Trouble with Jeff Boyer at the Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck.
This exciting, interactive show teaches kids the science inside bubbles. Find out different ways bubbles can be used to make our lives easier, softer and even taste better. Bubbles are beautiful, too. Have you ever seen a pyramid-shaped bubble? How about a cube-shaped bubble? How about bubbles within bubbles? Or bubbles walking a tightrope? As a finale, Jeff will even put a kid inside a bubble! $8 adults; $6 children. (845) 876-3080.
Stormville Flea market this weekend, meaning every fifth house in Stormville usually has a tag sale. www.stormvilleairportfleamarket.com
The Millbrook Arts Group free concerts on the lawn of the Thorne Building Bandshell on Franklin Avenue in Millbrook starting at 7pm with The Big Band Sound – “Journey Back to the Big Band Era”. For more information or to check for cancellation, please visit www.millbrookartsgroup.org.
Wilderstein’s annual Summer Celebration Benefit Fundraiser from 5 to 8pm. When Wilderstein first opened to the public, 30 years ago, the estate was in a severe state of decay. Since that time the exterior of the mansion has been restored in its entirety, significant projects on mansion’s interior have been accomplished, and the Calvert Vaux designed landscape with breathtaking views of the Hudson River has been reclaimed. Major strides have also been achieved in cataloguing and conserving Wilderstein’s expansive collections, and more visitors find their way to Wilderstein each year to tour the mansion, see annual exhibitions, and hike on Wilderstein’s network of trails.
Cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and a silent auction. $100 per person and all proceeds will support the preservation of Wilderstein for future generations. 330 Morton Road in Rhinebeck. 845.876.4818 or go to www.wilderstein.org.
Fireworks at Mashomack.
World’s Largest Demolition Derby and Fireworks at the DC Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck.

Sunday, July 4:
Rhinebeck Farmer’s Market. 10 to 2. Municipal parking lot on East Market Street.
Wappinger Creek Week will kick off Sunday, July 4th, with a bird walk led by the Ralph T. Waterman Bird Club. The bird walk will begin at 8am at the West Buttercup Farm Wildlife Sanctuary in the Town of Stanford. Members of the Ralph T. Waterman Bird Club will lead participants on a 2-3 hour exploration of the 553 acres of woodlands, fields, pastures, and wooded swamp that provides home to raptors, waterfowl, Great Horned Owls, bluebirds, and many resident nesting species. This is an easy to moderate walk. For more information about this and other Ralph T. Waterman bird walks during WAM, visit http://dutchesswam.com.
St. Petersburg String Quartet, joined by bassoonist Peter Kolkay, perform Mozart: “Hunt” String Quartet (1784); Brahms: String Quartet in C Minor; and the Platt: Bassoon Quintet (1997) written by Russell Platt, (music editor at The New Yorker). Music Mountain, Falls Village, CT. 3pm. www.musicmountain.org, 860-824-7126
Fireworks at the Millbrook Golf and Tennis. If you’re not a member, great view from the Nine Partners Cemetery. Of course, please be respectful of the eternal resting places.
HV Philharmonic and Fireworks at the DC Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck. www.dutchessfair.com.

Wednesday, July 7:
Wild Wednesday: I Love Tivoli Bays 4:15 – 5:15. Tivoli Bays Visitor Center, Tivoli. Free. 845-889-4745 x106

Thursday, July 8:
There isn’t usually a Washington/Millbrook Historical Society meeting in July, but this month is watershed month and it’s important to understand the role our watershed played in the village’s evolution. WIC (Watershed Intermunicipal Council) and the Millbrook Historical Society will be co-hosting the Wappinger Creek History Night: History of the Hart’s Village Mills. The event will take place at 7:30pm at the Millbrook Library. The Library will be displaying historic maps that show the mills, waterways and early structures of the area and photographs of the remnants of a working mill that still exist in one of the homes in Millbrook. A panel will discuss the history of mills in the area, the process of restoring mills and the importance of the Wappinger Creek watershed in the community’s past.

Sunset Sensations at Locust Grove, 5:30 – 7:30. Featured chef is Alfred Casella of Babycakes. Tour the heritage gardens (where the idea from A framed tomato support came from), eat really good food paired with Arlington Wine’s suggestions. About $25. 454-4500, www.lgny.org.
Bard SummerScape: Trisha Brown Dance Company. The most widely acclaimed choreographer to emerge from the postmodern era, Trisha Brown first came to public notice when she began showing her work with the Judson Dance Theater in the 1960s. This “hotbed of dance revolution” was imbued with a maverick spirit and blessed with total disrespect for assumption, qualities that Brown still exhibits today, even as she brings her work to the great theaters and opera houses of the world. The TBDC will bring to the Fisher Center two of her famous collaborations with Robert Rauschenberg, in addition to a duet from her 1996 piece “Twelve Ton Rose,” with music by Anton Webern. Four performances: July 8, 9, 10 and 11. Sosnoff Theater, Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Admission charged. For ticket information and updates visit fishercenter.bard.edu or call 845-758-7900.
Bard SummerScape: The Spiegeltent offers family-oriented programs and evening adult fare. Admission charged. Spiegeltent, Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Restaurant open Thursdays through Sundays. For information call 845-758-7900 or visit www.fishercenter.bard.edu. Through August 22.
Acoustic Open Mic and Artist Showcase with Alfred Sire at La Puerta Azul. 8:30 start.
River Rep starts their season at Marist with Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. www.rivervalleyrep.com, 845-575-3133.

Friday, July 9:
Join Cary Institute educators for an interpretive hike along the Wappinger Creek Trail. Sample creek macroinvertebrates and learn about water quality issues while exploring wetland habitat. Participants of the Creek Walk are encouraged to wear sturdy shoes. The Cary Institute is located at 2801 Sharon Turnpike, Millbrook, NY. For more information and to RSVP for the Bird Walk and/or Creek Walk, contact Pam at 677-5343 or freeman@caryinstitute.org.
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies will host a Forum on Opportunities in Ecology. The event, free and open to the public, will provide undergraduate and graduate students with firsthand insight into a variety of career paths in ecology. The forum will be divided into a morning and an afternoon session. During the morning session (9am – 12:30pm), ten speakers will discuss the rewards and motivations involved in their ecological work. During the afternoon session (1:30pm – 3:30 pm), speakers will join small groups of attendees for informal discussions. (845) 677-7600 x326.
Aston Magna at Bard. Music of the 17th and 18th centuries performed on period instruments. All Pergolesi, celebrating his 300th birthday; his opera buffa La Serva Padrone, his cantata Orfeo, and a trio sonata. Presented in cooperation with The Bard Center. Admission charged. Preconcert talk at 7:00 p.m.; concert at 8:00 p.m. Olin Hall. For tickets call 845-758-7887. Delightful concerts.
Glimmerglass Opera starts their season with Tosca, way out in Cooperstown. www.glimmerglass.org.

Coming up: Grace Golf Tournament/Dinner is on Monday July 12.
Grace has a mission larger than the church. There is activity here every day starting at 8 am and ending after 9 pm. ESL, seniors, youth group, AA, volunteers serving at two food pantries and a farm, preschool, adult ed, men at grace, women of grace, Sunday School, services for immigrants, counseling for many (mostly non-parishioners). They also offer religious activities.
Play golf for $125, Golf with dinner is $175, Dinner only for $100. Dinner includes an auction and they are still taking donations of artwork, vacation homes, tickets, etc. You can also sponsor a tee or green or even the golf balls. There is an interesting speaker during dinner, the entertaining, lawyer/minister/comedienne Susan Sparks. This year’s honoree is Felicitas Thorne, who has done an amazing amount for this community.

Bob veto’ed Montreal, but I am saving the collection of fabulous suggestions for when he does consent. Thank you tremendously.
Wethersfield is open, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 12 – 5. 845-373-8037 to arrange for a tour of the carriage house and house. $5 per person. If you’ve never gone, go. It is exquisite and the views are tremendous. Couldn’t be a more different gardening style than Innisfree. Not a bad idea to see both in the same weekend. Innisfree is open Wednesday through Sunday.
Young Himalayan cat needs a new home ASAP. Very affectionate. This was a stray, probably dumped. Yes, someone dumped a Himalayan. Please call 646-220-8476.
Strawberry picking at Thompson Finch in Ancramdale, 518-329-7578 and Ellsworth in Sharon, 860-364-0025.
Cinderella at the Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck. 876-3080. Goes to June 20 when there is a special for tickets: buy an adult ticket and get a half priced child’s ticket. The Rodgers & Hammerstein musical.
Art of Alan McCord Available for viewing through July 31 at the Hotchkiss Library in Sharon. 860-364-5041 or visit www.hotchkisslibrary.org.
Farm Exhibit at Red Devon, by photographer Brandt Bolding, celebrating Agricultural Life of the Hudson Valley and Beyond. The exhibit will go through the summer.
Eating Well In Four Dimensions: A week-end get away on July 10,11,12 at Pumpkin Hollow Retreat Center in Craryville. Qi Gong, Meditation and Initiation to Seasonal Eating. Three complementary approaches to help you understand the benefit of healthy living. Zion Huang and Therese Balagna offer you a weekend of well being to savor the serenity of the moment. Andrea Henkels, L.Ac 845-797-7755 or amhenkels@gmail.com.
Peter Woytuk sculpture at the Morrison Gallery in Kent, 5 – 7. Runs to July 4. www.themorrisongallery.com. Also in Kent, an installation by sculptor of stone, Boaz Vaadia, www.eckhertfineart.com.
The Hotchkiss Library of Sharon is accepting donations for their annual used book sale on August 7. 860-364-5041 or Sue Norris at 364-8091, sue.reg@gmail.com.
Local artist Bob Warner’s photographs at the Millbrook Library through June.

