What’s Up this Week: Cryogenics for Kids, Dragons & Dreams

By Leave a Comment

Less than a month before the beginning of the school year but it still feels like summer as there is a limited amount of activities around Belmont this week. But next week will see the beginning of fall sports practice.

• Join the Belmont Public Library for the following movies for children on Tuesday, August 12 at noon Assembly Room

  •    Rosie’s Walk
  •    The Little Red Hen
  •    Petunia
  •    The Pigs’ Wedding
  •    Trouble in the Barkers’ Class
  •    Beverly Billingsly Borrows a Book

• Belmont resident Arnie Rosen has played guitar for more than 50 years and isn’t bad on several other instruments as well. The wonderful song leader is back to the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St., by popular demand for a sing-along on Tuesday, Aug. 12, at 1:15 p.m. The concert is free.

• Can you freeze a balloon? What does liquid nitrogen look like? How cold is “cold”? Learn which items freeze or defrost fastest and why cryogenics is such a hot field at the Einstein’s Workshop program for Young Adults about Cryogenics on Tuesday, Aug. 12 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room. Registration is required either online or by calling 617-993-2870. For ages 10 and up.

• The Belmont Public Library is providing one-on-one Digital Library Help on Wednesday, August 6, from 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. in the Reference Room. Learn how to download eBooks from the library and set up a device. Get started with Zinio to read free digital magazines. E-mail and Internet basics, social media, or basic computer skills. Registration is required; register online or call 617-993-2870 to register by phone. Some services require downloading an app. Please come prepared with your Apple ID, Adobe ID, Amazon Account information, or other password and log in information for your device.

• Duplicate Bridge Club meets from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every Wednesday at the Beech Street Center at 266 Beech St. The club holds American Contact Bridge League-sanctioned games. All are welcome to play. Cost is $7. Phone: 339-223-6484 for more information.

• The group Sciencetellers presents Dragons & Dreams, stories and science come to life through visually exciting experiments, will occur on Wednesday, Aug. 13 starting at 2 p.m. in the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room. If you’re in the room, you’re part of the story.

• Move, dance and sing along with acclaimed Brazilian musician Sulinha Boucher on Thursday, Aug. 14, from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the library’s Assembly Room

• State Sen. Will Brownsberger will be holding office hours on Friday, Aug. 15, at 10 a.m. at the Beech Street Center.

The Week Ahead in Belmont: Chef Gerry Making Flat Bread and Tea at the Beech

By Leave a Comment

If there is a non-holiday week in which Belmont becomes the preverbal ghost town, it is the first week in August. You can bring your antique cannon to Leonard Street, fire it and miss just about any living creature known to man before watching  the ball roll into the Wellington Brook. Here IS what’s happening in Belmont this week:

• Chef Gerry is back! After making sushi, California rolls and other great food at Belmont Public Library, Belmont resident Gerry Connolly – a Cambridge School of Culinary Arts Professional Chef Program graduate with 20 years of experience as a personal chef and event caterer – is coming to make flat breads and dressings on Tuesday, August 5 at 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. This event is free thanks to the generosity of Chef Gerry and the Friends of the Belmont Public Library.  Space is limited, so please sign up online or sign up by phone at 617-993-2870.

• It’s game day this Friday at the Beech Street Center as it holds “Tea and Games on the Patio” on Tuesday, August 5 at 1 p.m. There will be Scrabble, checkers, cribbage and Trivial Pursuit along with iced tea and cookies.

• Noon Movies for children on Tuesday, August 5 in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public Library. Come join us for the following movies for children:

  • Yo! Yes?
  • Here Comes the Cat
  • Island of the Skog
  • The Nutshell Kids
  • Where the Wild Things Are.
• Mime Robert Rivest presents “Laughter is the Best Medicine,” a unique program of comedy and movement on Wednesday, August 6 from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room.

• Receive a free hearing test at the Beech Street Center on Wednesday, August 6 from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Your hearing aid batteries can be replaced. Mass Audiology offers this service free of charge to Center participants. Make your appointment by stopping by the front desk or by calling 617-993-2970.

• The Belmont Public Library is providing one-on-one Digital Library Help on Wednesday, August 6, from 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Reference Room. Learn how to download eBooks from the library and set up a device. Get started with Zinio to read free digital magazines. E-mail and Internet basics, social media, or basic computer skills. Registration is required; register online or call 617-993-2870 to register by phone. Some services require downloading an app. Please come prepared with your Apple ID, Adobe ID, Amazon Account information, or other password and log in information for your device.

