“Game chat recap: Blazers fall to Jazz in preseason home finale - Oregonian” plus 4 more

Game chat recap: Blazers fall to Jazz in preseason home finale - Oregonian
Southside Garden Club hosts district meeting - Demopolis Times
Text Size - Allentown Morning Call
In Overtown, organic garden takes root - Miami Herald
SPORTS: Lady Buffs split matches on senior night - Garden City Telegram

Game chat recap: Blazers fall to Jazz in preseason home finale - Oregonian

Posted: 20 Oct 2009 09:57 PM PDT

By The Oregonian

October 20, 2009, 9:40PM

Bruce Ely/The OregonianBrandon Roy drives against the Utah Jazz tonight at the Rose Garden.The short-handed Blazers fell behind early and never recovered tonight at the Rose Garden, falling to the Utah Jazz 108-97.

LaMarcus Aldridge had been expected back but was a late scratch with an injury. Portland also was without Rudy Fernandez and Greg Oden, and Nicolas Batum suffered an injury in the first quarter.

To add insult to the injuries, the Blazers struggled to hold onto the ball and shot poorly as well.

One of the few bright spots for Portland was Jerryd Bayless, who finished with 16 points, most coming in the fourth quarter.

Our game chat recaps all the action.

This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Southside Garden Club hosts district meeting - Demopolis Times

Posted: 20 Oct 2009 05:47 PM PDT

photo by David Snow

Members of the Southside Garden Club seated with state president Ann Daniels include (front row, L-R) Mary Jo Alexander, Mary Jean Goldman, state president Ann Daniels, Polly Hill, Paula Bonner, Jean Merkle, (back row, L-R) Corinne Slaydon, Doris Kirkpatrick, Southside president Imogene Eddins, Kelly McNutt, Linda Ray, Betty Baxley and Sharon Farst.

By David Snow (Contact) | Demopolis Times

Published Tuesday, October 20, 2009

DEMOPOLIS — Garden Club members from around the region came to Demopolis on Monday, as the Southside Garden Club of Demopolis hosted the District IV meeting. District IV extends as far north as Lamar, Fayette and Walker counties and as far south as Marengo County.

There are eight districts in the Garden Clubs of Alabama, each with their own district meeting in the fall.

"The Southside Garden Club meets on the fourth Thursday of each month at 3 p.m. at local homes," said club president Imogene Eddins. "We do the herb garden at Bluff Hall, we do Christmas on the River — giving prizes for yard decorations and home decorations and we also decorate Gaineswood for Christmas."

Those interested in joining the Southside Garden Club should contact any of the members.

District IV consists of nine garden clubs from west-central Alabama, including Greensboro and Fayette.

"We are always trying to recruit new, younger members," said District IV director Bernice Epperson. "We are getting some, including in my home club in Marion. They are a great asset."

Among those in attendance at the district meeting were Ann Daniels, the president of the Garden Clubs of Alabama, and Demopolis mayor Mike Grayson.

"We have six scholarships," said Daniels, a resident of Samson in southeastern Alabama. "If you graduated before 1970, then 80 percent of your education was paid by the state, but if you graduated after 1970, those students would have to pay 80 percent of their graduation themselves. We try to help those students with our scholarships.

"The Garden Clubs of Alabama Inc. is a networking for those who enjoy gardening. We are involved with other organizations like the Master Gardens and Gardens of America. We are one of six states in the Deep South region, one of eight regions across the country. One of the national projects that we do is bringing daffodils to assisted-living facilities to former members of Garden Clubs. We want to teach people about gardening, the learning and the fellowship.

"I am just fascinated with the soil from here in the Black Belt region, compared to where I'm from in the Wiregrass," she said. "For example, azaleas just don't grow as well here in the black soil, so it's just an educational trip for me."

Southside's District IV will host the state Garden Clubs of Alabama convention on April 5-7 at the Jack Warner Lodge at the North River Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa.

You don't have to have a green thumb to join a Garden Club — just an interest in gardening, flowers or horticulture with a mind to beautifying your area. For more information, contact any Southside Garden Club member or go to the Web site www.gardenclubofalabama.org.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE THIS STORY?

Comments

Post a comment (Terms of Use Policy)

(Requires free registration.)

This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Text Size - Allentown Morning Call

Posted: 20 Oct 2009 05:25 PM PDT

Michigan's population may be waning, but there's no question that the state has become a sleeper destination for tourists who are passionate about trout fishing, sailing, camping, Big Ten football, theater or the fine arts. George W. Bush, who always has a way with words, might call Michigan the most "misunderestimated" destination in the land.

Indeed, with 3,200 miles of beaches, arguably the world's best Diego Rivera murals at the Detroit Institute of Arts and thousands of inviting lakes, it's no wonder that Michigan's tourism Web site is now the most visited in the land.

