Columns

This is a picture of an elephant walking along my windowsill.  Even though this elephant is stationary and made of clay, it reminds me of elephants grazing in Thailand. The soft light created by a dusty screen produces a haze similar to the jungle-like mist...

Labor Day’s long weekend winds up summer. Vacations end. School starts. Days are progressively shorter. Autumn comes to mind and fall colors slowly show.  Labor Day honors the American worker. The U.S. was the first country to establish “labor day,” and the first parade took...

Out to summer dinner in Healdsburg the other night, a few of us sat around a table set on a driveway. Yeah, it’s an H’burg thing in the pandemic. Passersby walking dogs chatted, bicyclists waved.  Oh my goodness, the fresh Moroccan fare from start...

Ahhhhh. The sweet smell of petrichor last week was a welcome joy. Petrichor? Yes, petrichor: the pleasant, earthy odor that follows gentle rain after a dry spell. Cool word, isn’t it? Pictured above are a few drops highlighting the Crocosmia crocosmilflora, or Coppertips Montbretia....

Lots of stars and stripes around H’burg this week. Old Glory, here on University Avenue, rests unfurled every day. It’s protected by Plexiglas from premature weathering, the fate of a prior flag. Fireworks were also on display this Fourth of July, returning in a...

You’ve probably heard that your hometown golf course is hilly, which means you play a hole that’s several hundred yards downhill, which makes the ball carry forever, and makes you think, “You know, I’m pretty good at this.”  Then you take a sharp turn to...

This Week in H’burg is a weekly column featuring photos and fun facts from local photographer Pierre Ratté. Each week we’ll feature a new photo from Ratté along with a fact about the subject matter of the photo.

This Week in H’burg is a weekly column featuring photos and fun facts from local photographer Pierre Ratté. Each week we’ll feature a new photo from Ratté along with a fact about the subject matter of the photo.

This Week in H’burg is a weekly column featuring photos and fun facts from local photographer Pierre Ratté. Each week we’ll feature a new photo from Ratté along with a fact about the subject matter of the photo.

This Week in H’burg is a weekly column featuring photos and fun facts from local photographer Pierre Ratté. Each week we’ll feature a new photo from Ratté along with a fact about the subject matter of the photo.