LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The 19th annual Quilt and Textile Exhibition in the Weaver Auditorium hosted by the Lower Lake Historical School Preservation Committee will wrap up this weekend.
The show is open during regular business hours, Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. through Saturday, Aug. 25.
Featured artists this year include the Clear Lake Quilt Guild, Ladies of the Lake Quilt Guild, art quilter Julia Regina and weaver Sheila O’Hara and her talented students Janis Eckert, Pam Perry, Suzanne Britz, and Ellen Hardenburger, and mother-daughter-grand daughter trio Sylvia Anderson, Lorna Rochman-McEntire and Hana Musgrove.
Antique quilts and an 1807 spinning wheel are also be on display.
An artists reception was attended by over 70 enthusiastic people who enjoyed viewing the colorful quilts and textured weavings as well as the educational wool carding, spinning and weaving demonstrations on Saturday, Aug. 11, from noon until 2 p.m.
The Schoolhouse Museum is located at 16435 Main St. in Lower Lake.
A while back, we published a poem about a mockingbird, but just because one poet has written a poem about something, he or she doesn’t hold rights to the subject in perpetuity.
Here’s another fine mockingbird poem from Carol V. Davis, who lives in Los Angeles.
Mockingbird II
How perfectly he has mastered the car alarm, jangling us from sleep. Later his staccato scatters smaller birds that landed on the wire beside him. Perhaps the key to success is imitation, not originality. Once, when the cat slinked up the orange tree and snatched a hatchling, the mockingbird turned on us, marked us for revenge. For two whole weeks he dive bombed whenever I ventured out the screen door lured by his call: first tricked into thinking the soft coo was a mourning dove courting, next drawn by the war cry of a far larger animal. He swooped from one splintered eave, his mate from the other, aiming to peck out my eyes, to wrestle the baby from my arms, to do God knows what with that newborn.
Matt Damon always demonstrated his best acting chops as the conflicted superspy Jason Bourne in an eponymous series of action thrillers that made him a true action hero for the ages.
It all started with “The Bourne Identity,” and the great thrills, including some of the most spectacular chase scenes ever filmed, continued through two equally impressive sequels.
Now along comes “The Bourne Legacy,” aptly named since Matt Damon’s presence is pretty much limited to a Wanted poster and a TV news bulletin designed to scare the general populace.
This much is sure: Damon’s rogue spy Bourne was always on the run, with shadowy government agents, mercenary operatives and other assorted riff-raff and bad guys in hot pursuit.
Often, it was hard to separate the good guys from the bad, but that seems to be a big part of the franchise’s appeal to the closeted secret agent in all of us action junkies.
“The Bourne Legacy” brings a new superhuman agent to the front lines of danger. Jeremy Renner’s Aaron Cross picks up the mantle of the operative who must go underground to save his skin and expose double-dealing.
We first see Cross half-naked in the freezing wilderness of Alaska, as he jumps into a lake to retrieve a canister filled with survival medicine necessary to his training mission.
Meanwhile, back in the nation’s capital, Admiral Mark Turso (Stacy Keach) and Colonel Eric Byer (Edward Norton) are in full damage control mode as Congress probes the existence of rogue spy operations in which they are complicit.
Suddenly, Cross and other operatives around the world that are members of something called The Program are targeted for elimination, only because their superiors decide to leave no evidence behind of their existence.
While battling the elements of Alaska and the hungry pack of vicious wolves, Cross ingenuously outflanks the drones that are programmed to blow him to smithereens.
It would be easy enough for Cross to go deep undercover, but he’s a chemically-enhanced agent who needs regular doses of pills to stay fit physically and mentally.
Even the scientists who developed the special medicine are put at risk, and Cross is able to locate Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz) just in time to extend her life expectancy.
Cross mistakenly believes that Dr. Shearing holds the key to turning up the needed pills, but in reality she tested his blood samples and had nothing to do with the making of pharmaceuticals.
However, the good doctor knows that there’s a way to get Cross off the medication, but it requires a trip to the Philippines where the chemicals are manufactured.
While Cross and Dr. Shearing try to stay in hiding until they can get out of the country, Colonel Byer and his crew are utilizing first-class technology to hunt down the rogue agent and the doctor.
The most suspenseful moments involve Cross using his ingenuity so that he and Dr. Shearing may elude the dogged colonel’s high-tech hot pursuit.
Not surprisingly, shortly after Cross and Dr. Shearing arrive in Manila, Byer has dispatched an army of assassins to take them out. Boy, does this guy mean business.
