Sages are recognized in an annual ceremony and profiled in the November/December issue of dsm magazine.

NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR SAGES OVER 70

At dsm, we honor our city's veteran achievers and leaders with our "Sages Over 70" award. And we welcome your help in choosing them! Nominees must be age 70 or older and should meet these criteria:

Has consistently demonstrated leadership.
Has contributed and still contributes to the betterment of the community, even if behind the scenes.
Has been a role model or mentor to others.

For details and the nomination form, click here. The deadline is July 1. We look forward to hearing from you!

Waterfall Bubinga, an African Hardwood = Stunning Furniture

Birch, mahogany and amazing patterns in waterfall bubinga inspired the guys in our woodshop; see the gorgeous furniture built for the Des Moines Arts Festival. ... Read More ť

This lock has its heart shape and plus-sign engraved. M or J had only to initial it.

LOVE, LOCKS AND RIVER WALKS

A worldwide trend has locked onto Des Moines and won't let go. Remember the "love locks" that had Paris all atwitter? Visitors to the City of Love have long pledged their undying devotion by affixing padlocks to fencing on a bridge over the Seine. Locks bear appropriately poetic inscriptions, such as "Sophie + Burt" or "E loves C," within or without an encircling heart shape. By the thousands! Paris overcame its romanticism when the density of lockage turned the fences into walls of steel. With some romantic despair and no ceremony, city crews unlocked all that love and pitched it -- sentiment and shackles, all cast asunder.

Ah, but love is eternal. Since the stories of Paris, so-called "love locks" have clamped onto unlikely sites in cities all over the world. Commerce is just as eternal: At least one online business offers to make you a professional-grade love lock with your sentiment expressed in some font of favor for a reasonable sum. Of course, it's in the U.S. of A.

And that brings us to Des Moines -- the Des Moines River, to be exact, that Seine of Central Iowa, where sweet love locks first latched onto the majestic Women of Achievement Bridge last fall, only to be cut away and trashed by city crews. But like springtime blossoms of love, locks have sprung anew on the railing at the mid-river overlook on the pedestrian bridge downstream. We saw two last week, three yesterday. Where will it end? As in the past, locks will be removed, only to pop up someplace new. Because love endures all things.

A detail from "Twilight," a 16-by-16-inch pastel work by Ellen Wagener, who is included in the landscape show opening Friday at Olson-Larsen Galleries.

OLSON-LARSEN SHOWCASES LANDSCAPES

Olson-Larsen Galleries will open its annual landscape show Friday, June 10, from 5 to 7 p.m. Running through July, the exhibit features Barbara Fedeler, Bobbie McKibbin and Ellen Wagener. Fedeler works in willow charcoal to create landscapes reflecting her interest in the varied terrain of northeastern Iowa. McKibbin is widely respected for her stunning pastels of rural Iowa landscapes. And Wagener dazzles with conceptual landscapes under ethereal skies, as in the example above. Find more information on the gallery's website.

Line up a team and match wits with other trivia buffs June 18 at the downtown library.

IN PURSUIT OF TRIVIA'S MASTERS

Doesn't it make you crazy when you're watching a TV game show and the dufus contestant doesn't know an answer that is perfectly obvious to you -- and then she still wins a new car or some "fabulous showcase" while you're stuck driving your nasty old Datsun B210?

If your brain is a treasury of trivia, here's your chance to let it out -- all of it, obscure facts, long-lost lyrics, the beauty of your art-history major. Yes, get the recognition you deserve at last: Sign up for the Des Moines Public Library's Trivia Smackdown. You belong here, you and your friends with your vast stores of offbeat information. You can form a team (of two to six members) to destroy legions of lesser minds. It's a fundraiser for the library foundation, so it'll cost each team $150, but what's that when weighed against the lush laurels of victory?

The Smackdown goes down Saturday, June 18, from 6:15 to 9 p.m. at the Central Library. In addition to glorious bragging rights, you can also snare prizes for best costumes, best team name and other haughty honors. Adoring spectators are welcome, too, for just $20 (which includes a shot at door prizes). A cash bar and appetizers assure you that this is a classy event, worthy of displaying your trivia mastery. For details and entry forms, click here. OK, quick -- just to warm up: What's the capital of Idaho?

"Hamilton's" place in theater history will be clear after Sunday's Tony Awards ceremony.

TONY PARTY AT COWLES COMMONS

Why watch the Tony Awards program alone at home Sunday when you can share the experience with theater fans at a free "watch party" on Cowles Commons? Hosting the event, Des Moines Performing Arts has lined up food trucks plus beer and other beverage vendors, who will gladly sell their wares starting at 5 p.m. The Tony Awards broadcast starts at 7 p.m. You'll want to bring lawn chairs.

The smart money (heck, all the money) is betting on a batch of awards going to the musical "Hamilton," which garnered a record 16 nominations. A traveling show of "Hamilton" will reach Des Moines during the 2017-18 season at the Civic Center.

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Sara Moulton knows her way around a kitchen, even how to slice lemons without looking.

COOKING DOWNTOWN WITH SARA MOULTON

By Wini Moranville

Sometimes, it's great to watch celebrity chefs demonstrate the dazzling, multi-ingredient food for which they're famous. Other times, you simply want the pros to show you everyday skills you'll use in your own kitchen.

If the latter is what you seek, check out two opportunities to learn from famed chef Sara Moulton, one of the Food Network's first onscreen chefs and current host of PBS's "Sarah's Weeknight Dinners." Moulton is known for her down-to-earth teaching approach.

"So many chefs are brilliant," says Teresa Adams-Tomka, owner of Kitchen Collage in the Des Moines' East Village. "Moulton is brilliant and a good teacher." Kitchen Collage is co-sponsoring the event with the Des Moines Social Club's Culinary Loft.

Moulton is crossing the country promoting her new, fourth cookbook, "Sara Moulton's Home Cooking 101: How to Make Everything Taste Better," which she describes as "a teaching manual for home cooks."

The two upcoming class-style demonstrations will be held at the Culinary Loft on Wednesday, June 22, from 6 to 8 p.m. and on Thursday, June 23, from 10 a.m. to noon. Wednesday's menu includes Warm Shrimp Salad, Fusilli with Italian Sausage and Peas, and Bananas Foster Crępes; on Thursday, Moulton will demonstrate Warm Shrimp Salad; Tomato, Goat Cheese and Herb Penne and Creamsicle Pudding Cake.

Guests will get to enjoy samples of each dish. "No one will go away hungry," says Adams-Tomka.

Tickets cost $60 and can be reserved at mykitchencollage.com. After class, Moulton will sign copies of her new book, available on-site for $35.

Wini Moranville covers food and dining for dsm. Follow her at All Things Food - DSM Wini Moranville.