Snapshot

One-room schoolhouses were standard around the turn of the century. The Felta School was built in 1906. There were reportedly 132 other one-room schoolhouses in Sonoma County at that time.

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.

Fun facts: The chances of finding a four-leaf clover are reportedly about 1 in 5,000. Luck is involved. Clovers, or trefoils, can have more than three leaves. Five-leaf clovers are two times rarer than four-leaf, and the most leaves ever found on a clover was 63, discovered in Japan in 2023.

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!

"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...

Macadam refers to a road-surfacing material and a method of construction. Developed in 1820, it’s named after inventor John McAdam. His method and material was a major breakthrough improving on Roman stone and cobble construction. McAdam’s invention relied on small angular rocks compacted by traffic to create a self-locking stable and relatively smooth surface. This and other Fun Facts in the latest Snapshot.

Hot air. Sonoma summer. So much going on, including Sonoma County’s Hot Air Balloon Classic. Early morning reveille and revelry at the County Fairgrounds with gates opening at 4am. Although it was dark, once the hot air balloons “stood up,” propane flames and glowing balloons became a sound-and-light spectacle...