overheard this weekend

Overheard this weekend:

• LOVE this store!
• I've got to tell my husband about this place
• There's such a great selection
• How does she find such interesting pieces?
• Love that there is a wide price range
• Great name for the store
• Very classy

and my personal favorite:

• I want one of everything!

art and music festival this weekend

Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be busy along Canandaigua's Main Street - it's time for the annual Art and Music Festival.

Craft vendors, food vendors, not-for-profits, musicians - they're all headed to Canandaigua. Slap on your sunscreen, wear comfy shoes and prepare to have a great visit in downtown Canandaigua.

And while you're here, stop in at JOOLZ to have a glass of lemonade and check out all our new loot. We're bursting at the seams with beautiful baubles!

holiday art walk and trunk show this weekend

Canandaigua's Holiday Art Walk is this weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We'll be flying the new Arts flag, as will many of the other participants. Additionally, the Granger Homestead's Christkindl Market is also scheduled for all three days this weekend - big tent on the lawn, craft and food vendors, musicians, Santa and Mrs. Claus. Lots to do, and a shuttle bus running the loop between downtown and the Homestead, so no parking worries.



JOOLZ will have a special guest on Saturday from 11am - 4pm. Artist Liz Brown, from East Rochester, will be bringing a trunk show of her work and will be with us to answer any questions from interested customers. Liz found JOOLZ through word of mouth and approached me about having her work at the shop. When I saw it, I knew immediately that it would fit in nicely and would appeal to a large cross-section of our customers.




A second grade teacher by day, Liz is a passionate jewelry maker when not at school. She loves organic stones, earthy colors, interesting silver and pewter adornments and combines them all with a distinctive style. And it turns out that she is almost "family" -- I learned after she was part of the JOOLZ mix that her grandfather was my childhood pediatrician and that of my children.

Canandaigua's going to be bustling this weekend - hope to see you then.

last weekend of summer

While summer doesn't officially end for another few weeks, Labor Day weekend at the lake is always considered the last weekend of the summer. The weather on this family-oriented weekend has run the gamut from bone-chilling cold, windy and rainy to spectacularly gorgeous - blue skies, a light breeze, glorious sunshine and calm seas. We were blessed with the beautiful version of the weekend this year.

On both Friday and Sunday evenings we attended the last two concerts of this year's Canandaigua LakeMusic Festival. Friday evening Jon Nakamatsu and Juliana Athayde played to a large, appreciative audience - certainly the largest audience in the 4-year history of the festival. Standing ovations were the order of the day and then we were delighted to be included at a reception for the artists at the home of a festival supporter.

The grounds of the home beckoned to us, so we took a stroll outside, walked out on the dock and looked back at the house. The plantings around the house were just magnificient, all lit by subtle yet skillfully positioned low-level lights. A woman approached after she heard me make a remark about one of the beautiful plants. She introduced herself as the gardener for the property and asked if we would like a little tour of the yard. She showed us huge white blooms that only come out at night and also pointed out the completely hidden dog run - hidden by climbing, flowering vines that would be cut back down to the ground before winter. A fabulous concert and then a behind-the-scenes garden tour -- what an evening!

Saturday was a busy day at the shop, followed by our traditional family gathering for Flare Night. That's what we call it, but most everyone else calls it the Ring of Fire. A bonfire was lit high atop Bare Hill at 9pm, signalling to those around the lake to light flares that had been placed along the shoreline every 10 feet or so. The 16-mile long lake was rimmed with the red glow of the flares for about 30 minutes. Fireworks (illegal in New York but somehow smuggled in to many lakefront homes) exploded from neighboring docks and beach bonfires sent up smoke and crackling flames. Another summer season at Canandaigua Lake had come to an end.

Sunday evening we returned to Zion Fellowship for the final LakeMusic concert. Included on the program was the husband/wife duo of Maya Hartman and Noam Sivan. Sitting side by side on piano benches, they mesmerized the audience with their 4-hand playing of Stravinski's Rite of Spring. It was like watching a ballet of hands on the piano keys. Following intermission we were treated to Copland's Appalachian Spring performed as a suite for 13 players. Magnificent! The second standing ovation of the evening followed and the festival was over for another year.

Today was a day of rest, sort of - reading on the porch overlooking the lake, digging a few weeds out of the garden, placing an order for some new joolz and just enjoying a perfectly beautiful day. Sure wish all summer weekends could be as spectacular as this one has been.

lakemusic festival begins august 22

Now in its fourth season, the Canandaigua LakeMusic Festival concerts begin on Friday, August 22nd. The Zion Fellowship venue on Bristol Street is superb - comfortable seating, air conditioning and excellent acoustics. There is a feeling of intimacy between the artists and the audience, as if the concert is being played in someone's living room. And the artists are some of the best in their field.

