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...

Wow, we really loved seeing old, lifetime Healdsburg people share their talents, especially Dana DiRicco and Lorraine Ham (94 years old) teach us, and young people too, how to properly make a pie crust—revealing all their secrets! And everyone was wide-eyed seeing a whole hive...

Healdsburg is at the very epicenter of the climate crisis  Warming temperatures and cycles of drought contributed to the destructive Kincade Fire in 2019 and the Walbridge Fire in 2020. Sections of the city and the surrounding area were evacuated both times.  Climate impacts have already...

With gender fluidity, one wonders about “Burning Man.” Right? Burners gather 375 miles northeast of Healdsburg in Black Rock City, NV—an alkali desert plain called “the playa.” Burners have a sense of humor, for sure, but the playa also stems from its location on...

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...

August 11th’s supermoon was the last of 2022. August supermoons are also called Sturgeon Moons, from a Native American tradition recognizing August as the month for catching these large fish in the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain and the Hudson River. This rising moon was...

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....

Crepe myrtles are known for vivid colors. This vibrant specimen shames the bright red painted curb at Safeway with a profusion of panicles. A panicle is a loose branching bunch of flowers, or if you prefer: a branched indeterminate inflorescence of racemes with pedicels....

When you’re young, downtown is where your life unfolds. It starts at 12 with the comic book shop, moves on to the record store and skateboarding, which is followed by clothes at the mall and finally literature at the bookstore, which is read and...