Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory, the sun is just up and it looks like it’s going to be a gorgeous day. The forecast calls for it to be partly sunny with a high of 75. Tonight will be partly cloudy with a low of 60.–Accuweather

We turn now, a day late (and possibly a dollar short) due to logistical issues, to our Brooklyn Missed Connection of the week. It takes us to the L Train:

An Old Lady Picked a Fight with You – m4w – 25 (L Train)

You got on the Brooklyn bound L train at 1st Ave. I was trying very hard (and very unsuccessfully) to avoid gawking at you when I noticed some old monster lady giving you shit for what seemed like no reason. While I realize none of this is my business I cant help being curious what happened and more importantly who you are. You were insanely gorgeous.

Anyone fitting the description out there?

Last week, it was reported that P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights is getting an “F” on the city’s school report card. School Principal Seth Phillips has sent a letter to parents: “I would be lying to you if I said that this grade does not hurt, but I also strongly believe that this grade does not reflect the real progress that has taken place at P.S. 8 over the last several years…P.S. 8 is not a failing school. Far from it.” The full city report card is due out tomorrow. It will provide a break from the ongoing meltdown on Wall Street.–CityRoom

This excellent specimen comes via a very Special GL Correspondent. It was found on Grand Street between Graham and Humboldt and we particularly like the way that the darkness and reflections give it the look a sofa in a lounge, albeit a sort of trashy one.

Perhaps you or yours lost a duck rattle in Prospect Park? Well, we know who has it. Here’s the info:

Found at 11 a.m. on Wed. on Wellhouse Drive, 200 yds from lakeside entrance. Rattle is a plush duck, made by Infantino, with thin blue ribbon by head. Bottom part is cylindrical and has multicolored stripes.

Be in touch and we’ll help to hook you up.

Are you a member of our rocking Gowanus Lounge Photo Pool? If not, we do hope you’ll join so that we can feature your pics here. So, get in the pool. We’ll both be glad you did.

[Photo courtesy of ethersong/GL Flickr Pool]

This is VIP parking in the Greater Gowanus Metroplex. We have to say we love it.

And, now, a selection of music coming up this week through Wednesday:

Monday 9/15/08
Union Hall: Lymbyc Systym, This Will Destroy You, Joemca & The Poets (Indie/Electronic) 7:30pm, $8

Jalopy: Country Blues Jam: Bring you fiddle, accordion, banjo, washtub, mandolin, guitar, or maybe even spoons and participate in an open jam session. Free!! 9:30pm

Barbes: Chicha Libre (Latin/Surf/Psychedelic) $10, 9:30pm

Tuesday 9/16/08
Bar 4: Open Mike Night: Hosted by Tanya Buziak, sign up at 8:00pm, 8:30 showtime-Free!!

Wednesday 9/17/08
Jalopy: “Roots n’ Ruckus” w/ C.W. Stoneking & Al Duvall (Folk) Free!!, 9:00pm

Barbes: Ches Smith (Drums)/Mary Halvorson (Guitar) featuring: Jacob Garchik (Trombone) and Thomas Morgan (Bass) (Jazz/Eclectic/Avant-Garde)$10, 8:00pm

We have two words to describe our reaction to this personal ad on the always interesting Craigslist. One of them is holy. And the other is shit. Let’s just say that it’s very, uh, specific, which in the wild world of CL probably means no one will pay attention anyway. Here it is:

SWF who isn’t asking too much – 32 (Caroll Gardens)

I am a single, free-spirted, web-savvy thirtysomething female. Living in the gorgeous Caroll Gardens for the past year, I love life and am only looking for a man who is not an idiotic pig-headed beer-swilling moron (which seems to be hard to find in this city). This is my final plea to the Craigslist community. I own my own internet business which means I don’t get to leave the house much, but I do know the internet and its dating potential. So far it has let me down every single time.

I’ve done MySpace, Facebook, Match.Com, eHarmony, and even Jdate (I’m not Jewish and don’t care about Israel). Don’t get me started on Jdate. But with so many people out there, at least ONE guy can match this. I know he’s out there. My standards are exacting, but they’re not too much to ask. Life is too short to compromise yourself! Here is what I am looking for. It’s not much. If you’re this guy or know this guy, have him contact me right away.

It’s all about the details, friends, and they MUST be seen.

