Around Town
Holly Highlights and Winter Greenery
Morris Arboretum will offer a Holly Highlights and Winter Greenery Tour Saturdays, Dec. 22 and Jan. 12 and 26, at 2 p.m.
Join a guide to explore the arboretum’s collection of hollies and other broadleaf evergreens that enliven the winter landscape.
Tours are included with garden admission. Registration is not required. Tours begin at the Widener Visitor Center.
Morris Arboretum is located at 100 E. Northwestern Ave., Chestnut Hill.
Winter Community Classes
North Light Community Center, 175 Green Lane, Manayunk, will offer the following community classes this winter:
• Seido Karate with Senpai Lizzy McLellan Ravitch and Senpai Greg Burton: Tuesday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 to 10 a.m. Monthly session runs Jan. 5 to 26. Participants may try the first class before registering. Seido is traditional Japanese karate for students of all ability levels. Enhance physical abilities, build strength and learn useful self-defense techniques in a class setting emphasing discipline, respect and moral character. Open to adults and children ages 7 and up. Cost: Tuesdays only or Saturdays only $40; two family members for Tuesdays only or Saturdays only $70; Tuesdays and Saturdays $70; Two family members for Tuesdays and Saturdays: $130.
• Ballet Barre Plus with Renée Banson: Saturday mornings, Jan. 5 to 26, from 10:30 to 11:15 a.m. This class is geared toward beginners but will be a good workout for more advanced dancers as well. The class begins with a pre-barre warmup followed by a full ballet barre and small jumps and ends with barre and floor stretching. Cost: four classes for $50.
• Cartooning Class for Children with Nate Walker: Wednesday evenings, Jan. 9 to 30, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Students will use acrylic paint on canvas and apply a finishing gloss to their completed works on landscapes, pets, people, pop culture icons and more. For ages 8 to 15. Cost: $60 per four-week session.
• Let’s Dance! Put on Your Red Shoes … with Renée Banson: Wednesday evenings, Jan. 9 to 30, from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. With movements derived from jazz, modern music, ballet and musical theater, each class starts with a beginner 20-minute warmup and thera-bands for resistance training. Let’s Dance! is geared toward 55-plus folks, but all are welcome. Cost: four classes for $50.
Those interested can register online for any of the classes at northlightcommunitycenter.org.
Ceramics Class
Journey’s Way, Resources & Programs for People 55+, 403 Rector St., Roxborough, will offer a ceramics clay handbuilding class for beginners and beyond.
Michael Zerbe, a local artisan, will teach this 10week workshop.
The class will meet on Tuesday afternoons, Jan. 8 through March 12, from 2 to 3:30 p.m.
There is a fee for this class, and registration is required.
For more information, call 215-487-1750.
Winter Landscape Design Symposium
The 30th annual New Directions in the American Landscape Design Symposium will be held Jan. 10 and 11 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell.
This year’s title and emphasis, Ecology-Based Landscape Design: What Comes Next?, will illustrate how an expanded definition of “ecological design” — including contributions from garden history, agroecology, anthropology, social justice, art and, of course, the ecological sciences — can yield environmentally sound, yet culturally connected landscapes. Featured speakers will represent a select group of landscape architects and designers who are creating places that effectively and consistently connect people and nature. Appropriate for landscape professionals as well as tree and native landscape enthusiasts, this conference also will offer continuing education units for landscape architects.
This symposium is sponsored by Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, Connecticut College Arboretum and New Directions in the American Landscape developed by Larry Weaner Landscape Associates.
Payment and registration required.
For more information and to register, go to bit.ly/MorrisConferences or call 215-247-5777 ext. 125.
Civic Association Meetings
• The Manayunk Neighborhood Council meets the first Wednesday of the month at 7:30 p.m. at the Venice Island Performing Arts Center, 7 Lock St. Manayunk.
• The Central Roxborough Civic Association meets the first Thursday of the month at 7:30 p.m. at Leverington Presbyterian Church, 6301 Ridge Ave., Roxborough.
• The East Falls Community Council meets the second Monday of the month at 7 p.m. at East Falls Presbyterian Church, 3800 Vaux St., East Falls.
