Category: Outdoors

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Special events and deals for Independent Bookstore Day

Independently owned bookstores across New Hampshire are getting ready to celebrate what makes them unique with Independent Bookstore Day on Saturday, April 29.

The stores will have a variety of deals, events and readings during the day.

“Indie bookstores are so important,” said Cassie Mosher, manager at Bookery in Manchester. “We don’t fit in any mold. We really listen to customers and there’s no limitations on what kind of [books] we carry.”

Bookery will have a chance for in-store shoppers to find a golden ticket that has a $50 gift card; online shoppers will get a free gift with their order; and cat and book enthusiasts can choose which employee’s cat will inspire the shop’s next stuffed animal mascot.

While Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord will have plenty of deals, prizes, raffles and gifts for shoppers, there will also be a special treat in the form of some local writers.

“Three of our local authors will be joining us throughout the day as Booksellers for a Day,” said Ryan Clark, the marketing manager for Gibson’s Bookstore.

The authors, Linda Reilly, Erin Bowman and Jennifer Anne Gordon, will be recommending books during their respective “shifts,” Clark said. Reilly will work from 10 a.m. to noon, recommending mystery novels, Bowman will be in from noon to 2 p.m., giving her expert advice on young adult and middle-grade books, and Gordon will be around from 2 to 4 p.m. pointing out her favorite horror books.

“Independent bookstores are integrable parts of the community,” Mosher said. “It’s where you meet new friends, or come in and have a cup of coffee, or hang out to do your work. We need to celebrate these places in the community because they’re so far and few in-between.”

Here are other shops participating in Independent Bookstore Day:

• Annie’s Bookstop of Nashua (650 Amherst St., 882-9178, anniesbooks.com) The shop is having a half-off sale for pre-read Debbie Macomber’s and James Patterson’s books.

• Book and Bar (40 Pleasant St., Portsmouth, 427-9197, bookandbar.com) Book and Bar is celebrating its 10th anniversary on Independent Bookstore Day. It will have a friends and family discount and a raffle that customers are entered into for every $10 they spend on books, and there is a cocktail naming contest.

• Bookery (844 Elm St., Manchester, 836-6600, bookerymht.com) In addition to the happenings listed above, shoppers will be able to draw a surprise discount of between 5 and 30 percent off their purchase. There will also be a kids’ Storytime & Crafts with a bookstore theme to celebrate the day at 11:30 a.m.

• Gibson’s Bookstore (45 S. Main St., Concord, 224-0562, gibsonsbookstore.com) In addition to having local authors giving out book advice, Gibsons will give shoppers two stamps on frequent buyer cards for every $10 spent, first come, first served exclusive items, a raffle for an Independent Bookstore Day bundle, advance reader copies of books sent to the store for shoppers who spend $100 or more, and a golden ticket for 12 audiobook credits for Libro.fm.

• Morgan Hill Bookstore (253 Main St., New London, 526-5850, morganhillbookstore.com) There will be a 20 percent off sale for all books.

• RiverRun Bookstore (32 Daniel St., Portsmouth, 431-2100, riverrunbookstore.indielite.org) The store is offering discounts at 10, 15, and 20 percent when one, two or three or more books are purchased.

• Toadstool Books (12 Depot St., Peterborough, 924-3543, toadbooks.com) There will be a presentation and reading by Alan Rumrill from his latest book, Monadnock Originals: Colorful Characters from New Hampshire’s Quietest Corner, at 11 a.m.

Kiddie Pool 23/04/27

Family fun for the weekend

Curtains up

• The Palace Youth Theatre will put on a performance of Pinocchioat the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St., Manchester) on Saturday, April 29, at 11 a.m. Follow the puppet Pinocchio as he goes on an adventure to become a real boy. Tickets start at $12 and can be purchased at palacetheatre.org.

• Head to LaBelle Winery (14 Route 111, Derry) for the Springfest Family Concert on Sunday, April 30, at 3:30 p.m. Children’s entertainer Mr. Aaron will be ready with all of his top hit songs and his most recently released track “Intergalactic Music Spectacular.” Tickets cost $13 and can be purchased at labellewinery.com.

