Day 2 at Annie's Art in the Garden

Unlike the first day, Day 2 of Annie's Art in the Garden dawned bright and blue--and warm! Luckily Annie had a colorful umbrella to loan me. Despite the fact that it had no stand, with Robin's ingenuity and James' efforts, the umbrella was put up in a large pot of garden gravel and held in place with Arizona stone bars.


Nancy usually works in the office at Annie's. Today she was taking Elayne's place and checking to make sure all the artists had what they needed.


My neighbor Dorothy brought a different painting to grace her table today.



Ceramics artist Rosemary was back with her pots and plates inspired by garden produce and ocean treasures.


Karen missed Day 1 of Art in the Garden because she was mounting an exhibit of her watercolors on rice paper at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley.

Old friends Steve and Margaret Michel, whose technical books I had edited years ago, dropped by. Hadn't seen him in years and it was good to catch up. Steve is now programing for Pictopia. He used to be an avid gardener in the good old days. His back yard was filled with vegetables in raised beds and the shed where he wrote his books was surrounded by flowers. These days, he's into beer brewing.

The sunny day brought out garden and art lovers galore. They came from as far as San Diego way, such as customers Zus and George who hail from Del Mar. George is a researcher at UCSD and Zus, who originally hails from Belgium, is a tile artist. They come to Berkeley periodically to visit their daughter and stay at their art deco house. Zus told me she made all the tiles around their fireplace. They bought the one art deco piece I had--a rectangular serving plate with amber, striker red and black shapes and stringers on clear. They discussed for some time how best to mount it on their wall in a way that it can be easily taken down for service. I offered them a clear stand, and Zus said it made her feel nervous when items rested on a stand, for she feared they might tip over. Luckily, Rain had come by that time, and she suggested using a strong thing silver wire and clips to suspend the piece. That seemed to satisfy George, who is very handy and has done much of the work on their art deco house.

Electrician Rob Harold, who is a fellow Certified Green Building Professional, came by to see the GlassLight. He selected a lavender and purple soap dish to take home to his wife.

Friends PhoeBe ANNE sorgen and Nancy Feinberg stopped by to see what I do in my "other life." A gardener in her own right, Nancy picked up a few plants to add to her yard. My longtime friend and mentor when I studied acupuressure, and an incredibly gifted acupuncturist and organic/structural bodyworker, Connie Cronin stopped in to select a few plants to add to her already lovely native plant garden, and look for a bowl to hold nuts. Alas, the GlassLight bowls sold out on Day 1.

Even though it was nap time, neighbor Amy brought her daughter Kate to check out GlassLight and buy a few plants for their garden.

Neighbor Cheryl Reinman, who has a lovely garden that includes a rose bush she inherited from her mother's garden, stopped by to pick up a few plants, and adopted the vase made with irridescent blue and clear glass.

It was another grand day at Annie's garden greeting old friends and meeting new ones. Now I can't wait to hear from the GlassLight adopters about how they are using the glass pieces. Email me your photos of you and the GlassLight you adopted, I'll post them on the blog!