The chase scenes in Manila are brilliantly staged. First, there’s Cross skipping across rooftops and running up the sides of walls.
Then, there’s the street chase on foot and motorcycles. Cross and Dr. Shearing ride through city streets and jump over obstacles like Evel Knievel on steroids.
Oh, I forgot to mention there’s one key difference between Aaron Cross and fellow agent Jason Bourne. Cross knows his past and does not suffer from memory issues. At this point, maybe I need one of those blue (or is it green?) pills for enhanced mental skills.
However, I digress. “The Bourne Legacy” may not live up to the expectations of the previous installments, but it does stand alone as a decent entry into the canon of “Bourne” action thrillers.
It’s probably a safe bet to say that a fifth “Bourne” is on the way, but will Matt Damon return in some capacity more substantial than a fleeting glimpse? I am betting that Jeremy Renner will get ever more comfortable in his role.
DVD RELEASE UPDATE
Readers of this space probably know that I have a fondness for vintage detective dramas that had a good run on network television.
That’s why I can share with you my delight in the return of Robert Urich as the handsome, fun-loving Las Vegas private eye Dan Tanna, who lives in a converted warehouse.
“Vega$: The Third Season, Volume 2” is being released on DVD with 11 full episodes and no frills at all, unless you count the “episodic promos” included.
The sharp-eyed private eye tools around Sin City in his vintage red Thunderbird solving private cases, while also being on retainer to a wealthy casino owner (Tony Curtis).
Helping Tanna along the way is his smart and sexy assistant Bea (Phyllis Davis) and goofy legman Binzer (Bart Braverman). Greg Morris appears as Lt. Nelson, lending a hand when necessary.
After all these years, “Vega$” holds up better than a Royal Flush at a poker tournament. It’s a lot of fun.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Art House Gallery will hold its Third Friday Gala on Friday, Aug. 17.
The gala will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at 15210 Lakeshore Drive, Clearlake.
Enjoy refreshments while surrounded by the work of Lake County’s talented artists.
Featured on Aug. 17 will be the work of Clearlake resident Denise Rohana.
Rohana would do anything for a chance to do art – including losing her gloves in the snow.
“As long as I can remember, I’ve been an artist. Even in kindergarten. I lost a glove on the way to school one day and my teacher let me paint instead of go outside for recess. The whole next week, I didn’t have my gloves! My teacher finally called my mother to tell her I needed a new pair of gloves,” she recalled with a laugh.
Rohana works primarily in oil, watercolor and acrylic. She joined the gallery after hearing about it from friends.
“It’s the most amazing, wonderful thing, I’m so happy to have it here and be able to show my art” she said.
She looks to “God’s work” for inspiration: “Nature, landscapes, rocks – especially rocks lately – mountains and rivers.”
What does she love about her work? “The color, and that it connects me with other people,” said the retired nurse.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – More than 15 local musicians will be performing and leading songs at the “Peace Meal & Hootenanny” on Saturday, Aug. 18, at Lakeside Park (also known as the County Park) off Soda Bay Road near Kelseyville.
This free event, part of the Lake County Summer of Peace, begins with a potluck picnic at 5 p.m., followed by a folk music sing-along that continues until about 9 p.m.
People are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets to sit on.
Musicians participating in the hootenanny include Carl Stewart and other members of the Blue Collar band, Jim Williams, Don Coffin, Three Deep, Bill Barrows, Not Two, Dennis Purcell, Cactus & the Rose, Kathi Williamson and Michael Richeson, Carter Klippel, Emma Stewart, Raylana Aragon and Linda Guebert.
The hootenanny program features folk standards like “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and “This Land Is Your Land,” but also includes less well-known songs and original material.
“It’s really exciting to have so many talented people coming together in the cause of peace,” said Guebert, who is coordinating the event as well as performing. “I think it will be an uplifting experience for everyone who attends.”
The “Peace Meal & Hootenanny” is sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Community of Lake County.
I am very fond of poems that don’t use more words than they have to. They’re easier to carry around in your memory.
There are Chinese poems written 1,300 years ago that have survived intact at least in part because they’re models of succinctness.
Here’s a contemporary version by Jo McDougall, who lives not in China but in Kansas.
Telling Time
My son and I walk away from his sister’s day-old grave. Our backs to the sun, the forward pitch of our shadows tells us the time. By sweetest accident he inclines his shadow, touching mine.
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