About Town, staying busy despite the wet weather. Last week it rained so hard we saw a dude holding an umbrella while standing under an awning.

Quick congratulations to impressionist painter Lisa Palombo upon the close of her recent month long show at Right Angle. Returning to her Hoboken roots, Palombo sold several paintings.

Sad Truths about cats and dogs

About Town attended the 2nd Annual Fundraiser for Local Cats and Dogs at Louise & Jerry's. Hoboken residents and animal activists Patti Drumgoole and Lorna Courtney hosted alongside the Jersey City based Liberty Humane Society.

For two decades Courtney has rescued and found new homes for abandoned dogs across the country. She told About Town how she recently encountered a pit bull left tied to a street poll in Hoboken.

Owners, she explained, abandon dogs when they no longer can or want to pay for them, especially for expensive medical bills.

“These dogs could be old or sick, and people just give up on them,” she said.

Courtney was able to help the pit bull. She is currently organizing ways she can expand her rescue and adoption efforts, including plans to launch a website.

Meanwhile, Drumgoole is an expert on curtailing the spread of feral cats. The cats hunt rats and mice, but can also spread disease and damage property.

Having taken classes, Drumgoole practices the Trap-Neuter-Return technique. She humanely traps feral cats, takes them to a vet such as the Hoboken Animal Hospital for spaying/neutering and rabies shots, and then returns them to the spot of capture (typically feral cats are unsuitable for home adoption). The vets mark each cat on the ear so Drumgoole (and animal control) knows which ones have been treated.

Drumgoole, by day a Hoboken High School social worker, often pays the vet bills out of her own pocket. Like Courtney she is looking to raise funds. In the past year she's treated over two-dozen cats ($75 each), though she estimates hundreds of feral cats live in Hoboken.

“I just want to be able to do more,” she said.

Readers interested in contributing can contact Patti Drumgoole at p_drumgoole@yahoo.com and Lorna Courtney at lorna.courtney@yahoo.com.

We all scream for ice cream (chop, chop, mister scooper-man)

This past Tuesday, True Mentors executive director Susi Tully invited About Town to Ben & Jerry's for ice cream. She was there with kids from the Boys & Girls Club and the Jubilee Center.

The kids got to learn the ice cream business, including how to prepare different dishes, and were later treated to a slice of ice cream cake.

The shop also trained a new employee. Councilman Tim Occhipinti served as a guest scooper, taking real customer orders for over an hour. About Town was especially amused watching the councilman serve us two scoops of cookies and cream.

In fact, About Town thinks that for one day a year all councilmembers should work guest sets at local establishments. But as a surprise. This way we'd hear stories like, “I was at Clearview Cinemas, and for some reason Nino Giacchi was there wearing a red vest and bow-tie while clipping tickets at the door,” or, “OMG, I'm in Lana Lounge, and Theresa Castellano just started dropping beats at the DJ booth,” or even, “Holy smokes, did I just see Peter Cunningham wearing the Cluck-U chicken costume?”

Ladies & Gents, this is a brand new, hand-crafted About Town column up for auction. Do I hear $10 for it? $10, anyone? Okay, how about $5?

Later that Tuesday we attended the All Saints Episcopal Day School annual fundraiser at the Elks Lodge.

The All Saints school is an offshoot of All Saints Episcopal Parish, though it is secular and serves students until the 8th grade. According to All Saints Reverend Geoff Curtiss, approximately 85 percent of the students attend the school but not the church.

Curtiss said the church started the school to provide new families an incentive to stay in Hoboken. He described the school as striving for “high academic standards,” and “community service-based and experiential learning.” The school has just been named a national finalist in a contest promoting the environment.

The school held this year's fundraiser in part to buy new science and lab equipment, and also audio and visual aids.

Appropriately the organizers channeled Mardi Gras with New Orleans street signs, yellow and purple streamers, flowers and beads (we saw you, dude with the glasses and long hair who apparently threw your beads away). Parents were elegantly dressed and enjoyed a buffet dinner of pasta, rice, potatoes, vegetables and chicken fricassee. While eating they swayed to smooth jazz songs and classic hits from the Black Eyed Peas catalog.

The parents bid on dozens of locally donated items in a silent auction (signed their names and bid amounts on sheets of paper placed before each item). An autographed Eli Manning football raised $525. The parents also bid on student artwork. Each class decorated tables, chairs, bowls, vases and tea cup sets in vibrant colors.

Later the organizers held a live auction, with several items selling for thousands. One guest bid $4,000 for a family summer pass to the Shipyard Pool.

$4,000! Does that come with a diamond studded bathing suit? Maybe some black market SPF9000 suntan lotion?

Alan Skontra was a big dork who never went anywhere. Then he started writing the About Town column for Patch, and now he's everywhere. Have a hot tip on an event in Hoboken? Send an invitation, questions and comments too, to alanskontra@hotmail.com. And if he gets enough followers he might actually post his first tweet @ twitter.com/alanskontra.