LAKEPORT, Calif. – The 24th annual Lakeport Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast and Craft Fair will take place this coming weekend at the Natural High site on Main Street.

On Saturday, May 24, the Kiwanis/4-H Pancake Breakfast will be served from 7 to 11 a.m.  

Along with pancakes, the menu includes scrambled eggs, sausage, ham, juice and coffee.

Proceeds from the breakfast benefit the 4-H County-wide Citizenship/Leadership Project.

The craft fair is open on Saturday, May 24, and Sunday, May 25, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., with a wide range of arts and crafts for sale.  

Food will be available on site both days along with music in the afternoons.  

The fair supports the Lakeport Kiwanis Scholarship Fund.

Lakeport Kiwanis Club is a group of volunteers dedicated to supporting our youth and serving our community.

More information about the organization is available at www.kiwanislakeport.org .

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The Konocti Lioness Club has announced the winners of its annual Mother's Day gift basket raffle.

The drawing for the winners took place at 4 p.m. Saturday, May 10.

Gift basket winners were Garrett Grossner and Carmella Perez, both of Kelseyville, Calif.

The funds raised by this raffle will go to support programs which help the youngsters of Lake County.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – In recognition of Safe Boating Week, the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Flotilla 88 of Lake County will be offering free vessel safety checks on Saturday, May 24.

The check will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Fifth Street launch ramp in Lakeport and at Redbud Harbor Marina docks in Clearlake.  

The safety checks can be made on vessels on trailers or vessels in the water at the docks.

There will be a table set up by the Flotilla to provide the public with all types of boating safety facts and other useful information.

A Seal of Safety decal is awarded to a vessel when its equipment meets the minimum legal and safety requirements.  

This decal is presented once your vessel passes the vessel safety check performed by the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

The vessel safety check is in no way connected with any law enforcement agency and all results are confidential.

Additional information can be  obtained by contacting the Flotilla at 707-278-8288 or e-mail request to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – History is replete with examples of language represented by art and art representing language.

The caveman drawings of Lascaux Cave depict a narrative of hunters and the deified game their lives depended upon. The elaborate tag of the graffiti artist has become the art world’s newest mainstay.

Beginning Monday, June 2, a roundhouse of language and art will be exhibited at the Lake County Wine Studio in Upper Lake.

The opening receptions will be held Friday, June 6, from 5 to 8 p.m. and Saturday, June 7, from 4 to 7 p.m.

The $12.50 ($10 per person for studio club members) wine sampler and appetizers will feature the wines of Aliénor Cellars.

The works included in this month-long display are Karen Turcotte’s experiments with language as object, Mary Mattlage’s playful take on books without words, and John Randall Williams’ series of panel cartoons.

Karen Turcotte is a conceptual artist and sculptor. Gateway Language is her merging of origami and calligraphy. The free-floating, black-line characters Turcotte has created are part of her ongoing investigation of the limits and mutability of written language.

Written language is a code the native reader understands; Turcotte has devised a new code that the viewer can imbue with whatever narrative seems familiar.

Mary Mattlage’s predominant inspiration is the natural world, also encompassing mythology, symbolism, magic and divination.

Mattlage’s books display a variety of structures; a modern variation of ancient Coptic binding, concertina style, flag books, pyramid books, origami books, butterfly books, and even a maze book made from a single sheet of paper.

One of the flag books, “Ravananugramurti,” uses a photograph from the Kailashanatha Temple in Ellora, India. All of the books incorporate original drawings, prints, and photographs.

John Randall Williams, a writer and futurist, mines the humor, sometimes dark, incumbent in life. Every problem has humorous undertones if only viewed from a distance.

Panel cartoons offer a unique opportunity to merge the written word with a over-simplified visual representation of a single moment, with a simple joke undermining the insecurity portrayed.

Lake County Wine Studio is a gallery for display of arts and a tasting room, wine bar and retail shop for the fine wines of Lake County.

Artists' shows are held on a monthly basis with art and wine receptions held the first Friday and subsequent Saturday of each month.

The Turcotte, Mattlage and Williams art show will be on display for the full month of June.

The gallery is located at 9505 Main St. in Upper Lake. It is open Monday 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 7 p.m., and Friday from 1 to 8 p.m.

For more information call Lake County Wine Studio at 707-275-8030 or 707-293-8752.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Taylor Observatory docent and Lake County teacher Janis Traub will speak about earth’s very own star at the Taylor Observatory’s monthly public night event on Saturday, May 24, at 8 p.m.

The Taylor Observatory is at 5725 Oak Hills Lane in Kelseyville.

In “What’s Up with the Sun,” Traub will discuss the science of our nearest, favorite and most important star.  

Only 150 years ago few people had any inkling that solar events had influence on the earth’s environment.  

In the 1860s English scientist Michael Carrington first suggested that solar storms could disrupt long distance communication on Earth, sometimes disabling the newly invented Morse Code telegraphy.  

At that time such ideas were controversial and often ridiculed. In 2014, we know better.  

Currently, coronal mass ejections from the sun pose a huge threat to the multi-billion dollar communications industry on the earth.

Traub will discuss these aspects of the sun and many more interesting facts that astronomers have learned in the 150 years since the Carrington investigations.

Public nights at the Taylor Observatory include a lecture, a planetarium show and, weather permitting, astronomical viewing through the observatory’s several telescopes.

Friends of the Taylor Observatory sponsors the 2014 Taylor lecture series.

Those who arrive a few minutes early on Saturday may be able to view the sun through the observatory’s solar telescope.  

Admission is $5 for adults and $3.00 for children under 12.  

More information is available at www.taylorobservatory.org .  

Messages can be left at 707-262-4121. 

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A caregiver support group for families dealing with memory loss or other cognitive impairments will meet on Wednesday, May 28.

The group meets at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 14310 Memory Lane in Clearlake from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Social worker Jenny Johnson is the facilitator.

The groups are sponsored by Redwood Caregiver Resource Center (1-800-834-1636) and the Social Day Programs in Lake County.

For more information call Jenny Johnson at 707-350-3030 or Caroline Denny at 707-263-9481.

Respite is provided by the centers at no charge.