Nature Playground Coming to Weaver Park

City commissioners accepted a $200,000 check from the Dunedin Youth Guild for a future nature-themed playground at J.C. Weaver Park during Thursday's public hearing at City Hall.

Women from the Dunedin Youth Guild delivered a giant $200,000 check Thursday for a nature-themed playground coming to Weaver Park this summer. The playground will blend into the natural surroundings at J.C. Weaver Park, because all of its parts will "look like real pieces of nature," said Lanie Sheets, parks and recreation superintendant, at the Feb. 7 public hearing at City Hall. It will be built to reflect the trees, ants, caterpillars and butterflies that tend to capture children's imaginations. The surface underneath will be artificial grass. Artifical tree trunks will be used for a natural look, and children will even have "giant bird eggs to spin around in," Sheets said. It is also to be designed with accessibility in mind for …

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Weaver Park Playground Idea Receives Up to $200,000 Donation

City commissioners will weigh on accepting funds from the Dunedin Youth Guild for a future nature-themed playground at J.C. Weaver Park during Thursday's public hearing at City Hall.

A proposed playground at Dunedin's J.C. Weaver Park would be built to reflect the trees, ants, caterpillars and butterflies that capture children's imaginations. It would be designed with accessibility in mind for all disabilities. It would also have colorful, child-friendly signs teaching kids about the environment, and it blends into its natural surroundings, the city says.  And the Dunedin Youth Guild is ready to donate up to $200,000 to make it happen, according to Vince Gizzi, parks and recreation director. City leaders will weigh in on accepting the large donation Thursday, Feb. 7, at City Hall. According to city documents, the Dunedin Youth Guild received a large donation from Tom and Nan Moffatt and was looking for a project it saw…

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Last Call for Pinellas Magnet, Fundamental, Career Program Applications

The application period to enroll your student at a magnet, fundamental or career academy program is Wednesday, Jan. 23. Pinellas County Schools is offering hands-on help all day Tuesday at its central office in Largo.

Parents, Wednesday is the deadline to submit applications to get your child into a Pinellas County magnet, fundamental or career academy program. The school district is offering hands-on help all day Tuesday for parents who may need hands-on assistance, according to a Pinellas County Schools news release.  Drop by the Pinellas County Schools' Student Assignment Office, 301 4th St SW, Largo, between 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Parents may also call the office at 727-588-6210.  The deadline to submit applications is Wednesday, Jan. 23. For more information visit the Pinellas County Schools website at www.pcsb.org. Parents, does your child's school have great teachers? A welcoming atmosphere? Stellar community involvement? Help connect other …

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'It Takes A Village' for Nursing Bartender at Rosie's

It never occurred to Rosie's Tavern bartender Dawn Carney Catacchio not to nurse her newborn daughter. And with lots of help from the Rosie's sisterhood, Catacchio is able to make it happen.

New visitors at Rosie’s Tavern would never know the careful choreography behind their bartender's break schedule. "It's not like I'm taking a 20-minute smoke break," Dawn Catacchio, 36, joked while tending bar on a recent Tuesday afternoon. Catacchio actually carefully schedules her breaks so she can slip into the storage closet for much-needed "BR," or breast relief. "You have to have a sense of humor about it," she said. Owner Julie Brown said that although she has no kids of her own, it was a "no-brainer" to ensure Catacchio, a first-time mother, had a private, quiet place to use a breast pump to nurse when she returned from maternity leave. "It just happened so naturally," Brown explained. "It was just a no-brainer. When you got a good…

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Pen Name Jane

How to Stop the Cycle of Yelling

This mother learns two tricks that help her attempt to learn from her loud mistakes.

My children were about to get into the bath. My husband had to work late, and I just wanted this long month, long week, and long day to be over. With the water running, I felt like I had hit the home stretch. It was thundering outside and my son kept whimpering at each rumble, a high-pitched mouse whine, a noise that could be awarded “No. 1 Most Annoying in the World!” “Thunder scares me,” he squeaked, not moving toward the tub. His innocuous comment shriveled my ego like it had been hit by an ACME Shrink Ray gun; it diminished me until I was smaller than my son. I was insulted. “I’m right here,” I said, letting out a long sigh of exasperation. My tiny pre school-sized ego was offended that he didn’t feel like I could keep him safe in a …

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Pen Name Jane

Stay-At-Home Mom is Not the Hardest Job in the World

Just because motherhood is hard doesn't mean it's a career — after all, there's no retirement, and the pay is terrible — so stop comparing it to other jobs.

