Page 40 - Sonoma County gazette September 2018

Greetings to all my peeps in the Occ! I am rather amazed that this is already my 12th column written for the Gazette—I’ve officially been writing it for a year now. It has been a really fun adventure to take this on and I look forward to continuing into the future.
The early fog has burned off, leaving us with a lovely sunny day. The rage redwoods surrounding my airy cyber-hut are outlined against the clear blue sky and the smoke from the dreadful fires has dissipated here. We hope that those fires will soon be extinguished and we salute the brave firefighters for their tireless work on all of our behalves!
We must be eternally vigilant here in our woodsy
homes! As summer moves along, the students at the Montgomery Elementary School will soon resume their classes. Things are just getting started at MES, with students busy settling in to the new year. Monday, Sept. 3rd is Labor Day and there will be no school. There aren’t any field trips planned in September, but there are many things the students can look forward to in the coming year. At the end of the school year, we said good bye to Julie La Plante as the District Secretary. Julie had worked at Montgomery for over 3 years, and was a wonderful asset to the school. Her contributions were greatly appreciated. The Montgomery School Family is thankful for all of her hard work and dedication, and wishes her the best in her future endeavors. Be extra careful driving with early-morning kids waiting for the school bus!
The fun series of FREE movies sponsored by the Cazadero Community Club, plus Bingo Nights continue. The Club members offer tasty snacks, including popcorn, hot-dogs and cold drinks for sale. I will keep you apprised of any upcoming events. Do come to the next meeting of the Caz Club on Tuesday, September 4th-7 p.m. at Firehall #1 to help plan special events which benefit the entire community!
The Annual Cazadero Holiday Crafts Fair will be held on Saturday, November 10th, from 10-4 p.m. also at Firehall #1. Featuring close to 20 local artisans and delicious homemade food at the Cafe. Interested in a space? Please call me at 632 5545.
Cazadero’s Sky Garden presents the Annual Recycling Circus Rummage Sale, Flea Market, Barter, Trade, Free Cycle on Saturday Sept
15th from 9:00 am-4:00-pm adjacent to the Sky Garden in downtown Cazadero—$10.00 space fee to benefit Sky Garden. Sellers need to provide your own table & shade if wanted Artisans with local handmade crafts welcome, as well as more local produce vendors. To reserve your space or more information please call Cathy at 6325743 or email schezer@comcast.net
The Russian River Jewish Community is holding its annual Rosh HaShana (Jewish New Year of 5779) ritual. Come celebrate the start of the Jewish New Year with us! This is a potluck feast at the Armstrong Woods Grove picnic area with readings and music by members of Jubilee Klezmer Ensemble. Also singing and dancing.
Armstrong Woods Picnic Area at 4:30! (Ends at sundown).
Please bring: Potluck dish to share, drinks to share (juice or wine), chairs, flashlights, and if you have one, your Shofar!. If you like, bring a song or poem to share and if possible, your own plate and eating utensils. (Some paper goods provided). Wheelchair accessible. There is a suggested donation of $12 for guests; members are free. (No one turned away for lack of funds).
About Town: Raymond’s Bakery continues to offer its Friday Pizza and Music Nights, from 5-9 p.m. Both the Cazadero and Duncans Mills general stores feature daily groceries, tasty sandwiches and soups and locally-made specialty items and wines. Do check out the interesting pieces at “Caz Central” next to the General Store. Cazadero Supply has its ongoing 1st Saturday 15% Discount day to help you with various household, garden and vehicle projects.
Something I have enjoyed about being the Occidental columnist is the extra incentive it has given me to get out and see things locally. Whether visiting
a shop I haven’t been in, attending an event that might be out of my normal comfort zone or making it to one of our local attractions—I have found joy in all and can hopefully provide a little extra exposure for readers to local sights and sounds of the area.
On that note, I finally made it to Sturgeon’s Mill back in June for one of their demonstration days and it was awesome! To see all of the old machines is cool enough, then they fire them up and actually start cutting logs—making it even cooler. There is also a very pretty garden with walking paths and labels on many of the beautiful plants. They are having a raffle where purchasing a $10 ticket gives you a chance of winning a beautiful clear-heart redwood log (not something you can go out and purchase anymore) that they will custom mill to the winners specifications. On second thought, don’t buy any raffle tickets as it lowers my odds of winning—just kidding. Please support them in their great efforts to maintain and improve this living history link to our past. I think everyone should make a point of going sometime, you’ll enjoy it. So put it on your calendar that their next open weekends are September 15th - 16th and October 20th – 21st. They are open 10-3 on these days and there is a reasonably priced lunch offered in their beautiful picnic area.
There is a lot to report this month in relation to the Center for
the Arts. The new lobby project is speeding along and looking great! They already have new windows in, providing a view of what this new space will look like. A grand entrance fitting the grandiose dreams constantly being born from this community gem.
The events calendar for September is so full, I’m not going to attempt to list
it all, just say that you should check out the fliers around town, stop by the art gallery Fri – Sun 11-4 to find out more, look at the website or look at the events calendar in this paper. The one event I will mention specifically is Tuesday, September 25th when the OCA will be the beneficiary of the weekly give-back Tuesday event at Rainbow Cattle Co. in Guerneville at 6pm. Don’t be scared, the Rainbow is a very fun and friendly bar. This is an awesome community event that happens every week at the Rainbow with a different beneficiary each week. The buffet dinner is only $5, there is always a fun raffle with very good odds of winning and the Rainbow donates a portion of the evenings bar receipts to the hosting beneficiary. There is also a concert that night at the OCA so one way or the other reserve the 25th for an OCA event.
The OCA gallery has just started a new program called Artist Angle that is pretty cool. For $120/mth an artist can occupy a portion of the gallery space with their artwork. Their showing would coincide with the current shows timing in the gallery – meaning their pieces would be up for approximately 2 months. A portion of their sales goes back to the Arts Center. This seems like a way for a local artist to get some good exposure without the pressure of a large financial commitment or large scale of filling a lot of space. Contact the Arts Center for more details.
Friday, Sept. 7, 2018 Information: 707 869-3273 or 707 632-5545.
Next door to the OCA is the Redwood Needle Acupuncture
clinic and while we were all saddened to have Tessa leave us, I got the pleasure of meeting the new owner/practitioner Dennis last weekend. Welcome to Occidental Dennis. He is open regular hours throughout the week and will be re-starting the community acupuncture clinic September 20th, open Thursdays from 9-12:30 with sliding scale fees of $20-40. This is a great resource for the community, I thank Dennis for continuing this service that Tessa began.
Looking forward...While the Occidental Community Crafts Faire isn’t until December 8th and 9th, the vendor applications are due September 14th, if you are interested in participating please go to the occidental-ca.org website for more info, we’d love to have you.
40 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 9/18
I wish a Very happy September birthday to Vanessa Alexander on the 5th, along with Branum Spliethof, Jr. Charlotte Berry celebrates n the 6th, Jessica Shepard on the 14th, my dear friend and excellent cartoonist and musician Dave Caplan has his day on the 16th, Rose Orlando-Griggs on the 21st, Colin Desmond on the 22nd, Jessica McBain on the 25th and Kaity Berry will celebrate on the 26th.
Enjoy summer, drive carefully PLEASE and call me at 632-5545 or email mayawrld@sonic.net with info for your Cazadero Column!