Bedbugs get all the press, but what about that old standby, lice? “We arrived at the Avenue N stop on the F Train, and walked a few blocks to a residence at 306 Avenue N with a sign that read “Head Checks in Back”. Back we went, and were greeted by Dalya Heral, who has over twenty-years in this business. She immediately made us feel at ease as she pointed us down her stairs into the clinic, as she went up stairs to finish cooking breakfast in her home. It felt like someone’s home, because it is. She has an area downstairs specifically to check and treat lice. It is clinical but not off-putting enough to kill the spirits of two boys who, despite being buggy are happy like crazy to be missing school, no matter the reason. When she came down to us, she wrapped the boys in capes, put them in the chairs, and within 10 seconds on Boone, knew he needed treatment. She was a little cautious saying so with Roan, but strongly suggested we comb him out, saying if she didn’t find anything she wouldn’t charge us.”–Pistols and Popcorn

This is a pretty video posted yesterday afternoon to the YouTube showing a time lapse of the Tribute in Light as seen from a rooftop in Wallabout near the Brooklyn Navy Yard. It’s very nice and definitely worth a view.

We have noted the oysters that are cultivated in the Gowanus Canal and studied in the past. There’s even a Gowanus Community Oyster Garden Stewards group that was keeping a blog for a while. Here’s an excerpt of a new story on scienceline that includes our Gowanus oysters:

It’s even stranger when you consider that the oyster was just pulled out of the Gowanus Canal, historically one of the filthiest and most wretched bodies of water in Brooklyn. The four-mile channel has been used as a dumping ground for industrial waste and sewage for most of its 138-year history and was recently noted for harboring the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea. With her hands protected by only a thin layer of white latex, Jackie Godleski, a 47-year-old personal assistant to a music executive and a resident of Brooklyn, pulls a basket full of live oysters out of the canal. She selects one of the small, gray, rock-like mollusks from the hundreds in the clear plastic tub in front of her and begins to scrub it delicately with her little red toothbrush.

“What I normally do, because they have a lot of sediment on them, is I flush the oysters out. I give them a little bit of a shower,” says Godleski from under a profusion of burgundy-red hair that partially obscures her face. “This water is really, really dirty today,” she adds. Godleski’s goal in cleaning the oysters is to aid them in their survival and also to monitor their growth. She wants to determine if oysters can flourish in the canal at all.

They are hearty creatures and actually can do a lot to help clean the water if they’re there in sufficient numbers. Did they really call the Gowanus “wretched”?

Some people have apparently found a way around the high cost of housing in Boerum Hill: sleeping in their car. Here’s an email from the Boerum Hill Group:

about a month or more ago, i noticed two people sleeping in a car outside of my apartment on Dean b/t Hoyt and Bond. They looked as if they hadn’t bathed in a week, and also looked like they’d just nodded off. We were away for the month and came back this week; the woman’s gone, but the guy is still there, sleeping in his car. the car is packed with junk – bottles, etc. has anyone else noticed this??

The car has apparently been around the neighborhood for a while.

Oh, Carroll Gardens, you never disappoint. The issue of 360 Smith Street is very much alive with a hearing coming up about whether the building will be allowed to rise to the planned 70 feet or will get a trim to 55 feet. That decision is in the hands of the obscure, yet powerful, Board of Standards and appeals. In the meantime, there’s a letter writing campaign underway, and the very grassroots sign has appeared on a local tree urging people to call, write and otherwise let their opinions be known about the building

A close-up of the sign, ahead.

The irony of these photos isn’t so much that they show a religious procession on Smith Street, which many Brooklynites now relate to eating and drinking rather than tradition, but that the photos show the procession in front of the neighborhood’s most controversial address, 360 Smith Street. The event is the annual Our Lady of Sorrows procession. The statue itself lives on Court Street. The photos come from a special GL Correspondent. We had pics of the event last year too, along with info about 360 Smith Street which was, again, in the background of the photos.

Park Slope fans might recall the discussion way back about whether there is a Park Slope in other towns like Boston. Well, someone on Park Slope Parents is now asking whether there is a Park Slope in Park Slope or, rather, whether the Park Slope of 25 years ago still exists anywhere:

Hello, A while back there was a very long thread about the “Park Slope of Boston, Park Slope of Philadelphia” etc. Well, I am wondering if there is a Park Slope of 25 years ago. Mainly I am looking for all the wonderful things about Park Slope that exist now (and 25 and so on) years ago, at a lower income bracket! I would also love to hear about neighborhoods that have older people, people with and without children, single people. Anyone know of such a place?

Here’s one response and it involves…Windsor Terrace:

I grew up in Park Slope and could not afford to buy there when we house searched. I lived in a Landmark Townhouse on a name block, so buying my family out was out of the question, so we sold and split in 2005, and we moved to Windsor Terrace. Up here is really like the PS I grew up in and is very close to PS. I spent a lot of time in WT growing up, and know more people here compared to just about no one I knew 25 years ago in PS. We did not have to change my daughter’s PS school, our bank, or really anything after the move. Most of our new friendships developed after my child was born live in South Slope, so I am now closer to them up here than I was in the North Slope. This neighborhood has all the qualities you mentioned and more. Street parking is available also. Real Estate is getting steep, but still way more affordable than PS.

