One goal of Volcano Arts Center on the Big Island is to be "where people, art and nature meet." Enter environmental artist Keith Barrett, who wants to involve the community in creating an installation made from natural local materials. As the center's artist in residence, Barrett, along with Big Island artists and the community, from Oct. 1 to Nov. 11 will create a permanent outdoor sculpture on the Niaulani campus.

Barrett creates organic environmental sculptures from stone, wood, earthworks and plantings "with works sourced in their landscape, and explores the psychological, emotional and cultural relationship with the environment and the implications of that relationship with ourselves."

Visitors to the arts center can attend Barrett's free presentations and seminars about his work, hands-on workshops for sculptures and woodcarvings, and dialogues with local artists. www.volcanoartscenter.org, www.keithbarrett.co.uk.

— Chris Oliver

THE EUROSTAR TRAIN

PARIS TO LONDON AT UP TO 186 MPH

Eurostar's high-speed rail link from the Gare du Nord station in Paris to London's St. Pancras International is up and running ... fast. Trains will travel up to 186 mph on the new line, the U.K.'s first, cutting times between London and Paris by 20 minutes, to 2 hours, 15 minutes, Eurostar said.

The rail operator will switch its London terminal from Waterloo station to St. Pancras on Nov. 14, when the line opens to the public. More than 110,000 people are booked to travel between Nov. 14 and Dec. 25, more than double the same period last year.

The new train line, dubbed High Speed 1, runs for 68 miles between the Channel Tunnel and St. Pancras. It passes through Eurostar's new Ebbsfleet International station in Kent, before traveling under the River Thames and approaching the terminus via tunnels under east London.

During the 2012 London Olympics, Eurostar estimates that high speed "Javelin bullet trains" will transport 25,000 people per hour from St. Pancras station to Stratford station in the heart of the Olympic Village.

TOP 10

SALTWATER-TAFFY LAND

The top American boardwalks

1. Atlantic City, N.J.

2. Coney Island, N.Y.

3. Kemah, Texas

4. Mission Beach, Calif.

5. Ocean City, Md.

6. Ocean City, N.J.

7. Rehoboth Beach, Del.

8. Santa Cruz, Calif.

9. Venice, Calif.

10. Virginia Beach, Va.

— Chicago Tribune