Wednesday, June 23:
Special Rotary event in Millbrook. Anne M. Gordon, Ulster County Historian will speak on Slavery in the Hudson River Valley at Millbrook Rotary 12:15pm at the Millbrook Cafe’. Lunch is $14. No charge for to listen to speaker at 1pm.
Thursday, June 24:
Community Horticulture Program is sponsoring a Gathering of Gardeners. Enjoy a guided tour of our Demo Gardens, followed by an open discussion of topics affecting Hudson Valley Gardeners. 7-9 PM, http://ccedutchess.org/images/stories/Ag-Hort_media/docs/gathering2010.pdf. Network with Master Gardener volunteers and fellow gardeners from our area. Refreshments will be served. $5 per person suggested donation, to support our educational gardens. Reservations required, please contact Nancy Halas nh26@cornell.edu, 845-677-8223 x 115 by 6/23. Dutchess County Farm & Home Center, 2715 Rt 44, Millbrook, NY. www.ccedutchess.org.
Opening night for TriArts with The Wedding Singer. Runs through July 11. www.triarts.net, 860-364-SHOW.
Acoustic Open Mic and Artist Showcase with Alfred Sire at La Puerta Azul. 8:30 start.

Friday, June 25:
Vassar’s Powerhouse season starts! Incredible, well known actors in new plays. www.powerhouse.vassar.edu. First performances are the readings. Free, but reservations strongly recommended. Actually, they may be impossible to obtain. And rightly so. Plan ahead for the rest of the season.
Amenia’s Farmer’s Market, 3 to 7, close to the 44/343/22 light, 3 to 7pm.
Ray Griffiths Trunk Show at Hummingbird Jewelers in Rhinebeck. Also on Saturday. Opening is 6 – 8pm. Store hours are 10:30 – 5:30.
Good Guys Rod and Custom Car Show in Rhinebeck at the Fairgrounds. Through Sunday. www.good-guys.com.
Bard Music Festival Preview at Wethersfield. 5:30 – 7:30 fundraiser. Reception and concert. Please contact Andrea to rsvp. guido@bard.edu.
Wizard of Oz opens at the Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck. Showtimes are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are $22 for adults and $20 for seniors and children under 12 and are available through The CENTER Box Office at 845-876-3080 or by visiting www.centerforperformingarts.org Box Office Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday from 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Through July 11.
Aston Magna at Bard. Music of the 17th and 18th centuries performed on period instruments. Completely Mozart evening including Mozart’s Oboe Quartet, two Clarinet Quintets, and Sinfonia Concertante. Admission charged. Preconcert talk at 7pm; concert at 8pm. Olin Hall. 845-758-7887.

Saturday, June 26:
Per Space.com, 7:30 a.m. EDT — Full Strawberry Moon. Strawberry picking season peaks during this month. Europeans called this the Rose Moon. There will be also be a Partial Lunar Eclipse that coincides with moonset from the western and central sections of the US and Canada and coincides with moonrise for parts of eastern Asia. At its maximum the Moon will be overhead for observers in the South Pacific;nearly 54-percent of the Moon’s diameter will become immersed in the Earth’s dark umbral shadow.

Millbrook, Pine Plains and Millerton’s Farmer’s Markets, 9 to 1. Music in Millerton by Tamboura. In Millbrook, hometown show sponsored by the Cary Institute with Eric Rosi Marshall presenting sustainable, organically-raised, peer-reviewed musical selections with a small carbon footprint www.millbrookfarmersmarket.com, www.pineplainsfarmersmarket.com, www.necmillerton.org/farmers.htm.
Benmarl Winery in Marlboro hosts the Chili Society Chili Cookoff. Wines to taste, chili to eat and Shorty Kings play too. 12:30 – 5:30. www.chilicookoff.com, www.benmarl.com.
Audition Notice for Stop The World, I Want To Get Off at The CENTER for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck, 661 Route 308, Rhinebeck. 1 p.m. Saturday, June 26, 7 p.m. Sunday, June 27 and 7 p.m. Monday, June 28. Roles: Littlechap, Evie (Anya, Ilse, Ginnie), Susan, Jane, The Boy and 7 Chorus Members. Please be prepared to sing (bring your sheet music for the accompanist) and to read from the script. Performance Dates: September 10-26. For more information, contact Director Ellen Honig at ellenhonig@gmail.com
The Millbrook Arts Group starts their free concerts on the lawn of the Thorne Building Bandshell on Franklin Avenue in Millbrook starting at 7pm with Too Blue, “Dynamic Acoustic Bluegrass that Swings”. For more information or to check for cancellation, please visit www.millbrookartsgroup.org.
Full Moon Hike at the Sharon Audubon. 8pm start, please rsvp and bring flashlights. www.sharon.audubon.org. Route 4, Sharon, CT 06069 / (860) 364-0520 x 21.
Dos Diablos ( Ken Faranda and Bobby MacDougall) play at Coach’s in Millbrook for those up for a late night, 10:30 start.
Wine And Roses In The Vanderbilt’s Formal Garden, 5-7 Pm. Celebrate the start of summer by joining friends and other garden enthusiasts enjoying the spectacular roses at their peak in the elegant Vanderbilt Estate’s Formal Garden. Go Behind- the-Scenes in the Working Gardens and Historic Buildings. Meet the gardeners. Floral Demonstrations, Music, Door Prizes, Wine & Cheese! Cost: $40 per person, $75 per couple. www.vanderbiltgarden.org, emailFWVGA@marist.edu or call 229-6432. The Vanderbilt Garden Association is a self-funded, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to rehabilitate and maintain the Formal Gardens at the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park.
Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle at Bard College. Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and the Miami String Quartet. Haydn’s “Trio”; local premiere of Ellen Zwilich Septet, co-commissioned by the Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle; local premiere of Joan Tower’s Quartet #4 (“Angels”); Schumann’s Piano Quintet. Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle, Sharon Robinson and Jaime Laredo, artistic directors. Admission charged. 8pm, Olin Hall. 845-339-7907 or hvcmc.bardcenter@gmail.com.

Sunday, June 27:
Rhinebeck Farmer’s Market. 10 to 2. Municipal parking lot on East Market Street.
Cary Institute educators invite you to a butterfly adventure. Visitors will have the opportunity to learn about butterflies and skippers as they stroll through our fields and trails. Discover what they eat, where they live, and what attracts them to their habitats. Programs will be offered for adults and children (6 and up). The event will begin at the Cary East (Gifford House) parking area, located at 2917 Sharon Turnpike (Rte. 44) in Millbrook, N.Y. Wear hiking shoes and bring binoculars, camera, and drinking water. In case of heavy rain, the program will be cancelled. RSVP suggested. 677-7600 ext. 121 or freeman@caryinstitute.org. Free. 10 am and 12noon.
Gardening with the Stars, 10 AM. Some Phantom customers have truly made the most out of their purchases, so we thought we’d start an ongoing series of visits to the gardens of those “Phantom Stars”. For our inaugural tour, the inimitable Andrew Koehn, Garden Manager for Mohonk Mountain House, will join you at the Rhinebeck home of Donna Stanley, former Phantom employee and gardener extraordinaire. This late June visit will showcase Donna?s exquisite delphinium collection, and will provide you with endless inspiration for your own landscape. $15, payable in advance. To preregister – and guarantee yourself a spot – please call 845-876-8606 or mail your payment to The Phantom Gardener, 6837 Route 9, Rhinebeck, New York 12572.

Monday, June 28:
Off to Westchester HPN if anyone needs a lift coming or going. Need to be there at 7:30pm.

Wednesday, June 30:
Annual Mohonk Gardens Tour & Luncheon Returns to Mountain House, 10am start. Enjoy the beauty of Mohonk’s gardens while gaining insight into how they are created and maintained. Garden enthusiasts will embark in groups of approximately 15 people on a two-hour walking tour of Mohonk’s formal flower gardens, annual and perennial beds, and greenhouse, followed by a buffet style lunch in the West Dining Room that will feature guest speaker, Greg Draiss. Draiss, is an accomplished journalist, photographer and Garden Center buyer for Adams Fairacre Farms. $60.00 per person. Pre-registration is required by Friday, June 25. www.cceulster.org/2010%20Mohonk%20Walk%20Registration.pdf
Dona Crawford at 845-340-3990.
Wild Wednesday: Flower Power. 4:15 – 5:15 PM. Tivoli Bays Visitor Center, Tivoli . Free. 845-889-4745 x106

Thursday, July 1:
Electric Open Mic with Karl Allweier at Puerta Azul. 8:30pm start, in the Cantina.
Tivoli Bays Talks – Bridge Project: Art from the Walkway, Michael Ciccone. Tivoli Bays Visitor Center, Tivoli . Free. 845-889-4745 x105. 7:30 – 8:30pm.
Creature Feature is turkeys.
After trying to breed the beautiful Buffs, or New Jersey Buffs, a critically endangered heritage breed, I realized if we wanted turkey dinner, I had to order poults. 22 Broad Breasted Bronze arrived about two weeks ago. Three evaporated – I truly have no idea where they went and cannot blame Lulu for this one. One died (smushed). One has eye problems (“Cyclops” and it has begun to respond to the name) and one has a genetic mutation with a puff of fluff on it’s head.
What I didn’t know about turkeys is that they are incredibly fragile and delicate birds. They make a most wonderful cooing. The two hens we had sitting on eggs produced not one poult, but were attached to the chicken hens that shared their nests and the chicks they hatched. When I removed the hens and chicks, the turkey hens, aka Jenny’s, tried to charm the baby poults. They are surprisingly gentle with the poults. So much so they didn’t seem to keep them warm enough.
The five surviving turkey poults we hatched were amazing with the baby poults. They found stragglers and kept them warm. They showed them how to eat and drink. Basically, they are the reason we still have the 18 left.
At this point, there is a peaceable kingdom in the turkey coop. I leave Tom in there and he struts all day long, hasn’t shown one sign of aggression to the little ones. The hens have divvied up who takes care of whom. One jenny, Miss Sweetgrass, has the little ones under her at night, including the youngest of the poults we hatched here. The other, Buffy, roosts and keeps her wings spread out so the older ones can snuggle close to her.
Not sure how long this tranquility will last, but it delightful to spend time observing their gentle ways and listening to their sweet coo’s.

