Wildlife: The elusive Golfinches are around more often, so we put out a Niger Seed feeder to keep 'em coming.



Visit: A Tale of Two Movies

Weather: Another hot, dry day. Lightning strikes have started wildfires near Dillon, Montana, six hours away.

Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site Click six times, and help six charities!

In The Community: Arts In The Park starts tomorrow morning, so that's where the boss is tonight, and why I'm at the Hockaday so much lately.
Arts In The Park - Greatest Outdoor Art Show in the Northwest USA.
Not as great as our Winold Reiss portrait exhibit, though. (see photo below)
I am teaching the video production class how to use the college's Kron Editor, so I'm behind in getting Current Events onto Bresnan Cable. I have the 'Bibler Gardens' sequence running on the public access channel now, but the rest of it will have to wait until next week.

Media Watch: I'm glad I taped the broadcast of The Fire Next Time, a friend of mine in Washington State needs to see it.

Exhibits at the Hockaday

Wildlife: The Canadian Gesse families are regular visitors to Middle Foy's Lake in the evenings -- gliding in stately long lines over the golden waters.



Visit: A Tale of Two Movies

Weather: Feels like summer -- hot, dry weather and cloudless skies.

Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site Click away to help!

In The Community: I ran a camera on the live cablecast of Kalispell City Council for Bresnan Communications. The main task was getting a shot of the current speaker, and keeping it interesting. No, we don't use intercoms, but we have a preview/program monitoring setup. The flower beds outside of City hall lie in the asphalt jungle of downtown, and are the refuge for hundreds of mosquitos -- I know because they repeatedly attacked our crew as we compared notes outside, in the otherwise-beautiful evening.

Media Watch: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy visited the Fair family, who host foster children in their home -- ten of them during this show. One of their best episodes.
I'm reading Goodnight, Sweet Prince by Gene Fowler (1890-1960) The writing style is ARCHAIC by this century's standards, but very appropriate for the subject -- Late 19th/Early 20th Century Theater.
John Barrymore is caught in the San Francisco Earthquake. After fleeing his hotel in the aftermath of the tremor, he's pressed into duty by the military as the gas-fed fires start burning. When his manager finally finds him, he sends a telegram to Ethel and Lionel, but Lionel wonders if it's true.
"Oh it's true, alright" says Ethel, "It took an act of God to get Jack out of bed in the morning, and the U.S. Army to make him work!"

Wildlife: We still see Hummingbirds at our feeders at Middle Foy's Lake. The brightly-colored annuals in our planters attract a lot of attention from them too.



Visit: A Tale of Two Movies

Weather: It continued to rain through Sunday night, but it's warming up again. The air conditioning is running here at the Hockaday Museum. (see below)

Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site Six worthy charities are helped by your clicks!

In The Community: I'm sitting behind the desk at the Hockaday Museum today. We've had a steady stream of visitors since we opened at 10 A.M. Mother Murphy was laying in wait for me by the credit card machine.
Hockaday Museum of Art

Garage Sale Booty: A yellow formica kitchen set from the 50's, hauled up from Missoula for the lady who helps us clean twice a month; The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, a photo-illustrated paperback version of the Harryhausen movie, with Tom (Dr. Who) Baker playing an evil magician; A pair of poweful, small birding binoculars.

Media Watch: I took a look at the discussion board for The Fire Next Time at POV's website. I even wrote a comment, which drew a personal attack against me. The subject was NOT me, and I have an infinite number of better things to do than fight with a person who doesn't want to listen, so that was the last time I chose to contribute there. The board was dominated by about a half-dozen posters, three of whom spent a lot of their time haranguing against the film.
POV: The Fire Next Time
I added a note to the "Tapestry," though: This film rose like a glass float above the raging waves.

Book TV -- As If We Were Grownups: A Collection of 'Suicidal' Political Speeches That Aren't by Jeff Golden.
Golden urged politicians to start dealing with the American public as if they were adults. In his latest book, "As if We Were Grownups," the author writes a number of speeches that he wishes politicians would deliver. Mr. Golden asserts that the American public can handle facts and candidates should stop filling their political speeches with idealism and fiction. This event was hosted by the Ashland Public Library in Oregon. Golden is the founding president of the Oregon Guides Association and a former Jackson County, Oregon Commissioner. He is the host of a public radio talk show, The Jefferson Exchange, and the author of "Forest Blood," a novel of the Northwest timber wars.

New CD Purchase -- True Love by Toots Hibbert, the man who created Reggae, or maybe used the term first. It's a collecton of his most famous songs with The Maytals, sung with guest artists like Bootsy Collins (Yay!) -- Some singers are more appropriate than others.