Columns

Four library book groups are again meeting this month, and what wonderful selections to discuss. “The Last Bookaneer” is a swashbuckling tale about greed, highlighting thieves, spies, smugglers and tricksters, whereas “The Secret Place” is a terrifying mystery, featuring giddy, devious and untrustworthy schoolgirls. The middle schoolers will be enjoying the charming graphic novels “Awkward” and “Brave,” full of humor, realism and kindness.

The word “smitten” has several meanings, ranging from being hit with a heavy blow to caught in a trance of obsession or becoming love-struck. Here, we are using smitten as a synonym for enraptured or enchanted, like a teenager who casts a first sight on the new girl in class and immediately starts talking in nonsensical rhymes.

“Water, water all around, but not a drop to drink.”

Last weekend a very good friend celebrated a milestone birthday, which she wanted to commemorate by having a “crafternoon” at her family’s cabin. Melissa gathered years’ worth of craft materials – pounds of buttons, miles of fabric, bags of saved mint tins, boxes of old maps, mod podge, glue guns, scissors, scrapping paper, paint, etc., etc., etc. – and several years’ worth of friends, and we crafted our hearts out.

I started my Monday morning by picking squash, cucumbers, some tomatoes, a handful of strawberries and what my Oklahoma family calls “a mess of okra.” Okra is a favorite at our house. My Oklahoma grandmother, Momo as she preferred, served it breaded and fried with nearly every meal as long as okra season lasted.

Here's what's happening at the senior center this week: 

July might as well be the official Dennis Agnos month. Last week, the Healdsburg resident and LGBTQ activist was the subject of a feature article about foster parents and the benefits of building a family through foster care. This week, Agnos is in the spotlight again — for his work as president of the volunteer board of directors at the Healdsburg Education Foundation (HEF).

At the mouth of the Russian River, which defines the watershed in which we all live, there is a mud and sand flat full of driftwood, large rocks and lots and lots of colorful items. These are soda bottles, lost toys, household containers, play balls, boat parts, piles of bottle caps, broken cases, bags, missing shoes and unidentifiable pieces of our modern life. They’re all made of plastic.

These news items are gathered from previous issues of the Windsor Times by volunteers of the Windsor Museum and Historical Society

The following snippets of history are drawn from the pages of the Healdsburg Tribune, the Healdsburg Enterprise and the Sotoyome Scimitar, and are prepared by the volunteers at the Healdsburg Museum & Historical Society. Admission is always free at the museum, open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.