I’m having an inexplicable hankering to go to Montreal. Looks like we’re driving, as Amtrak takes 9 hours. Any recommendations? Anyone know about smaller cities on the water that are enchanting?
Wethersfield is open, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 12 – 5. 845-373-8037 to arrange for a tour of the carriage house and house. $5 per person. If you’ve never gone, go. It is exquisite and the views are tremendous. Couldn’t be a more different gardening style than Innisfree. Not a bad idea to see both in the same weekend. Innisfree is open Wednesday through Sunday.
Strawberry picking at Thompson Finch in Ancramdale, 518-329-7578 and Ellsworth in Sharon, 860-364-0025.
Attention Ye Farmers! I have been contacted by a Bedford CSA about helping supply them. If you have a surplus and would like to be part of their operation, please email me.
Cinderella at the Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck. 876-3080. Goes to June 20 when there is a special for tickets: buy an adult ticket and get a half priced child’s ticket. The Rodgers & Hammerstein musical.
Art of Alan McCord Available for viewing from June 1– July 31 at the Hotchkiss Library in Sharon. 860-364-5041 or visit www.hotchkisslibrary.org.
Eating Well In Four Dimensions: A week-end get away on July 10,11,12 at Pumpkin Hollow Retreat Center in Craryville. Qi Gong, Meditation and Initiation to Seasonal Eating. Three complementary approaches to help you understand the benefit of healthy living. Zion Huang and Therese Balagna offer you a weekend of well being to savor the serenity of the moment. Andrea Henkels, L.Ac 845-797-7755 or amhenkels@gmail.com.
Peter Woytuk sculpture at the Morrison Gallery in Kent, 5 – 7. Runs to July 4. www.themorrisongallery.com. Also in Kent, an installation by sculptor of stone, Boaz Vaadia, www.eckhertfineart.com.
The Hotchkiss Library of Sharon is accepting donations for their annual used book sale on August 7. 860-364-5041 or Sue Norris at 364-8091, sue.reg@gmail.com.

Wednesday, June 16:
Vassar An Evening of Chamber Music at 8pm will feature baritone Randall Scarlata and pianist Thomas Sauer performing “Schumann Celebration,” an all-Schumann program in celebration of the composer’s 200th birth year, including the great song cycle Dicterliebe (Poet’s Love) and works for solo piano. Free, Martel Recital Hall of the Skinner Hall of Music on the Vassar College campus.
Michael Perry, author of Coop: A Family, A Farm, and the Pursuit of One Good Egg, published by Harper Perennial in paperback, will be appearing at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, at 7:30 p.m. The book is a memoir of humor acquired while he attempted farming of sorts with pigs and chickens and a pregnant wife. He is billed as “funny and entertaining”.
Artist reception for local photographer Bob Warner at the Millbrook Library, 6:30 to 8. You can see his work for all of June.
Strawberry Hill Fiddlers with Eric rosi Marshall play at the Vanderbilt Mansion, Hyde Park, 7-8:30pm, www.stringendoweb.org/Fiddlers.html, performing as part of the Music in the Parks, Lawn Concert Series.
Wild Wednesday: Insects 4:15 – 5:15 at the Tivoli Bays Visitor Center, Tivoli. Free. 845-889-4745 x106.

Thursday, June 17:
Annual Sip ‘n’ Sail Cruise On the Hudson River, 6 to 8pm. Departing from Rhinecliff Dock at 6 sharp, so be there at 5:30. $50 per person includes buffet dinner. kroca1@mac.com for more info and reservations.
Electric Open Mic with Karl Allweier at Puerta Azul. 8:30pm start, in the Cantina.

Friday, June 18:
Amenia’s Farmer’s Market, 3 to 7, close to the 44/343/22 light, 3 to 7pm.
Aston Magna at Bard. Music of the 17th and 18th centuries performed on period instruments. Bach: The three Partitas for solo violin. ?A tour of dances from the old world and the new. Presented in cooperation with The Bard Center. Admission charged. Preconcert talk at 7pm; concert at 8pm. Olin Hall. 845-758-7887.
Learn to Hula at Café Bocca in Poughkeepsie with Sarah. 7:30 to 9:30, $15. Must register asap. 914-874-4541 www.dancingwithsarah.com.
Shorty Kings at the Black Swan in Tivoli, 9pm start.

Saturday June 19:
Start the day with 108 Sun Salutations at the Half Moon Yoga Barn, 8 to 10:30. www.givebackyoga.com, www.halfmoonyogabarn.com. Nice way to celebrate the summer solstice.
Millbrook, Pine Plains and Millerton’s Farmer’s Markets, 9 to 1. Music in Millerton by Joel Blumert. www.millbrookfarmersmarket.com, www.pineplainsfarmersmarket.com, www.necmillerton.org/farmers.htm.
Merritt Books brings author Peter Steiner to town, Millbrook at 11 and Red Hook at 2pm.
The FDR Presidential Library will present the 7th Annual Roosevelt Reading Festival, 9:30 – 5. In concurrent sessions throughout the day, authors of recently published works that draw upon the Roosevelt Library archives will present author talks followed by book signings. The keynote address will be presented by renowned New Deal scholar and Allan Nevins Professor of History at Columbia University Alan Brinkley on his new FDR biography, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Copies of all of the authors’ books will be available for sale in the New Deal Store located in the Wallace Center. Free public event. www.historichydepark.org or call (845) 486-7745.
Millbrook Winery, 6 pm come celebrate the longest day of the year (or close to it!) with our Summer Solstice Lobster Bake. Taking place outside, this dinner will showcase our vineyard designate wines beside the vineyards in which they grew! A traditional New England Lobster Bake menu has been set and we hope you can join us for this unique event. $85. Only a few seats left, 677-8383 x 17 call to reserve.
Conserving Water Through Mulching, 10-11 AM. Join Ulster Master Gardeners in their award-winning Xeriscape Garden for the monthly ‘Learning in the Garden’ workshop series. Learn how and why to apply mulch and which types to use. Rain or shine. Free. SUNY Ulster, 491 Cottekill Rd, Stone Ridge, NY 12484. (845) 340- 3990. www.cceulster.org.
Woody Plants for Wet Places, 10am and free. Last summer was one of the wettest on record, causing tomato plants to succumb to fungus and gardeners to trade in trellis construction for ark building. Meanwhile, many woody plants fared beautifully, even thrived in the dismal damp. The Phantom Gardener, 6837 Route 9, Rhinebeck, New York 12572. 845-876-8606
Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle: Concert 2, Dolce Suono Trio. Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle, Sharon Robinson and Jaime Laredo, artistic directors. Presented in cooperation with the Bard Center. Admission charged. 8:00 p.m., Olin Hall. For tickets call 845-339-7907 or e-mail hvcmc.bardcenter@gmail.com.

Special event at Upstate in Rhinebeck with John Sloss at 8:15, explaining some of the controversy surrounding this wild, hilarious, and thought-provoking street art documentary “Exit thru the GiftShop”. He is a New York based film producer and lawyer whose executive producer credits include such independent films as Boys Don’t Cry, Before Sunrise, The Fog Of War, Lone Star, And I’m Not There – along with dozens of others. He is the founder of consulting firm Cinetic Media, which works to secure financing and distribution for independent films. 876-2515.
Fishkill Farms is a neat place, not far off the Taconic. Tuesday-Sunday, 10am – 6pm. Produce, baked goods and Jane’s Ice Cream. Their opening party includes free wine, cheese, and maple syrup tasting, all featuring local products. All dads will receive a free scoop of ice cream in honor of Father’s Day. 9 Fishkill Farm Road, Hopewell JCT, New York 12533 (845) 897-4377www.fishkillfarms.com.
Crafts in Rhinebeck at the DC Fairgrounds. Also on Sunday. Craftsatrhinebeck.com.

Sunday, June 20:
Rhinebeck Farmer’s Market. 10 to 2. Municipal parking lot on East Market Street.
Father’s Day Fishing Contest. Instruction and guidance by a fly-fishing instructor from Orvis Sandanona will be available from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Pull in the biggest fish of the afternoon and win a prize. Non-wine prizes will also be available for the younger set of fishing folks. Cost is $15 per person for all over 21 and includes a wine tasting. Don’t forget to bring your own pole! Reservations are requested. (845) 677-8383 ext. 11 or17.

Monday, June 21:
Summer Solstice, 7:48 am. The Farmer’s Almanac is an amazing source with a great website. For example, www.almanac.com/bestdays/timetable says this is a good day to slaughter livestock as well as breed it. Where else will you find out that information?

Thursday, June 24:
Opening night for TriArts with The Wedding Singer. Runs through July 11. www.triarts.net, 860-364-SHOW.
Acoustic Open Mic with Alfred Sire at La Puerta Azul. 8:30 start.

Friday, June 25:
Vassar’s Powerhouse season starts! Incredible, well known actors in new plays. www.powerhouse.vassar.edu. First performances are the readings. Free, but reservations strongly recommended.

Back to the critters:
One of the hardest parts of becoming a farmer for me is realizing I start the day with a head count, wondering who made it through the night. Chicks and poults get squished trying to stay warm or flakey moms leave and they freeze to death. There is the odd and dreaded raccoon and opossum attacks, leaving you trying to figure out who the perpetrator is by the damage they left. Eviscerated chickens? Probably the opossum. Missing usually in daylight? Chances are foxes. Just heads gone? Raccoons or weasels, I think. And of course, sometimes there is just the dead animal and no logic about why.
So this week, one squished poult. Three evaporated poults (my suspicion is Lulu somehow coaxed them out of the hardware cloth). One drowned chick that was probably not going to make it anyway. Two ducklings (Lulu, in flagrante delicato). Sadly, ScuttleButt, the chick from the first graders who problems with holding weight on his legs (ergo, the obvious name given his mobility). Duckling died trying to hatch.
In the last few years though, we’ve lost my beloved Rosie dog. An alpaca. A steer. Four male goats. Rosie was the hardest and I was lucky to be with her all day before we put her down.
The alpaca had a flipped stomach and spent his last hours with his head in my lap as I called vets on a holiday weekend, hoping someone could come. I saw his eyes change after a kick and knew he was dead.
Shaggy was an old dairy goat stud who spent his last year with us. He didn’t come for grain one morning. All three Angora goats had been affected by the wet summer last year and their hooves just rotted away. Two died and we didn’t know what happened. The third came to live in the barn, where we nursed him from September to March. I agreed to let Bob put him down when he lost the will to eat apples.
The steer, Chuck, went down and it turns out that when a few hundred pounds rests on those legs for too long, they just can’t get up again. We found out what had made him so ill – bloodworms, a rarity and treated all other mammals – but he just didn’t get better. I spent five days with him, on the ground, trying to get him to drink water and eat anything. We put a tarp overhead to keep him from getting too much rain, snuggled him in with straw. I like to think some of it made him more comfortable.
Sometimes, I guess that is all you can do.

