Posts categorized as Rockaway

It’s the year of the corn! At the Beach 91st Street Community Garden’s Spring Plant Sale, back in May, Erin Mulholland, Native Plant Nursery Manager at RISE, stopped by and brought with her organic flint corn seeds.  Erin generously shared enough seeds for everyone. Many of our gardeners planted them, including me. And then poof! We have a maize of tall stalks popping up all over the garden. I can’t imagine a more beautiful thing; it’s corn! (flint corn). Growing corn is a first for me. To be honest, I barely planted my […]

A few weeks ago, while jump roping, I thought, “I can definitely write 500 words about jump roping.” I had a random idea to keep my jump rope outside in the backyard. The thought being,  I’d use it more, having it there instead of its former location – buried in the hall closet. It would be a fun outside exercise thing. I realized that, being summer, putting on sneakers was annoying and became a roadblock to my new jump roping endeavor. So the next incarnation developed. I bought an old […]

The Beach 91st Street Community Garden has teamed up with Rockaway Art Room for drawing meet-ups at the garden! I can’t explain how wonderful it felt to spend an hour and a half outside on a beautiful evening, sitting with a mix of conversation and concentration. People were scattered around the picnic table under the pergola, where the wisteria had finally taken off! Garden members, friends, and their little ones stretched out on a blanket, drawing the plants that surrounded them. My neighbor Anne created lovely black and white pen sketches of those […]

About a year ago, I got into matcha. I knew it had a good caffeine kick and felt like a fun afternoon switch from coffee. A creamy, caffeinated sweet treat! I started grabbing them from Starbucks in Howard Beach on my way to the Island, when I go to visit my mother. That led to buying the powder and experimenting with making my own at home. I use sweetened almond milk. It’s not as creamy as I’d like. I’m working on my little ongoing barista project. Lately, I’ve been getting […]

  Photo by Jena Cumbo I used to have a friend down the block who gave me that extra push, the cheery text I needed at 6:30 am to suit up when it was still chilly, and the thought of pulling a 5’4 over my weak, winter body had me hesitating and rationalising the, nah. The boots, whatever. The gloves… UGH. “Just for an hour,” She’d say and pump up the positive talk. And we’d stay for two. That is no more, and now it’s all up to me to […]

I’ve taken two art classes with the Rockaway Art Room, and I’d like to share my experience because I’ve be­come a big fan! The first was a watercolor and weav­ing class with artist Bekka Palmer. Something kind of magical happens when you weave two different images together. An unexpected third subcon­scious creation starts to appear. Beeka is a fine artist with a focus on textile design and basket weaving. Her work is inspiring! Take a look: bekkapalm­er.com The second was a found objects workshop, building a relief mandala with instructor […]

I attended the Shakespeare On The Rocks Fundraiser Gala last week, and it was a theatrical party to remember! There were many familiar faces — our Rockaway celebs, fancy Brooklyn folks, artists, and community supporters. Cast members from last year’s performance of Romeo and Juliet were in attendance, along with gala hosts, founders, and co-producers/directors Elwin Cuevas and Robert Bryn, who held court all night. The evening featured lively short performances—including a memorable one by Actor Catherine Yeager McQuaid —as well as romantic poetry by Owen Loof, a sneak peek […]

On New Year’s Day, I was invited to a cute craft party at my friend Carolin Wood’s home. We spent the afternoon sewing patches for a Rockaway community quilt—chatting and snacking. What fun! Carolin Wood and her creative partner, Rachel Krieger-Garone, are the co-founders of Benevolent Objects, a small business creating beautifully unique aprons from vintage materials. By the end of the afternoon, there was talk of organizing something bigger—an event that could fit more community sewers and crafters. Now they’ve secured a winter location for the next sew gathering, […]

It didn’t feel right to write about anything else this week after the heartbreaking news that Mike Honan passed away. I’ve known The Honans for 22 years. Their family welcomed me into Rockaway and were some of the first people I met here. They treated me like family. Mike Honan, an Irishman, married Fran Chiodo, an Italian, and I remember how comforting it felt to be with them, like I wasn’t the only Italian on the peninsula. If I needed to name an example of a beautiful marriage and a […]

The faces of the children when the potato piñata exploded were worth everything! I’m happy no one got clocked on the head with a potato. Yes, I put small fingerling potatoes in the piñata, along with, obviously, a bunch of chocolate, Twizzlers, gummy bears, and potato stickers. And then there was the edible potato diorama, brought by Tom, complete with bear and wolf figures drinking from a serene BBQ sauce river. Herbs from the Beach 91st Street Community completed the culinary piece, bringing color and texture to the landscape. At […]