February 2002

deb@lightpatch.com

Festivals for Travelers, Sites of the Month, Special Feature, Quotes, Opinions, Rants, Praises.

What Do Writers Do All Day? (Deb's Writer Cam)

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The Artsy Site Of The Month: Small-Cast One-Act Guide Online Resources on one-act plays for very small casts.		Handy Site Of The Month: GrantSmart Nonprofit information on grants and related issues.
Web Page Design Site Of The Month: Third Party Plug-ins for Adobe Applications More software to go with your Adobe products.		Seasonal Site Of The Month: International Olympic Committee Links to Salt Lake 2002 and more.
Just Fun Site Of The Month: Acres Of Books I'm hoping to pay another visit to this beautiful fire trap of a book store.		Scientific Site Of The Month: Coffee Facts and Figures The plants, the beans and other things.
Historical Site Of The Month: Steinway History It all began in Manhattan.

Here's a Good Reference Link: Word Assault You can look up words in several different dictionaries.

Buy great spices at great prices

February Events

For February Travelers

February 1-3, 2002 Hudson Hot Air Affair various venues, Hudson, Wisconsin.	Kite and hot air balloon events, karaoke, dance, Mukluk Tu-Tu Dance, pancake breakfast, pets in the park, chili cooking contest, smoosh board competition, craft fair, snow volleyball. Further details: Call 888-247-2332 or 715-381-2050.
February 2 - April 6, 2002 Napa Valley Mustard Festival various venues, Napa, California.	Cooking and wine events, art, photography competition, more (some events are ticketed and require advance reservations). Further details: Call 707-938-1133.
February 2-3, 2002 Boston Wine Expo World Trade Center & Seaport Hotel, Boston, Massachusetts.	450 wineries pour tastes at the 11th occurrence of this event. Tasting tickets are required. Twenty chefs on two stages prepare foods and offer tastes and recipes. There are seminars and special food events. Ticket Information: 877-946-3976.
February 1-3, 2002 Chocolate Lovers Festival various venues, Fairfax, Virginia.	Open houses at several historical buildings, Chocolate Challenge (chocolate art by creative chefs and a raffle for the confections), High Tea, The Taste of Chocolate (ticketed), The Chocolate Caper (mock trial), craft show, bake sale, pancake breakfast, cooking demonstrations. Some events require advance reservations. Additional Information: 703-293-7120 .
February 8-9, 2002 Chocolate Festival various venues, Anaconda, Montana.	Chocolate samples (merchants who do not give away chocolate are fined and a donation is given to charity), baking contest, bake sale, events for kids. Further information: Call 406-563-2422.
February 8-10, 2002 Russian Festival Russian Center, 2450 Sutter Street, San Francisco, California.	Food and drink, Russian crafts, dancing and music, art gallery. Further details: Call 415-921-7631.
February 9, 2002 Chocolate Festival Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, One Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.	From 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. enjoy music, hot cocoa, chocolate samples, and lessons on the cacao tree. Free with general admission. More: Call 412-622-6914.
February 9, 2002 Chocolate & Valentine Fair Helena Civic Center, 340 Neilla Avenue, Helena, Montana.	Over 60 vendors offer chocolate-ccovered huckleberries, handmade soaps, strawberry tarts, cinnamon nuts, toys, baby clothing and more. Additional Information: 406-443-5291.
February 9, 2002 Bay Area Veg Fair Santa Clara County Convention Center, Santa Clara, California.	Demos, talks, tastings. Performer Linda Blair is scheduled to make an appearance. There is no admission charge. Further information: Call 408-358-6478.
February 9-24, 2002 Chinese New Year Celebration various venues, San Francisco, California.	The Year of the Horse comes in with a carnival, flowers, pageant, 10K/5K Run/Walk, parade, street fair and more. Some events may require registration and/or a fee. Details: (Sorry--unable to locate a central contact number).
February 12, 2002 Mardi Gras various venues, New Orleans, Louisiana.	Actually, February 12 is "Fat Tuesday", and the festivities have been going on before that. Colorful King Cakes, doubloons, Carnival with costumes and floats, flambeaux (torches), and beads and trinkets all add to the fun. There are plenty of street parties and music. Further information: Call 800-672-6124.
February 15-18, 2002 Greater Philadelphia Mid-Winter Scottish Irish Music Festival and Fair Valley Forge Convention Center, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.	Those presenting music and other entertainment include: Timlin & Kane, Seven Nations, The Brigadoons and Full Moon Ensemble. More information: Call 610-825-7268.
February 15-24, 2002 Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival Riverside County Fairgrounds, Indio, California.	Demolition Derby, Blessing of the Dates, grand parade, livestock auction, entertainment, art, food, petting zoo, camel and ostrich races, and much more. Details: Call 909-955-6655.
February 16-17, 2002 Queen Mary Scottish Festival and Games Queen Mary, South end of 710 Freeway, Long Beach, California.	Music, foods, sheep herding demonstrations in the park, British car display, clans gatherings, and more. Further details: 562-499-1620.
February 16-17, 2002 Sarasota Festival of the Arts Main Street at Orange, Sarasota, Florida.	Over 200 artists display their work, and there is music and food. More information: Call 954-472-3755.
February 22-24, 2002 Yuma River Daze Arts & Crafts Festival Main Street Plaza, Yuma, Arizona.	About 125 artisans show their wares. There are also area historical reenactments Additional Information: 928-782-5712.
February 22-24, 2002 MONDO Jugglefest Concordia University campus, St. Paul, Minnesota.	Jugglers, unicycle riders, and folks with yo-yos all gather together to share and compare skills and to put on a public show for you. More: Call 612-825-8949.
February 23, 2002 A Winter's Day in North Country Northern Forest Heritage Park, Main Street (Route 16). Berlin, New Hampshire.	Ice sculptures on display, films on the logging industry, ski jumping films, snow served with maple sugar, sleigh rides, hot chocolate. Donations accepted. Further information: Call 603-752-7202.
February 23-24, 2002 Almond Blossom Festival Community Center on 4th St., (and other venues), Ripon, California.	Boutique, bake sale, maps to see blossoms (available at 929 W. Main Street), arts and crafts, golf tournament, Blossom Run, Pancake breakfast, Tae Kwon Do demonstration, dance, diaper derby, Tri-tip dinner, carnival midway. More: Call 209-599-7519.
February 23-24, 2002 South Carolina Book Festival & Antiquarian Book Fair State Fair Grounds, Columbia, South Carolina.	Books, books and more books. More: Call 803-691-4100.
It's always best to call ahead to verify festival information. Please tell them you saw the information in Deb's Monthly Review. Please don't write and ask for personalized information on upcoming festivals, (unless you want to hire me!) I do not have time to do free searches for everyone who asks.

