Bonni Brodnick Blog

Sorry for the black-out there. Something got a little futzamajiggeemugooglappnightmarish. We're up and running!

By BONNI BRODNICK I s your amaryllis beginning to wane? Are the fragrant rosemary plants that decorated your place at New Year’s starting to get white spots and look icky? Don’t even mention in public that your poinsettias from the holidays are still kicking around. The Pound Ridge Garden Club offers a few helpful and seasonal tips: toss the poinsettias now that they’re raggedy; but don’t throw them on the compost pile. The plants were likely sprayed with chemicals by the growers. As for the amaryllis: save the bulbs for new blooms next year. If you have a black thumb when it comes to this kind of stuff, listen up. #1. When the amaryllis blooms are spent and the foliage dies back, take the bulb out of the pot. #2. Wash the soil off of the bulb. #3. Place the bulb in a brown bag for storage in a cool dark place until next year. My own added #4: Is it spring yet? (That last snowstorm was a dozy. The snow on our driveway is over 5-feet high and driving the roads of Pound Ridge feels l...

Keep warm. Be cool.

January 21, 2011 "Talk of the Town" By Bonni Brodnick D idja notice that several national advertisers are tryin’ to dumb us down by eliminating the “g” in gerunds in their commercial slogans? There’s McDonald’s “I’m lovin’ it” and Dunkin Donuts “I’m drinkin’ Dunkin”. Well, I’m hatin’ it. Gee. What is becomin’ of the En_lish lan_ua_e? L et your fingers on your keyboard do the walkin’. I mean walking. Gail and Andi Wildman have designed, created and released www.WestchesterTowns.com , shortly followed by www.WestchesterRestaurantGuide.com under the umbrella of the Westchester Network of websites. And it gets even better: the Wildman’s have recently expanded beyond Westchester to cover the 10 counties of the Hudson Valley with www.Hudson-River-Valley.com and www.RestaurantsHudsonValley.com . “Our goal for the Hudson Valley websites is to provide an accessible and easy-to-navigate guide that highlights the majestic beauty, historic significance, and e...

If you, too, are snowed in, and are looking for something/anything to read, Times of Brunswick, is online. I'm editor-in-chief of the magazine and the issues are chock full of interesting stuff. You can even hit the tab to get a "magazine view," which lines up the pages left and right. Or, as we say in the trade, verso-recto . Go to http://www.brunswickschool.org/. Look right. Down a little. There you go. Enjoy!

By BONNI BRODNICK A handful of merchants from Pound Ridge to Katonah mentioned to "Talk of the Town" what a strong retail season they had during the holidays. Boo Girls in Katonah (ground zero for teen fashionistas) was busy, but not until Christmas did it really bust loose. “We had lots of regular customers and there was tons of gift wrapping going on,” said Gaynor Scott , proprietor and Pound Ridger. “One of the shopping trends this year was parents bringing in their daughters—mostly teenagers and college-age—to try on and pick out what they wanted. Some of the girls came in alone, made their selections and left with them all wrapped and ready to put under the tree because their moms were busy with other things. As time becomes more and more of a premium, customers didn’t want to buy gifts that weren’t the right size or style. They don’t want to deal with returns and credits.” B ack in Pound Ridge, the 18 th Annual January Sales Days are in progress, than...

By BONNI BRODNICK H ow’s everyone doing with the New Year? Are you settled into your new regime of exercising every day, eating more vegetables and at least three fruits a day, going to sleep earlier; trying to figure out the difference between Kindle and Nook; and why, in short haircuts, Natalie Portman and Winona Ryder look like twins separated at birth? By putting an end to saying how strange it is to say/write “2011,” you are on your way to a brilliant New Year. Y ou live. You learn. Pound Ridge Library ’s Adult Learning Center is gearing up to offer an evening of winter mini-courses called “How to Read Fiction.” Robert DiYanni , an adjunct professor of humanities and a senior lecturer at New York University, teaches courses in writing, literature, critical thinking and interdisciplinary humanities. He has taught English and humanities for four decades at a number of universities— including Pace City University of New York and Harvard. Dr. DiYanni — a former Pound Rid...