Jennifer Pena and her Flight of the Raptors show is one of HVBLogger's favorite parts of his favorite springtime HHV event: Animals & Acrobats, which kicks off today (right now, as we "speak"!), at Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton.

Jennifer will be offering her amazing birds of prey demonstrations throughout the weekend. Animals & Acrobats takes place today, tomorrow, and Monday from 10-5. Make it easy on yourself and buy your tickets online. Thousands of visitors tend to flock to the site during this Memorial Day classic. And the weather is looking mighty fine...

If you go, post your thoughts here and feel free to send me some pics or vids and I'll post ‘em.

Sunday was a sunny day at Sunnyside, made all the more so by the dozen artists scattered throughout the grounds creating new works of art on site as part of Artists-on-the-Hudson.

Below, you can see artist Vern Ford of Blaze fame has a cult following wherever he goes. At left, Jan Aiello of Croton captures Washington Irving's homestead in all its romantic glory.

Special thanks to Danielle Fontaine for the pics.

Mother's Day is nearly here. Want to spice up a day typically filled with chocolates, flowers, and (overpriced) special restaurant menus? The good folks at Washington Irving's Sunnyside are cooking up a treat that just might satisfy the need for a little diversity in your Mother's Day plans.

 On Sunday, a dozen artists will be scattered throughout Sunnyside's romantic landscape, putting pen and brush to paper and creating new works on site, for a special Sunday event called Artists-on-the-Hudson.

Visitors are invited to come hang out, watch the artists work, and create their own masterpiece as well. You can drop in anytime from 10-5. There'll be a lemonade reception for the artists' finished works around 4.

No brunch plans? You've got options right on site. Geordanes of Irvington (yum yum) will provide a mix-and-match menu and all the fixings for a picnic lunch.

In the afternoon, there's even a bit of music, courtesy of the Singing Spring Sisters.

Why artists? Why here?

 "Irving shared a common fascination of the Hudson Valley and its flora and fauna with Romantic artists like Thomas Cole and George Harvey," explains Dina Rose Friedman, site director of Sunnyside and an artistic sort herself.

"Many of those artists were inspired by the Hudson's landscape, so our event taps right into that tradition," she told HVBlogger.

Artists taking part include Jan Aiello of Croton, Barbara Barbieri of Garrison, Renee Edelman of Ossining, Vern Ford of Bedford Corners (and Blaze fame ), Elaine Friedman (Dina's mom. How cool!) of New Rochelle, Betsy Leitzes of Irvington, Margaret Leveson of Brooklyn, Ronnie Levine of Tarrytown, Constanza Mallol of Hastings, Doreen Picker of Peekskill (and Blaze fame ), Shelley Robinson of Sleepy Hollow, and Ella Yang of Brooklyn.

Yes, you can easily buy tickets online.

OK, I couldn't help posting this. Just in case you are on the fence about coming to Sheep-to-Shawl today (or tomorrow) at Philipsburg Manor, just try and resist this guy, who was snapped last week by one of our primary photographers, Bryan Haeffele.

For those of you who haven't been to the site, that's the Philipsburg Manor house in the background, circa 1680 (with a circa 1720 addition). Tours of the house are ongoing during Sheep-to-Shawl.

Cute animals, scrappy border collies chasing geese and sheep every which way, wool shearing and spinning...what's not to love about Sheep-to-Shawl at Philipsburg Manor ? Well, if it rains the ground gets a bit soggy but other than that...

And of course, check out those newborn lambs. If that doesn't grab ya...

The big event is next weekend. So big Historic Hudson Valley has to host it over two days, April 26 and 27, cause there's a lot of sheep to be sheared and a lot of people that like watching that happen. Keeping with the historic nature of Philipsburg Manor, everything is done using 18^th-century techniques - no electric powered clippers here, the folks at Philipsburg leave that for the amateurs.

Besides the shearing, Sheep-to-Shawlers can see the entire process of making woolen cloth and participate in many stages of the process once the sheep are sheared: picking and carding the wool, spinning and dyeing the yarn, and weaving it into cloth. About the only thing you can't see is the final product being sold to a Bloomie's buyer. (Just kidding, no really.)

Please send me your cutest sheep-related photos from the event and we'll post the best ones here.