United They Stand: The theme of the Cowichan United Way 2008 fundraising campaign is “Going for the Goal." With your help the local organization is hoping to raise $350,000. “21 local beneficiary agencies receive direct funding from United Way; additionally, there are a dozen local programmes unique to our area which are supplied because of support from generous donors,” writes campaign co-chair Cathy Basskin who includes a photo she snapped last Wednesday at Mill Bay Centre with Peter Dicken of Valley Vines to Wines (“Peter kicked off this year's campaign with a winemaking/dollar matching event at Mill Bay Centre which resulted in an astounding $60,000 contributed to the United Way across Canada” ); sculptor Des Pratt (“one of four United Way co-chairs at Arbutus Ridge, where annual donations are strong and on target”) and Thrifty's Mill Bay Centre manager Mike Murphy “whose in-store campaign produced enthusiasm that spread to Mill Bay Centre Merchants' Association, culminating in generous support from all the businesses and shoppers.” Cathy would also like to thank Marilyn Fuller of Mill Bay Centre for rallying support for the cause.

Hot Dog: Too bad there isn’t have a local equivalent of the Tonys because Jeni Gunn deserves some sort of award in director Gregg Perry’s adaptation of A.R. Gurney’s funny, warm and wise stage hit Sylvia. (I saw the play on Saturday). Bill Davey plays a man with an almost terminal midlife crisis whose attentions toward a stray pooch (Gunn) he has adopted becomes a bone of contention in his 22 year old marriage. Davey imbues his role with characteristic wry humor and Christine Fagan is suitably bemused as wife Kate but it is Valley newcomer Gunn who steals every scene she is in with her uninhibited (unleashed?) performance as a dog in human form, the Sylvia of the title. You gotta see it to believe it and you can do just that Thursday thru Friday at Mercury Theatre. Get there early. With the word of mouth buzz this play has generated during its first week I predict full houses for the remainder of the run. Warning: Some coarse language.

Designing Woman: Jan Donaldson tells me she will be celebrating her 30th year as a fibre artist and clothing designer with an open house in her new log house studio with “impromptu fashion shows, music, refreshments” from now until Sun (1pm - 7pm. 4470 Uphill Rd Cowichan Station). Jan hosted her own TV series Jan Donaldson's Quilted World in Montreal, worked out of a studio storefront on Queen Street in Toronto and taught in the Provincial Museum in Edmonton before moving to the Valley fifteen years ago. “I'm so lucky to have found early on in my life where my passions lay and here it is 30 years later and it's still a passion for me,” she writes. For more info log onto www.chemainus.com/jandesigns