FFArtRide Photos from May’s Boogie Nights
To get you ready for thi
s month’s First Friday ArtRide “Get Lei’d” here are some photos from last month’s FFArtRide, Boogie Nights. (Thanks Daniel 
Boggs and Helen O’Neil for taking and sharing the photos with us!)
About 15 of us met up at the Artists Union Gallery where California Street meets the sea. We checked out the show there, curated and featuring work by gauvin around the theme of “homeless” then we rolled to the taped tunes from the player in Grant’s bike basket plus some banging on the cowbell from me and bike bells accompaniment too.
We started as usual at the Ventura Beach Promenade, road up the coast on the bike path to the Ventura River Trail, turned right on Main and rolled up Ventura Avenue to stop at Bell Arts Factory, then Project 643.
As you can see, my small boy is dressed in his Disco best and riding his seafoam green bikergo while I am in my blue velvet exclamation point dress and riding my hot pink bikergo.
Our rule is not to allow children under 8 to ride along but I didn’t have much of a choice: it was my boy and he wanted to ride and his dad was still recovering from breaking his C2 vertabrae Feb. 5.
I learned the hard way that it just doesn’t work to have a child that age ride alone–there are too many distractions, too much excitement! He could keep up with us no problem but he kept losing control and crashing.
Next we cruised Main a few times; stops included the CSUCI Gallery at California Street. At 8pm, some of us went to WAV while others continued on Main to midtown to attend 5×5 then they rejoined us at WAV for the Boogie Nights Disco Ball.
In the next
post, I’ll put up some photos from the Disco Ball at the WAV where we enjoyed several kinds of delicious handcrafted beer including stout, porter, and ale in growlers donated by Anacapa Brewery (thanks Danny!)
See you Friday at 5:30 outside the Artists Union Gallery, 330 S. CA St in good old Ventucky! And if not this First Friday, maybe next month for Ventucky Vice!
Break out those tropical prints–it’s time to celebrate summer’s almost here with this month’s First Friday ArtRide Get Lei’d!
Grass skirts, tropical shirts, bikinis and board shorts, muumuus and puka shells plus leis are what you need to ride with us this Friday June 4 for this FFArtRide.
DATE June 4
TIME Meet 5:30pm, Ride 6pm
WHERE California St & Beach Promenade; then ride to galleries and art studios. Check back here Friday for route.
WHY By riding our bicycles en mass on the First Fridays of each month to various galleries and other art shows, and by going on other fun themes rides together, we seek to create a fun, artistic and green bike culture in Ventura County CA and beyond. We seek to generate goodwill and interest in cycling as a way to have fun, create community, get around town, and to take better care of our earth.
The San Buenaventura ArtRiders Bicycle & Social Club encourages everyone to join us on these fun, free, family oriented rides. Riders of all ages are welcome; families are especially encouraged to join the ride. Children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult and wear helmets. Children 7 and under should be in a trailer or on a trail-a-bike. All riders should have lights and reflectors.
While rides are FREE (organized by Santa as a gift to our community), please bring money and a cup for refreshments.
Watch for blog posts featuring pictures from last month’s Boogie Nights FFArtRide, info about this month’s route, and other bike news.
Figuring out what to do with your children while you work–whether at a home office or one away from home or housework–is a constant parental challenge. During the school year, most of us have structures in place that allow us to get what we need to get done done.
But once school gets out, it’s a bigger challenge to find decent child care–a place that’s affordable and where our children want to spend their summer!
Last spring, I learned about Destination Science which offers science based camps at various locations in California and beyond. Since I was teaching summer school from 10-noon M-Th, I signed my son up for two weeks. He absolutely LOVED it. He HATED the other camp he went to, the one that was cheap and convenient, so this summer, when I g
ot an assignment to teach two 5 unit summer school classes at Ventura College for 7 weeks, one class from 10:30am-1:30pm and another from 6:30pm-9:30pm (which translates to working 133%), I sighed deeply and said yes I’ll take it. The pay is good enough that I could afford to figure out some summer camp options that would make my son happy.
So that means he’s signed up for THREE WEEKS of Destination Science! And since I worked every angle and discount I could find (become a facebook fan! early reg! bogopod coupon!) instead of being $240 a week, it’s less than $200 for six hours a day for 3 four day weeks of fun, educational, challenging and rewarding science based activities.
And, if you act before Friday June 4, you can get those discounts too by using the special “GWENDOLYN” code! Seriously! Read more…
Poetry for Memorial Day: These Brothers They
day in May, we honor those who gave their lives in defense of this country. There are a lot of ways to die. When I was young, my mother worked with Viet Nam war veterans and I came to know a number of them. These experiences inspired this poem which I first posted Memorial Day Monday, May 26, 2008. It was published as a broadside in ArtLife Limited Editions July 1999 as it appears here.
