Volunteers at the fifth-annual Xstream Cleanup on Saturday, August 16, removed 142,566 pounds of debris from area waterways, illegal dumping sites, and flood-ridden areas. Cleanups were held at 39 locations in Bettendorf, Davenport, and LeClaire, Iowa, and Colona, East Moline, Milan, Moline, Rock Island, and Silvis, Illinois. More than 1,300 volunteers worked nearly 4,200 hours and collectively gathered 2,187 bags of trash, 2,416 tires, 36 appliances, and 54 bicycles. This represented 75,180 pounds of trash, 63,444 pounds of tires, 2,700 pounds of appliances, and 1,242 pounds of bicycles. Full statistics, a list of items removed, and photos of cleanups can be viewed at XstreamCleanup.org.

Leo Acton didn't think this career path was open to him. He considered being a musician, but he always thought of himself as a physical comedian. "In a lot of ways, I've always been a clown," he said last week in a phone interview.

But "I always thought you had to be born into the circus," he added. "I never thought it was really an option."

Silly guy. Everybody knows you can run away to join the circus.

The Beaux Arts Fair will be held at its new location on the Figge plaza on Saturday, September 6, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, September 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The fair features 73 exhibitors from several states working in painting, drawing, printmaking, weaving, jewelry, and crafts. Admission is free to the fair and to the Figge during that weekend. There will be a children's activities tent, and concessions will be sold. For more information, visit BeauxArtsFair.com.

I planned for an elegant dinner out last month. It was important to me that everything should be extraordinary, with nothing taken for granted - not the room, not the service, and certainly not the food. Too often, visiting a restaurant amounts to nothing more than escaping one's kitchen - a convenience rather than an experience, a meal rather than an event. But I wanted this night to be memorable.