Larry and I had the pleasure of hearing Jon Nakamatsu play "All Gershwin" with the RPO at the Eastman Theater this spring. We were able to get last-minute tickets in the second row, just left of center. It was almost as if we were sitting right next to Jon, watching his hands fly across the keyboard. His technical skill and emotional passion for the music combined into a performance that we will remember for a long time to come...and now we get to hear and see him play again in Canandaigua.

Another of our favorites is Juliana Athayde, concertmaster of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. A highly skilled musician, Juliana is equally at home playing with the full orchestra or with only two or three other musicians. She can also do a spot-on impersonation of Christopher Seaman, the RPO's British conductor. Juliana has a zest for life that comes through to her audience and it is a pleasure to see her perform.

Jon, Juliana, co-Artistic Directors of the festival, Edward Klorman and Amy Sue Barston and other talented musicians will bring traditional, contemporary and even improvised music to their Canandaigua audiences. Check out the festival website for the performance schedule and for ticket information. We'll see you there!

waterfront art festival this weekend

The Waterfront Art Festival at Kershaw Park, right on the north shore of Canandaigua Lake, will be held tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday. The festival has been around for many years, although the current show organizer has only been at the helm for a few of those years.

The show is usually a good one - more arts than crafts. One can find original paintings in oils, acrylics and watercolors, along with giclees and mass-produced prints. Jane Stoddard from the Buffalo area is one of our favorites. Great watercolors - very realistic and charming. If she's there this year, she usually has a flag flying from her booth and is easy to spot.

Another of our favorites is Liz Brown from East Rochester. We carry a nice selection of Liz's jewelry at JOOLZ. Liz was going to stop by the shop today on her way to set up for the show but her husband and a friend came by instead. Seems Liz is suffering through an intestinal bug and may not even make it to the show tomorrow. Ryan is ready to step in, if needed.

Liz works with wonderful organic stones (turquoise, amazonite, jaspers, etc.) and unique sterling silver findings and beads. Her pieces work for women of any age and her color choices seem to flatter every complexion. Ryan brought along some wonderful new pieces that are now part of the JOOLZ inventory. I hope to be able to tell Liz tomorrow how much I like them.

the day after

It's the day after...3 long festival days have ended and we are taking a much-needed break.

I'd say the festival received mixed reviews. The weather didn't cooperate completely and there were several outbursts of heavy rain and wind. The humidity was extremely high all weekend and while the vendors and visitors suffered, we were grateful to be in air conditioning.

Several vendors said they weren't selling like in years past and several attendees said the number of vendors was down from previous years. It's obvious that the faltering economy is affecting everyone. We did less business than last year but we had lots of visitors, many of them finding the shop for the first time. Building our presence and spreading the word continues to be a full-time effort.

One of our first-time visitors struck gold (well, really silver, gold and pearls - but you get the idea). She was with a friend and they took their time looking through the store. Just as she was about to check out with her first find, she saw a display on the very front table that she had missed on her way in. She tried on a necklace and I heard a soft voice say "Ohhh, I really like this." She moved from mirror to mirror, brought over her friend and they both were smiling. Then she went to get the matching earrings. Her eyes were shining, she was smiling and the jewelry looked drop-dead gorgeous on her. She will be the MOB (mother of the bride) at her daughter's August wedding and she had just found the perfect joolz to go with her tea-length black chiffon dress. She will look simply amazing. I actually got shivers at the shop yesterday, so I knew it was meant to be. That only happens when I see the right piece of jewelry on the right customer. The other piece of "meant to be" is that the artist's name is Thompson and the customer works for Thompson Health. How about that?

arts and music festival this weekend

Canandaigua's downtown will be humming this weekend. The annual Arts and Music Festival runs Friday 10-8, Saturday 10-8 and Sunday 10-6. We were busy last year during the festival and with nice (= hot, not much rain) predicted for this weekend, we'll probably be busy again this year.

Vendors set up tents along the wide downtown sidewalks and sell everything you can think of. Food vendors tempt the shoppers with all kinds of treats and not-for-profits are there to tell you about their agencies. Musical acts play all day long at the Commons Park and the Farmers' Market runs Saturday morning alongside the festival. Downtown will be hoppin'! Check it out at http://www.downtowncanandaigua.com/.

One of our challenges for festival weekends is staffing. JOOLZ has one part-time employee in addition to myself (full-time and then some!) and due to the volume of visitors, we need to have at least double coverage for a good part of each festival day. Now we have the unfortunate complication that I need to attend a memorial service for a good friend's mother this weekend...right in the middle of a carefully constructed schedule that was designed to maximize our coverage. Flexibility is the key when working with a small staff and we'll just make it work, for everyone. And having one or two extra workers who are willing to come in "when needed" can really save the day; hopefully I'll be able to tap into that group when I make some calls later this morning.