| Florida sunshine brings out our love of art
The main reason most of us live and work here is the fantastic climate we have in Florida. You can enjoy the great outdoors and fabulous weather we're having Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., with a garden tour sponsored by the Winter Park Historical Association. You'll tour eight gorgeous gardens located at eight historic homes, get to speak with landscape architects and enjoy watching members of the Central Florida Plein Air Artists group painting the various flora, etc. This will be a most enjoyable event. Tickets should be bought in advance ($12) at several locations, including Apenberry's and the Winter Park Historical Museum. Call 407-647-2330 for details, or e-mail: wphistory@aol.com.
Body of work
Loch Haven Park in Orlando is a wonderful place to enjoy our climate and some great art, too.
How to make vines go vertical
Vines grow quickly. Some will grow quickly on almost anything. But others need help growing in the direction you want them to grow. From 1,000 Gardening Questions & Answers (Workman Publishing, $19.95 paperback): "Most vines will climb the comparatively smooth bamboo stakes sold in garden centers. But they will be happier – and more inclined to go straight up – if you provide twigs with the bark on, rough sisal twine and/or something else with texture." .
Brian Rudman: That's no dump, that's a landscaping marvel
In 40 years, tourists arriving in Auckland, world heritage city of volcanoes, will be able to peer from their plane window as they come into land, at the city's newest cone - Pooketutu. A world first. A mountain carefully moulded from human "biosolids," into the shape of the original volcanic cone, destroyed 80 years earlier to provide fill for the airport runway. The conservation-minded amongst them might well be impressed. So too, the students of the bizarre. As for the rest, well, I hope the Auckland Regional Authority ties up the copyright on all postcard imagery. Cards should be in great demand, as every Aucklander will have contributed to the re-creation of Puketutu. Why shouldn't the regional coffers reap the rewards? Don't get me wrong, I think the just-announced deal over the future of Manukau Harbour's Puketutu Island is brilliant - if only because it brings the 200ha waterfront island into public ownership as a regional park, protecting it from further destruction or commercial exploitation.
Travel, Gardening, Mozart... Square-Enix Branches Out
In a further effort not to be known as FF/DQ, Inc., Square-Enix is releasing a new series of games for the DS called "DS:Style." Games include World Walker DS, Won't You Listen To Classic Music With the DS? and Flower Bloom DS Gardening Life. The games are fairly self-explanatory. World Walker is based on a popular series of travel books by the same name and will include city/subway maps, currency calculation, world clocks for places like Thailand, France and Italy. The classical music title is packed with 100 of the "best classics" from Toshiba EMI and quizzes wanna-be music experts on who composed certain pieces. The gardening title is based on a popular NHK program and teaches names of different kinds of flowers and herbs. What's more it ranks players gardening knowledge. Doubt if these will see life outside of Japan, but nice to see Square-Enix try something that doesn't involve the letters "F," "D" or "Q." Brian Ashcraft New Square Games Aren't Typical Square Games [IT Media] .
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