Strawberry picking has commenced at Thompson Finch in Ancramdale. Call before going, 518-329-7578. Also, strawberries are ripe at Ellsworth in Sharon, 860-364-0025.
Attention Ye Farmers! I have been contacted by a Bedford CSA about helping supply them. If you have a surplus and would like to be part of their operation, please email me.
Have plants that needed to be divided and shared? My lovely tenant is moving to Brooklyn and needs some Dutchess County greenery to take with her, preferably perennials and herbs. By the way, the cute house is still up for rent.
Cinderella at the Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck. 876-3080. Goes to June 20. The Rodgers & Hammerstein musical.
Art of Alan McCord Available for viewing from June 1– July 31 at the Hotchkiss Library in Sharon. Opening Reception is Sunday, June 13, 4pm, with Jimmy Newman at the piano. Wine and cheese will be served. 860-364-5041 or visit www.hotchkisslibrary.org.
Eating Well In Four Dimensions: A week-end get away on July 10,11,12 at Pumpkin Hollow Retreat Center in Craryville. Qi Gong, Meditation and Initiation to Seasonal Eating. Three complementary approaches to help you understand the benefit of healthy living. Zion Huang and Therese Balagna offer you a weekend of well being to savor the serenity of the moment. Andrea Henkels, L.Ac 845-797-7755 or amhenkels@gmail.com.
Peter Woytuk sculpture at the Morrison Gallery in Kent, 5 – 7. Runs to July 4. www.themorrisongallery.com. Also in Kent, an installation by sculptor of stone, Boaz Vaadia, www.eckhertfineart.com.
The Hotchkiss Library of Sharon is accepting donations for their annual used book sale on August 7. Please bring books in good to excellent condition – no encyclopedias, textbooks, magazines or condensed books please. Also accepting audio books and movies on DVD and video. First editions and other rare books are especially welcome for our rare books silent auction. Books may be dropped off, preferably during the week – Monday through Friday – from 9 to 4 at Ackerly Brown, 25 West Main Street in Sharon. On Saturday books may be dropped off at the Hotchkiss Library 10 to 4. 860-364-5041 or Sue Norris at 364-8091, sue.reg@gmail.com.
Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp, the SCV, is an historical organisation that is descended from the United Confederate Veterans that formed just after the War for Southern Independence. They have sent me an announcement without a date other than June and I believe they are thinking this is Millbrook, Alabama. If this is your thing, I can give the man’s email address.

Wednesday, June 9:
What I Learned Since I Lost A Job: A Wisdom-Sharing Evening At Grace Church, 7pm. Since the “Great Recession of 2008″ many have lost jobs. That has led to searching and networking and taking part-time jobs. It can be a frustrating, perhaps even frightening, time. But it is also an invitation to inner growth and a discovery of new sources of hope and creativity. Father Doug Fisher is inviting the unemployed and underemployed of our community to come together and share their wisdom. NOT a job networking group NOR a lecture from a motivational speaker NOR a forum to express political agendas. It IS a time for people with the shared experience of job loss to offer insights into life as it is now, to ponder what can be discovered in the midst of open-ended transitions, to offer hope to one another on a deeper level than “hang in there.”
Woodstock Farm Market, Main Stage, 5 to 7pm. Long steel Rail plays under the alias of String Machine. www.woodstockfarmfestival.com/events.html.

Thursday, June 10:
12:30 Millbrook Library Literary Lunch discussing one of my favorite books, Nicole Kraus’ s History of Love.
Sunset Sensations at Locust Grove with Babycakes. 5:30 to 7:30. About $25. Fne wines paired with delicious culinary creations. Hors d’oeuvres will feature seasonal vegetables from the heritage gardens at Locust Grove. Visitors will also be treated to informal wine pairing presentations, a vegetable garden tour with Locust Grove’s horticulturists, and cooking demonstrations by the featured chef of the month, Alfred Casella of Baby Cakes. 845.454.4500 or www.lgny.org.
UV and Washington have their Town Board Meetings.
Acoustic Open Mic with Alfred Sire at La Puerta Azul. 8:30 start.
Millerton Lion’s Club Carnival, Eddie Collins field. Through Sunday, June 13. Rides, junk food and a free petty zoo.

Friday, June 11:
Amenia’s Farmer’s Market, 3 to 7, close to the 44/343/22 light, 3 to 7pm. Small, but well done market.
Eric Hill has a solo show at Cafe Bocca in Poughkeepsie starting at 8pm. 14 Mount Carmel Place, nice little cafe/art gallery, great selection of baked goods, beverages, teas, coffees, non-alcoholic drinks in a very cute part of Poughkeepsie.
DC Fairgrounds Rhinebeck Grand National Antique Motorcycle and Machinery Show. Also Saturday and Sunday. www.rhinebecknationalmeet.com.
Shorty King’s at Keegan Ales in Kingston. 9pm start.

Saturday June 12:
Millbrook, Pine Plains and Millerton’s Farmer’s Markets, 9 to 1. www.millbrookfarmersmarket.com, www.pineplainsfarmersmarket.com, www.necmillerton.org/farmers.htm. Millerton’s musical guest is the Salisbury Drum Circle. Millbrook has Kate with her glorious rhubarb tarts this week. Lots of vegs from Wigstens and Martha’s baskets to carry home all those neat finds.
Millbrook Library offers an Excel workshop, 10:30 to 12. One of my favorite programs of which I only know how to use about 10%. Preregister at 677-3611.
Art Outside the Box event on the Art of Silversmithing with Rob Butler. At Cunneen-Hackett, 4 -6pm. This is one of those neat fundraising events where you pay what you think it is worth.
The Dutchess County SPCA announces the Second Annual Dr. Peter Poggi Memorial Golf Tournament to raise funds for the new animal adoption center. The tournament is at the Dutchess Golf and Country Club. Registration for golfers begins at 10:30 am. Those interested in golfing or attending the awards dinner should contact the administrative office at 845-454-5346 ext. 102.
Everybody’s Yoga in Billings Partner Playshop with Kathleen Wellcome: Join Kathleen and Charles as they teach the concepts of partner work in a fun and relaxing atmosphere. All levels. 1-3:30pm $20, www.everybodysyoga.org, 845-592-4110.
The Millbrook Educational Foundation’s 6th Annual Taste of Millbrook from 6-9 p.m. at Millbrook Vineyards & Winery. Area restaurants will showcase their specialties and local growers will be featuring foods grown and produced in the Hudson Valley. The event will benefit the Millbrook Educational Foundation. Tickets are $75 per person ($50 per ticket can be treated as a charitable donation). For more information or for tickets visit www.tasteofmillbrook.com.
Maxine and her gardener, Heather Thomson, have worked very hard to make Broccoli Hall into a showplace which, twice a year, is available to the public through the Garden Conservancy Open Days Program. You can visit www.broccolihall.com for more pictures and information or, for a $5 donation to the Garden Conservancy, you can see it yourself, 10am and 4pm.
Watch the World Cup in Rhinebeck at Upstate, 2pm. Free! Also, 3pm Woodstock Upstate shows the Marx Brothers classic, Duck Soup.
CCEDC Green Teen’s Fourth Annual Photography Show Opening. “In the Name of Food- Food & Farming Through the Eyes of Teenagers. 5:30- 7:30 PM. Artist introductions and short performance at 6 PM. Zuzu?s Coffeehouse, 453 Main St, Beacon, NY. 845-831-4287.
Pond Fish & Plant Care, 10 AM. Learn about the appropriate quantity and types of fish and plants for different sized ponds. Everything from feeding tips to proper pruning of aquatic plants. Sabellico Greenhouses & Florist, Inc., 33 Hillside Lake Road, Hopewell Junction. Free. 845-226-5943, ext 14 to reserve your spot.
Rhinebeck Biennial 4th House and Garden Tour. Chancellor Livingston DAR and Museum of Rhinebeck History. 9:30-10:30am: Complimentary continental breakfast; pick up ticket & program. Tour hours 10am-5pm, self- guided. rain date June 13. DAR Chapter House, 77 Livingston Street, Rhinebeck. Admission: $20.00 pre- paid by June 9/$25.00 at door. Includes 5 private gardens, 3 homes, 1 lecture. Brenda Klaproth, 132 East Market Street, Rhinebeck, NY 12527. Checks payable to CLC DAR. 845-876-2436 or bklaproth@hvc.rr.com.
Secret Garden Tour. 10 AM- 4 PM. A benefit for children and adults with developmental disabilities. A tour of the best and most beautiful private gardens in Putnam County, including Stonecrop. This country driving tour will bring you to private homes and sites with formal gardens, perennial flowering landscapes, pastoral fields and water gardens. $30 in advance, $40 day of the tour. For the 2nd Year! – Private tour of the FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT House on Petra Island, Mahopac, NY. $90 for house tour plus all gardens. $100 day of, if available. Only 90 tickets will be sold for the house tour component of the event. Call 845-278- PARC, ext. 287 for reservations. www.PartnerswithPARC.org.
Native Perennials for Landscaping, 10 AM–1 PM. Increasing in popularity, native plants can outperform their exotic counterparts in the perennial garden as well as conserve limited resources such as water. Learn which ones are best adapted to local landscape conditions, the value they provide to the environment, and ecologically responsible tips on growing and maintaining these perennials in your garden. $47/$42, Brad Roeller, 104GAR262, Bard College, Annandale, N.Y. www.nybg.org/edu, 800.322.NYBG (6924).
Native Trees and Shrubs for Landscaping 1:30–4:30 PM. Many garden-worthy plants have been extracted from the native flora of the Northeast, including a wealth of trees and shrubs. Learn the landscape value and best cultural requirements of some of the most attractive deciduous and evergreen woody plants that thrive in our climatic conditions. $47/$42, Brad Roeller, 104GAR263 Bard College, Annandale, N.Y. www.nybg.org/edu, 800.322.NYBG (6924).
Graceful Grasses in the Landscape, 10 AM. Is it any wonder ornamental grasses have become so popular? Low-maintenance, hardy and deer resistant, they add graceful motion, textural detail, seasonal color and winter interest to your yard. Let Amy Parrella, Horticulture Supervisor and Arboretum Director at Bard College, introduce you to the many species that thrive in our region. Learn their cultural requirements and ornamental features, and discover creative ways to incorporate them into your landscape. $15, payable in advance. To preregister – and guarantee yourself a spot – please call 845-876-8606 or mail your payment to The Phantom Gardener, 6837 Route 9, Rhinebeck, New York 12572.
Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle: Concert 1. Sharon Isbin, guitarist, with Brazilian percussion. Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle, Sharon Robinson and Jaime Laredo, artistic directors. Presented in cooperation with the Bard Center. Admission charged. 8:00 p.m., Olin Hall. For tickets call 845-339-7907 or e-mail hvcmc.bardcenter@gmail.com.