Indoor activities

• The Nest Family Café (25 Orchard View Drive, Unit 1, Londonderry) is hosting a coloring contest for kids ages 2 and older on Thursday, April 27, during its hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Kids will get a coloring page and the chance to win a smoothie or baked good from the café. Kids will be judged in the age groups 2 to 3, 4 to 5, and 6 and older. Visit thenestfamilycafe.com for more information.

• The Concord Community Music School (23 Wall St.) is hosting Music and Movement – Family Fun on Tuesday, May 2, at 10 a.m. Kids between 4 months and 7 years old will be introduced to a variety of instruments, songs, dance and rhythmic games to encourage self-expression through music. Classes will end with a story and meditation time. Drop-in sessions cost $15. Visit ccmusicschool.org for more information.

• The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (6 Washington St., Dover) is introducing a new class, Junior Science: The Great Outdoors, to run on Tuesdays in May, starting on May 2. The class is geared for kids ages 3 1/2 to 5 years old and will be 45 minutes long, including a story time or felt board activity followed by an experiment and an art project to take home. The class will be from 1:30 to 2:15 p.m. and costs $40 per child for members, $48 per child for nonmembers. Visit childrens-museum.org to reserve a spot.

Play ball

• The Fisher Cats are celebrating all the kids who participated in their reading challenge at the games on Friday, April 28, and Saturday, April 29. The challenge, which ended on April 1, was for kids to read an additional five books outside their school curriculum. Kids who participated in the challenge will get a chance to play catch at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium (1 Line Drive, Manchester) before the games start. Friday is also Fungo the Fisher Cat’s birthday celebration, and Saturday is Copa de la Diversión night, where the Fisher Cats become Gatos Feroces de New Hampshire. First pitch on April 28 is at 6:35 p.m. and on April 29 at 4:05 p.m. Tickets start at $10 and can be bought at milb.com/new-hampshire.

Summer camp fun

• Boys and girls in grades 2 through 11 can get ready to practice their jump shots at the New Hampshire Spartans Youth Basketball Camp; registration is already open. The camp runs in two sessions, the first from July 10 to July 13 and the second from July 24 to July 27, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The camp will be held at the New England Sports Center (7 A St., Derry). Registration costs $175 per camp, or $55 per day. Visit nhspartans.com to register.

Early spring bloomers

Look at all the pretty flowers!

I like to have blossoms in the garden and in vases everywhere. I try to have something blooming all the time, or as often as possible. Right now, in mid-April, I count more than 10 species of plants in bloom, along with seven species of bulb plants that are blooming by the hundred for me.

Let’s start with trees and shrubs — what I call woodies. The most unusual woody is leatherwood (Dirca palustris). This is a native woodland plant that does well in part shade. Although the literature says it prefers moist, rich soil, I have it in dry soil and it does well there.

Leatherwood has small greenish-yellow flowers that appear about the same time as forsythia — mid-April for me. Mine is slow-growing with lovely gray bark that reminds me of beeches. This is a well-mannered plant that stays 3 to 6 feet tall and wide.

February Daphne (Daphne mezereum) is in bloom now with highly fragrant pinky-purple flowers. It is originally from Europe, Turkey and Iran. I love it so much I named a corgi after it (she is now gone, alas). It stays 3 to 5 feet tall and wide. In the fall it produces small red berries.

Magnolias are in bloom now, too. My favorite is the Merrill magnolia, a hybrid that produces double white lightly fragrant flowers. I planted mine as a small tree in 2004, and now, 19 years later, it is about 40 feet tall with a spread of 25 feet. It blooms reliably (nine years out of 10) on my birthday, April 23. It is a good specimen tree to put in a lawn and will do well even if the soil is consistently moist to soggy.

Forsythias are in bloom everywhere with bright yellow flowers. If yours only blooms down low, in the area covered by snow, the buds that were formed last summer were killed by the winter cold. So get rid of it and buy a new variety such as New Hampshire Gold, Vermont Gold or Meadowlark. All are hardy throughout New England.

My favorite early spring perennial is called the drumstick primrose (Primula denticulata). It comes with flowers in purple, blue, pink, magenta and white. The florets are small and arranged in 2- to 3-inch globes on 6-inch stems. They do best in moist to wet soil in sun or partial shade.