• Duplicate Bridge Club meets from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every Wednesday at the Beech Street Center at 266 Beech St. The club holds American Contact Bridge League-sanctioned games. All are welcome to play. Cost is $7. Phone: 339-223-6484 for more information.

• Local musician Rubi performs original songs and traditional favorites on Thursday, Aug. 7, 9:30 a.m. or 10:30 p.m. in the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room.

The Week Ahead: Yoga for All on Tuesday, Animals at the Library Wednesday

By Leave a Comment

• Noon movies for children on Tuesday, July 29, noon to 1 p.m., in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public Library.

  •    The Empty Pot
  •    The Mysterious Tadpole
  •    Caterpillar and the Polliwog
  •    Bats at the Library
  •    Cook-a-Doodle-Doo

• The Massachusetts Senior Medicare Patrol, a state-wide consumer educational organization that helps Medicare and MassHealth (Medicaid) beneficiaries to protect against, detect and report healthcare errors, fraud and abuse, will be at the Beech Street Center on Tuesday, July 29, 1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. MSMP provides education, guidance and assistance to beneficiaries and their caregivers to navigate the system such as help with issues such as resolving billing and healthcare quality queries and providing referrals as needed.

• Einstein’s Workshop program for Young Adults will be exploring hydraulics on Tuesday, July 29, from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room. Each participant will make and take home their very own hydraulics lift. To register, go online or call 617-993-2870.

• Yoga for everyone at the Beech Street Center from 5:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday, July 28: join Susan Harris, a registered yoga teacher and associate professor of Nutrition at Tufts University for this Iyengar-inspired class which practices yoga postures slowly and with attention to alignment and safety, adapted to the abilities and needs of individual students. Practice is done with bare feet; mats and props are provided. Cost: $15/class. Non-seniors, beginners and experienced are welcome. This is a non-Council on Aging class held at the Beech Street Center. For more information, call Susan at 617-407-0816.

• Visit with wondrous animals from all over the world with the program Creature Teachers on Wednesday, July 30, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room. This live animal program will educate and entertain. 

• The Belmont High School Teen Techs are back at the Belmont Public Library to help residents and patrons who are looking for help with computers, the internet, e-readers, tablets and the hows and whys of the social media world. The crew will be doing their tech wizardry from 11 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, July 30 in the Young Adult Room. Register online, stop by the reference desk to register in person or call 617-993-2870 to register by phone.

• Beloved local musician Liz Buchanan performs original songs and traditional favorites on Thursday, July 31, 10:30 a.m. in the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room.

What to Do Today: PuppeTree Performing ‘Swimmy/Swimmer’, Teen Techs Are Back

By Leave a Comment

• Vermont’s PuppeTree will give a new twist to the classic Leo Lionni picture book, “Swimmy/Swimmer,” with a puppet show at 2:30 p.m. in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public Library.

Watch a trailer of the performance here.

• The Belmont High School Teen Techs are back at the Belmont Public Library to help residents and patrons who are looking for help with computers, the internet, e-readers, tablets and the hows and whys of the social media world. The crew will be doing their tech wizardry from 11 a.m. to noon in the Young Adult Room. Register online, stop by the reference desk to register in person or call 617-993-2870 to register by phone.

• Duplicate Bridge Club meets from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St. Every Wednesday the club holds American Contact Bridge League-sanctioned games. All are welcome to play. Cost is $7.

• The Belmont Book Discussion group will discuss “Juliet in August” by Diane Warren at 3 p.m. in the Flett Room of the Belmont Public Library. Everyone is welcome to attend. Copies of the book can be requested through the library’s catalog or call the library’s Reference staff at 617-993-2870.

What to Do Today: Making Rubber Band Bracelets, Beech Street Talent Show

By Leave a Comment

• Here’s a rainy day event: Einstein’s Workshop program for Young Adults (for kids 10 and older) will be making “Rubber Band Jewelry: The Rainbow Code” in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public Library beginning at 7 p.m. Discover how to make rubber band bracelets without a loom, learn a few tricks to encode hidden messages in the bracelet and even begin to write your own. Registration is required so call 617-993-2870.

• The Benton Library at Oakley and Old Middlesex will have pre-school summer story time at 10:30 a.m.  For children 3 to 5. Parents or caregivers must be present. Siblings may attend with adults.

