Peering at the past

Love being an arts journalist. What other job lets you spend two magical hours poking around the vintage records, tapes and other artifacts of the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound? (Well, besides archivist.)

Yes, I am old enough to still have a few vinyl records. But these wax cylinders developed by Edison: not so much. I'd never seen them before, or the wire tapes (rolled up in the little blue boxes at left) that people used to make magnetic recordings in decades past. If I'm ever props designer for a show about Edison or a 1930s secretary, I'll be ready.

Check out more photos and my story on the archive on page 29 here.

Pictured: A table of artifacts at the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound. Photo by Rebecca Wallace.

Summer Style

I absolutely love the summer for outdoor living... here are a few ideas for bringing the inside out.

What a wonderful setting for an early summer reception... I love California wine country.

Let's get away from it all... The NYC rooftop deck of designer Alessandra Branca

Who needs the beach when you can have this.... It's so L.A.backyard.

L.A. reto front yard deck 

I love the colorful  tile patch work style in this California back yard 

The Italian garden style of a London courtyard invokes a measure of peace.

Summertime... the living is easy on a screened porch.



I hope you're inspired to create your own summer outdoor living space.

unique cars in the world

Along with the development of many emerging era of car models to prove that verysignificant progress in this modern era,,


1.Cat-shaped car.

2. Cars with an odd body.

3. Cars dove.

4.Podcar.

5. Cars with big turbo.

6. Car modern era.

Trees, Twain and time travel

Michal Gavish, an artist whose creative home base is Palo Alto's Cubberley Studios, has a master's in painting and a portfolio that includes watercolors, painted sculptures and landscapes. This year, she's ventured onto a new stage, lending her skills to theater.

Playgoers who see the new dramatization of Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" at the Pear Avenue Theatre will also get a look at Gavish's art. She painted the dreamy backdrop with trees, hills and a distant castle.

Twain is getting a new treatment in the show, too. The play is a new dramatization of his book by Diane Tasca and Rebecca Ennals, running through May 29.

So we've got a hero who's transported from 1880 to the Middle Ages, with his story told with 21st-century sensibilities. 'Tis true time travel.

Pictured: On stage at the Pear Avenue Theatre. Photo courtesy of Michal Gavish.

Hail to the hydrangeas

Sometimes, in the clutter and spam of the email inbox, you just want a cushion of lush hydrangeas to rest your eyes on. I have the best job in the world.

Kudos to Viewpoints Gallery in Los Altos for sending me the loveliest email this week: a press release with a plein-air image attached. Palo Alto artist and teacher Carolyn Hofstetter is showing "Hydrangeas at Gamble Garden" with several other oils at the gallery in June.

That's the time of the year I'm usually out strolling Gamble Garden's cherry allee, or peering into the grotto fountain for bashful fish. And, since I was just in a production of the play "Enchanted April," I will certainly not miss the wisteria.

It's all art -- in the gallery, on the stage and under the sun.

Pictured: "Hydrangeas at Gamble Garden," an oil painting by Carolyn Hofstetter.

Chandeliers

I love a beautiful chandelier hung low over a dining table... on dimmers.  It adds an element of  romance and elegance. Where would you hang a beautiful chandelier?

Offset a stunning ceiling with a stunning chandelier

Pure perfection

A small chanderlier over a bed adds the right amount of ambient lighting