And now for a commercial announcement.

The Scottsdale Arts Festival is sweatily underway (my car thermometer insists it’s over 90 degrees this afternoon) in — you guessed it — Scottsdale.

Years ago, I found one of my now-favorite artists at the festival: Amanda Blake, creator of the beautiful artwork that graces this blog and inspired its name.

She’ll be in Scottsdale again this weekend — today, tomorrow and Sunday. For details, go to www.scottsdaleartsfestival.org. Or to see more of Amanda’s art and buy it online, go to www.amandablakeart.com

The Scottsdale festival’s one of the largest around, and while you will see a lot of the stuff that makes these festivals bad (ceramic Kleenex box holder, anyone?) it’s got some of the best art I’ve seen in such a venue. Also, there is always a super craft area for the kids.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled Web surfing and wish you a happy, air conditioned weekend.