Sunday, June 13:
Rhinebeck Farmer’s Market. 10 to 2. Municipal parking lot on East Market Street.
Millbrook Winery Vineyard Yoga Series kicks off from 10:30 a.m – 1:00 p.m. Start your day with a one-hour yoga session outside in the vineyard. After yoga, enjoy a picnic lunch followed by a tour and wine tasting. Cost for the class, lunch and wine tasting is $35 per person. Reservations are necessary. 677-8383.
Two Art Outside the Box events. Golf in Beekman, 2pm tee off and reception 6 – 7:30. Learn about Wedgwood in Verbank, 2-4. RSVP ASAP to 845-454-3222. www.artsmidhudson.org.
Upstate in Woodstock shows a surprise music movie at 8pm.

Monday, June 14:
Garden Walk, Olana State Historic Site, 4-5 PM. Join Olana’s Flower Garden Caretaker Mary K. Hughes on an educational walk. Learn a little history as well as new plant care and maintenance of perennial gardens. Bring questions on heirloom annuals and perennials; stay for the Olana sunsets. Rain or shine. Fee: FREE. 5720 Rt 9G, Hudson, NY 12534. http://www.olana.org.

Tuesday, June 15:
Evening in the Garden, Locust Grove, 5:30-7 PM. Discover the sights and sounds of Locust Grove?s gardens at the advent of summer with our expert horticulturist. Fragrant herbs, late peonies, unusual heirloom bulbs, and annuals delight the senses. Pattern beds and flowering containers come alive in the evening with birds and butterflies. Iced tea & lemonade served. Fee: $6. Locust Grove – Samuel Morse Historic Site, 2683 South Rd (Rt 9), Poughkeepsie, NY 12601. 845-454-4500. http://www.lgny.org/.

Wednesday, June 16:
Vassar An Evening of Chamber Music at 8pm will feature baritone Randall Scarlata and pianist Thomas Sauer performing “Schumann Celebration,” an all-Schumann program in celebration of the composer’s 200th birth year, including the great song cycle Dicterliebe (Poet’s Love) and works for solo piano. Free, Martel Recital Hall of the Skinner Hall of Music on the Vassar College campus.
Michael Perry, author of Coop: A Family, A Farm, and the Pursuit of One Good Egg, published by Harper Perennial in paperback, will be appearing at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, at 7:30 p.m. The book is a memoir of humor acquired while he attempted farming of sorts with pigs and chickens and a pregnant wife. He is billed as “funny and entertaining”.
Artist reception for local photographer Bob Warner at the Millbrook Library, 6:30 to 8. You can see his work for all of June.

Thursday, June 17:
Annual Sip ‘n’ Sail Cruise On the Hudson River, 6 to 8pm. Departing from Rhinecliff Dock at 6 sharp, so be there at 5:30. $50 per person includes buffet dinner. kroca1@mac.com for more info and reservations.
Electric Open Mic with Karl Allweier at Puerta Azul. 8:30pm start, in the Cantina.

Male angora bunny needs a home and he’s neutered. About a year or two old.
Art of Alan McCord Available for viewing from June 1– July 31 at the Hotchkiss Library in Sharon. Opening Reception is Sunday, June 13, 4pm, with Jimmy Newman at the piano. Wine and cheese will be served. 860-364-5041 or visit www.hotchkisslibrary.org.
Need to fill your weeks with culture? Get your tickets to Vassar’s Powerhouse Theatre and Bard’s Music Festival and Summerscape, featuring Berg this summer. TriArts in Sharon. A bit further off is Tanglewood, Norfolk, Music Mountain, Jacobs Pillow, Glimmerglass Opera, Hudson Valley Shakespeare at Boscobel and more.
Innisfree is open for the season. 677-8000, www.innisfreegarden.org.
Eating Well In Four Dimensions: A week-end get away on July 10,11,12 at Pumpkin Hollow Retreat Center in Craryville. Qi Gong, Meditation and Initiation to Seasonal Eating. Three complementary approaches to help you understand the benefit of healthy living. Zion Huang and Therese Balagna, L.Ac. will offer you a weekend of well being to savor the serenity of the moment. Space is limited. For more information, or to register, please contact: Andrea Henkels, L.Ac 845-797-7755 or amhenkels@gmail.com.
The Hotchkiss Library of Sharon is now accepting donations for their annual used book sale on August 7. Please bring books in good to excellent condition – no encyclopedias, textbooks, magazines or condensed books please. Also accepting audio books and movies on DVD and video. First editions and other rare books are especially welcome for our rare books silent auction. Books may be dropped off, preferably during the week – Monday through Friday – from 9 to 4 at Ackerly Brown, 25 West Main Street in Sharon (the storage area is one flight up). On Saturday books may be dropped off at the Hotchkiss Library from 10 to 4. For further information please call the library at 860-364-5041 or Sue Norris at 364-8091 or email sue.reg@gmail.com
Shrek Forever After, Prince of Persia and Sex and the City II at the Moviehouse in Millerton. (518) 789-3408, www.themoviehouse.net.
Many films at Upstate in Rhinebeck and Woodstock, ending different days. 845-876-2515. www.upstatefilms.org. Exit Through the Gift Shop (about Banksy), Secret in Their Eyes, Secret of the Kells, Babies, Please Give.

Wednesday, June 2:
How Romantic is Now? Spotlight on Contemporary Landscape Design at Olana, 6:30.
Leading landscape architects and practitioners discuss the influence of the nineteenth-century landscapes of Frederick Law Olmsted and others on their work. Participants include Douglas Reed, Partner, Reed Hilderbrand; Michael Van Valkenburgh, Principal, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (Brooklyn Bridge Park); Thomas Woltz, Partner, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects; and Patrick Cullina, Vice President of Horticulture and Park Operations, the High Line; in conversation with Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, President, Foundation for Landscape Studies. $15 for Non-Members. The exhibition Romantic Gardens: Nature, Art, and Landscape Design will be open at 5:30 PM especially for program attendees.

Thursday, June 3:
First Thursdays: Cocktails, Live Spanish Guitar, & BBQ at the Aldrich in Ridgefield. 6:30 to 8 pm, $25. BBQ, beer, wine, cocktails, music, and tour included. An Ancona’s-style summer barbeque, ice cold brews, and a live performance by Argentinean/American guitarist and singer Jeff Ausfahl. First Thursdays is the perfect start to your month—get together with old friends, or come and meet new ones. At 7 pm a Museum docent will offer a sneak preview of the exhibition Fritz Haeg: Something for Everyone.
Electric Open Mic with Karl Allweier at Puerta Azul. 8:30pm start, in the Cantina.
Tivoli Bays Talks – River Voices: Hudson Valley Sound & Story Project, Eileen McAdam. Tivoli Bays Visitor Center, Tivoli. Free. 7:30-8:30pm 845-889-4745 x105.
UV Town Meeting, 7:30.
Renowned landscaper Patrick Chassé on Choices: Honoring, Restoring and Adapting Historic Landscapes at 6pm, New York School of Interior Design, gardenconservancy.org.

Friday, June 4:
Amenia’s Farmer’s Market, 3 to 7, close to the 44/343/22 light, 3 to 7pm. Small, but well done market
Opening night of Cinderella at the Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck. 876-3080. Goes to June 20. The Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, bringing back memories of junior year high school (think I was the wicked stepmother).
Duke Robillard at the Towne Crier in Pawling, 845-855-1300.

Saturday June 5:
Millbrook, Pine Plains and Millerton’s Farmer’s Markets, 9 to 1. www.millbrookfarmersmarket.com, www.pineplainsfarmersmarket.com.
Fitch’s Corner Clear Round Jumping. Three levels of fun schooling to jump a stadium course or a combo stadium with short XC course. www.fitchscorner.com.
The Self-Sufficient Garden at Bard, 9am-12noon. How do you keep the critters out, the flowers blooming, and the vegetables producing without 24/7 care? Scott Canning, Wave Hill?s Director of Horticulture, will deliver his strategies for achieving success as a part-time home gardener. Learn how to arrange your schedule, select self-reliant plants, and prevent disasters while away from home. $47/$42, Scott Canning, 104GAR165, Bard College, Annandale, N.Y. www.nybg.org/edu, 800.322.NYBG (6924).
Hudson Bush Plant Sale, 10am -2pm Clermont Historic Estate, 1 Clermont Ave, Germantown, NY 12526. More than 30 vendors of heritage and heirloom plants. $5 per car. http://www.friendsofclermont.org/.

The Clear Round will take place at Fitch’s Corner, starting 9am. The jumping rounds will be offered at three levels and a choice of stadium only or the fun combo class of stadium and cross country. Course designer, Chris Barnard will create the courses and providing opportunities to train over traditional jumps, welcoming cross country fences and the water jump will be optional. After this the course will be closed until the Fitch’s Corner Horse Trials on July 25 & 26. www.fitchscorner.com for more details or email Sunny Cross at secretary@fitchscorner.com. Spectator’s welcome. Enter parking field from the Shunpike.
Two watery events by the Sharon Audubon. Stream Study for Kids, 10am. Education Intern Katrina Venhuizen takes us to the stream to explore the critters living in the ripples and under the stones! Wear shoes that can get wet! This is a free program. But also call today to rsvp. If weather forecast is chancy, they may hold these on Sunday.
Spring Paddling Trip on the Upper Housatonic, 9am-4pm. Join Art Gingert, avid kayaker and outdoor photographer/naturalist, for an adventurous day of river paddling on the beautiful upper reaches of the Housatonic River, from Sheffield, MA to Bartholomew’s Cobble in Ashley Falls. This section of river offers many meanders, scenic vistas of the Mount Riga Plateau, and is a lovely riparian corridor lined with stately silver maples. Current is slow, Class 1, with some riffles but no rapids. PFDs required, no children under the age of 13 are allowed. Kayaks or canoes are welcome (you must bring your own) and participants are limited to 14 in number. We will meet in Sheffield at 9:00am, at our river put-in, organize gear and set up the shuttle with cars waiting for us at the take-out at trip’s end.
Registration is REQUIRED by June 3rd. Please call the Audubon Center at (860) 364-0520 to sign up. You will then receive a phone call from Art before the trip about details of meeting place and time, etc. $10 per person. Each participant must sign a waiver before participating.
Fern Hunting among These Picturesque Mountains: Frederic Edwin Church in Jamaica Exhibition Opening at Olana.
Cancer Relay for Life at the DC Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck. Also on Sunday. www.cancer.org.
Peter Woytuk opening reception at the Morrison Gallery in Kent, 5 – 7. One of the areas best known sculptors. Runs to July 4. www.themorrisongallery.com. Also in Kent, an installation by sculptor of stone, Boaz Vaadia, www.eckhertfineart.com.

