Columns

Malinalli Lopez is a storyteller who specializes in stories no one else tries to tell.

Savvy squirrels seem to find amber acorns, even in the chilly November fog. Send your early winter news nuggets to IDlewood 3…” at [email protected]. Hedda Healdsburg wants to know all!

I am grateful the governor has pushed back in-school openings. And, I am grateful schools are examining alternative forms of learning. But, in the many plans and proposals I have read about how to return children to the classroom, I have yet to see any mention of increasing teacher or school staff pay, or adding more staff.

These are strange times. Isn’t this weird? Wow, never experienced this before. Just about everyone I’ve met recently has started the conversation with something similar. It’s understandable, no one really knows what to say because none of us really knows what to expect.

Summer is upon us. If you’ve kept a garden or maintained a landscape here in Sonoma County, you know just how thirsty plants can get in the dry season. Luckily, many of the guiding principles for having a water-wise garden in our climate have...

Earlier this week, with smoke finally dispersed by welcome rains, I was driving a carpool of teenagers through Santa Rosa at the break of dawn. The autumn golden light of the rising sun highlighted seasonal colors of surrounding vineyards. Even trees blackened by last year’s fires, moist from recent rains, were glistening.

First update: We’re still in the process of replacing our van. We found a car that might be right, but it had to be brought up from Southern California, so until it arrives we are in a sort of Schrödinger’s Car situation, both having our next car and not having it. In the meantime, we are trying to find a balance between keeping enough gas in the van to be safe, but not enough to regret filling up should we go to sell it.

The Saturday market opened mid-April, and Tuesday’s first market was the end of May. I’m happy to report both are flourishing, despite all that’s happening in our world right now. 

A jeweled dress offsets youthful bronze skin and a smile reflecting three generations of family and friends who gather.