I have been waiting a whole year to publish these photos from last November's picture-perfect Thanksgiving Day with friends in the country, west of Petaluma, tucked away from the bustle of town, a ways off spectacular, rustic and relatively remote Chileno Valley Road.
Our collaborative, communal Thanksgiving in the Barn took a fair bit of strageic planning ahead of time for our hosts, as far as sorting out sufficient lighting and heat for an earthy, semi-outdoor festive gathering and successfully hot dinner!
Several families pitched in to put together a traditional menu that extended to mulled wine and toffee apples upon arrival, heated over a camping stove, gluten-free dessert options later on and a safely contained camp fire for after-dark drinks and story telling.
Woollen sweaters, hats, mittens and boots were the order of the day, though it didn't rain and thankfully, wasn't a bit muddy underfoot. A long afternoon walk down a country lane, sketching in the artists barn studio, china and crystal ware on the barn table.
We all cherish the memory of that particular Thanksgiving for its spontaneity, simplicity and spirit of community amongst friends and neighbors sharing a common bond of being far away from extended family.
They came, they gawked, they danced, they beamed, then they sat in the Shillings for a Filling dentist chair, raising around $1,000 in the first annual fundraiser for COTS at D Street's number one Halloween trail destination point, Cavity Cove.
Hundreds of trick-or-treating families donated a dollar or more for photos with the dentist from hell, a free toothbrush (thanks to several generous dentists in town) and snapshots of memories from one of the balmiest and good spirited Halloween nights in recent D Street heritage home district history.
If you or one of yours took a picture in the chair at Cavity Cove this October 31st, pictures are downloadable here at Cavity Cove Facebook Page.
For full story on this Cavity Cove fundraiser background information click here.
Don't miss your chance to hear Bay Area's much loved author Anne Lamott speak at 4.15 pm on the main stage of Petaluma's upcoming Word Up Fair at the Sonoma Marin Fairgrounds, next Sunday, October 30th, 2011.
This fabulous new festival of finding out is free and will be packed to the hilt with all sorts of exciting ways to learn. Bring the whole family - no one is ever too old and doddery to pick up a new life skill!
Word Up! Author Anne Lamott has signed on to participate in a dynamic new, Petaluma-based community learning fair, set to blaze a trail of fun and captivating family-friendly activities around literacy and all sorts of learning extravaganzas, ranging from how to build a bird house, rig up a greywater catchment system in your back yard, change a flat tire on your bike - in some 30 completely free learning lounges of art, sustainability, music and language, staged at the Sonoma Marin Fairgrounds, October 30th, 2011 from 11 am to 6 pm.
Billed as a ‘mass celebration of learning’ to put Petaluma on the map as a ‘lifelong learning capital’, Word Up! is the brainchild of Executive Director of Literacyworks and proud Petaluma transplant, Paul Heavenridge. Literacyworks, out of Foundry Wharf, provides resources that support organizations to successfully increase literacy amongst families, adults and kids.
The Word Up! team welcomed learning lounge leaders and community movers and shakers to an official launch party in West Petaluma, this past weekend, where all sorts of people, impassioned by a love for literacy heard of shockingly low numbers of Americans able to read above a Seventh Grade level, today.
Heavenridge, with the stupendous support of Petaluma’s incredibly talented Clementine Eco Events (Rivertown Revival and more) and his bright and breezy fundraising and production crew are rallying the troops for what promises to be a day of learning, alongside lots of fresh and healthy food and drink options for the hungry intellect. Look out for upcoming info on a Word Up! costume contest and save-the-ocean entertainment by the popular Banana Slug Band!
Once again, Petaluma’s Lagunitas Brewery has stepped up to underwrite local refreshments for the over 21s. The event will be completely green as with all other Clementine Eco Events. That means no plastic – bring your own water bottles. This seemed to work swimmingly at this summer’s Petaluma Music Festival. Think of all that waste diversion.
Word Up! players and participants are encouraged to walk or bike to the fairgrounds for the event and there will be free valet bike parking for those who do put foot to pedal for the occasion.
There are several different levels of sponsorship opportunities for local businesses to help underwrite costs in support of increased literacy in our community. “We believe in lifelong learning,” says Heavenridge. “As individuals and families increase their literacy skills they are able to secure better jobs, manage their personal lives, advocate for themselves, enhance their parenting skills and contribute more to their community.”
Word Up! provides an opportunity for community resources to showcase what they have to offer, from a quest for knowledge in tapping out a tango to filing your own taxes. Word Up! has the word on how to do it and the resource behind it.
The wide variety of learning lounges and interactive exhibits will focus on:
Green Up! Environment and Sustainability
Fix Yourself Up! Healthy Living
Village Up! Family and Community
Mix it Up! Art, Music, Language
Skill Up! Computers, Law, Money
Proceeds from Word Up! will support literacy programs including libraries, schools and community organizations in the North Bay.
How could we resist not stopping for a few minutes when driving through historic Wansford into Peterborough to visit the UK-based Italian contingency of the extended famiglia?
For the delightfully tiny station at Wansford has starred in various guises of steam train glory in some staggering 150 films and tv dramas, over the years, including the likes of James Bond and Murder on the Orient Express.
The Nene Valley Railway is in fact, a standard gauge railway, running seven and a half scenic miles between Yarwell Junction and Peterborough, at Wansford, in Cambridgeshire, England, right beside the A1, the Old Great North Road.
The first railway to arrive in Peterborough came from Blisworth, via Northampton, Thrapston, Oundle and Wansford with the initial passenger train along the Nene Valley departing Peterborough at 7 o'clock on Monday 2nd of June, 1845. The Nene Valley railway of today operates on the eastern section of this line.
In 1972 British Rail had closed the line - officially putting 127 years of railroad history to an end. The line between Wansford and Orton Mere was officially re-opened by the Nene Valley Railway (formerly Peterborough Railway Society) after much to-do in 1977.
Today the station is also home to a famous little blue engine, named Thomas. On this particular Sunday pit-stop, several little boys were sat with mums and grandmas on platform benches, proudly bedecked in Thomas the Tank t-shirts, eating a sandwich lunch in the shade of the beloved engine, immortalized in the late 1940s by the Rev. W Audry, author of the internationally known books that are as popular as ever with young train fanatics of 2011 as they were post World War II.
The O-6-OT Engine number 1800 was built in 1947 by Hudswell Clarke and spent its entire working life with Peterborough-based British Sugar Corporation pushing loaded wagons of sugar beet. Peterborough Railway Society purchased the little steam engine when it was replaced by a diesel engine in 1973. Due for its regular 10-year overhaul in 2013, Thomas, as the engine became, much to the delight of international fans, many years back, needs a whopping $100,000 worth of work to his boiler and other important parts.
Know any railroad enthusiasts with deep pockets? Nene Valley Railway's Thomas Overhaul Fund would love a helping hand in its fundraising efforts.
Recent Comments