Why do we tend to bunch all this Valentine talk into one day of the year? If Valentine's Day is about love, and love is so great, why limit it to one day? We talk about romantic love, brotherly love, agape love, love of country, love for life-- is love just some catch-all word? There are songs on the radio every day that tell us love is thrilling, uplifting, and even heartbreaking when it's not returned. In the real world, love often comes with a lot of real baggage. People love, but then they also go and throw in such things as envy, power and selfishness. Sometimes love gets a really bad rap because of the people who claim to have it for others. Then there's the problem of Cupid and the whole emphasis on romantic love when Valentine's Day rolls around. This means a lot of people feel pretty left out. What if Valentine's Day was just a bit different? What if we didn't send mushy cards or give fancy chocolates or red lingerie? What if we just wrote a note to someone and told them they had added the gift of laughter just when we needed it? What if we made arrangements to sponsor a city kid's trip to camp this summer? What if we buried a two-generation-old family grudge? What if, when we shopped for groceries, we made it a new habit to buy extra for the local food bank? What if we didn't start the same old argument when someone pushed our buttons? What if we finally forgave ourselves for taking that wrong turn in life? February 14 is really just a date on the calendar until we give it meaning. We could live every day as though it were Valentine's Day, if we chose to be a loving person. Love frees us to do all the things we would be afraid to do if we had no love to give. Without love, the world offers little but frustration and pain. With love, even the smallest things in life become a great adventure.

One of the things that sometimes prevents us from experiencing the true joy of love is lack of forgiveness. There are many things I am still learning when it comes to forgiving others (and forgiving myself). I was past the age of 40 before I began to understand that forgiveness is not an event that takes place in the blink of an eye, but an ongoing process. An article written by Judy Santos describes in more detail some of our Misconceptions About Forgiveness.

Here's another good reading called Steps to Forgiveness. We all can use help from time to time with our attitude of letting go and healing through forgiveness.

Someone asked a bunch of children their opinions and this is what kids say about love.

