Columns

Looking for a lost pet or a new four-legged friend? See the list of incoming strays and the slideshow (above) of cats and dogs available for adoption from the Sonoma Humane Society, Healdsburg Center.

100 years ago – January 23, 1919

Driving onto the Hawley Bradford Mountain estate 1000-feet above sea level on a cold winter day, I thought of Premier Cru — French official classifications of vineyards that produce superior wine. Brilliant blue skies and white billowy clouds framed the rolling hills and vineyards patterned into the lay of this land, as if planted by God.

If we didn’t know it before, it should be painfully obvious by now that our future fire protection services, energy utility bills and many local special taxes will all cost us more in our immediate future — and forever.

Free food for government pooches

One of my favorite things about working with preschool-aged children is watching their minds work and grow. They are constantly absorbing information, adding to their files, observing and cataloging. I love meeting them where they are and then giving them one more piece to add to their knowledge—a new bit of vocabulary, an expansion of an idea, a question to get them pondering. But even more than that, I love how they surprise me and tickle my funny bone, just by being themselves.

I am not watching the Super Bowl. It has become a corporate spectacle. Commercials take top billing and the show has become bigger than the game.

Looking for a lost pet or a new four-legged friend? See the list of incoming strays and the slideshow (above) of cats and dogs available for adoption from the Sonoma Humane Society, Healdsburg Center.

100 years ago – January 16, 1919

One thing already appears certain for 2019 and that is that all of us will continue to confront more and more fake news from the daily torrent of tweets, talk radio, faceless social media, Russian robots and our Nextdoor gossipers.