Snapshot

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.

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.

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...

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.

Fun facts: The word “yet” has a few meanings. As an adverb it references “a continuing state or condition.” As a conjunction, it introduces a contrasting fact or thought. As a modifier, it intensifies meaning, as in “yet again.” Another column of observation from Pierre Ratte.

Recognized as a perfect blend of classical architecture and landscape, the colonnaded pergola and vaulted ceiling-ed rotunda is surrounded by a lagoon on three sides. Architect Bernard Maybeck designed this S.F. landmark in the Beaux Arts style, characterized by grandiose structures with symmetrical styling often including elaborate detailing, classical columns, pediments, friezes and cornices.

During 2020 and the pandemic, cocktail books flew off the shelves. Books like Death & Co. Modern Classic Cocktails; The PDT Cocktail Book: The Complete Bartenders Guide; Spirits and Cocktails from Around the World; and Artisanal Cocktails - Seasonal Drinks Inspired by the Bar at Cyrus by Healdsburg’s own famous cocktail baller, Scott Beattie, experienced a significant uptick in sales.

"Healdsburg has such lovely hiking trails. It offers so many things to do to kick-off summer over the long Memorial Day weekend. The Future Farmers of America Fair and the Thursday night Twilight Parade, where Healdsburgians either join the parade or watch it... But Healdsburg also offers the possibility of stepping outside the hubbub and hitting a trail," Pierre Ratte reminds us in this week's Snapshot column...

"One if by land, two if by sea.” Longfellow immortalized Paul Revere’s ride for freedom, which took place 250 years ago, on April 18, 1775. Revere’s mission was to alert Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops were coming to Lexington and Concord to destroy military supplies.

Wisteria is associated with romance and spring, and it turns out spring love is more than a romantic idea. Longer days and increased warmth boosts phytochemicals in plants and hormones in animals. Plants transition from vegetative to reproductive growth (blooms and flowers) when Flowering Locus T (FT) is released.