Columns

Prunes are generally an unsung fruit, but Healdsburg is singing the praises of its Prune Packers’ tie-breaking series game over the Humboldt Crabs Friday night to win the Pacific Empire League. It marks the fifth consecutive championship for the Packers in a collegiate wooden bat summer league.

The newly refreshed Children’s Room lives up to the hype. The laser-cut madrone tree silhouettes provide a charming entryway into the room. Tables and chairs in the room are of different heights to accommodate a variety of sizes and preferences, with spaces for children of different ages and interests.

Arrangements for the proposed annual one-mile swim on the Russian river at Healdsburg, beginning August 30th,1925, were completed by Secretary George Sanborn with Olympic Club officials in San Francisco. The directors of the chamber of commerce have provided a very beautiful sterling silver trophy, which will be officially known as the “Healdsburg One-Mile Swimming Trophy.” This trophy is in the hands of the manufacturers now being engraved. The cup will be on display in the Olympic Club for a time and will subsequently be shown in various places in San Francisco.

Oysters were a growth process for me. I’ve never been much for foods that require time to “learn to enjoy,” but summer parties on Nantucket often include bountiful trays of oysters and chilled shrimp, and nothing else. And if the evening stretches into a string of gatherings, there is often little else to eat. One night a friend laughed and said, “You’re really missing out on something delicious.”

At 300 million years old, dragonflies are reportedly the oldest winged insect. Prehistoric ancestors had wingspans of two and a half feet. Each of four wings moves independently allowing them to hover, fly forward and fly backward.

News from 1925: "There will be no more games at Recreation Park. The Prune Packers, Healdsburg’s famous team which has won statewide recognition in bush baseball circles, has been disbanded and will play no more games this season."

In the granite mountains of Yosemite National Park, in the upper plateau of the Hetch Hetchy watershed, lies Lake Vernon encircled by rock walls and piney shores. It’s home to crystal clear snowmelt water and beautiful rainbow trout...

Back in 1975, 50 years ago, the first big event in the Healdsburg Bicentennial Committee’s celebration of the nation’s 200th anniversary included a chicken barbecue held at the Villa Chanticleer the following afternoon. For those who preferred a family picnic basket, there was even then plenty of room under the trees at the Villa.

Pigs are smart. These two came in from the rain this week. In warmer weather they roll in the mud. Oh, that loving-the-mud thing? It’s not because they like to be dirty. It’s to prevent sunburn and cool themselves.

When I was younger, I used to walk to the dusty farmstand from the Prestons’ house on Dry Creek Road. We’d eat a peach on the way back, the warm, sticky juice running down our cheeks and arms marking summer’s beginning in quiet streaks of gold.