An Evening of Vocal Chamber Music at Vassar. 8pm, featuring soprano Christine R. Howlett, tenor Nathan M. Carlisle, and pianist Sylvia Bucelli performing “Voices of the Past and Present: German, French, and American Music” including Beethoven’s only song cycle, An die ferne Geliebte (1816), and Carson Cooman’s “Gold into Diamonds” (2007). Free! (845) 437-5370, www.vassar.edu/summer.
Acoustic Relapse at Coach’s in Millbrook.

Sunday, June 6:
Rhinebeck Farmer’s Market. 10 to 2. Municipal parking lot on East Market Street.
The 35th annual Town of Union Vale Community Day takes place at Tymor Park. The indoor/outdoor event begins at noon and culminates with an evening fireworks display. Among the festivities, a magician, horse pull, children’s games, free swimming, martial arts demo, Wildlife Lectures with World of Animals and Birds of Prey & Reptiles, Dr. Marmalade’s puppet show, performance from Vail Farm & LaGrange Elementary school children, farm animal exhibit, pony rides, free swimming, crafts/collectibles, booths of local service organizations. The Jazz Pioneers, a 22 pc. Jazz band, will perform at 6pm at the Band Shell. Climb Time, a portable rock climbing wall to be a part of the day’s events, 2nd Local Area Business Expo held in the Big Barn (845-724-4762 for more info). A family dinner will also be held at 6pm, to reserve tickets, 845-724-5600. Free admission, free parking, and free entertainment all day long! (845)-724-5691 or Town Hall (845) 724-5600.
Washington/Millbrook Historical Society Annual Tea, 2-4, at Springhill Farm. You must be a member to go, but can sign up at the tea. Snacks, talk about the farm’s history and lots of groovy old Fords on display.
The Fifth Annual Bellefield Design Lecture “The Maine Work of Beatrix Farrand”. Renowned landscape architect Patrick Chassé will give an illustrated talk discussing Farrand’s life and work in Maine from childhood through her retirement at Garland Farm including a number of private commissions that are rarely ever seen by the public. 2:00 pm, The Henry A. Wallace Visitor Center, lecture followed by a garden party at Bellefield. Heirloom plants, books and garden treasures will be on sale at the party. 4079 Albany Post Road, Hyde Park, New York. $30 ($25 for Beatrix Farrand Garden Association and Garden Conservancy members). beatrixfarrandgarden.org.
Olana, Salon for Jamaican Journeyers, 2pm at Wagon House Education Center.
Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser, Chief Curator and Krieble Curator of American Painting and Sculpture at the Wadsworth Atheneum and Katherine E. Manthorne, Professor of Art History at the CUNY Graduate Center, will present a free lecture developed from research for their essays featured in the Fern Hunting among These Picturesque Mountains exhibition catalogue. Space is limited. Register by Friday, June 4th to rsvp@olana.org or (518) 828-1872 x 103.
Bats 101 at the Hotchkiss Library. Free. Join CT DEP Wildlife Rehabilitator Linda Bowen at the Hotchkiss Library of Sharon as she shares the amazing story of these misunderstood flying mammals, from tiny pups to useful adults. Learn the facts and dispel the myths. Discover how White Nose Syndrome is decimating our local bat population and what you can do to help save them. 10 Upper Main St., on the Green, 860-364-5041 & hotchkisslibrary.org.
Julio Iglesia at Bardavon for their big gala. 7pm. 452-2072.

Tuesday, June 8:
Annual Garden Party at Locust Grove Celebrating the 10th anniversary of
the Visitor Center and Morse Gallery. 5:30 – 8:30. Enjoy wine and sumptuous hors d’oeuvres in the estate gardens. Treasures from the Locust Grove Gardens available for purchase all evening. Catering by Gourmet to Go. Music by the Mistral Trio. All proceeds from the Garden Party support the continuing restoration of the gardens and grounds at Locust Grove. $100/person. RSVP by June 1. 845-454-4500.

Wednesday, June 9:
What I Learned Since I Lost A Job: A Wisdom-Sharing Evening At Grace Church, 7pm. Since the “Great Recession of 2008″ many have lost jobs. That has led to searching and networking and taking part-time jobs. It can be a frustrating, perhaps even frightening, time. But it is also an invitation to inner growth and a discovery of new sources of hope and creativity. Father Doug Fisher is inviting the unemployed and underemployed of our community to come together and share their wisdom around the theme of “What I Learned Since I Lost a Job.” This is NOT a job networking group- that is available already in other places. And it is NOT a lecture from a motivational speaker. It is NOT a forum to express political agendas. It IS a time for people with the shared experience of job loss to offer insights into life as it is now. It IS a time to ponder what can be discovered in the midst of open-ended transitions. It IS a time to offer hope to one another on a deeper level than “hang in there.”

Thursday, June 10:
UV and Washington have their Town Board Meetings.
Sunset Sensations at Locust Grove with Babycakes. 5:30 to 7:30. About $25. Fne wines paired with delicious culinary creations. Hors d’oeuvres will feature seasonal vegetables from the heritage gardens at Locust Grove. Visitors will also be treated to informal wine pairing presentations, a vegetable garden tour with Locust Grove’s horticulturists, and cooking demonstrations by the featured chef of the month, Alfred Casella of Baby Cakes. 845.454.4500 or www.lgny.org.
Acoustic Open Mic with Alfred Sire at La Puerta Azul. 8:30 start.

My suspicion is we are all overplanting tomatoes this year, to compensate for getting one local one last year. Worse problems to have than too many tomatoes.
Have spare llama or alpaca fiber after shearing? Peek at Friday.
Need to find a camp? Cary IES, Center for Performing Artz and Sharon Audubon have programs.
Need to fill your weeks with culture? Get your tickets to Vassar’s Powerhouse Theatre and Bard’s Music Festival and Summerscape, featuring Berg this summer. TriArts in Sharon. A bit further off is Tanglewood, Norfolk, Music Mountain, Jacobs Pillow, Glimmerglass Opera, Hudson Valley Shakespeare at Boscobel and more.
Innisfree is open for the season. 677-8000, www.innisfreegarden.org.
Local artist Ourania Panos is the featured artist this month at the Millbrook Library.
Eating Well In Four Dimensions: A week-end get away on July 10,11,12 at Pumpking Hollow Retreat Center in Craryville. Qi Gong, Meditation and Initiation to Seasonal Eating. Three complementary approaches to help you understand the benefit of healthy living. Zion Huang and Therese Balagna, L.Ac. will offer you a weekend of well being to savor the serenity of the moment. Space is limited. For more information, or to register, please contact: Andrea Henkels, L.Ac 845-797-7755 or amhenkels@gmail.com.
The Hotchkiss Library of Sharon is now accepting donations for their annual used book sale on August 7. Please bring books in good to excellent condition – no encyclopedias, textbooks, magazines or condensed books please. Also accepting audio books and movies on DVD and video. First editions and other rare books are especially welcome for our rare books silent auction. Books may be dropped off, preferably during the week – Monday through Friday – from 9 to 4 at Ackerly Brown, 25 West Main Street in Sharon (the storage area is one flight up). On Saturday books may be dropped off at the Hotchkiss Library from 10 to 4. For further information please call the library at 860-364-5041 or Sue Norris at 364-8091 or email sue.reg@gmail.com
Shrek Forever After, Prince of Persia and Sex and the City II at the Moviehouse in Millerton. (518) 789-3408, www.themoviehouse.net.
Many films at Upstate in Rhinebeck and Woodstock, ending different days. 845-876-2515. www.upstatefilms.org. Exit Through the Gift Shop (about Banksy), Secret in Their Eyes, Secret of the Kells, Babies, Please Give.

Wednesday, May 26:
Morgan Library Romantic Landscape Panel Discussion at Olana. www.olana.org
518-828-1872, 6:30pm. Great Romantic Landscapes: Central Park and Frederic Church’s Olana. This panel of expert historians and historic landscape stewards will explore the relationship between two of America’s greatest nineteenth-century Romantic landscapes: Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux’s Central Park, and Olana, Frederic Church’s villa and landscape garden. Speakers include Sara Cedar Miller, Central Park Conservancy historian and photographer and author of Central Park: An American Masterpiece; Katherine H. Kerin, Olana Landscape Curator; Evelyn D. Trebilcock, Olana Curator. Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, President, Foundation for Landscape Studies, will moderate. This program is cosponsored by The Olana Partnership, Central Park Conservancy, and Foundation for Landscape Studies.
$15 for Non-Members. The exhibition Romantic Gardens: Nature, Art, and Landscape Design will be open at 5:30 PM especially for program attendees. (212) 685-0008 ext. 560 or e-mail tickets for information.
Computer workshop at the Millbrook Library, 677-3611. Word Merge. 6:30 pm – 8 pm. Using Microsoft Word and a database to create customized letters in a quick and efficient manner.
Residents are invited to Participate in a Stakeholder Meeting to Discuss Water Quality in the Wappinger Creek Watershed. Learn more about the Wappinger Creek Watershed, take the opportunity to share your concerns about water quality and land use issues in the watershed, and learn how to get involved. 6:30-8:45pm at the Dutchess County Farm and Home Center, located at 2715 Rt. 44 Millbrook. Contact Carolyn Klocker with the CCEDC Environment Program at 845.677.8223 or Shorna Broussard Allred at 607-255-2149 or srb237@cornell.edu.

