Ashes to Art

I attended the "Ashes to Art" show at the Botanic Garden. Sadly, my batteries failed, and my spare batteries turned out to be dead also. So these are all the photos I was able to take. The show was nice, though...

SB Hort Society Plant Sale

Here are a few photos of the Hort Society sale:






You can see more here.

Fog at the Harbor

A high tide and a dense fog shrouded the harbor in an air of mystery this morning. Here are a few photos. You can find more here.

A Stroll Through the Botanic Garden

I took a brief walk through the Botanic Garden this morning. There were some turtles out:



I saw the "Maze" that has been erected. Frankly, I can't figure out what it is doing there or what it is supposed to be.



From the inside it looks like a cage...

Measure B Opposition Grows

Here is an interesting video created by Peikert Group Architects regarding the proposed 40' height limit:

Botanic Garden Management Goes Hardline

Here is a letter from the Botanic Garden Management to the volunteers. Pretty strange stuff, if you ask me...

Fire Map

With the La Brea Fire (shown here in orange) dropping ash on Santa Barbara, it's instructive to see all the recent fires brought together here in one map. The Zaca Fire is the large red area; the Gap Fire is in blue; the Tea Fire is the smaller red area to the lower right; and the Jesusita Fire is in purple.

Wine Cask to Reopen

As reported here in June, Doug Margerum will be working with a partner to reopen the Wine Cask Restaurant along with the Intermezzo Wine Bar. According to this posting today by "The Restaurant Guy, Doug's partner in the venture is Mitchell Sjerven, owner of Santa Barbara restaurants Bouchon and Seagrass. Clearly the duo know a think or two about the Santa Barbara dining scene. I wish them luck, and I'm already saving my dimes so I can be there!

Fiesta Parade

The Fiesta Parade began with the colors and a flyby by a US Navy C-130 aircraft. There were dancing horses, carriages, and floats. One pair of horses pulling a carriage got spooked, and a spectator was injured. Everyone else seemed to have a good time. You can find more pictures here.

Greek Festival 2009

New Farmers Market at Harding School

The Farmers Market opened at Harding School yesterday, and I was on hand to take some pictures. Candidates David Pritchett and Helene Schneider were on hand gathering petition signatures. There was a pretty good crowd, and everyone seemed happy. We all hope this will be a successful market.

Ledbetter Beach / Fog

New Letter from the Botanic Garden Volunteers

Below is a letter Bill Lewis has sent to the Botanic Garden Trustees on behalf of Garden Volunteers participating in the Moratorium....

Gary and the Board of Trustees

On behalf of the moratorium volunteers, we thank you, Fife, and John for spending the time to meet with us on Friday July 3rd.

You commented aptly that the Garden was facing a "Perfect Storm" : a confluence of challenging events affecting the garden, all hitting in the same season. Most elements of this storm are self evident: a global economic downturn that has impacted countries, institutions, and individuals, that has, of course, also impacted the Garden's financial situation; the Garden's wealth has been depleted by the extraordinary costs of Ed's pursuit of the Vital Mission Plan; staff firings that, in the face of long term efforts by the volunteers to improve communication with Garden's administration, became the catalyst for a volunteer moratorium that continues today; in addition, the fire that did extensive damage to the garden, requiring greatly increased staff time...

You can read the rest of the letter here.

Butterflies Alive !

I visited the Natural History Museum to see their Butterflies Alive! exhibit, and here are some photos. There are more photos here.

Mission Creek

The City has done a great job of cleaning up this area. Doesn't it look nice?

Alternative Art Show

I went to the "Old Mission Alternative Art Show" on Saturday. Here are a few photos:

First Thursday: Grape Juice

We stopped at the Imagine Gallery on Canon Perdido Street. There was an artist's reception for photographer Robert Redfield, and they were pouring some varietal grape juices under the label "First Blush". We tried the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Chardonnay -- liked them both. However, I think you can find similar juices in simpler packaging for much less money at the Farmers' Market.

First Thursday: Music Academy

S


The Music Academy was offering several performances as part of "First Thursday", and we caught two horn ensembles. We also spotted an artist sketching one of the players.

Morning Fog

I went down to the harbor the other day, just before the morning fog had burned off. Here are a few photos:

Solstice!

Solstice was great as always. The parade began with live Tetris pieces, and ran for over an hour from there. This year's theme was "SPLASH!". More photos here [opens in new window].