Cool Concept ... Blending Cabernet at Conn Creek Winery

Conn Creek Winery Gardens (Photo: Alice Joyce)

Conn Creek Winery

offers Cabernet Sauvignon tastings in their AVA Room as part of a unique blending seminar for small groups (no more than 10 people).

Above photo: Outside the AVA Room

Conn Creek Winery AVA Room (Alice Joyce photo)

Participants take part in a guided walk-around barrel tasting, sampling wine from single-vineyard sites in 14 sub-appellations – AVAs – within the Napa Valley.

After learning about various techniques and approaches to winemaking, each guest will come away with a bottle they have blended.

Creating your own unique label is part of the fun.

Conn Creek Gardens (Alice Joyce photo)

Under the shade of the pergola in the Garden at Conn Creek, on Silverado Trail in St. Helena, California.

Conn Creek Entry Garden – Alice Joyce photo

New landscaping in front of the winery building & driveway entrance designed by Jonathan Plant & Associates of St Helena.

Winery Gardens: Books on Amazon.com

July 28th, 2010 | Tags: , | Category: Green Destinations, Wine Country | One comment - (Comments are closed)

Sensory Feast .. Sequim Lavender Festival

A sneak peek at an annual lavender festival held on the third weekend of each July on the North Olympic Peninsula, Washington State, U.S.A.

Jardin Du Soleil - Sequim Lavender Festival photo

The city of Sequim (pronounced S’kwim) boasts the title of the Lavender Capital of North America, with a growers association encompassing an organization of farmers who specialize in the fragrant herb.

Farm tours are a highlight during the festival’s 3 days, when visitors wallow in the perfumed gardens, amid an atmospheric haze of blooming lavender varieties scenting the air. Culinary Program: On Sunday, cooking demonstrations by local chefs will take place at each of the six Farms on Tour. Expect enlightening instruction on the culinary uses of lavender.

Purple Haze Fields - Sequim Lavender Festival photo

In downtown Sequim, a Street Fair features some 100 vendor booths, with entertainment, food court, wine and beer garden. Friday, Saturday & Sunday: Sequim Lavender Festival:  July 16, 17 & 18 – 2010.

Jardin Du Soleil bundles

Visit the web site or phone 877-681-3035 for information.

Photos: Sequim Lavender Festival - Sequim Lavender Growers Association:  www.lavendergrowers.org

June 22nd, 2010 | Tags: , | Category: Green Destinations | 3 comments - (Comments are closed)

Exuberant Millennium Park .. Chicago

Chicago – Growing Greener and More Vibrant With Each Passing Year

Gehry-designed Pritzker Pavilion (Alice Joyce photo)

Gehry Glam! – The Frank Gehry-designed Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park: Gehry’s exuberant architecture seems to have taken the world by storm. I’ll personally vouch for the architect’s design of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. The building proved to have superb acoustics when I heard a string quartet play in the Hall. Even before attending the concert, I’d been won over by Gehry’s exuberant style, impressed by the Concert Hall’s open-air gardens, which are open to the public.

But here the focus is on CHICAGO! In September last year I took in a performance at the Park’s Pritzker Pavilion. Each year during the World Music Festival, venues around the city offer free performances. In the photo above, Tambours San Frontieres is performing one afternoon: A Congolese group now based in Chicago.

Crown Fountain - Chicago (ALICE JOYCE Photo) Millennium Park

Millennium Park’s Crown Fountain is a crowd pleaser! Upright 50-foot towers deliver a welcoming splash and flow!

Jaume Plensa, a Barcelona artist, designed the multi-media water feature.

Chicago - Millennium Park Plantings (Alice Joyce photo)

Along the Magnificent Mile – Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, and throughout the landscape of Millennium Park, lush planting beds enliven the scene with the bold forms of grasses, tropical specimens, and brilliant annuals rich with color and texture.

Crown Fountain by Jaume Plensa (Alice Joyce photo)

A shallow pool spans the space between the glass-block towers, their colorful video projections featuring a panoply of faces. 1,000 Chicagoans are featured… their changing expressions create a riveting display.

Millennium Park – Art & Architecture

May 6th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , | Category: Chicago, Green Destinations | 5 comments - (Comments are closed)
 
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