Hellebores or Lenten Roses (Helleborus orientalis) are also wonderful spring flowers. Mine have been blooming for a couple of weeks already and will continue on for another month or so. The blossoms are five-petaled and 2 to 3 inches wide with yellow stamens in the center. Colors range from white and cream to pink, purple and nearly black. They are evergreen, but last year’s leaves should be cut off now as they are all bedraggled.

A dainty flower with beautiful finely cut foliage is a spring ephemeral called corydalis or fumewort (Corydalis solida). It pops up in my garden where it wishes, and I am always glad to welcome it. It seems to do best in moist, part shade with rich soil. The flowers on mine are small, long-spurred light blue, but other colors are also possible. There is a yellow variety of a related species (C. lutea).

Lungwort or pulmonaria (Pulmonaria spp.) is a good ground cover that is blooming for me now, too. It is interesting that a single stem might support blue, pink or apricot flowers all at once. All do well in shade or partial shade and better in moist soils than dry soils. It spreads by root.

There are at least a dozen different species of pulmonaria including P. longifolia with spotted leaves and multicolored blossoms. The one I like best is P. angustifolia, which has very intense blue flowers and solid green leaves. I’ve read that varieties or species with more white spots grow better in full sun than those with fewer or no spots.

Wildflowers are starting to bloom, including one of my favorites, bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis). These white multi-petaled flowers come up from the soil wrapped in the leaves that look like a green cigar. On cold days, or at night, the blossoms close up, but they open on sunny days when the bumblebees are working.

The bloom season of bloodroot is short, but there is double bloodroot which is sterile and blooms for a longer time. Like all bloodroots, the clumps get bigger every year, so you can dig them up and divide them to start doubles in new places. The sap from the roots is poisonous, so wear gloves when dividing any bloodroots. Do that now or in the fall.

We certainly deserve spring blossoms for having survived winter and mud season. But you do have to plan and plant for those early bloomers.

Henry is the author of four gardening books and is a 25-year veteran of the Master Gardener program. Reach him by email at [email protected].

Featured photo: Drumstick primroses. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Things to try — or not!

One option: grow a lot of something you love

Are you in a rut? Spring is here, but most of us cannot plant anything outdoors due to cold nights or wet ground. Yes, you can plant seeds indoors and baby them until early summer, but that requires a place to grow them and lights to keep them happy. So maybe you should put on your thinking cap and decide what you want to do later on, and do some research.

For starters, you could join a plant society, of which there are many. If you love daylilies, join the American Hemerocallis Society. You will find people who love daylilies, too, but have much more knowledge than you ever will. You will learn how to collect seeds and to hybridize daylilies of new colors.

Or what about the International Aroid Society? The Arum genus has a diverse collection of plants from skunk cabbage to philodendrons to Colocasia yams. The Plumeria Society of America is focused solely on the 11 species of plumeria, known as frangipani in English. Hostas? Wildflowers? Boxwood or bonsai? There are societies for each and every group.

An easy project indoors would be to start an avocado tree. Avocados ripen in California starting in spring and going through summer. Winter avocados won’t usually sprout from their seeds — they have been in cold storage too long. The classic method is to perch a seed in a glass of water using three toothpicks to keep its bottom just kissing the water. Put the point end up and the fat end down. I cut one open recently, and it was already sprouting! So I planted it in a mixture of potting soil and compost. I let the sprout just peek out above the soil line.

I have grown many avocado trees over the years, generally by recognizing the shiny leaves in my compost pile. So I know that you don’t have to suspend the seed in water — they will be glad to grow in compost. When I lived in West Africa I was able to buy avocados for a penny or two apiece, and often fed them to our cats. Cats love them because of their oil content. I have a 5-foot-tall avocado tree growing in a 12-inch pot that lives as a house plant in winter and goes out on the deck in summer. It started life in the compost pile.

Try to remember the favorite flowers of your grandparents, or your parents. This would be a good time to ask your mom, for example, what did her mom really love? My grandmother, who died in 1953, loved peonies. My mother, may she rest in peace, dug up one of her mom’s peonies and moved it from Spencer, Mass., to Woodbridge, Connecticut, and grew it for decades before I came along and divided it in the early 1980s and brought a part of it to Cornish Flat, where I live. The peony I got is ‘Festiva Maxima,’ a highly fragrant double white with splotches of red inside — blood from a fairy princess, I think.