Thursday, May 27:
Acoustic Open Mic with Alfred Sire at La Puerta Azul. 8:30 start.
Girls Night Out to see Sex and the City II at the Moviehouse. 4:10 and 7:10. Email info@themoviehouse.net for free tea or coffee coupon.

Friday, May 28:
Lee Reich’s Annual Garden & Plant Sale featuring many dual-purpose vines and shrubs that are both ornamental and offer tasty fruits, like Two-crop fig trees, Hardy kiwifruits, Clove currants, and more. Friday 5:30-7 pm and Saturday, May 29, 9-11 am. 387 Springtown Rd., New Paltz, 845-255-0417, garden@leereich.com.
The Erick Hawkins Dance Company, at The Center for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck, 661 Route 308, Rhinebeck. The internationally-acclaimed Erick Hawkins Company, founded in 1951 and touring the world since the 1960s, returns to the CENTER to showcase Hawkins’ pioneering movement theory which harmonizes body, mind and spirit. Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults; $18 for seniors and children. 845-876-3080 or www.centerforperformingarts.org

New Amenia Farmers Market this from 2:00 pm- 6:00 pm. Please stop by to support your local growers and farmers. At old Webatuck Elementary School parking lot, just north of the light, at the intersection of Rt. 22 and Rt. 44/343.
Fundraiser that sounds like fun at Hylton Hundt in Millerton, 3 – 7, with wine, cheese, raffles and potential for a fresh look. A benefit for A Matter of Trust, an organization that tackles things like massive oils spills by using hair to soak up oil. They also can use old nylon stockings, even with runs, and llama and alpaca hair. www.matteroftrust.org/programs/hairmatsinfo.html for their details and 518-789-9390 for Hylton Hundt.

Saturday, May 29:
Millbrook, Pine Plains and Millerton’s Farmer’s Markets, 9 to 1. www.millbrookfarmersmarket.com, www.pineplainsfarmersmarket.com. With yet another round of salad recalls due to Salmonella, go early and grab yourself some lettuce seeds too. Great way to see old friends as well as shop locally. Kate will be back in Millbrook, with five different tarts and all are delicious. Martha’s will have her baskets, Gino his vegetables and seedlings, Kazo’s dressing, Wigstens yummies, lavender, local honey and more.
The Amenia Enhancement Committee needs volunteers to assist with planting the flower barrels in Amenia from 10:00 am to noon. Volunteers meet in the Four Brothers Pizza parking lot where they will be provided a planting plan and flowers. This year’s flowers are Cleome, Lantana, Scaevola, Superbena and white Mini Petunias or Trailing Million Bells. No experience is needed but a trowel is helpful. The barrels are located in Fountain Square and line East and West Main Street, Route 22 and Mechanic Street in the center of town. Vicki Doyle, Amenia (845) 373-9550, ameniadoyle@gmail.com.

Fitch’s Corner Memorial Weekend Clinic, May 29-30-31. Eventing and Dressage with Boyd and Silva Martin. Develop your jumping and cross country skills with Boyd, super star rider and trainer. BN through Prelim. Does your dressage need improvement? Classically trained in Germany, Silva will help. All levels. The new Beginner Novice jumps will be available as well as the water, ditch steps and more. BN though Prelim jumps. Spectators welcome. Sign up at www.fitchscorner.com click on “Clinics”. For inquiries contact secretarysunny@fitchscorner.com
Spotlight 2010, a fund-raiser to benefit TriArts Sharon Playhouse 5:30 to 8:00 pm at the Salisbury School Boathouse. Cocktails, hors d’ouevres, music by Artistic Director Michael Berkeley and friends, and a live and silent auction. $100 per person.
Rhinebeck Antiques Fair, also on Sunday. At the Fairgrounds. www.rhinebeckantiquesfair.com.
Fundraiser to benefit the Washington Art Association at 4pm, Washington Montessori School on 240 Litchfield Turnpike, New Preston, CT. www.washingtonmontessori.org/. $25 per person. 860.868.2878. A reception will follow the lecture. Come to his lecture and be inspired by Wolf Kahn, artist, philosopher, legend.
Sunday, May 30:
Rhinebeck Farmer’s Market. 10 to 2. Municipal parking lot on East Market Street.

Monday, May 31 Memorial Day:
Parades.

Tuesday, June 1:
Gasland at the Cary IES 7pm. Can you imagine being able to light your tap water on fire? Join the Cary Institute for a special public screening of Gasland, a prize-winning documentary exploring the health and environmental risks associated with natural gas drilling. The 105 minute film will be followed by a Q&A with director Jeff Fox and Cary Institute scientists.
When a gas company offered Jeff Fox $100,000 to lease his family’s Pennsylvania land, he decided to educate himself on the topic of natural gas drilling. What he discovered shocked him into filming a documentary. Flammable tap water, chronically sick citizens, and contaminated air were among the ills found in communities where natural gas “fracking” has been occurring. Part travelogue, part expose, part showdown?Gasland is a must-see for concerned citizens. Held in the Cary Institute auditorium, located at 2801 Sharon Turnpike (Rte. 44) in Millbrook, New York. Seating is limited. (845) 677-7600 x 121 or freemanp@caryinstitute.

Wednesday, June 2:
How Romantic is Now? Spotlight on Contemporary Landscape Design at Olana, 6:30.
Leading landscape architects and practitioners discuss the influence of the nineteenth-century landscapes of Frederick Law Olmsted and others on their work. Participants include Douglas Reed, Partner, Reed Hilderbrand; Michael Van Valkenburgh, Principal, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (Brooklyn Bridge Park); Thomas Woltz, Partner, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects; and Patrick Cullina, Vice President of Horticulture and Park Operations, the High Line; in conversation with Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, President, Foundation for Landscape Studies. $15 for Non-Members. The exhibition Romantic Gardens: Nature, Art, and Landscape Design will be open at 5:30 PM especially for program attendees.

Thursday, June 3:
First Thursdays: Cocktails, Live Spanish Guitar, & BBQ at the Aldrich in Ridgefield. 6:30 to 8 pm, $25. BBQ, beer, wine, cocktails, music, and tour included. An Ancona’s-style summer barbeque, ice cold brews, and a live performance by Argentinean/American guitarist and singer Jeff Ausfahl. First Thursdays is the perfect start to your month—get together with old friends, or come and meet new ones. At 7 pm a Museum docent will offer a sneak preview of the exhibition Fritz Haeg: Something for Everyone.
Electric Open Mic with Karl Allweier at Puerta Azul. 8:30pm start, in the Cantina.
Tivoli Bays Talks – River Voices: Hudson Valley Sound & Story Project, Eileen McAdam. Tivoli Bays Visitor Center, Tivoli. Free. 7:30-8:30pm 845-889-4745 x105.

Critter feature this week will not be part of the Fowl Play series, as a wise woman called it.
Goats. We have three baby goats. They are all a year old now and were bottle babies, so they still act like babies, but they’re not. Vita, Violet and Johnny (A Girl Called Johnny formally). Vita and Johnny are inseparable and Johnny should have either been called Pat, Dansy or Virginia, but I hadn’t read Mrs. Keppel and Her daughter yet (for Pat Dansy) and Virginia is just too long for a goat, let alone the alliteration Bob would have suffered.
Like all of us, they have personalities. Vita is the smartest. Johnny, the neediest. Violet, the most easy going. Perhaps you met them last community day.
Goats are marvelous creatures. Wonderful brush hogs and they even eat poison ivy and bittersweet. Being these were bottle babies, they started taking walks with me through the woods when they were little and still do that.
ps – one more gosling hatched. It’s named Rollo Muffin and is the cutest thing in the tristate.

My sweet little house in the village of Millbrook is up for rent come midJune. Please let me know if you are interested or pass it on.
Clearly not because I have fond memories of sitting in high school chemistry, but I am considering using slate as a kitchen counter. Any advice?
Want to learn where are the NYS parks closings? ww.ptny.org/advocacy/parkclosings.shtml and we’re in the Taconic region, getting hit hard with reductions. Please support these and all NYS parks.
Innisfree is open for the season. 677-8000, should you wish to get a pass. www.innisfreegarden.org.
NYS Cancer mapping www.nyhealth.gov/environmental-facilities-and-cancer-mapping. Looks like we have a lot of petroleum storage in Washington
My Fair Lady at The CENTER for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck, 661 Route 308, Rhinebeck, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 3pm. Through May 23. The adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s classic play of manners, class and transformation, with book music, and lyrics by Lerner and Loewe. A CENTERstage Production directed and choreographed by Laurie Sepe Marder with musical direction by Paul and JoAnne Schubert. $22 adults; $20 seniors and children. 845-876-3080 or www.centerforperformingarts.org. Call ahead for tickets. We learned the hard way they sell out.
However, if you do go and cannot get tickets, wee reminder Upstate is not far off and that Jane’s Ice Cream is at Village Pizza.
Vassar College and Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County (CCEDC) announce the launch of a new interactive, community website http://dutchessswatersheds.org, helping members of local watershed groups, municipal officials, youth, teachers, and researchers learn about and protect their local watersheds.
Local artist Ourania Panos is the featured artist this month at the Millbrook Library.
Eating Well In Four Dimensions: A week-end get away on July 10,11,12 at Pumpking Hollow Retreat Center in Craryville. Qi Gong, Meditation and Initiation to Seasonal Eating. Three complementary approaches to help you understand the benefit of healthy living. Zion Huang and Therese Balagna, L.Ac. will offer you a weekend of well being to savor the serenity of the moment. Space is limited. For more information, or to register, please contact: Andrea Henkels, L.Ac 845-797-7755 or amhenkels@gmail.com.

Wednesday, May 19:
National Climate Seminar at Bard. Ross Gelbspan, American writer and activist. The National Climate Seminar is a biweekly, national phone conversation featuring top climate scientists, political leaders, and policy analysts. Hosted by the Bard Center for Environmental Policy. 3p.m. For information go to www.bard.edu/cep/ncs/, contact cep@bard.edu, or 845-758-7073.