• The Beech Street Center is holding its second annual Talent Show at 1:15 p.m. It was a great event last year so come by and enjoy singing, dancing, reading poetry and a lot more.

• The Belmont Public Library will be holding “Noon Movies for Children” at noon in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public Library. The movies this week are:

  •    Bebe Goes Shopping
  •    Bebe Goes to the Beach
  •    All the Colors of the Earth
  •    The Foolish Frog
  •    Over in the Meadow
  •    Chicka Chicka Boom, Boom
  •    Roxaboxen

Things to Do this Week in Belmont: ‘Joyeux Le Quatorze Juillet!’, Talent at the Beech

By Leave a Comment

• Monday, July 14, is Bastille Day, the national holiday of France. But the French themselves don’t call today “la fête Bastille.”

Today is simply known as “la fête du 14-juillet” – the July 14th holiday – or more officially, “la fête nationale” – the National Holiday. In 1880, the French decided to celebrate a national holiday; July 14th eventually won out because it was the day of la Fête de la Fédération, a joyous celebration in 1790 that honored the new French Republic and commemorated the one year anniversary of the storming of the Bastille.

So the day is a holiday mostly concerning national pride and the values “liberté, fraternité, and égalité,” with a extravagant military parade in Paris, picnics, parties and fireworks. As for Belmont – yes, the town’s name is Old French for “beautiful mountain” – you can find some decent macaroons at LA Burdick Chocolate in Harvard Square.

• The Benton Library at Oakley and Old Middlesex will have pre-school summer story time on Tuesday, July 15 at 10:30 a.m. 

• The Beech Street Center is holding its second annual Talent Show this Tuesday, July 15 at 1:15 p.m. It was a great event last year so come by and enjoy singing, dancing, reading poetry … and who knows what else?

• The Belmont Public Library will be holding Noon Movies for Children onTuesday, July 15 at … noon in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public Library.

• Einstein’s Workshop program for Young Adults (for kids 10 and older) will be making “Rubber Band Jewelry: The Rainbow Code” on Tuesday, July 15 in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public Library. Discover how to make rubber band bracelets without a loom, learn a few basic codes, and even begin to write your own! Registration is required so call 617-993-2870.

• Vermont’s PuppeTree gives a new twist to the classic Leo Lionni picture book “Swimmy” with a puppet show at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 16 in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public Library.
• Learn your favorite tune in sign language as Sheryl White of Baby Kneads signs songs, stories and rhymes in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public Library at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 17. 

• It’s game day this Friday at the Beech Street Center as it holds “Tea and Games on the Patio” on Friday, July 18 at 1 p.m. There will be scrabble, checkers, cribbage and Trivial Pursuit along with iced tea and some cookies.

What’s Happening This Week: Starbucks Relocation (Part 3), Jenny the Juggler

By Leave a Comment

• The big meeting this week will occur at the Zoning Board of Appeals on Wednesday, July 9 at 7 p.m. as the board hears from the representatives of the Cushing Village complex in Cushing Square that wants to relocate for just about a year the Starbucks Cafe from its current location in the heart of Cushing Square to a temporary site at the corner of Belmont Street and Trapelo Road. This marks the third time the board will hear from the developer, Chris Starr of Smith Legacy Associates, and from residents who are concerned of parking, traffic and trash. If you stay after this part of the meeting, the board will take up a petition of a Hammond Road resident who wants to install a deck with a hot tub. My word!

• For people who live on School Street, the meeting of the Belmont Historic District Commission on Tuesday, July 8 at 7 p.m. should interest you as the commission will discuss the creation of a School Street Historic District. They will discuss the housing inventory in the proposed area.

• Tuesday Noon Movies at the Belmont Public Library on Tuesday, July 8 at noon will include:

  •    Pete’s a Pizza
  •    I Love You Like Crazy Cakes
  •    Three Cheers for Catherine the Great
  •    Pictures for Harold’s Room
  •    Corduroy

• Explore Israel through the memories and slides of Grace Taylor, Nava Niv-Vogel, and Dena Ressler at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St., on Tuesday, July 8, 1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. Grace will share highlights from her trip and from her visits to the Christian sites. Nava will talk about her last trip this past May, some major places of interest and how they’ve changed since the time she lived there as small child, and Dena will share images of street scenes through the eyes of a newcomer during her first trip there in 2008. Bring your curiosity!