If your Grammy loved roses, study your yard and figure out where one could go in loving memory of her. And do a little research now if you have never grown roses. Roses are easier to grow now than they were 40 or 50 years ago when Grammy was growing them. I love the ‘Knockout” series of roses. The Knockouts are not fragrant, so they do not attract Japanese beetles, and they bloom for months.

Think about planting an oak later in the month. Many gardeners don’t think of planting oaks, saying they get too big or grow too slowly. But it has been proven that oaks are the No. 1 best plant to support our birds, pollinators and mammals. And you can even plant a sprouting acorn now.

Oaks probably grow faster than you think. I planted several bare-root oaks in the spring of 2021. They were as thick as a pencil and only a foot or two tall. In two years many of them have taken off and are 3 feet tall or more, and they will be 10 feet tall in less than five years.

Want a fast-growing flowering tree? Plant a catalpa. They are native and the flowers are amazing. Fragrant, attractive. The leaves are huge — big enough that Native Americans used them for diapers for babies, I’ve read. I bought a 10-footer five years ago and now it is already a shade tree — 25 feet tall with a 20-foot-wide crown.

What else can you do? Grow a lot of something you love, starting from seed. I love rosemary, and recently bought a packet of seeds and planted 50 seeds. If all goes well, I will have plenty to share.

I will grow them on an electric heat mat (designed for use with seeds) as they germinate best at temperatures in the 70s. Once they have germinated I will grow them under very bright LED lights and will transplant them into rows in my vegetable garden in mid-June. Of course I will keep some in pots, and grow them on the deck.

Lastly, plan on growing a vegetable you have never grown before. You might try tiny decorative pumpkins, or huge ones. Or rutabagas. Dreaming big is part of being a gardener.

Featured photo: Oaks are pretty for us and food for caterpillars and wildlife. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Henry is a UNH Master Gardener and the author of four gardening books. His website is Gardening-Guy.com. Reach him by email at [email protected].

Kiddie Pool 23/04/20

Family fun for the weekend

Indoor activities

• Learn all about dogs from Lita Judge when she reads from her book Dogs: A History of Our Best Friends at Toadstool Bookshop (12 Depot Square, Peterborough) on Saturday, April 22, at 11 a.m. Judge, a writer and illustrator of more than 30 children’s books, will do a reading of the book, which explains the science behind how humans and dogs became best buddies. Visit toadbooks.com.

• See the 26th annual Model Train and Modeling Show on Sunday, April 23, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at David R. Cawley Middle School (89 Whitehall Road, Hooksett). The show will have vendors, demonstrations, a white elephant table, raffles and more. Admission is $5 for adults, $1 for children ages 6 to 12; children 5 and younger are free. Visit trainweb.org/cmrc.

Celebrate the Earth

• The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (6Washington St., Dover) is hosting an Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, April 22, from9 a.m. to noon and again from 1 to 4 p.m. There will be a planting activity, art crafts with recycled materials, an Earth Day-themed scavenger hunt and more. Sessions cost $12.50 for adults and children older than 1 year, $10.50 for seniors, free for children younger than 1 year. Visit childrens-museum.org.

• Celebrate Earth Day and learn about animals at the Massabesic Center (26 Audubon Way, Auburn) on Saturday, April 22, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be guided nature walks, animal ambassador demonstrations, gardening demonstrations, children’s story time and crafts. The cost is $10 for a family of four members, $15 for a family of four non-members. Visit nhaudubon.org.

• Head to The Educational Farm at Joppa Hill (174 Joppa Hill Road, Bedford) for Earth Day Fun at the Farm on Saturday, April 22, from noon to 1:30. There will be a family-friendly hike, a lesson with Miss Jen on recycling and composting, and an Earth Day-themed craft. Tickets cost $20 per family. Register in advance at educational-farm-at-joppa-hill.square.site.

April vacation camps

• Kids ages 6 to 14 can keep practicing their soccer skills at the Seacoast United April Vacation Camp at the New Hampshire Technical Institute (31 College Drive, Concord) running April 24 through April 28. The camp will have lessons for kids of all skill levels, and there are half- and full-day options, from 9 a.m. to noon or from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Half-day for the week costs $165, full day costs $240. Visit seacoastunited.com.

• Get ready for Flower Power! April vacation camp at the Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St., Manchester) running April 24 through April 28 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The camp is grouped by age: ages 6 and 7, ages 8 through 10, and ages 11 through 14. Cost is $350 for non-members, $315 for members. Visit currier.org to register.

