Category: All About Newton

News, events, children’s activities in Newton, MA.

Anyone Can Cook Cooking Class!

Anyone Can Learn to Cook Cooking Class!

Chef Paul Turano Hosts Approachable Cooking Class at the Boston Center for Adult Education

WHAT:            On Monday, October 27^th, 2014 Chef/Owner Paul Turano of Cook located in Newton, MA will join the Boston Center for Adult Education (BCAE) for a one session cooking class, “Anyone Can Cook” from 6:00 PM-9:00 PM.

The award-winning restaurateur is known for his approachable dishes, and in this class he will show students that not only can anyone enjoy food, anyone can cook it! This class will eliminate the intimidation factor that is often seen in this new dining culture, offering students the chance to enjoy whipping up fun and unpretentious dishes sure to wow friends and family.

Students must register for classes online or call the Boston Center for Adult Education at 617-267-4430.

WHERE:          Boston Center for Adult Education, 122 Arlington Street, Boston, MA, 02116

WHEN:            Monday, October 27^th, 2014, 6:00PM – 9:00PM

COST:              $70 for non-members/ $60 for members/ $15 materials

RSVP:           Registration is necessary. Please visit www.bcae.org or call the BCAE at 617-267-4430 to sign up!

October 23, 2014
Newton’s Fall Fling at Temple Shalom

Newton’s Fall Fling event, which takes place this year on Thursday, November 13 from 6:30 – 9:30 pm at Temple Shalom.

Temple Shalom
175 Temple Street
Newton

Cost: $40 general admission, $75 patron, $150 benefactor.

This fun girl’s night out is an annual event and our largest fundraiser of the year for the temple’s sisterhood. The theme of the Fall Fling is an evening of indulgences – with a strong focus on shopping, along with other fun ways to splurge, such as mini spa services (reflexology, manicures, massage, etc), a champagne tasting and candy bar.

We have a FABULOUS line up of vendors – featuring clothing & accessories, jewelry, bags, personalized items, home decor, holiday gifts and more – if you want to get a jump start on holiday shopping or treat yourself to something fun.

Heavy hors d’oeuvres and dessert will be served throughout the evening, along with plenty of wine! There will also be a silent auction with fantastic items and gift certificates donated by local businesses.

This year, the Sisterhood has selected Birthday Wishes of Newton as a recipient of proceeds from our auction. Birthday Wishes brings birthday parties to thousands of homeless children each year.

Register for the event here. Flyer Fall Fling 2014 Invitation.

October 22, 2014
Newton: #8 Smartest Suburb in Country
Newton is one of the smartest suburbs in the country! I grew up in Seal Beach, California and that made #9! I’m feeling very intelligent today!

Here are the 10 smartest suburbs in America:

1. Santa Monica, CA
2. Evanston, IL
3. Berkeley, CA
4. Cambridge, MA
5. Towson, MD
6. Cupertino, CA
7. Scottsdale, AZ
8. Newton, MA
9. Seal Beach, CA
10. Alameda, CA

#8 Newton, Massachusetts

Source: Flickr user Daniel J. Sierdaski

Of all of the suburbs we looked at, this one had the very highest percentage of residents with bachelor’s degrees or higher: 75.04 percent. That’s almost three times the national average.

This city isn’t just impressive at the college level—it also scored well for its public schools, with a rating of nine out of 10, and, with a 95 percent high school graduation rate, ranked the ninth best in this category.

#9 Seal Beach, California

Seal Beach is yet another suburb disproving any stereotypes that you thought might be true about Southern California. Well, at least as far as intelligence goes.

Tied with our other California city, Cupertino, schools in Seal Beach had the highest ranking from GreatSchools.org, a perfect 10.

Locals probably spend all of their time studying it up in one of the city’s public libraries, for which it ranked fifth most per capita. No, just kidding, they’re probably all at the beach—just instead of Cosmo, they’re reading Chaucer.

Methodology

Movoto started by collecting data for 109 different suburbs using business listings, Greatschools.org, and the U.S. Census American Community Survey. Then, they ranked them from one to 109 in the following criteria:
- Colleges and universities per capita
- Public libraries per capita
- Museums per capita
- Percentage of students with bachelor’s degrees or higher
- High school graduation rate
- GreatSchools.org rating (based on test scores for the area)
They averaged these rankings into one overall Big Deal Score, where the lowest score was the best and brightest suburb, none other than Santa Monica.