• The Wissahickon Neighbors Civic Association meets the second Monday of the month at 7:30 p.m. at Pilgrim Church, 3158 Terrace St., Manayunk.
• The Ridge Park Civic Association meets the second Tuesday of the month in March, June, September and December at 7 p.m. at the Fifth District Police Station, 6666 Ridge Ave., Roxborough.
• The Upper Roxborough Civic Association meets the second Wednesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at Roxborough Presbyterian Church, 8230 Ridge Ave., Roxborough.
• The Wissahickon Interested Citizens Association meets the second Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. at Northern Children’s Services, 5301 Ridge Ave., Wissahickon.
• East Falls Forward meets the third Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at BuLogics/StatIS, 3721 Midvale Ave., East Falls. A free community happy hour precedes the meeting, which starts at 7:30 p.m.
Journey’s Way Programs
Journey’s Way, Resources & Programs for People 55+, a division of Intercommunity Action Inc., invites community members to visit the Center located at 403 Rector St.
Journey’s Way offers a wide array of programs for personal growth, fitness, education, creative expression, volunteering, plus information, resources and social services if needed. Participants can register for lunch if they are 60plus, and transportation can be arranged if they are 65-plus. Many services and activities are free and donations and fees for classes are affordable.
For further information, call 215-487-1750.
Senior Citizens Dinner
Join your neighbors every Wednesday evening from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Roxborough Memorial Hospital Cafeteria for a $5 meal and a visit with friends.
James Turrell Skyspace
The James Turrell Skyspace at Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting is open to the public every Sunday evening.
This Skyspace displays subtly evolving colored light washing a vaulted ceiling around a rectangular opening to the fading twilight sky directly over head.
The program starts 10 minutes before sunset.
Seating is limited. To reserve a place and find the start time for specific dates, check TicketLeap.com and search for Skyspace.
The Skyspace is located at 20 E. Mermaid Lane in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia.
For comfortable viewing, guests are encouraged to bring yoga mats and cushions to lie on the floor or prop their heads up while sitting on the benches.
Well Spouse Support Group
A new Well Spouse support group meeting the fourth Tuesday of each month from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Center on the Hill at the Presbyterian Church, 8855 Germantown Ave., Chestnut Hill.
Facilitators for the group are Fern Zeigler, Claire Salvi and David Hale. All have many years of spousal caregiving. All care about helping the caregiver.
When one is ill, two need help. When a person gets a diagnosis of a disease or becomes physically disabled, their spouse/partner is there to help, but who is there to help the “caregiver”? This can be a lonely and sometimes overwhelming and frightening pursuit for the “well spouse/partner.”
When someone becomes a caregiver for their spouse or partner, their life changes. What were once shared activities/responsibilities begin to fall more and more on the caregiver. Meals, shopping, laundry, cleaning, child care and financial matters are just a few of the things the caregiver may begin to carry alone. Vacation plans and dreams inevitably change. Friends may disappear. Family may not be as available as one would hope. Some level of depression may occur.
One form of self-help is a support group. This is a group of people who face similar problems. It is a place of respite and even laughter, a place where you are truly understood and you don’t have to explain yourself. It is also a place for sharing of resources and ways to care for self.
For more information, contact Fern Zeigler at 484-686-7689 or fernzeigler@gmail.com or Claire
To submit your community event for inclusion in Around Town, email edi-torial@montgomerynews.com.
Salvi at 215-407-5567.
Andorra Library Programs
Information:
The Andorra branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia is located at 705 E Cathedral Road, Roxborough. The library is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Mondays and Wednesdays; noon to 8 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; closed Sundays. For more information, visit freelibrary.org/locations/ andorra-library. Preschool Storytime:
The Andorra library hosts a regular drop-in preschool storytime on Wednesday mornings at 10:30 a.m.
Kids Yoga: Thursdays at 4:45 p.m. Stretch, bend and pose with us. Wear comfortable clothing (and if you happen to have a yoga mat, feel free to bring it).
LEGO Club: Work on the building assignment, check out a project in one of our many Lego books or let your imagination soar and build a creation all your own on Fridays from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. For school-age children (the youngest children should be accompanied by an adult).