Also, someone mentions Albany. Yes, the one upstate.

[Photo courtesy of Deborah Matlack/Matlack Photography]

This is the mural on Stillwell Avenue that many might recognize if they exit the Stillwell Avenue Station on Coney Island from the side. It is quite large and quite colorful. It comes from GL Contributor Deborah Matlack.

There is a letter writing campaign underway in Carroll Gardens involving 360 Smith Street (which is going to have a hearing in front of the Board of Standards and Appeals) and Council Member Bill de Blasio. Here’s the latest: “”I have followed this process closely for some time. It is clear that the community has the right approach to restraining capricious development. What is more, it therefore obvious that it is the best economic interest of the community as a whole to adhere to the zoning changes that were enacted, and NOT grandfather in Mr. Stein’s design. That was the spur to the initiative, but hardly the only instance of irrational development in the area. If the councilman cannot see fit to serve the interests of his constituents that have been carefully and rationally demonstrated and passed into law, then he should resign his position and go to work for whatever agency or industry that would better serve his ambitions. That seems to have been his history in any case. Steven Hart, Boerum Hill”–GL Inbox

[Photo courtesy of Rubys Host]

It’s good to see that people are still enjoying themselves in Coney Island, even though the official summer season is over.

There’s more detail on the arrest in the rash of Windsor Terrace car break ins we reported last week: “Residents of a Brooklyn neighborhood suffering through a rash of car break-ins targeting pricey navigation systems can rest easy – the bad guys were caught by a cop who was late to work. As he hurried to his job at the 76th Precinct last week, the officer spotted three men breaking into a Chevy Suburban on Terrace Place and 11th Ave. in Windsor Terrace. The suspects were carrying burglary tools, including screwdrivers and hammers. “All three were working on the car together,” said an NYPD spokesman. “A guy late to our patrol saw them in action.” Windsor Terrace has had an unusual numbers of cars break-ins in recent weeks as thieves recklessly smashed car windows in search of global positioning system, or GPS, devices. Residents said as many as 30 cars were broken into. Cops said they had reports of 11 break-ins.”–NYDN

There’s been so much depressing news out of Coney Island over the last week, that it’s nice to post something about an event taking there. The Great Irish Fair of New York is happening from September 20-21, 2008 at KeySpan Park. Here’s a bit of info:

Join us on Saturday September 20th and Sunday September 21st at the Brooklyn Cyclone’s Keyspan Park in beautiful Coney Island for a two-day celebration of Irish heritage with great music, food, dancing, family activities and all around good craic. The Great Irish Fair is a KID-FRIENDLY event that attracts families from all over the metropolitan area. There will be tons for entertainment for the KIDS to enjoy, including magicians, face-painters, musicians and a wide variety of inflatable rides.

Admission is $10 and $5 for children under 12. Proceeds go to the Catholic Schools of the Brooklyn-Queens Diocese. The website is here for more info.

Outside the Brooklyn Weather Observatory this morning there is blue sky and some clouds. The forecast calls for it to be windy, very warm and less humid with times of sun and clouds. The high will be 89. Tonight will be partly cloudy with a low of 58.–Accuweather

Last week’s big Bedford Avenue retail news was a story that Ricky’s is opening up. One of the storefronts that was mentioned (191 and 193 Beford) was that of the “now defunct” Tasti D-Lite frozen yogurt shop. Well, Tasti is still very open, but the Ricky’s sign for a costume store is in the doorway of the beloved and closed Matamoros Pueblo Grocery. Coming soon.

[Photo courtesy of Miss Heather]

Here’s a beauty located and sent to us by Miss Heather that comes from the sidewalk out of the Astral in Greenpoint. It comes complete with its own artwork, which is a very nice touch.

We’re running GL Lost & Found from time to time each to try to reunite people with lost posessions. This one comes from an email from a GL reader:

You see the picture attached? I lost the original on a downtown A train around Jay street. It fell out of my book. It’s my grandma as a lilla’ girl. Her name is Helena. Anyway, on the off chance that whomever picked it up reads the blogs, I was wondering if you thought posting it would be interesting? I’m actually pretty upset I lost it, but I’m grateful as hell that I’d already scanned it. See? Doesn’t it look like she’s upset that she’s lost?

Please give back Grandma Helena if you have her.

This is another building come to the increasingly popular stretch of Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg between Berry Street and Kent Avenue. The new building at 135 Metropolitan will be five stories tall and have ten unit, according to the Department of Buildings. The architect on the job is Armando Porto.