If you’re curious about how they defined a suburb, they considered any large population center near one of the nation’s 50 largest cities, but also factored in whether or not the place was called a suburb on Wikipedia, in the list of inner-ring suburbs, or in any official capacity.
October 21, 2014
Beth Caruso from Perkins School Speaking

Beth Caruso, Director of Outreach Services at Perkin’s School for the Blind, will speak at The Rotary Club of Newton on Tuesday, October 21, 2014 at the Braeburn Country Club. Join us for lunch at noon followed by Ms. Caruso’s presentation. All are welcome to attend Rotary! We do ask that you pre-register. Please email Susan at RotaryNewtonMa@gmail.com.

Beth Caruso is the Assistant Director of Community Programs at Perkins School for the Blind. Community Programs connects the Perkins campus with the community through creative and personalized services. They offer individuals of all ages, families and professionals opportunities to gain skills, increase self-esteem and experience personal growth through education, assessments, training and support.

Community Programs include Outreach Short Courses for Students, The New England Eye Low Vision Clinic at Perkins, Transition Services, Community Living Services for 6 adults, Educational Partnerships- Itinerant TVI, O&M & Db services and Early Intervention Services.

October 19, 2014
Elmo Demonstrates The Right Way To Point Out Someone’s Skin Color

Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o has a lesson for kids of every shade.

Watch Elmo Demonstrate The Right Way To Point Out Someone’s Skin Color

October 18, 2014
Rabies Alert in West Newton from Raccoon
The following is from the City of Newton:

A raccoon captured on September 11, 2014 has tested positive for rabies. The raccoon was found near the Auburndale Ave entrance of the Dolan Pond conservation area in West Newton. If you, or your pet, may have had an encounter with a raccoon in this area on or around the above date, please contact the Massachusetts Epidemiology Program at (617) 983-6800 or the Newton Health & Human Services Department at (617) 796-1420.

Rabies is a very serious viral disease that affects the brain and spinal cord of mammals. The virus is spread when an animal with rabies bites or comes into salivary contact with another animal or person. The virus can also spread if the affected animal’s saliva gets into a scratch or other wound, or the eyes, nose or mouth of another person or animal.

Newton residents who live around or regularly visit the Dolan Pond Conservation Area should ensure that their household pets have been recently immunized against the rabies virus. If pets have not been recently vaccinated, please ensure that they are vaccinated with the rabies booster as soon as possible to prevent the virus from spreading. For more information, please refer to the following tips, courtesy of the Massachusetts Division of Animal Health.

If you are bitten or scratched by an animal:
- Wash the wound with soap and water right away for ten minutes.
- Call your health care provider or local board of health. They can help you determine if you need to be treated for a rabies exposure.
- If your pet is bitten or scratched by another animal:
- Call your veterinarian to help you determine if the animal needs medical attention.
- In some cases, it may be necessary to confine your animal and watch it to see if it develops signs of rabies. Animal Control can help you determine if this is necessary (617-796-2109)
- How can you prevent rabies in Massachusetts?
- Teach children to never approach animals they don’t know – even if they appear friendly.
- Report any animal that behaves oddly to your local animal control official.
- Enjoy wild animals from a distance. Do not keep wild animals as pets. This is against the law in
- Massachusetts.
- Make sure your pets are vaccinated against rabies. By law, all dogs, cats and ferrets must be regularly vaccinated against rabies.
- Don’t feed or water your pets outside. Even empty bowls will attract wild and stray animals.
- Keep your pets in a fenced yard or on a leash, and do not let them roam freely.
- Keep your garbage securely covered. Open garbage will attract wild or stray animals.
- Keep your chimney capped and repair holes in attics, cellars, and porches to help keep wild animals like bats and raccoons out of your home.
Photo credit: Catsbow via Flickr
October 17, 2014
Hidden BoxART in Chestnut Hill

Unless you go into the FedEx parking lot off Route 9 in Chestnut Hill where our Orthodontist is, you probably missed this BoxART piece.

October 16, 2014
Watering Plants Through Fall (Advice from Mahoney’s )
This is not typically the time of year we think of drought. We usually talk about drought in months of July and August, but this fall has been extremely dry. In the month of September some areas in Massachusetts have received as little as 5% of their normal rainfall. Some areas are worse than others but we are all at the point of drought stress affecting both new plantings and even established plants.