When I moved back to my home state five years ago, I thought I'd seen it all. Greenfield Village, Taquemenon Falls, Pictured Rocks -- been there, photographed that. Then I read that one of my favorites, The Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, was ranked number 13 on a list of the world's must-see museums compiled by Patricia Schultz, author of "1,000 Places to See Before Your Die."

That's the way it is with Michigan, where you tend to take for granted gems like bed-and-breakfast paradise Saugatuck, the Muskegon Museum of Art, the Traverse City Film Festival and The Traveler's Club International Restaurant and Tuba Museum in Okemos.

How did a 14-year-old Grand Rapids museum end up ranked alongside landmarks like the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City? Joe Becherer, vice president and chief curator of sculpture and horticulture collections at Meijer Gardens says, "People are so surprised when they get here. They would expect an internationally significant collection like this to be in New York or Chicago."

The curator takes a floor-to-ceiling approach to exhibitions. We met in the cafeteria beneath Dale Chihuly's colorful new blown-glass chandeliers. Steps away is Michele Oka Doner's 12,000-square-foot floor sculpture, "Beneath the Leafy Crown," featuring more than 1,650 bronze leaf designs anchored in green terazzo.

Meijer Gardens' 35-acre sculpture park showcases standouts from the 19th century to modern times. The pieces displayed here are all part of a sculpture binge that began in 1969, when Alexander Calder was awarded the first NEA public grant of its kind for "La Grande Vitesse" in downtown Grand Rapids.

Naturally the outdoor and indoor collections feature names such as Rodin, Degas, Henry Moore, Roy Lichtenstein, Barbara Hepworth and Louise Nevelson. Visitors love the unique carnivorous plant house, a desert garden and a tropical conservancy where visitors can enjoy the largest free-flying butterfly exhibit in the land.

On any given day you're likely to mingle with visitors from around the world who appreciate an opportunity to see what Becherer calls "significant representation of the most important schools of thought and mid-century trends from Rodin to the present." Meijer Gardens is particularly strong in British work, mid-century abstraction, and women sculptors.

You don't have to be an artist to understand what has made Meijer Gardens an international magnet. "Our collection is grounded in a tradition of realism that gradually introduces you to more aesthetically challenging artistic styles," explains the curator.

Although many highlights are easily seen on a tram tour, it can take the better part of a day to walk through major collections such as the Victorian Garden, home of Degas's Dancer Looking At the Sole of Her Right Foot. Waterfalls, ponds and streams enhance the collection.

This Michigan landmark features an interactive children's garden, a farm garden and concert stage hosting headliners like Lyle Lovett has earned high praise from discerning visitors like former president Jimmy Carter who referred to Meijer Gardens as a "national treasure." While other museums are struggling in a tough economy, this urban refuge has not seen a downtown.

Legendary artists are exhibited here along with an impressive group of rising stars. A good example is Sophie Ryder, who created Introspective, four standing hares in a garden setting. An important new hit is "I, You, She, or He" by Jaume Plensa. Here the alphabet is cast in stainless steel and then assembled into human figures, giving the word letterhead new meaning.

Looking through these whimsical A-Z figures, you can always see garden vistas. Because the background landscape is in constant transition, no visitor will ever see the same image on different days. Even on a foggy morning the atmosphere moves through the figures.

Because Meijer Gardens has a sense of humor, it's possible to look at a towering " Claes Oldenburg Plaintoir" (red trowel) and understand that modern sculpture is often rooted in traditions that make us smile. Along with major bronzes like Nina Akamu's "The American Horse," the collection has terrific pedestal scale sculptures inside the five-story conservatory.

Seasonal displays of purple cranesbills and tulips, heirloom vegetable gardens and a wheelchair-accessible children's garden make it hard to leave Meijer Gardens. But as curator Becherer will be the first to tell you, sculpture is easy to find in downtown Grand Rapids, home to dozens of outdoor works of art.

Leading the way downtown, he begins a 10-block tour at Vandenberg Plaza, home of Calder's "La Grande Vitesse." One of the reasons Grand Rapids is called "Sculpture City" is that this memorable work and other winners like Joseph Kinnebrew IV's "Grand River Sculpture" and "Fish Ladder" and Marc di Suevro's "Motu Viget" are all free to the public.

Created with found materials, Motu Viget includes a functional tire swing that encourages kids to become part of his artscape. Another landmark is Maya Lin's Ecliptic, a plaza adjacent to the Grand Rapids Art Museum.

Finished in 2001, it showcases all three forms of water. In winter the plaza is turned into a skating rink illuminated by 166 below ground fiberoptic lights recreating the position of major constellations at midnight January 1, 2000. Take a tumble on the ice and you might find yourself cradled by the Big Dipper. Across the Grand River, an astronaut sculpture outside the Gerald R. Ford Museum adds a space-age touch. From Rodin to the cosmos, this is a city that insists on making art accessible around the clock.

------

IF YOU GO:

Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday and on Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. The park is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. A very good time to visit is the fall color season.

