CHILDREN’S MUSEUM DOING WELL
Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert in Rancho Mirage was among the first four Good to Grow! Museums by the Association of Children’s Museums. The Rancho Mirage museum, as well as museums in Chattanooga, Tenn.; Bryan, Texas; and Rockford, Ill., completed a four-month review and were judged on their health-related practices.
GREAT GREENS OF THE DESERT
While golfers strive for low scores, golf courses prefer high scores — that is, when it gets them listed on the Golf World Readers Choice Top 50 lists. Desert Willow Golf Resort in Palm Desert appeared in the 25th spot on the 2010 list of top 50 public courses. Marriott’s Shadow Ridge Resort in Palm Desert and Indian Wells Golf Resort in Indian Wells ranked 41 and 47, respectively, among the top 50 resort courses.
HAMMER TIME FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
Andrea Fiuczynski, president of Christie’s Los Angeles, will preside Feb. 1 over ARTrageous, the biennial auction that helps raise funds for the acquisition of contemporary art at Palm Springs Art Museum. This year’s auction includes works by Pablo Picasso, Richard Diebenkorn, Hung Lui, John Buck, Salvador Dalí, and about 70 other artists. Information: 1-760-322-4800.
GETTING COLD FEET
Russ Marks and Paul Donnell’s refrigerator holds something more than the typical fridge: a chocolate high-heel shoe made by Café Chocolat in Palm Springs. The Indian Wells residents received the shoe in an Easter basket from a friend who knew what they kept in their freezer: a pair of Wizard of Oz-styled red sequin pumps — a gift from another friend. Donnell put them in the freezer as a joke. “We don’t keep anything else in the freezer,” Marks says. “We don’t buy frozen food. We eat very healthy, and we dine out a lot.”