Watering through fall prevents winterkill

On sunny days moisture evaporates from plants’ foliage. In the winter plants can’t take moisture in through their roots to rehydrate the foliage because the ground is frozen. When spring rolls around, the leaves turn brown and the plant can’t recover, this is known as winterkill.
By thoroughly watering your trees and shrubs until the ground freezes, your plants are more prepared to deal with the moisture loss that occurs during the winter. Plants like holly, azaleas, rhododendrons, and andromeda are most susceptible to winterkill because they have relatively larger leaves, and more surface area for evaporation to occur.

When we have an especially dry fall like we’re experiencing this year, winter damage is typically worse in the spring since the leaves have retained less water to being with. So please do your plants a favor and give them the water that they’ll need to survive the winter.

Tips for watering efficiently

To get the greatest benefit from the water used, it’s best to apply water at a trickle over a long period of time. The goal is to let the water seep down into the soil and saturate the area around the roots.

What you should do
- If you have a large area it’s best to use a soaker hose, or to section it off and concentrate on those areas individually.
- For individual plants it’s best to remove the nozzle and place the end of the hose at the base of the plant with the water trickling slow enough to prevent it from running off.
- Use mulch around all planted areas to prevent evaporation from the soil surface.
What you should not do
- Do not rely on lawn sprinkler systems to water trees and shrubs. They are designed to only moisten the top couple inches of soil.
- Do not spray water at the plant with a nozzle. This will cause the water to run off, spread across the surface, and not reach the root system where water is absorbed.
More tips on watering from Mahoney’s here.
October 15, 2014
1538 Beacon Street House For Sale

My friend Veronica is the developer for this beautiful 6 bedroom, 6.5 bathroom new construction house.

She designed a house that takes into account what families need including play spaces, au pair suite, mud room, exercise room as well as spaces with versatility. It also has curb appeal!

This parlor space is off the entryway.

The house then opens up to a great room with a living room, dining room and kitchen all flowing seamlessly.

There are two dining areas in the great room with makes it a great entertaining space.

There is even a Butler’s Pantry off the great room!

The first floor also has a bedroom with bathroom that can also be used as a office.

This 6000 square foot house boasts 6.5 bathrooms! Here are a few of them!

There is a spacious master suite with his and her walk in closets.

For more information, go here.

October 14, 2014
Newton Best City to Live In by 24/7 Wall Street

What are the top ten cities to live in according to 24/7 Wall Street?

1. Newton, Massachusetts

2. Bellevue, Washington

3. Mountain View, California

4. Pleasanton, California

5. Evanston, Illinois

6. Irvine, California

7. Troy, Michigan

8. Cary, North Carolina

9. Flower Mound, Texas

10. Johns Creek, Georgia

… the list goes up to Top 50 here.

1. Newton, Massachusetts

> Median household income: $125,642
> Unemployment rate, 2013: 4.80%
> Median home value: $689,900

> Violent crime per 100,000 residents: 87.6
> Average commuter travel time: 26.4 minutes

A suburb of Boston, Newton is 24/7 Wall St.’s best city to live in. Crime rates were just a fraction of national figures in 2012. And while total employment rose only 0.5% between 2011 and 2013, the city’s unemployment rate remained below 5% during the same period.

Students have access to excellent schools. While nearly half of all school-age residents attended private schools, test scores in Newton’s public schools were far better than public schools across the state. Additionally, more than three-quarters of residents 25 and over had a bachelor’s degree, the second-highest rate in the country. Residents of Middlesex County, where Newton is located, can take advantage of 49 golf courses, nearly 3,000 restaurants, 24 museums and three ski resorts in their free time.

Living in Newton costs more than living in most of the United States, and more than most places in Massachusetts for that matter. This may explain may explain why it had the highest median income of any large city, at over $125,000.

METHODOLOGY

To determine the best cities to live in, 24/7 Wall St. identified the 550 cities that the U.S. Census Bureau reported as having more than 65,000 residents in 2012. Data were collected in seven major categories: crime, economy, education, housing, environment, leisure, and infrastructure.

Within each category, specific data points contributed to category ranking. For example, the economy category included median household income, cost of living, employment growth between 2011 and 2013, and the 2013 unemployment rate.

October 13, 2014