Page 43 - Sonoma County Gazette Janaury 2019

Happy New Year residents of Occidental! I am personally looking forward to 2019, hopeful for the many blessings it may bring.
I am writing this on the Winter Solstice and the sun is shining on the large redwoods outside if my cosy cyber-hut! We have been fortunate to receive a decent amount of rain of late and I feel hopeful that we will have a reasonably wet winter!
The Cazadero Community Club will resume monthly meetings
on Tuesday, March 5th, 7 p.m. at Firehall #1. Please join your neighbors in planning events which benefit the entire community. Membership dues are only $10 for Individuals and $15, for families. Please send to CCC, P.O. Box 3, Cazadero, CA 95421.
The Montgomery Elementary School students will be getting back in the swing of their daily routines as they return to school from their two- week Winter break on Monday, January 7th. There will be a school holiday on Monday, January 21st, for Martin Luther King’s birthday. Friday, January 25th, the students will have a day off while their parents are participating in Parent-Teacher conference. Contact the school regarding the Booster Club.
I extend my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Steve Pacatte, a recent resident of Monte Rio and Firefighter with Station 14 in San Francisco, who lost his life in a tragic car accident. Our hearts go out to his fiancee Colleen Bialas who will soon give birth to their child.
A project I am committed to helping move forward in 2019 is replacing the gym floor at the Community Center. There has been an ongoing effort for the last few years, with many wonderful folks involved and a good deal of money raised. I remember when the current floor was put in over 20 years ago and our excitement to have it. Well, it has far outlived its useful life and really needs to go. The floor is cracked and bubbled in numerous places. It’s really hard to pretend you’re good at basketball when you hit one of the dead spots with your dribble and the ball just doesn’t do what you thought it would. Also, the floor has no cushioning for shock absorption which is hard on knees and joints of all ages.
The aforementioned efforts have led to the selection of a maple flooring system that will look great and have proper cushioning. The new flooring is removable in case the need for work in the building arises or the far loftier goal of completely remodeling the Community Center comes to fruition.
This new floor will cost approximately $40,000 dollars, of which there has already been over $20,000 raised towards this goal. We’re already halfway there! I bet with a real concerted effort we could bring in the rest of that money pretty quickly and have a spiffy new floor by the time I write next January’s Gazette article.
If you would like to get involved in the fund-raising efforts or join the larger conversation about the future of the Community Center there are meetings every first Thursday of the month of the Occidental Community Center Advisory Council (OCCAC). The meetings are at the Center at 6:30pm.
We are now officially into Winter and I really appreciate all of the festive lights! They certainly make navigating our very dark roadways a bit easier!
Does someone out there have a connection to an entity that might want to donate to help us reach our goal? Perhaps a sporting goods company or retailer? Perhaps a health and wellness company? Heck, perhaps the NBA. How cool would it be to play on the Occidental Warriors Community Court—sponsored by the Golden State Warriors?
I find myself remembering Christmas and New Year celebrations while visiting other countries, such as Mexico, Spain, Nepal and Thailand. Christmas and New Year’s are big beach times for Mexicans as well as us visitors. We used to sit on the sand at Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico and place votive candles around us all. At midnight on December 31st, we sang songs and ate grapes,sone by one, with each one representing an upcoming month-no bad grapes,splease! That is a tradition that I and remembered from living in Spain.
If you lack big time connections but have a few bucks in your pocket and would like to support healthy exercise in the community please make a donation through the Regional Parks Foundation (Regional Parks manages the property). You can do this by going online to sonomacountyparksfoundation.org where you can donate directly or get their address to send a check. Make sure to note “OCC Floor” on the check.
We admired the beautiful teak Christmas ornaments on the huge tree at the posh Oriental Hotel in Bangkok and watched a wonderful dance performance at a traditional “Khan Toke” dinner in Chiang Mai, Thailand. As the very graceful women danced the ‘fingernail’ dance (long brass nails on their hands) I admit that I volunteered my husband Gregorio to accompany them on the stage!
Thank you for reading, putting some thought into helping our efforts and for your donations. When you think about everyone who uses the gym (floor) you realize it’s truly a “Community” Center. The kids from the after- school program thank you. The folks from boot-camp and strength and stretch classes thank you. The athletes from indoor soccer, basketball and volleyball give thanks. The people who haven’t yet used the gym but would if there were a nice new floor will be thankful as well. Let’s go Occidental, we can do it!
Sky Garden: Contact Cathy at schezer@comcast.net regarding volunteering for the great Sky Garden. Good news that they will be planting some fruit trees.
OCArts! While I don’t have space to profile each event, I will remind all
ya’ll to come down to the Occidental Center for the Arts as they have quite a lot going on. In January alone there are multiple concerts, a book launch, and a movie showing. There’s an art show in the gallery and an opportunity to see the soon to be completed new lobby. The local venue with a long name and a large heart, check it all out at www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org
Remember Cazadero Supply’s 1st Saturday 15% Discount Day for items useful in garden, household and vehicle projects. Both the Cazadero and Duncans Mills general stores have a good selection of daily groceries, and locally produced specialty items such as soaps, wines and free-range beef. Please call Raymond’s Bakery at 632-5335 for their current store schedule of baked yummies and Friday Night Pizza and Music. Check out Caz Central for unique gift items, including local poet Sashana Kane-Proctor’s book “Cave of the Casting Bones”—and belated Happy Birthday wishes to Sashana!
In a continuation of info about artists I want to give a plug for a wonderful book I read recently entitled The Dragons of Durga, by local (Guerneville) author Simone Spearman. The jacket info is as follows: “In the future, there are no Dragons. During the midsummer celebration, Pohevol informs the assembled tribes of what he has seen. The Dragons of Durga, stunned with disbelief, must travel the Earth – to Iceloch, Jha’mah, and the Sands of Ochre—to convince their kin to go into hiding.
Plant TREES! Think about participating in Forest Unlimited’s Annual Redwood Tree Planting in January. You may contact Carl Wahl at 874-9268 or carlwahl3@gmail.com for further information.
I wish Very happy January Birthdays to my friend Peter Perlman on the 1st, Eli Ellis on the 2nd, Curtis Ross and son Meshack Sabbah-Ross who all celebrate in early January, Alana Mumy will also celebrate on the 1st, Eli Ellis on the 2nd, my wonderful husband Gregorio will celebrate his day on the 6th, Frank Johanson enjoys the 7th, Kellie Hickson on the 12th, Ace Volunteer Kris Fein has her special day on the 12th, Hank Weidmann on the 17th, Christina Tourady and Marcus Curie on the 18th, Catherine Canelis on the 21st, and Ashley Parmeter on the 26th. A belated Happy Birthday to our new MAC representative, Mike Nicolls.
Zor, Caduceus, and Ius lead a multifarious group—a green horned spider, a rat bent on unpredictability, a winged cat, and Lily, a shape-shifting human girl – on an unforgettable quest. They must bind the world’s Dragon tribes in a pact of understanding.
They must create a future where Dragons exist.”
I really liked that The Dragons of Durga leaves behind the conventional portrayal of Dragons as mean, dangerous animals and instead casts them
as keepers of great knowledge and wisdom. The book is fun, and thought- provoking. It is equally appropriate for kids and adults, think somewhere in the realm of Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings. It is available to purchase from local retailers, on Amazon and to check out from our county library.
I send you all my very best wishes to have a peaceful, prosperous and healthy New Year of 2019. Please call me at 632-5545
or email mayawrld@sonic.net with info for your Cazadero Column!
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