Oprah used to state — when the subject came up — that stay-at-home mom was the hardest job in the world. Each time those words left her mouth, it felt, to me, insincere, like she knew she had to say them but what she wanted to say was, “Seriously? I work 18 hours a day, I run a zillion businesses, I own a school and I’m responsible for hundreds of people’s livelihoods, and someone who is home, at this very moment, watching TV, in the MIDDLE of the day, has the hardest job in the world?” And one of her employees, with a mic on their head and a clipboard in their hands, would say, “Remember who your audience is.” And Oprah would sigh and repeat the words. Those words “the hardest job in the world” feel disingenuous to me no matter whose …

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Pen Name Jane

Sleeping Next to the Monster With Yellow Teeth

Pen Name Jane peeks behind the curtains of a household with a new baby.

Oh, what a special time! You’re pregnant with your first child, and you and your husband are so proud. You can’t drink anymore, but that’s fine. It’s worth it, right? Your husband still can. So he does, and he goes out to bars. And for a while you go with him and everyone loves having you around because you’re the designated driver. But you quickly realize that drunk people are boring and it is only temporarily amusing to say to yourself, look, this guy is so drunk he is telling the same story again. You try to talk to anyone, but they are all happily enraptured in the retelling, like kids who can’t have enough of the same storybook (but you don’t know about that yet). So you just roll your eyes and decide: OK, you’re ready to drive …

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Katie Dolac

12:53 pm on Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Hmmm .... Sounds a lot like being a Patch editor.   more ›

Pen Name Jane

50 Shades of Red, White and Flu

Pen Name Jane mixes a fever with the Summer Olympics and the fastest-selling paperback of all time.

Have you ever had one of those days where you ask one of your friends how their week was and they say, “fine”? And then they ask how your week was and you say, “Holy crap, I met this billionaire and he really liked me but then he made me sign this DNR contract, which I thought meant do not resuscitate, but really it meant I couldn’t talk about him. So I really shouldn’t be talking to you about him, but seriously it was so exciting and a little scary, but then we broke up.” And then, after you’re all out of breath from telling your friend about your thrilling week, you realize it was only a book that you read, and that, no, you hadn’t really done anything interesting in a long time. And your friend admits, “Yeah, I read that book, too.” And…

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Pen Name Jane

For Better and Four Verse: How to Forget Your Spouse's Flaws

Pen Name Jane waxes pathetic on marriage and Green Eggs and Ham.

Marriage Vows for Her. By Rev. Seuss Will you love his dirty socks? Will you love his midnight talks?   Will you love his cans of beer, that he leaves both far and near? Do you love him as you wish, or will you hate each dirty dish? Do you love him here and there? Even in white underwear?   Marriage Vows for Him. Will you love those perky breasts, when upon her knees they rest? Will you love her cranky tone, and not wish to be alone? Will you love her squishy thighs, and put up with those pouty cries? Do you love her here and there?  Even in huge underwear?   I have to admit I haven’t spent much time writing this week. I have been frantically trying to spend fun time with my husband. Seems like everyone’s marriage is going down the pooper…

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Pen Name Jane

You Shouldn’t be Your Chicken’s Friend

How much should we teach our children about where their food comes from?

My younger brother got chickens recently, to have fresh eggs, to enrich his children’s knowledge of animals, and to inadvertently teach them about life and death. He started with six chicks. The first two were killed by a loose neighborhood dog. A third one died a few days later, either from sadness or internal injuries. Then one was eaten by a hawk or an owl. Besides the heartbreak of losing the chicks, my brother said it was a solemn experience the first time they ate chicken after that. “Maybe you shouldn’t be your chicken’s friend,” he lamented. His comment reminded me of a Brazilian friend I had in high school. Back then we called all our girl friends chicks. She’s this cool chick I know. My friend’s mother, with a complete lack of …

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