Here's the story of how one child reach out and showed love. We don't always get a thank you when we show love, but we always get something good from it.

What Is A Friend

Quotes on friendship--all written by men: "The making of friends, who are real friends, is the best token we have of a man's success in life." --Edward Everett Hale "The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend. I have no wealth to bestow on him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward. Is not friendship divine in this?" --Henry David Thoreau "And the days went by like paper in the wind. Everything changed, then changed again. It's hard to find a friend. It's hard to find a friend" --Tom Petty "You can always tell a real friend: when you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job." --Laurence J. Peter "If we discovered that we had ony 5 minutes left to say what we wanted to say, every telephone booth would be occupied by people calling other people to stammer that they loved them." --Christopher Morley "I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar." --Robert Brault "Winter, spring, summer or fall--all you gotta do is call--and I'll be there, 'cause you've got a friend." --James Taylor "Treasure each other in the recognition that we do not know how long we shall have each other." --Joshua Loth Liebman "I thank you for all the goodness, kindness, honesty and warmth of feeling that the continuance of our friendship brings. --Franz Liszt

Many of us learn our first lessons in love from mothers or other family members. Last year, in May's Special Feature, "Broken Vases, Broken Hearts" we explored the idea that love includes boundaries, and that learning loving boundaries early in life helps us be better at showing love later on in life, both to others and to ourselves.

Sometimes the setting of boundaries brings us pain and growth, but if we use that growth to learn about the One who made and loves us all, we can make every day Valentine's Day. We might get so good at it that we put old Cupid out of business. Love is not a shot in the heart with a pink and red arrow. Love is steady caring, a principle, a lifetime process of learning. I wish you all love.

Once upon a time there was a man with a gentle voice and quiet charm. He made several movies and worked in a TV show playing a character who rode a motorcycle from town to town, touching lives, and singing a little here and there. Then some of us didn't hear much of him for awhile. We wondered if he would ever come to sing for us again.
Michael Parks is singing, and he recorded 17 songs for us to enjoy. Included are: Where Is Your Heart (Moulin Rouge) I'll Never Be Free Don't Go To Strangers Together Again This CD was a long time coming, but it was worth waiting for. Take a trip to Listen Recordings where you can order your copy.

	Above: Metallic Choker Necklace Left: Dreamcatcher Earrings	We're pleased to host the work of artisan Joan Garnand on our little patch of light on the web. Joan's creations are finally finding their way out of her Tennessee community and into the hearts of admirers everywhere. Joan spent last summer doing face painting and hand-painted stationery at Tennessee festivals.

See the man in the banner below this text?                 Go ahead--take a look.                                  Take a good, long look.
Memorize his face. This man is Scott L. Schwartz. If you ever get into trouble, you'll want him on your side. This guy means business. And his business is playing big and bad. Big may come easy, because he's 6'10" and weighs about 300 pounds. I'm not sure how he pulls off the bad part though, because he actually seems to be very... Well, never mind. Just click on the banner and get ready for some action. www.ultimatebadguy.com You can see some of Scott's work as "Bruiser" in Ocean's Eleven, which opened December 7, 2001. He'll also be appearing in The Scorpion King later this spring.
CeBIT is coming up in March at the huge fairgrounds in Hannover, Germany. CeBIT spotlights technology in Broadcast, Satellite and Cable industries.
Here's how to say "I Don't Understand" in over 250 languages.		If you are going to be in New York, here are some Vegetarian-friendly Restaurants. And here are the Texas Vegetarian-friendly Restaurants.
The Open Records Project. provides (among other things) information on certain states' sexual offender databases.
The Fenton Winter Sale at Fenton Art Glass will be February 15-25 in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Family members will be available to sign first quality pieces, and there will also be Preferred Seconds available. The sale will be on 7th Street. You can call for more information at 304-428-8117.

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Why pay full price for new clothes?

Graphic Hunters, take note! All graphics on this page (except the links to other sites, the Home and the email graphics below) are original. If you want to use any for your non-commercial page, please do. A thanks on your page and a link back to this page would be great. Do drop me a line or two of email so I can see and enjoy your page. Please read: Graphics linking to www.ultimatebadguy.com and www.michaelparks.com are owned by their respective artists/webmasters/performers and are displayed here with their consent. If you wish to use either of these graphics, you'll need to contact those folks directly to get permission.

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