I didn't make it over to Prospect Park on this insufferably hot and humid day, because I took a table at our local street fair, the "Flatbush Frolic," to roll out the cover of the "Prospect: A Year in the Park" 2009 calendar! Lots of folks stopped by to sign up for first dibs just as soon as I get a price finalized and PayPal up and running. You can, too; just e-mail me at "brenda (at) tenthleper.us" to receive full (and very easy) ordering information within a week or so. Delivery by December 1*, just in time to send to all your out-of-town relatives who ask "Why did you move to Brooklyn?" (They'll be gobsmacked at your good judgment.)
It's going to be gorgeous...bookstore-quality, 12-month, saddle-bound, full-color, 12-month gorgeous, with shots from the blog (which ones? I can't wait to surprise you), along with some archivey goodness and Brooklyn trivia. (And dogs. Visitors to my table today were very clear about wanting dogs in there. Could there be a market for a Greenmarket Dog of the Week engagement calendar? Hmm!)
* If you are wondering how it can be a "year" in the park if production has to start before December, (a) you are too clever for your own good, and (b) I have a few tricks up my sleeve, which may or may not involve a Tardis.
GRATUITOUS PLUG FOR SOMEONE ELSE'S COOL THING
The Brooklyn Historical Society was also at the Frolic today, hot off the presses with their latest publication, a Flatbush Neighborhood History Guide. (It's not yet up on their website to order, but surely will be soon.) Skimming it, I already found a nice tidbit combining two of my favorite things, Prospect Park and the Irish:
The presence of a large number of Irish immigrants from County Donegal
attracted others to come to Flatbush in the 1930s through the 1950s. John Ridge,
the Irish historian of Flatbush, described Irish families gathering on weekends
in Prospect Park to picnic and play “Irish” football
on a small hill in the northern section of the park that they coined “Donegal
Hill.”
I've never heard of Mr. Ridge or Donegal Hill before. Maybe that is because my grandfather was from County Waterford.
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