Snapshot

Julia Child was 6 feet 2 inches tall. During World War II, she joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), precursor to the CIA. She worked directly for General William J. “Wild Bill” Donovan in top-secret research and records. In the OSS, she created a shark repellent from kitchen ingredients to deter unintended detonations of undersea mines. She later became a chef.

Rust is primarily oxidation-producing iron oxides, most commonly Fe3O4 and Fe2O3. Other metals undergo oxidation, but the term rust is exclusively used for iron. Copper’s oxidation (or corrosion) creates a blue-green color, copper carbonate (Cu2 CO3), commonly described as patina. The Statue of Liberty, clad with hand-hammered sheets of copper, has copper’s distinctive blue-green patina.

Vihar is a great horned owl, one of several ambassador birds at The Bird Rescue Center of Sonoma County (BRC), a local resource that’s been around for 50 years and needs help.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Palentine’s Day, Galentine’s Day or Self-Love Day. Whatever floats your boat or blows your hair back, it’s great to live in Sonoma County!

Amazingly, lavender is in the mint family. Mint is known as a pick-me-up while lavender is a relaxant despite coming from the same botanical family: Lamiaceae.

Backyard yoga started for Shelley Gilbert in February 2020. On Valentine’s Day, around a dinner table of eight, Shelley quietly shared her Parkinson’s Disease (PD) diagnosis. Because exercise is essential in managing Parkinson’s neurodegeneration, Shelley and a friend decided to do intense but slow exercise: yoga.

"For over 30 years, my daily pour has been a latté. Some years ago, I took a latté art class in Seattle. While it’s not every day that hearts and recognizable shapes like the one above get poured, it’s often enough that it is intriguing. What will my coffee look like this morning?" asks Pierre Ratte.

Fun facts: The oldest redwood in Armstrong Woods is the Colonel Armstrong Tree, estimated to be 1,400 years old. The tallest is called Parson Jones, at 310 feet. Sonoma County purchased 240 acres of Armstrong Woods in 1917 for $80,000. It opened to the public as a state park in 1936.

San Francisco, the “City by the Bay,” was named after St. Francis, a wealthy, gregarious Italian. The son of a wealthy silk merchant, he was known for his love of earthly pleasures and spendthrift ways. Kind of appropriate for a big-city lifestyle...

"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.