Thursday, May 20:
Washington/Millbrook Historical Society has an evening with Dr. Julian Strauss planned. Terrific vet by the way. The After School Boys Club Brings You “A Year in the Life”. Julian Strauss, DVM, Class Secretary, and other members of the After School Boys Club will speak to us of their adventures together built around the publishing of the 1915 daily journal of farmer Edward Dean of Amenia Union. A Power Point presentation will demonstrate how Dean’s journal led to research and a sharing of each other’s experiences. The art of apple growing, bee-keeping, handling run-away horses, greasing the zerts and many other tales are added to the diary’s records of a busy year on a farm. 7:30 pm, Lyall Memorial Federated Church, Millbrook. The public is invited and there is no charge. There will be light refreshments served and always first find out what Mary Morse has baked…and of course, you can find out what zerts are.
Gender and Sexuality Studies Film and Discussion Series at Bard, Room 103, Lásló Z. Bitó ’60 Auditorium. 7pm, Ma Vie En Rose. Discussion led by Sarah Lopez-Duran (Assistant Professor of Psychology).
Electric Open Mic with Karl Allweier at Puerta Azul. 8:30pm start, in the Cantina.

Friday, May 21:
New Amenia Farmers Market this from 2:00 pm- 6:00 pm. Please stop by to support your local growers and farmers. At old Webatuck Elementary School parking lot, just north of the light, at the intersection of Rt. 22 and Rt. 44/343.
Ensembles on Stage at Hotchkiss. It will be the best of all worlds, musically speaking, when the Hotchkiss Orchestra and the jazz ensemble Right Brain Logic showcase their talents in a free concert at 7 p.m. in the Esther Eastman Music Center¹s Katherine M. Elfers Hall. The Hotchkiss Orchestra, consisting of 40 music students conducted by the gifted chairman of the Music Department, Fabio Witkowski, will perform classical pieces from Mozart to Bartok. Routes 41 & 112 at 11 Interlaken Road in Lakeville, CT. www.hotchkiss.org/arts, 860-435-4423.

Saturday, May 22:
Community Action Plan Workshop is scheduled for the Town of Washington on May 22. Rumor has it the survey and the Visioning Meetings are being compromised by people not being represented. It is hard to know what other people want and envision for their community when they neither fill out surveys (various formats, extended deadlines) nor show up at meetings. Actually, it is impossible. In other words, please bother attending at this meeting if you care about how this community will act and look over the next generation. Get some good ideas by driving through other communities and thinking about what works and what you are glad to not have in your neighborhood. 9am to noon and good idea to bring something to sip on. At the Farm and Home Center, not Firehouse. www.washingtonny.org.
Open Saturday at Stone Crop for Dutchess & Ulster County Residents, with proof of residency. 10am-5pm. 81 Stonecrop Lane, Cold Spring, info@stonecrop.org. (845) 265-2000, www.stonecrop.org.
Computer workshop at the Millbrook Library, 677-3611. Microsoft Word Basics: 10:30 am – 12 noon. Walk through the basics of word processing using Microsoft Word. This is basic introduction to familiarize participants with the program. We will also share information sites that give a more complete tutorial program.
Two free events at the Sharon Audubon. www.sharon.audubon.org, Route 4, Sharon, CT 06069 / (860) 364-0520.
Container Gardening & Gardening for Kids, 10:00am. This program will cover creating/designing our own containers, what plants work well in what containers, and how to properly maintain these containers. The Gardening for Kids section will cover how to get kids interested in gardening, creating a gardening space for kids to take care of themselves and how to reconnect our kids with where their food comes from. Pre-registration is highly recommended.
Spring Plant Walk, 1:00-3:00pm. Spring is a time for new growth and the Sharon Audubon Center comes alive with budding wildflowers throughout the property. Come take a walk with botanist Ron Aakjar and learn to identify these spring beauties.
Dutchess Day School Circus and Community Carnival, 11am – 3pm. Admission Free. Wristbands for games and activities: $20. henderson@dutchessday.org or (845) 677-5014 for more info. 415 Route 343, Millbrook.
Fala Gala at Wilderstein from 12 noon to 3pm. Wilderstein’s biannual “doggy” event celebrating the gift of Scottie Dog Fala by Margaret (Daisy) Suckley to Franklin Roosevelt. A great opportunity for adults, kids, and dogs of all breeds to experience Wilderstein’s magnificent grounds and enjoy howls of fun. This special day features a pooch parade, Fala look-alike contest, short bread bake-off, snack bar (hot dogs, anyone), scotch tasting and more. Admission to the event is $25 per dog, canine admirers (people) are free. For more information, please call 845.876.4818. or visit www.wilderstein.org.
Everybody’s Yoga in Billings Partner Playshop with Kathleen Wellcome: Join Kathleen and Charles as they teach the concepts of partner work in a fun and relaxing atmosphere. All levels. 1-3:30pm $20, www.everybodysyoga.org 845-592-4110.
Live music this Saturday at Charlottes in Millbrook. Reservations recommended. Cozy bar area is always my first choice. 677-5888.

Sunday, May 23:
Find out what your book is worth with Dan Dwyer and Darren Winston Connecticut’s most elegant and erudite rare book dealers, at Sharon’s Hotchkiss Library. The prettiest library around. 4pm start. What is that book you acquired at a yard sale, uncovered in an attic, inherited from your Grandmother worth? A dollar? A hundred dollars? A thousand dollars? Why not bring it over to the Library and let Dan and Darren not only tell you, but show you what makes it valuable and how to recognize value when you see it. Wine and cheese will be served. For further information call 860-364-5041 or visit www.hotchkisslibrary.org
The Hotchkiss Library is located on the Green in Sharon.
Pilobus at the Bardavon, 7pm. www.bardavon.org, 473-2072. Wow.
Rhinebeck Farmer’s Market has opened for the season. 10 to 2. Municipal parking lot on East Market Street.

Monday, May 24:
Great Visionaries Who Helped Shape Our Nation series feature Thirty-Three Long Years In Building: The Panama Canal by Don Klein, Center for Lifetime Study 2 to 3pm, The Fountains in Millbrook.

Tuesday, May 25:
Kids in Motion: Come to Tymor Park for a six week sports and games program for boys and girls in grades 1-3. Soccer, Kickball, Hiking, Wiffleball, Scooter games, Capture the flag… and so much more! Tuesday evenings from 6 to 7:30 pm, through June 22nd. $50 fee for residents and $60 for nonresidents. To register or for more information please call the Union Vale Parks and Recreation department at 845.724.5691.

Wednesday, May 26:
Morgan Library Romantic Landscape Panel Discussion at Olana. www.olana.org
518-828-1872.
Computer workshop at the Millbrook Library, 677-3611. Word Merge. 6:30 pm – 8 pm. Using Microsoft Word and a database to create customized letters in a quick and efficient manner.
Residents are invited to Participate in a Stakeholder Meeting to Discuss Water Quality in the Wappinger Creek Watershed. Learn more about the Wappinger Creek Watershed, take the opportunity to share your concerns about water quality and land use issues in the watershed, and learn how to get involved. 6:30-8:45pm at the Dutchess County Farm and Home Center, located at 2715 Rt. 44 Millbrook. Contact Carolyn Klocker with the CCEDC Environment Program at 845.677.8223 or Shorna Broussard Allred at 607-255-2149 or srb237@cornell.edu.

And the weekly animal feature will be on geese. More specifically, my adorable goslings muffins. Sad tale, ending with Lulu, the American Eskimo spitz.
We decided to let the geese sit on eggs this year. As if anyone has much of a choice with geese. When they want to so something, they do it. Bob refers to them as Hissing Geese or snake fowl. They will sit for a long time, when only 28 days is necessary. Other geese will join them and add more eggs throughout those 28 days though. Ergo, we keep an incubator running and pop in whatever we can whenever we’re lucky enough to see the pile unattended.
Ganders patrol their sitting geese and sound the alarm if you get too close. When the goslings hatch, ganders take a tremendous amount of care of the little ones, although the goslings still seem to sleep under mom.
Geese are ridiculously militant – you’re one of them or you’re not. Star Trek’s Borg comes to mind. Fascinating creatures, though not always likable. And they’re loud.
Here is where geese problems start. Even though they will sit on the same eggs for six weeks, they will get off when the goslings are trying to hatch and decide it’s the day for a long walk. Eggs get cold and goslings die in the shell. If we get to them in time, we pop them in the incubator. The eggs seem to require the weight of the sitting goose to hatch. Invariably, we help the little ones hatch. I’ve assisted in four hatchings this spring. Two little cuties are alive and well and seemingly happy. They play with five ducklings. That’s their family. Seven inseparable young waterfowl.
The other two hatched out much later and were sharing a brooder box with turkey poults and chicks. The peaceable kingdom. These chicks are tiny bantams, goslings are quite large and it was getting crowded. Before someone was squished, I decided to introduce the two goslings, at about two days old, to the other young waterfowl.
Utterly my fault. Instead of the little ones being at their coop, as everyone here free ranges (bar the dogs), the geese were. Airbus (one of last years geese afflicted with “Angel Wing”) is one of our more gentle geese and seemed to take them in. The goslings joyfully followed her around until the chief gander (think Borg) within four minutes. All eight adult geese circled the little ones and seemed to be initiating them. Teaching them goose things. So it looked hopeful.
I want to explain why I think of them as muffins. I’m reading Dominique Browning’s Slow Love and was at the part where she goes on a muffin baking kick. Muffins as comfort food. Ponders why eat anything else. The little round goslings are little cutie muffins.
They are the most charming of all baby fowl I’ve seen to date. Rounded bills, very fuzzy. Green and yellow, they blend in with fresh grass and make these adorable sounds. Their feet flap and look too large for their bodies. They imprint easily and follow around whomever they’ve imprinted upon – often me. They like to be held, they like to sit with you. Adorable beyond belief and the type of creature that it is impossible to be in a bad mood when around them. They melt you. Hocus pocus buns. Comforting little fuzzy muffins.
The sad end is I decided to let the geese raise the goslings. After an hour of monitoring, I left the house for an errand and returned to find the geese far off from where I had left them. The goslings were nowhere to be seen. As I searched, Lulu showed me she was munching something. I walked over and saw the remnants of a gosling muffin. Floppy webbed foot actually.
That night I had nightmares about geese, goslings and muffins. It was a sad day with no real lesson learned. The geese have taken in young goslings before. Lulu has eaten my birds before. I’ve monitored new fowl relationships for hours and sometimes they work, sometimes the adults go vicious. It was a gamble and I lost.
Maybe Bob will let me hatch out a few more.