The Christian church year begins on the first Sunday of Advent, which falls either in late November or early December. Many traditions mark the occasion with festive pomp as befits a New Year celebration: organ…
Posts published in “Essays”
We enjoyed a glorious Thanksgiving dinner in the tiny but exquisite north coast town of Westport hosted by our friends who are two of only 60 year-round residents. Highway One north to Westport on the…
(Please understand the following information was gleaned by a rockhound, not a geologist, I’m trying to condense millions of years of geology into a few paragraphs.) “Where were we when we saw seashell fossils in…
Bach is back, bigger than ever and just in time for the holiday buying season in this 275th year since his death. The bicenterquasquigenary Bach buzz reached a frenzied fortissimo after last week’s officially sanctioned—not…
Let’s hope Ukiah is sufficiently heads-up to send out a few photographers to snap glamour shots before the trees on School Street get harvested. When the call goes out to goose tourism numbers, the city…
The lingering fragrance (is that patchouli oil?!?) left behind by the ever dwindling number of baby boomers shuffling off the planet brings to mind the lofty goals and miserly achievements of Generation Us. Oh how…
In the 19th century, the big international drug dealers were the English and the French imperialists who managed, with arms, to hook the Chinese on opium and force them to legalize it. I can understand…
It was common years ago to report to the local newspaper if you had managed to grow the “biggest” of anything. From historian Nannie Escola’s newspaper clippings, we found attention directed to the “biggest” things…
A conductor waves his arms in front of other musicians. The audience usually sees the maestro (less often maestra, still) from the back. Hidden from the concertgoers during the performance, the conductor’s face can convey…