Stuffs
Santa Paws returns
Photographer Stan Wright will help families personalize holiday greeting cards with a custom photo during the Hawaiian Humane Society-sponsored "Pictures with Santa Paws" event taking place 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday at the society's 2700 Waialae Ave. location.A jolly local-style Santa and Mrs. Claus will be on hand to pose with families and their pets. Doggie dress-up accessories will add to the fun.
For $20 you will receive four prints and four negatives mailed to your home in plenty of time to make those custom cards. There will be one pose, and no appointments are necessary. For more information, call 946-2187, ext. 225.
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'Bamboo' readings
Bamboo Ridge will host a 25th Anniversary Issue Reading at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Borders Waikele.The free event celebrating local literature will feature readings by Wendie Burbridge, Kealoha, Tyler Miranda, Tamara Moan, Joe Stanton and John Wythe White.
For more information, call 626-1481.
'Magic Bus' rolls in
Tomorrow marks the grand opening of the "Magic School Bus Kicks Up a Storm" exhibit at the Children's Discovery Center, 111 Ohe St.Scholastic's "The Magic School Bus Kicks Up a Storm" is a bilingual (English/Spanish), hands-on traveling exhibit based on the popular Scholastic books and television series.
Meteorologists from the National Weather Service will be available to meet with kids and answer questions they have about weather and allow them to make sense of storms by demonstrating such weather experiments as "crushing cans with air" or "making a cloud in a bottle." The meteorologists will also be at the center on Nov. 27 and Dec. 18 and 23.
Children can also make weather instruments to take home.
With more than 54 million books in print and 52 award-winning episodes, including a Daytime Emmy and the prestigious Annenberg award, Scholastic's "The Magic School Bus" is the most successful children's science series in history.
The exhibition will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays to Fridays and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Jan. 30. Admission is free with museum entry fee of $8 for adults and $6.75 for ages 2 to 17. Call 524-5437 for more information.
Hula Nani Girls reunite
The Hula Preservation Society will be hosting a "Tribute to Uncle Kent Ghirard" from 8:30 to 9 p.m. Nov. 13 as part of the three-day World Invitational Hula Festival at the Waikiki Shell, highlighted by the reunion of two dozen original dancers from Ghirard's 1950s "Hula Nani Girls" troupe.Formed in the late '40s and active through the early '60s, the Hula Nani Girls performed throughout the Hawaiian islands and at all of Waikiki's major hotels of the time, such as the Moana, Niumalu, Surfrider and the Royal Hawaiian. Ghirard and his dancers also headlined the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago and were the first troupe to perform in Japan after World War II.
HPS has been documenting Ghirard's hula life since 2001. Although he was a California "transplant" with not a drop of Hawaiian blood and modest formal training upon arrival, he became a well-known and ultimately well-respected hula troupe leader. The Hula Nani Girls were held in high regard for their professionalism, beauty, excellent grooming and polished, synchronized dancing in ancient and modern styles.
Tickets for the festival are $10, $15 and $25 per day, with three-day passes running from $15 to $60. For more information on the festival, call Paulie Jennings at 486-3185. For tribute information, call Maile Loo at 247-9440.
Talk to the walls
"If These Walls Could Talk" invites visitors to experience the feeling of standing on the 40th floor of a skyscraper, raise the roof of a collapsed dome, build towers and more. The exhibit runs through Jan. 4 at the Bishop Museum, 1525 Bernice St.In conjunction, the exhibit presents a question-an-answer session with feng shui expert Clarence Lau 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Bishop Museum.
Lau, who recently opened Feng Shui Gifts & Flowers in downtown Honolulu, studied traditional feng shui in Asia and uses his degree in mathematics to aid in his feng shui calculations.
The Q&A session will be held on the second floor of the Castle Building. The talk is free with the price of admission to the museum.
Another event includes a series of "Build Your Skills" workshops with a Build Up! kit in which participants explore the basics of building structures, designing bridges, testing supports and exploring careers in construction.
"Build Your Skills" workshops will be conducted 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays, Nov. 13, 20 and 27 on the second floor of the Castle Building.
For more information, call 847-3511 or visit www.bishopmuseum.org.
Orchid-growing tips
Learn the basics of orchid growing, including watering, fertilizing and propagating, tomorrow at Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden.Cost for the workshop, from 9:30 a.m. to noon, is $20 or $22 for nonmembers. Reservations required. Call 537-1708.
Vietnamese embroiderers create unique scarves
It takes a village to make exquisitely hand-embroidered silk scarves, particularly those by Atelier Pascale.
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Dang puts her touch on each piece by creating the pattern and choosing the color scheme, then hands it over to embroiderers proficient in the traditional workmanship of a bygone era.
Each shawl is a work of art and can be used as table runners, as an accent piece to lay across the bed or sofa, or as wall hangings, said Cindy Morrison of International Design Sources, who is helping to bring Dang's work to the United States market. Pieces have sold extensively in Singapore and Paris.
Atelier Pascale pieces are currently available only to the design trade, so check with your interior designer for sizes and prices.
Each shawl is hand-done from beginning to end by one person, said Morrison. "It takes at least a month for one to be finished."
Dang, who also designs carved stone boxes, stumbled upon the old-world craftsmanship while rediscovering her roots through her travels in Vietnam. Morrison said Dang employs about 65 village women in applying traditional artforms to objects marketable in the west.
"They have to be skilled, but they also have to have the need," said Morrison, adding that most of these women are the sole provider for their families. Many have up to three children. Dang keeps the workshop near their village so the women can be close to home, and she has no plans to relocate.
The silks are the finest in Vietnam, Morrison said. Threads are custom-dyed, and beads are of the more desirable Japanese variety. There are never more than 30 made of each design and color scheme, unless special-ordered by a client.
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