From a spot on Route 211 in Otisville, you can look north into the heart of the Catskills.

“Grapes and the Gunks” plein air painting at Phillies Bridge Farm, Gardiner, NY.

By Shawn Dell Joyce
Here are a few low-tech ways from around the world to keep cool this summer without adding more carbon to the problem of climate change.

By Michael Kaufman
An Olympic champion asks us to send our unwanted and broken gold jewelry to a company in Cleveland. And world-class athletes seek their fortune trying to motivate others to achieve success.

Photography by Rich Gigli
A Boy’s Best Friend

By Michael Kaufman
Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon in 1969 and, after some not-so-maginficent years of desolation, is now doing very well for himself.

By Bob Gaydos
In a stroke of irony no mere mortal could conjure, Amazon.com deleted thousands of digital copies of “1984” from customers’ Kindles. George Orwell’s novel was about Big Brother controlling people’s thoughts and deciding what was and was not history. So far, we’re pretty certain the book did exist and that Amazon can’t hold a Kindle (sorry) to Orwell.

By Beth Quinn
Let me begin by saying that nuns are really none of my business.
Anything the Catholic Church does is none of my business, really, because I left it years ago, over a dog of all things. A nun told me my dead dog couldn’t go to heaven. Even so, I have a few things to say on behalf of nuns today because the Vatican is gunning for them.

By Jeffrey Page
Of course, prosecutors want convictions but their real job is to seek justice. Someone please inform the Manhattan D.A.

By Carrie Jacobson
When summer finally showed up this year, it came in a lovely, pure breeze of heat and sun, bright days and blue shadows.