These Brothers They
Let me tell you
what I know about the Vietnam War.
I know nothing
except
I didn’t understand the headlines
I couldn’t look at the pictures
My parents sold the TV.
Let me tell you what
I know about the Vietnam War.
I know nothing
except
read the rest of the poem here:
https://artpredator.wordpress.com/2008/05/26/these-brothers-they-a-memorial-poem/
For more of my poetry, check out the links on the pages above. For poetry in general, catch a ride on the Monday Poetry Train. Or go see what Paul Squires is up to on his blog, GingaTao.
We’re Back! Road Trip a Success!
We’re back! The wind literally blew us off course more than once so we didn’t explore New Mexico or make it to any hot springs as planned, but we had a marvelous time anyway. We were almost snowed in in Utah, we hit 12 or 13 National and State Parks, hiked and biked and slept and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as we traveled 2500 miles in our VW Westfalia all over the southwest during the past 10 days!
Photos and stories to follow soon–right now there’s a lot to do to get unpacked and settled back home!
On The Prowl: May 2010
After all this hard work in May getting The Write Alley off the ground, winning two Washington wine blogging excursions, and writing nearly 1000 posts since I start Art Predator back in November 2007, I’m going to take another break from blogging! We’re off on an adventure! Will post when I can!
#999
That’s right–I’m closing in on 1000 posts here on Art Predator since I started this back in November 2007.
That’s a lot of words to write.
That’s a lot of words to read!
Thank you for being one of my readers.
Thank you for joining me on this journey!!
How I Came to Take WEV’s Spring 2010 SET Class and Birth The Write Alley
I’ve always been a writer with interests in lots of areas which led to BA degrees in Environmental Studies. Literature/Creative Writing, a graduate certificate in Education, a Masters in English, and lots of post BA units in several disciplines.
I’ve used this background as a grant writer, as a journalist, and helping artists and friends with various writing tasks, and on other projects.
My primary employment since 1997 has been as a college writing teacher where I’ve worked full and part-time with the Ventura County Community College District teaching writing and education courses as well as developing and marketing an Americorps program at Moorpark College.
In 2007, I started blogging and using social media, and I was offered a job in the wine industry. When the economy tanked, so did that job, leaving me on unemployment and scratching my head. I realized I wanted to move from teaching college students about writing to doing more of my own. I also realized that there was a huge need for people to get help on their writing projects, personal or professional, on-line or print, novel, blog, or business.
So when I didn’t have a teaching assignment for Spring 2010, I signed up for the WEV class. Read more…
Introducing THE WRITE ALLEY!
felted typewriter sewn by blythe
There’s a new blog on the block: The Write Alley.
And I’m the proud mama!
During the past few days, I’ve been busy birthing it, using the business plan I wrote during my WEV SET class to provide me with a draft of what I want to say. (Do you want to do this too? Watch for a workshop on the topic “From Business Plan to Blog”!)
At The Write Alley, we coach and develop writing strategies to help clients in the dark about writing, find the light. We collaborate with clients like you to create compelling content and to complete careful editing of print and online writing projects including blogs, newsletters, book length manuscripts, and other materials. We strive to always work in ways that are sensitive and harmonious to the health of both planet and people.
I hope you’ll go visit my new baby! And please subscribe for regular updates from The Write Alley.
Art Predator Wins A Wine Wander in WA!
Were you wondering what that bus icon was doing down there in my sidebar?
Well wonder no more!
Myself and 11 other bloggers will be on a wild wine wander from Woodinville to Walla Walla Washington to attend the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference!
Learn more about the contest, how I won, where we’re going and what we’ll be eating and drinking over at Wine Predator. Go see who I’ll be traveling with by checking out the links to their blogs below!
Toledo Wines and Vines — toledowinesandvines.blogspot.com
Another Wine Blog — AnotherWineBlog.com
Cellarmistress’ Cellar Talk — cellarmistress.blogspot.com
Windy City Wine Guy — windycitywineguy.com
The Vino File — thevinofile.blogspot.com
750mL — 750mL.blogspot.com
WINEormous — wineormous.com
PURPLETEETH — cuveecorner.blogspot.com
Wine Predator — winepredator.wordpress.com
LorieLovesWine — lorieloveswine.com
Jenna & Wine — wine.jennachateauvert.com
GeneralWineThoughts — generalwinethoughts.com
And yes indeed, you know I’ll be bringing you along with regular posts about my adventures!
art predator 