The Seacoast of New Hampshire is a fun place to be in the winter, partly because of the variety of events that nudge you out into the cold.

If you want to get the blood pumping and extend a little bit of the goodwill of the holiday season, check out the Cocheco Valley Community Skate Days at the Whittemore Center in Durham.

Today and tomorrow, the skates happen from 6-8 p.m. On New Year’s Eve, you can skate from 5-7 p.m. Bringing along pet food for the Cocheco Valley Humane Society gets you a discount to the already reasonable rate. Bring three or more items for $2 off the family rate of $10, or $1 off the adult rate ($5) and the children younger than 12 rate ($3) with a pet food donation each.

The Cocheco Valley Humane Society seeks donations of canned and dry adult cat food; canned and dry adult dog food; hay for small animals (no straw); rabbit hay racks; small litter boxes for rabbits; cat and small animal toys; and non-clumping clay cat litter.

If you’re a sucker for events and places historical, Portsmouth’s Strawbery Banke is hosting its inaugural Community Day on Saturday, Aug. 1, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Just bring a nonperishable food item for each person in your party and you can all enjoy the museum for free.

Strawbery Banke will take the donations it collects and contribute them to a local food bank.

And there will be plenty to do to make that nonperishable food item donation worth your while. The staff has planned children’s games, family activities, garden programs, demonstrations of hearth cooking and coopering, and hot-air balloon rides from the RE/MAX ballon (weather permitting, of course).  

It’s a pretty sweet idea to combine the educational and recreational aspect of a trip to the museum with doing good for the less fortunate. I’m all verklempt now. Talk amongst yourselves.

I have such a legendary black thumb that last year, a friend gave me a Dearly Depotted tombstone with the gift of an African violet. The violet did, in fact, die with its roots on, as the epitaph predicted. I comfort myself by trying to reason that it wasn’t my doing, that maybe the sight of its future grave marker was enough to make it give up on living. But the truth is, it probably was my fault. In college, I failed to keep a rubber tree alive, and those things are impossible to kill. Seriously impossible. It’s not that I took that as a challenge. I was bereft when I realized the Rubby Mon, as I had dubbed him, had gone to that great greenhouse in the sky. In the years since, I’ve tried to grow herbs inside. I’m convinced that my dill committed suicide. A begonia succumbed to my black thumb so quickly, I can’ even remember what color its blooms were. I’m a serial plant killer. I know. It’s horrible. But it’s true. But I face every spring with the eternal optimism that somewhere out there is a plant that will survive my watering failures and my overzealous pruning. As I look toward the weekend, that optimism is bubbling forth again with the news that Saturday, June 6, brings the third annual plant sale to benefit the Manchester Animal Shelter from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. In addition to great deals on greenery, the facility is also holding an Adopt-a-thon from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. If there’s a furry-faced hole in your heart, this is a good time to fill it. But if, like me, you’ve already got a a four-footed friend, the plant sale proceeds help support the shelter, which has been suffering from much lower than usual donations in this recession. In addition to the plants on sale, you can buy raffle tickets for some awesome prizes donated by the Windham Garden Club. And don’t worry. If I see you there, I will promise to steer clear of whatever plants you decide to pick up. The good news is that my black thumb of doom is not contagious. 

My apologies to Christopher Cross.
Yard sale season is here. You never know what you’ll find among the dusty old books and chipped knickknacks of another man’s (or woman’s) trash.
Much of my condo’s decor has come through Craigslist, yard sales or IKEA, so believe me, I know of what I speak.
And I do love a good flea market. At least once a year, I trek out to the Londonderry Flea Market, which is open Saturdays and Sundays, from April to October, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. (weather permitting). My favorite vendor was a gentleman who sold old phonographs. He would usually wind one up and play an old record, and the music would transport me to another time, even as I wandered away. I haven’t been yet this year, so I don’t know if he’s back.
It’s a fun and funky way to spend the day, mapping out the sales and driving around. Yeah, you’ll use some gas, but if you get a few friends together, it’s pretty cheap fun. And although Londonderry does charge a modest entry fee, you can also get a sweet deal on a hot dog lunch while you’re there.
In addition to finding all sorts of cool treasures, though, yard sales obviously present an opportunity to unload some junk of your own. Sadly, I don’t have access to my own yard, so much of my unloading goes to Goodwill or is done via Craigslist. But this year, I’ll be toting a load of VHS movies (yes, I still have some), old lights and other sundry items to the Greater Nashua Humane Society Yard Sale.
It’s all for a good cause, and it will clear out some much-needed storage space. While that’s not actual money in the bank, in my teeny condo, it’s definitely worth it.