Between the holidays and just before the arrival of a gardener’s favorite piece of winter mail (the seed catalog) here’s something for area gardeners to consider:

“After a 2-year hiatus, the Zonta Club of Bangor is again planning a Garden Tour for the summer of 2007,” wrote Debbie Paton, who is co-chairing this fundraiser with Marcia Bean.

The date of the tour is July 15.

To make this fundraiser successful, Zonta needs your help.

“We are on the hunt for gardens” in the Bangor area, Paton wrote.

“Big or small, we’re looking for interesting gardens that feature a collection of plants, statuary, water features or garden structures that proud gardeners would like to show off to the public.

“Perhaps you have a garden with an interesting view,” she wrote, “or surprises just around the corner; or just a charming, relaxing spot that you’d like to share.”

If you have a garden you enjoy, and are willing to have others enjoy as well, call either of the tour co-chairs; Paton, at 848-3663 or Bean, at 285-3636.

They would certainly appreciate hearing from you.

Kathy Marks-Molloy of the Orono Public Library invites readers to participate in a Maine Writers Book Discussion Series.

The series will focus on Maine authors.

To introduce the series, a tea will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, Dec. 29, at Dirigo Pines Retirement Community in Orono, and anyone who would like to participate in the series is welcome to attend.

At the tea you will meet Judy Hakola, lecturer in the English department at the University of Maine, and the series discussion leader.

Marks-Molloy reports “the books have been chosen to introduce readers to both the geographical and the cultural scope of the state.

“Reading and discussion guides will be provided for all books,” and the first book is Sarah Orne Jewett’s “The Country of the Pointed Firs.”

The discussion of that book is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, at Dirigo Pines.

Marks-Molloy added that “all sessions will be held at Dirigo Pines, and everyone in this, and nearby communities, is invited.”

The remaining discussions all begin at 3:30 p.m. Thursdays, and the dates are Feb. 22, March 22, April 26 and May 24.

For more information, e-mail Hakola at judith.hakola@umit.Maine.edu.

On Dec. 19, I wrote about veteran photographer Lee Sirabella of Brewer, who is exhibiting a group of photos of unidentified subjects, now through the end of the month, at the Bangor Public Library on Harlow Street.

Sirabella is offering those photographs he has taken over the years to anyone who is the subject of one of them or to relatives of the subjects.

Sirabella left me a phone message to report that one of his favorite photographs, “Tiny Tears,” has been identified. He assumed the female subject now would be either 59 or 60.

The mother of “Tiny Tears” called Sirabella and informed him that her daughter, who lives in Louisiana, had just turned 60, and Sirabella will be giving that photograph to the family.

This column, and a subsequent story in The Weekly, has generated “a lot of action,” said Sirabella, who added he has been fielding quite a few telephone calls about the exhibit.

The photographs can be seen (and claimed) from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, at the library.

From Laura Mitchell of United Way of Eastern Maine comes this Save the Date message.

Mitchell reminds you to “mark your calendars” for an exciting New Year’s event: The United Way Campaign Finale.

Mitchell reports that, at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 24, at Darling’s Honda-Nissan on Sylvan Road in Bangor, “We’ll be drawing the names of three lucky donors who will each win a fabulous prize.”

She urges you to “come find out if you’re the winner of a new Nissan Sentra from Darling’s, 500 gallons of R.H. Foster heating oil or a $1,000 L.L. Bean gift certificate.”

According to the Maine National Guard Family Program newsletter, free tickets to shows at the Maine Center for the Arts at the University of Maine in Orono are available “to military members and families that have deployed or are now deployed in support of the Global War on Terrorism.”

Call Amy Munroe, 947-4168 or e-mail amy.munroe@us.army.mil to reserve your tickets.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.