Volunteer Around Portland - November 2010

Welcome to this installment of  Volunteer Around Portland, a somewhat regular series that takes a quick look at some volunteer opportunities in the Greater Portland area. Here are some that caught my eye:

LearningWorks After-school Volunteer - Link - LearningWorks is a great organization that serves young children, at-risk youth, and low-income families in Androscoggin, York, and Cumberland counties. They are looking for volunteers to work with schoolchildren in their branch on Brackett Street. 

Volunteer Walking Tour Guides - Link - Greater Portland Landmarks is accepting volunteers to provide tours in the summer and fall seasons in the following areas: Homes of Portland's Golden Age (State Street and High Street), Old Port Tour, East End/Munjoy Hill Neighborhood. 

Senior Housing Community Volunteers - Link - Seventy-Five State Street is a vibrant community for the elderly in downtown Portland and they would be happy to have a few new volunteers to assist with various activities. 

Polar Express Help - Link - The holidays are fast approaching. This annual event at the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad is looking for storytellers, actors, food service help, gift shop assistance, decoration, technical assistants, and more.

And as always, check out idealist.org, volunterrmaine.org, or just do a Google search for volunteer opportunities.

Missiles over Portland?!

I think I captured a missile on camera this morning! First in Los Angeles and now in Portland, these are dangerous days. This object in the sky clearly can not be identified. I left messages with the local Coast Guard branch and the FBI but they have not returned my calls yet. I will keep you updated on the situation. So far, all signs point to this object as being a missile of some sort.

A closer look at the missile: 

Something To Do: Southworth Planetarium

This post is filed under the label "Something To Do." Every now and then I may post about something which can be done in Portland. Today's thing to do is to visit the Southworth Planetarium, on the USM campus. Although it doesn't look like much from the outside, it is a reputable place inside and as far as I know it is the only planetarium in Portland. It has been with us since 1969 and attracts over 18,000 visitors a year. With a variety of programming for children and adults, it's an affordable place to go. Check out their website for more info.

Tree Watch Thursday

This tree is in Deering Oaks, so I assume it is an Oak Tree. It's harder to tell without any leaves to look at. 

Happy Veteran's Day to our country's service members and families. The PPH has a list of local Veteran's Day related events. 

I have an interest in urban development, so here are some recent (within the last few weeks) photos of the construction project at the former Jordan's Meats site. This will be a 122-room Hampton Inn Hotel and there will be some condominiums on the top floor. The Sebago Brewing Company restaurant will be moving in on the ground floor from their current location down the street. This building has been going up fast, and I believe it is topped-out in these photos. Expected completion date is by summer 2011.

Also, for anyone interested, you may have seen the widget on the right side of the page for the Portland Daily Photo facebook page, feel free to 'like' it if you like it. I also have a twitter account here which is used mainly to tweet a link to each of my daily photo posts (it tweets automatically whenever I post). 

Buy Local - Katie Made Bakery

Today's Buy Local pick is Katie Made Bakery at 147 Cumberland Ave.

Reconstruction

It's always nice to see an old building like this being renovated, as opposed to torn down.

Edit - This is a picture of the building I took in June...

Windshield Reflections

This is an ugly parking garage, but I like the reflections from the cars inside. Looks kind of artistic.

Look towards the Leaves

View from the Top

Familiar Scenes

I've been trying to get some autumn-themed photos before it becomes winter. Here are a few from Deering Oaks recently:

Carry the News