12th Annual Arts & Jazz Auction

... How Sweet It Is ...

Saturday, January 31, 2009
Pacific Arts Center
975 H Street
Blaine WA

7:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.

$5 per person for auction, hors d’oeuvres and beverages, and student performances

Blaine Fine Arts Association would like to invite you to join in the fun and entertainment at this annual fundraiser event. Up for auction will be fine art works, gourmet dinners, luxurious getaways, goods and services from many, many supporters and contributors.

100% of the funds raised benefit the Blaine Art, Band, Choir and Drama students, enabling them to acquire equipment and musical instruments, receive funding for field trips, student exchanges, and for scholarships and awards.

Since this event began in 1998, Arts & Jazz has raised nearly $100,000 for the Arts in the Blaine School District. BFAA is proud to play a part in providing our students with the opportunity to receive art experiences beyond the Blaine School’s curriculum.


Dorita Gray, BFAA – Auction Coordinator
Blaine Fine Arts Association
P.O. Box 1545 Blaine WA 98231
e-mail: bgray@blainesd.org

Herewith are photographs of supporters and students working behind the scenes to make the 12th Annual Arts & Jazz the best ever!

But a few more ...

Here are a few more sunsets over the years that found me without my Olympus, so resorted to my Treo. Can one really enjoy too many sunsets? I think not; my opinion and I'm sticking to it, thank you very much!

Luck o' the Moment ...

Light is a marvel, isn’t it? The short-lived color of light in the distance … the light beaming down out on the strait … how the water reflects the light and shadow. My eyes captured, mesmerized by the atmospheric dance. Lucky, the observer of the moment.

Paradise remembered ...

The snow has melted away—hurrah—to be replaced by rain, rain, rain and puddles and water pooling in low spots. The Nooksack River, some 15 miles south of Birch Bay crested, but didn’t submerge the I-5 freeway like flooding did down in Chehalis. Good news, indeed!

I’ve always enjoyed the rain, so other than the cold, damp inconvenience of in-and-out of cars and buildings, I’ll take the rain over snow ANY day! Temperate winter is one of the reasons why I moved to Birch Bay.

Life continues in and around the weather. The pond out back is no longer a sheet of ice and the Mallards busily paddle around. It was humorous watching them waddle along on the ice, looking for open water.

However, there are times, of late, when I’ve longed for the warmth of tropical breezes and the sound of palms fronds and fragrance of bright Hawaiian florals.

Dreamin’ … just dreamin’

I'll have color, if you please ...

It's been so dreary these recent weeks living in black and white. I just looked back at the assortment of photographs I've uploaded and they are all so BLACK and WHITE.

When the sun is off kickin' up his heels and partying hearty somewhere else, color seems to drain from the landscape. Everything dons varying degrees of drab until the sun brings back the full spectrum of brightness and life. Demeter exacts a dreary toll up here in the Pacific Northwest. Though Birch Bay winters are relatively temperate, and when we get snow it seldom remains for any significant length of time, the last month or so has been so devoid of color.

So, to offset the blahs, here's another sunset to bring a bit of visual warmth. This one was from about a month ago, but it is a keeper, nonetheless.

Scrabble, anyone?

SCRABBLE. I love playing this word game, always have. We five siblings played a lot of games growing up and still do: card games of all sorts, Monopoly, Clue, Cribbage, Yahtze … and Scrabble. We grew up without diversions and delights of computers and computer games. Our Dad, a jack of all trades—and master of ALL—made a heavy plastic laminate Scrabble board that revolves on a lazy-susan type base, and the tiles to match. We put that board through its paces, let me tell you! I think the Scrabble board and tiles now reside with my brother Eric.(Here Eric is with his lovely wife Gayle at our sister Sandy's home)

As adults, my sister Mel and I have played more Scrabble than any in our family. Every time we get together, time is set aside for Scrabble. She’s fun to play with, has a great vocabulary, and is a little better than I am, so there’s always a challenge. I can’t say if she feels the same way, but we enjoy playing it together.

A couple of Christmases ago, Mel gifted me the little travel Scrabble board in my photograph above. I used the photo on a "thank you" card to her for the gift. She got a kick out of it. (Here's Mel when we went to the Buchart Gardens in Victoria)

That’s the point, isn’t it; to enjoy doing all sorts of things together and telling each other of our enjoyment? It’s at least ONE of the points, and I hope to make it a point this year to tell more people how I feel about them and to find ways to share more joy … as in enjoyment!

I’ve been in Birch Bay for 5 years now. Until recently, I haven’t met any who has mentioned they enjoy playing Scrabble. I suppose I didn’t ask too many. So, I would enjoy playing only when Mel and I visited, once a year or so. Then about six weeks ago, someone opened the door, popped his head in, and asked if I might be interested in playing some Scrabble. (Seriously! What are the odds that a stranger would do that?) Anyway, I was interested, and I did play, and I shall play again!

But it really struck home that it is a whole heckuva lot more difficult to find what we want if we don’t ask for it. Since then, I’ve asked and I’ve found three others who would love to play this silly word game, right here in Birch Bay! I'm certain there must be others!

2009 ... I am going to ask for what I want!

Where, oh where shall I go?

First day of 2009 arrived and is already nearing its end. There’s still plenty of mischief I can get into between 8:30 PM and Midnight, so I still have time to DO something else. But as I look back on this first day of the rest of my life, it has been full of doing and yet not much moving forward.

First, I woke up this morning to MORE SNOW! The last dump of white stuff had mostly melted away by warmer temperatures and rain. I was glad to be back on the road again. But that Ma Nature is such a mischievous one, and threw another little flurry at me. Silly me! I left my car out in the driveway, but at least the snow that stuck was soon sliding off to finish its melt on the driveway.

Suki doesn’t know what to expect these days when she trots outside to do her biz. In any case, her little paws soon get too cold and she WANTS TO GO BACK INSIDE!

Before taking her back in, I tromped around in the snow. I haven’t a clue why, but the boot prints in the snow captured my thoughts perfectly.

Where do I want to go in 2009? What path will I choose to follow, or will I blaze my own trail? Need to think more about this tonight and quickly plot my course. I don’t want another year to end and wonder why I didn’t get more done, or more learned, more experienced, more savored, or gone to more interesting places. Time’s a-wastin’ !

My plan is NOT to end up going in circles, but definitely TO make ample leeway for fun and random silliness. I’m excited and can hardly wait to see where my footprints lead in 2009! Excuse me, I have to go make my plans!