Columns

For years our beautiful and majestic dogwood tree stood silent. When we first bought the farm 20 years ago, it was like clockwork, and every spring our dogwood would bloom gorgeous white flowers, right in the front of the house. Cars stopped on Yoakim Bridge to photograph it. I think it is the most beautiful tree on our property, and maybe even in the Dry Creek Valley, though others would argue that. Perfect is the shape, shocking white is the bloom. Every spring we would marvel at this gem, and it was always a trigger, for when the dogwood blooms, we know we need to begin thinning our peach trees. 

For years our beautiful and majestic dogwood tree stood silent. When we first bought the farm 20 years ago, it was like clockwork, and every spring our dogwood would bloom gorgeous white flowers, right in the front of the house. Cars stopped on Yoakim Bridge to photograph it. I think it is the most beautiful tree on our property, and maybe even in the Dry Creek Valley, though others would argue that. Perfect is the shape, shocking white is the bloom. Every spring we would marvel at this gem, and it was always a trigger, for when the dogwood blooms, we know we need to begin thinning our peach trees. 

Healdsburg is facing a crisis unique to the economic engine that has brought us notoriety and acclaim. Most of the Transit Occupancy Tax (TOT) is the result of our success as a tourist destination, and, in the coming 12 to 18 months, a 67% shortfall of TOT is expected. In the midst of this calamity, our city manager has accepted a new position and will leave July 3. Finding a new city manager is job number one for our city council. What qualities should they be looking for?

Older Americans are fêted each May, but spring 2020 has seen many of us separated from our elders due to the coronavirus pandemic. Changes can occur or begin to occur at any time, but when elders have less socialization and interaction there can be sudden or accelerated change. It may start with not feeling like dressing since nobody will be around, and that can become holding off on bathing or wearing the same clothes too long. A senior parent with a normally active social life may not even reach out to call friends if quarantined alone.

We are beginning to “open” our local economy and bring some normalcy back to our daily lives while we remain very vigilant with our physical distancing, protective masks and extreme hand washing to decrease the spread of the novel coronavirus. Patience and good manners...

Sonoma County Department of Transportation and Public Works (TPW) is working on several infrastructure projects for the unincorporated area of Fitch Mountain during the ongoing COVID-19 shelter-in-place order.

This is not the time to break down, this is a time to build up, as wise man King Solomon observed 3,000 years ago. Although it seems hard to imagine what Healdsburg will be like after the current crisis fades away, it seems prudent to assume that it will take a long time to revive our town’s success story of the past 10 years.

Mattie Washburn has been extremely busy training staff on Google Classroom, getting the devices in the hands of our students, making phone calls to assist families with logging on and implementing Google Classroom and Zoom meetings successfully for the past few weeks.  

Local arts education continues during shelter in place

There is still grocery shopping. Some things remain oddly the same, as though there is no world pandemic. This strange situation covers the world as we thought we knew it, challenging our every perception of what should be, yet isn’t.