Gone Cruisin'...

Juried into the Utah Watercolor Society Spring Show...

UWS 2010 Spring Open Exhibition will be held at the Schorr Gallery at 8000 South Redwood Rd. located in the West Jordan City Building, 3rd floor. The show will open May 7 with the UWS Reception taking place from 6 to 9pm and Awards presented at ~ 7pm.

Above: Santorini Revisited was painted with watercolors I purchased within an hour of landing on the island.

Whatever happened to HOUSE & GARDEN magazine?

HOUSE & GARDEN folded in 2007. I had a subscription for many years and when they closed, the publisher sent me Domino magazine in its place. After a while I grew fond of Domino, though it was quite different, more trend and budget conscious and aimed at a younger reader than HOUSE & GARDEN. Then Domino closed, and the publisher sent me Glamour. At that point I called up and said, "No thanks. I haven't been interested in Glamour magazine since I was about 18-20 years old." So they sent me Vogue.

I enjoyed HOUSE & GARDEN magazine and looked forward to reading Dominique Browning's monthly letters from the editor. I enjoyed her writing so much that when I discovered she had written two books, I read those, too: Around the House and in the Garden-A Memoir of Heartbreak, Healing and Home Improvement (2002); and Paths of Desire-The Passions of a Suburban Gardener (2004). I recently learned that Dominique has written a third book, Slow Love, and has a blog: SLOW LOVE LIFE. The title refers to living a slower life and loving it, versus having a slow love life. I've added her blog to my blog list, so I can read a little Dominique when I get the notion. The new book, Slow Love is excerpted in The New York Times Sunday Magazine, dated March 28, out now.

Poster for Tracy Aviary April 16th Gallery Stroll...

Above: The painting on the left side of the poster is one of five of mine that will be for sale during the Ready to Hatch Fund-raising event and the April Gallery Stroll show.

The annual Ready to Hatch fund-raising event for the Tracy Aviary will be held Thursday evening April 15th. Besides helping support the Aviary operations when you purchase a Ready to Hatch $35 ticket, there are several opportunities to you when you purchase a $50 ticket. A $50 ticket comes with the opportunity to have your ticket drawn for a Green River Rafting trip worth $2600.

There are multiple opportunities with the purchase of more tickets, of course, but once you've purchased one $50 ticket, the additional tickets are available for less. See the examples below:

Ready to Hatch

A - RTH Ticket Ticket for Ready to Hatch PRICE: $35.00

B - RTH Ticket & Drawing Opp Ready to Hatch Ticket and Opportunity Drawing ticket for a Green River Rafting trip worth $2,600 PRICE: $50.00

C - RTH Add'l Opp Ticket Ready to Hatch Additional Opportunity Drawing Ticket PRICE: $20.00

D - RTH 3 Opp Drawing Tickets Ready to Hatch Three (3) Opportunity Drawing Tickets PRICE: $50.00

E - RTH 7 Opp Drawing Tickets Ready to Hatch Seven (7) Opportunity Drawing Tickets PRICE: $100.00 purchase of

On-going, every day, there are "in kind" ways to help the Aviary:
Donate Wild Birdseed for the wild bird feeding area that is located in the southeast corner of the aviary.
Volunteer to be a bird observer or help enhance the bird's environment.
You can "man" the Biofacts Cart or be a Site Interpreter and Bird Show Usher.
You can be a member of the Botanical Enrichment Team that cares for the landscape at the Aviary and work with other avid gardeners to beautify the park.
And you can Adopt-a-Bird!

I LOVE BIRDS!

News Flash ~ This just in From the Utah Watercolor Society: Congratulations, Toni! Your entry, Santorini Revisited, has been juried into the Spring Show.
Yippee!!! Details will follow.

Out and about tying up loose ends...

Why architects should not design bird house support brackets...

The photo above was sent in by an architect friend who (as the designer) wishes to remain anonymous. At least this architect can chuckle at him/herself. ;o)

Sweet signals of Spring!

The tiny Violet (Viola odorata) with a pretty BIG scent. If only photos could relay fragrance! (Photo: by Toni Youngblood)