Admission is $12 for adults, $9 for seniors and students and $4 to $6 for children over two. The tram ride costs $3. The park is located at 1000 East Beltline Avenue I-96 about three hours from Detroit and Chicago. Grand Rapids is served by major airlines, Amtrak and Greyhound. Phone 888 957-1580. www.meijergardens.org.

For more information consult the Grand Rapids-Kent County Conventions and Visitors Bureau at www.visitgrandrapids.org. (616) 459-8287.

For details on seeing works of art on the self-guided Grand Rapids downtown sculpture tour visit www.scultpuresitresgr.org. You can learn more about the Grand Rapids Art Museum, 101 Monroe Center, at www.artmuseumgr.org or by calling 616 831-1001.

This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

In Overtown, organic garden takes root - Miami Herald

Posted: 20 Oct 2009 08:17 PM PDT

On Saturday morning, a farmers market came to Overtown.

Children played and chased one another, careful to avoid the rows and rows of leafy veggies nearby. Passersby gawked. Shoppers, both window and sincere, browsed the goods.

It could have been your typical farmers market on a fall day -- save for the time when an elderly woman walked up to manager David Murray, bags in hand, hoping to take home vegetables she couldn't pay for.

No problem. A smiling Murray guided her to his favorite row, pointing out ``the juiciest greens you've ever seen.''

The charitable gesture, which was repeated a few more times with other customers, may have put a dent in the day's profits, but profits are secondary in this case. The women and other buyers were getting the first harvest from Roots in the City, an organic garden in Overtown.

Marvin Dunn, a local historian and former Florida International University professor, launched the project in August after two years of planning, with hopes of putting vacant land to good use by creating jobs and a self-sustaining business.

The garden, at the intersection of Northwest Third Avenue and 10th Street, takes up an entire city block, with dozens of rows of collard greens, lettuce, pumpkin, tomato, papaya, orange and banana trees, and decorative flowers such as violets.

`IT'S ABOUT JOBS'

Seeing a garden sprout where blight once flourished is certainly pleasing to the eye, but Dunn says ``this garden is not about beauty. . . . It's about jobs.''

The garden is tilled and tended by six full-time and four part-time workers, plus about 80 volunteers from the neighborhood and beyond. Parcels on the two-acre site belong to the city of Miami, the Collins Center for Public Policy and a nearby Masonic lodge.

Funding includes an annual $100,000 grant from the city's Community Redevelopment Agency for the area, plus a one-time $50,000 grant from Allegheny Franciscan Ministries.

And Winn-Dixie, the Jacksonville-based grocery chain, is in talks with Dunn to buy produce from Roots in the City for its Liberty City store, and possibly others in Miami.

Visit the garden any day of the week and you'll find workers and volunteers led by Murray, a longtime neighborhood resident and former farmer in his native Jamaica, and head volunteer Maggie Pons, aka ``Miss Maggie,'' who doesn't live in Overtown -- far from it, actually, in Southwest Miami-Dade County. She rises before 6 a.m. most weekdays, ushers her children off to school and then drives more than 20 miles to Overtown to help Murray whip the troops into shape.

On a recent Thursday morning, workers and volunteers sang, smiled and joked with one another as Murray and Pons directed them: Spread soil over this! Be careful stepping there! Handle those sprouts gently! Take a break; get some water!

As they worked, six or eight Miami police cars raced by and stopped half a block away. Officers jumped out and drew their weapons, rounding up some young black men. ``This is Overtown,'' Murray explains.

HOW IT STARTED

When Dunn approached Murray two years ago about helping him launch Roots in the City, the former farmer says he was excited but also reluctant, because of Overtown's well documented violent crime problems.

``It's a tough town,'' says Murray, who is 59. ``I asked him, why here? Why not out in the country somewhere, where we can really farm the way it is meant to be done? And you know what he told me? `David, here is where it needs to be, so that the people here can make it theirs and appreciate it.' ''

This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

SPORTS: Lady Buffs split matches on senior night - Garden City Telegram

Posted: 20 Oct 2009 05:32 PM PDT

Email this story | Add Your Comment | Read (0) Comments

SPORTS: Lady Buffs split matches on senior night

Published 10/20/2009 in Latest News

By The Telegram

The Garden City High School volleyball squad split their matches against Derby and Maize at senior night on Tuesday in the Lady Buffs' final home triangular before sub-state this Saturday.

GCHS first knocked off Derby in straight sets with a 25-18, 25-11 victory. The Lady Buffs then fell in three games to Maize 25-14, 23-25, 25-18.

Before the final match of the night against Maize, Garden City (14-21) recognized five seniors — Lexi Parr, Chinwe Ekweariri, Cassie Ramirez, Reagan Hill and Stephanie Flores.

For more on this story, see Wednesday's Garden City Telegram, or check back here Wednesday afternoon at www.gctelegram.com.

Found 0 comment(s)!

This content has passed through fivefilters.org.

Home and Garden Tips

Tuesday, October 20, 2009