• Young actors in grades 1 through 8 can join the Peacock Players (14 Court St., Nashua) April Vacation Camp April 24 through April 28 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. At the end of the camp the kids will put on a variety showcase for family and friends. Camp costs $350 for the week. Visit peacockplayers.org.

• Merrimack Parks and Recreation Department is holding a daily April vacation program starting on Monday, April 24, for kids in kindergarten through fifth grade. Kids will play games and sports and do crafts outside at Wasserman Park (116 Naticook Road). Kids who attend more than one day must be registered for each day. The cost for one day is $60 for a single child, each additional child is $55. Visit merrimack.recdesk.com.

In record time

Celebrate music with Record Store Day

Special releases and pressings of records will be gone before consumers know it on Record Store Day.

Across the country and the world, millions of people will go to record stores to snatch up limited-edition vinyls.

“There’s about 500 titles this year, which is a lot less than they’ve had in the past,” said Bill Proulx of Metro City Records in Manchester. “There are lots of limited-edition records that don’t go on sale until that day. Usually, everything sells out in half an hour to an hour.”

One of the biggest titles coming to the day will be a special pressing of Taylor Swift’s album Folklore that will have never-before-featured music and audio. Swift’s album had been produced during the pandemic and in complete isolation. This special edition, called Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Recording, has 115,000 copies going on sale around the world on Record Store Day, with 75,000 going on sale in the States.

Other titles stores are excited about include a release from Billy Joel before he was popular, singing covers of Elton John and other influences in the piano man’s music. There will also be a multi-record release from Van Halen and live recordings from Pearl Jam and Grateful Dead concerts.

“The growth of physical music sales, like CDs, bottomed out and vinyl has been a straight growth since Record Store Day started,” said Chris Brown, vice president of finance for Bull Moose Music, which has a store in Salem. “Now it’s crazy. Probably more records will sell on this one day than [sold in] all of 2007; it’s that big.”

Brown had been the head of the coalition that founded Record Store Day. He said that it was something that everyone in his group felt was doable, combining special releases of records with local live bands performing, and other little perks the stores felt they could pull off.

On the first year of Record Store Day in 2008, Brown hadn’t expected much to happen. He said the group had anticipated 200 stores across the country to participate, and to amass a small following of hardcore record collectors. Instead, the day was more successful than he’d thought it would be.

“Something like 600 stores participated that year, and that was really just in the U.S.,” Brown said. “Way more people showed up than we thought. The vibe was wonderful. It changed the mood in the music industry.”

Brown noticed that there’s a change in Record Store Day’s participating artists. Instead of being focused more on classic rock bands from the 1970s, there’s a growing number of groups from the late 1980s and 1990s. Even modern bands and musicians other than Swift, like The 1975 and Post Malone, are participating in the day.

“The trends look like [Record Store Day is] trying to get new people in stores,” said John Benedict, the owner of Music Connection in Manchester. “The focus seems to be on things that kids might buy today. [The records] are not appealing to me as much anymore.”

Benedict said that he’s happy to see vinyl still being celebrated and having younger generations love it the way he had. He said that, to him, records represented more than just a physical copy of music, it’s the only way music was accessible for his generation.

“Most customers have maybe 25 to 50 records tops,” Benedict said. “Their collections don’t get into hundreds anymore.”

Record Store Day participating stores
Bull Moose
419 South Broadway, Salem, 898-6254, bullmoose.com
Defiant Records
609 Main St., Units 1 and 2, Laconia, 527-8310, defiantnh.com
Metro City Records
691 Somerville St., Manchester, 665-9889, metrocityrecords.com
Music Connection
1711 S. Willow St., Manchester, 644-0199, musicconnection.us
Newbury Comics
777 S. Willow St., Manchester, 624-2842; Pheasant Lane Mall, 310 Daniel Webster Highway, Nashua, 888-0720;The Mall at Rockingham Park, 99 Rockingham Park Blvd, 890-1380; newburycomics.com
NH Vintage Vinyl
633 Main St., Laconia, 527-8124, nhvintagevinyl.com
Pitchfork Records
2 S. Main St., Concord, 224-6700, pitchforkrecordsconcord.com

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