• Jenny the Juggler, Boston’s only professional female juggler, will be at the Belmont Public Library on Wednesday, July 9 from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. to amaze everyone with her killer skills. You may even leave with a balloon animal!

• Matt Heaton brings music for preschoolers which is full of kid-friendly folk and surf-inspired original songs.  Come see why he is called the Toddlerbilly Troubadour on Thursday, July 10 from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Belmont Public Library.

• The monthly movie at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St., is “Forrest Gump” which will be screened on Friday, July 11, at 1 p.m. The 1994 American epic romantic comedy, which won six Academy Awards, was directed by Robert Zemeckis and stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, and Sally Field.

What to Do Today: Library’s Patriotic Story Time, the Benton is Open ’til 7 PM

By Leave a Comment

• Story Time at the Belmont Public Library will have a 4th of July theme: “Red, White and Blue Storytime.” Celebrate America’s birthday with stories and a craft inspired by the colors of our flag in the Assembly Room from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.

• Speaking of libraries, the Benton Library, the town’s independent volunteer-run library, will be open from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Come by to use the WiFi or just to get out of the heat.

• Town offices will be open until 4 p.m. today.

• If you haven’t heard, the Boston Pops 4th of July concert and fireworks show has been moved to today, July 3, to avoid any impact from Tropical Storm Arthur.

What to Do Today: Happy Midpoint! Drop-In Crafts at the Library

By Leave a Comment

• July 2 is the midpoint of a common year because there are 182 days before and 182 days after it in common years. The exact time of the middle of the year is at noon. 

• The Belmont Public Library is providing two one-on-one Digital Library Help session on Wednesday, July 2 from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the Reference Room. Learn how to download eBooks from the library and set up a device. Get started with Zinio to read free digital magazines. E-mail and Internet basics, social media, or basic computer skills. Registration is required; register online or call 617-993-2870 to register by phone. Some services require downloading an app.  Please come prepared with your Apple ID, Adobe ID, Amazon Account information, or other password and log in information for your device.

• Duplicate Bridge Club meets from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Beech Street Center at 266 Beech St. Every Wednesday the club holds American Contact Bridge League-sanctioned games. All are welcome to play. Cost is $7. Phone: 339-223-6484 for more information.

• The Belmont Public Library will be holding a “Drop-in Crafts for Children” from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Assembly Room. The library provides the supplies, you’ll have all the fun!

Things to Do Today: Lincoln at the Beech, Noon Movies for the Kids, Happy Birthday, Olivia

By Leave a Comment

• Summer Pre-School Story Time will be held at the Benton Library, Belmont’s independent and volunteer run library, at 10:30 a.m. Stories and crafts for children age 3 to 5. Parents or caregivers must attend. Siblings may attend with adults. Registration is not required. The Benton Library is located at the intersection of Oakley and Old Middlesex.

• It’s the return of Belmont Public Library’s Summer Noon Movies for Children. Join the staff of the Children’s Room for the following short films at noon (that’s why they are called “Noon Movies”) in the library’s Assembly Room:

  •    Is Your Mama a Llama?
  •    Changes, Changes
  •    Happy Birthday Moon
  •    Cat & Canary
  •    Chrysanthemum
  •    Monty

• What better way to usher in Independence Day by reflecting on one of the most famous speeches in American history with Belmont’s Al Smith who is an expert on the war, a valued speaker in venues around the country and has founded or been a charter member of many Civil War roundtables in Massachusetts. The special talk, “Abraham Lincoln: New Reflections on the Gettysburg Address,” will take place at 1:15 p.m. at the Beech Street Center. This free event is open to everyone in the community.

• The Belmont Public Library is providing one-on-one Digital Library Help session today from 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Reference Room. Learn how to download eBooks from the library and set up a device. Get started with Zinio to read free digital magazines. E-mail and Internet basics, social media, or basic computer skills. Registration is required; register online or call 617-993-2870 to register by phone. Some services require downloading an app.  Please come prepared with your Apple ID, Adobe ID, Amazon Account information, or other password and log in information for your device.

• Gentle Yoga, a great way to end the work day, begins today and runs on continuous Tuesday from 5:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. through Sept. 2. at the Beech Street Center. This is a non-Council on Aging evening class that is open to all ages in Belmont. The cost is $15 per session or $130 for 10 sessions.

• Today is the birthday of actress Olivia de Havilland who turns 98. Her younger sister (by a year) actress Joan Fontaine, died last year. She is one of the last living actors/actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood.