Post Partum Fitness Hits The Streets Of Campbell

Baby Boot Camp meets up at Tiny Tots
 every Tuesday and Thursday at 9:00 am.

Moms and babes take to
 the streets of Campbell

By California standards, it was a chilly Tuesday morning. I was excited and apprehensive to participate in Baby Boot Camp.  My babies are both in their twenties now but I certainly could use the conditioning. And these ladies had all recently given birth so I thought I wouldn't stick out for my lack of fitness...too much.

Ten participants and their babies (with strollers in tow) began their fitness workout with a power walk/jog to the grass area below the water tower in Downtown Campbell. I quickly fell behind and by the time I arrived the new moms were lunging and squatting with gusto. I stepped in line only to realize that these exercises were much more challenging than they appeared. Once the lunges and squats were completed we did a hand and foot crawl on the cement (which was cold). Thankfully, it was time for another power walk/jog, this time to Campbell Park.  Again, by the time I arrived the group was well into repetitions of conditioning exercises.

August, mother of three,
 leads Boot Camp

One of the babies started crying. I took this as an opportunity to be both helpful and to save face. I'm sure the mom knew it. She graciously allowed me to hold her baby for which I was grateful.

Baby Boot Camp is a stroller fitness program that offers classes nationwide. Their slogan is "we offer fitness for you, fun for your child." Their mission is to enable women to be the fittest they've ever been without worrying about who will watch their baby. They offer programs for all fitness levels (well, maybe not mine, lol) including prenatal and postpartum. They believe that healthy women are better moms and better moms have happier (and healthier) kids.

New campbell business

The difficulty I've found in opening a new business is the time it takes to get organized. There's so much to do that the lists are coming out my ears.  But as time will slowly show, the pieces of the puzzle are coming together one piece at a time.  BYR of Belgium is waiting on a few stepping stones before its doors will open. This is just an update to let the public know that we still have you in mind. We will not forget about the coupons given for a free waffle to those that have bought gift cards.  And we will continue to give updates as to when we plan on being open.  Please continue to check Facebook and Twitter or drop by the shop to say hello, we gladly welcome visitors even if there's nothing to purchase other than a loyalty card, at this time.

Winter Wine Walk Is Coming!

We  accepted delivery of the Winter Wine Walk wine glasses just now. We have been quite busy the last few months getting ready for the wine walk. What with all the planning, getting permits, schedules and all it keeps a lot of us busy. We try to plan so that when the wine walkers (is that a word) show up everything runs as smooth as possible!

Sonya Paz posing with the pallet of wine glasses!

Vanna White er Sonya Paz is helping unloading the glasses. We simply had to take a picture as some unknown person had taken it upon themselves to mark up the plastic wrap around the cartons! Nice touch us longshoremen thought! We have them stored with the nice folks of The Olive Bar.

The Winter Wine Walk glass and flyer

Instead of working — unloading the wine glasses — we thought it best to pose for more pictures. Go figure.

Winter Wine Walk Glasses showing the sponsors

This pic shows the sponsors of the Winter Wine Walk. The Winter Wine Walk is sponsored by the Downtown Campbell Business Association and The Heritage Theatre!

The Winter Wine Walk is on Wednesday, February 8th from 5pm to 9pm. We will have wineries in many of Downtown Campbell's shops, boutiques, businesses and art galleries!

Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. The Winter Wine Walk goes on rain or shine. This event is pet friendly so bring Fido if you wish. Dogs will be allowed into some shops depending on room and such, and all of our Downtown restaurants have dog friendly patios!

Mark your calendars.

Tickets can be purchased now at Sonya Paz Gallery, The Olive Bar and Bombshell Boutique. Also online at Downtown Campbell.

California Landscape Photographs on Canvas

I rode my motorcycle out over Mt. Hamilton and towards Patterson late summer last year. As my gallery specializes in California landscapes (mostly original oils and acrylics rather than photographs) I always keep a weather eye out for something that would make a good composition. I saw lots of lonely open California landscapes on this trip, barren brown hills, rolling hills with oaks and such.

Eileen Graham used several photographs that I took of the sun setting on a ridge as a basis of an oil painting that she just completed. This should be in the gallery soon.

Lonely Highway

I saved this photograph and think that it might make a good stretched canvas print to offer in my gallery. This is on Del Puerto Road, which leads from the top of Mt. Hamilton over to Patterson.

Stone Griffin Gallery specializes in California landscapes.

Come on in and look around when you are in the area.

Stone Griffin Gallery
234 E Campbell Ave
Campbell, CA 95008
408/374-5200

Downtown Campbell ArtWalk

Downtown Campbell hosts an artwalk each month. The artwalk is on the third Friday of each month from 6 to 9pm, rain or shine, year round!

We have artists showing their work in the galleries in town, we have guest artists set up on the sidewalk and sometimes inside shops, we have live entertainment setup in different nooks and doorways about town, and we make a special effort to get all the different shop keepers to stay open late and enjoy the fun!

Andrew Paz of Ample Sound playing during a past artwalk

Our little downtown is quite pet-friendly — so bring the family pooch out with you if you wish! All restaurants have outside seating — so Fido can stay with you if you want to stop for a bite or a drink.

We also have a community canvas. This is pictured below, the community canvas is setup so anyone can stop and work on some art. We supply brushes and supplies.

Community Canvas

Artists are welcome to come show. Signing up is rather simple, visit here for  instructions.

Thanks for listening and please mark your calendars — we would love to see you and the artists love interest and feedback!

The History of Gargolyes

Whether monsters, animals, people or a combination of two of the three, throughout time gargoyles have been popular sculptural figures affixed to the corners of the roofs of buildings to direct water away from the building itself. They worked as, in simplest terms, ornamental gutters. But their origins are not clearly defined. While some people believe gargoyles were developed in medieval times to ward off evil, alternative theories range from that they were inspired from a bible passage, that they represent man's subconscious fears or that they were first inspired by the skeletal remains of dinosaurs.

"Irving" and "Dedo" Gargoyles with the "Gossip Monger" Wall Plaque

Originally carved from stone, typically granite, today's modern gargoyle ornaments can be made of a wide variety of materials ranging from stone to concrete, plaster or plastic.

Gargoyle Bookends

While the most famous gargoyle lives atop Notre Dame in Paris, France the nearest large scale (model) gargoyles reside atop the Haunted House attraction at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

A Humorous Coffee Drinking Gargoyle

If you are a gargoyle lover or know someone who is, drop by the Stone Griffin Gallery in Historic Downtown Campbell, CA where we always have a collection on hand. They make great gift items and decorations for your home or yard.

New Campbell Water Tower Website

What with our gallery selling art featuring Campbell's water tower — we decided to create a new, standalone website just of, for and dedicated to the water tower!

The website is campbellwatertower.com

We offer original art (oil on canvas and watercolor on paper) signed and numbered limited editions of selected originals, photographs on canvas, and digitally altered works. Most art is on stretched canvas ready to hang no framing required.

The above image is a photograph on canvas, stretched onto wooded bars.

Our artist John Cloud has created original works of art featuring the water tower. The picture above is one of his popular Campbell Water Tower Christmas ornaments.

This image above is "My Home Tower II" and shows the humor of the artist Terje Nordberg.

While we do sell artwork (need to pay the rent of course!) — it is not all business here at the gallery. John Cloud has created a photo-board of the Campbell Water Tower! The picture above I took shows a couple working on getting their dog to pose so that they could take a picture.

The photo-board is out for free use most any day — stop by and have a smile on us!

Again the address of the Campbell Water Tower website is campbellwatertower.com

We are:

Stone Griffin Gallery

234 E Campbell Ave

Campbell, Calif

408/374-5200

www.stonegriffin.com