Southern Sonoma Country Life

A Midsummer Night's Tea and a Vibrant, Modern & Inventive Open Air Afternoon Performance at Shakespeare's Globe

Whenever I am in London, I make a date with my dear friend, Bev, who I met in journalism school in Harlow, Essex in the late 80s. We pick out something special to do together for the day and given that Bev lives in the greater London area, something central is usually on the cards. This summer, we opted for afternoon tea at stylish and super-view positioned Swan on the South Bank by the Thames for lunch, followed by an equally memorable matinee performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream right next door at Shakespeare's Globe theatre, Bankside. 

Located at the iconic Shakespeare’s Globe, Swan is a stunning Bar and Restaurant set over two floors, with great views of the river and St Paul’s. It's open all day serving modern British food, high tea and available for morning breakfast to evening cocktails and everything in between. Despite its touristy location it's a smashing spot to celebrate something fun or special, or just to hang out. A proportion of the revenue from Swan goes to the Shakespeare’s Globe Trust, a charitable organization set up to further the experience and international understanding of Shakespeare in performance.

How could we resist? Swan’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream afternoon tea is inspired by the journeys of the characters: from the pea flower of Oberon’s love potion, the apricots Titania feeds to Bottom and mulberries from the lovers’ tree.

Love may not look with eyes, but beautiful traditional tea treats, presented on bespoke crockery designed by Annika Wester, are almost too pretty to tuck into. If you go, for tea or other refreshments at Swan, click here. 

No photos are allowed during performances in the Globe, but the school groups who were enthralled by the modern, upbeat and creative production of A Midsummer Night's Dream were clicking away on their phone cameras before the show started, so I snapped a couple of quick pix to show you how fantastic the reproduced Globe truly is. I have toured a couple of times with the boys when they were younger, but never had the time to catch a full performance. It was well worth the wait! 

Go London described the producers as having: "created a carnivalesque atmosphere, with fairyland an explosion in a neon-coloured dressing-up box." And The Guardian: "The fully populated stage looks like the clean-up operation after Pride. Bafflingly, fairy queen Titania lives in a flower-laden recycling bin, her fairies resemble the results of a hurricane in a craft show, and Bottom’s ass is a papery rainbow piñata. The direction is sometimes scatty and the fairy scenes feel like filler, rushing through the words in favour of visual spectacle."

But I thoroughly enjoyed it and so did Bev. We thought it was brilliant in that the hundreds of school kids in the largely open-air audience were thoroughly enthralled and rapt by this up-to-the-minute take on one of Shakespeare's most fantastical tales. And isn't that just as fantastic in this day and age? None of them were looking at their screens once the cast took to the stage. It helped that the whole cast could sing and contemporary music made it all the more compelling for those who might otherwise have wished they were anywhere other than stuck in a theater watching Shakespeare. 

If you go, plan your visit ahead of time by clicking here.  

This landmark attraction along the South Bank is actually the fourth reincarnation of what was Shakespeare’s original theatre. London’s first purpose built theatre was on Curtain Road in Shoreditch in the 1500s, and named “The Theatre”. Shakespeare began his writing career in earnest and his earlier plays were performed here.

The Bard and his company are believed to have run into trouble with their landlord and were forced out of the The Theatre until one of the group spotted a loop hole in their contract and discovered they actually owned the wooden structure. A plan then emerged. According to info on the Swan's website, it was over the Christmas holidays while the landlord was away that Shakespeare and his company literally stole the theatre over the course of four nights and when the weather improved and the river Thames thawed they floated the timbers across the river on barges, over to the Las Vegas of London, Bankside, on the south side of the river.

It took seven months to rebuild The Theatre, renamed The Globe, presumably so no one would notice they’d stolen it. The Globe ran from 1599 until 1613 until an incident involving gun powder and other over-zealous special effects caused the theatre to burn down during a performance of Henry VIII.

The replacement Globe was rebuilt within a year, however this time with a tiled rather than thatched roof. Although Shakespeare died in 1616 the Globe continued without him until the 1640’s when the puritans took hold and all the theatres were pulled down.

It wasn’t until the 1940’s when American actor and visionary Sam Wannamaker came to London and was shocked to find nothing but a small plaque to commemorate Shakespeare’s work in London that a decades long campaign was launched to rebuild the Globe, which finally began in the early 1990s. Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre that we know today, the fourth of its kind, opened in 1997, half a century after Wannamaker’s campaign began. 

 

Rupert Brooke's Grantchester

It was poet and idealist Rupert Brooke's picture-postcard Grantchester long before it was the brilliant, charismatic, crime fighting fictional character, clergyman Sidney Chambers', lead of the popular Masterpiece tv series set in the quiet Cambridgeshire village of the 1950s. 

Still, the two seem to co-exist peacefully in the long, lazy, summer shadows that stretch across the green meadows by the River Granta attracting visitors to this sleepy little setting situated about two miles up-stream from Cambridge.  

James Runcie is the son of ex-Archibishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie. His six book series The Grantchester Mysteries was first published by Bloomsbury in 2012 and is currently airing its fourth series on U.S. television.

Grantchester was the site of Roman and Anglo-Saxon settlements and it was mentioned in the Doomsday Book. Queen Elizabeth I processed through Grantchester en-route to Cambridge from London in 1564.

Rupert Brooke was born in Rugby, Warwickshire, son of the public school housemaster, in 1887. He was considered a young Apollo for his striking good looks and golden hair and said by the poet W.B. Yeats to be the handsomest young man in England. He won a classics scholarship to King's College, Cambridge, where lectures on Literature, Philosophy and Art were of most appeal to him. Brooke enjoyed a big group of eclectic friends, including the writers E.M Forster, Henry James and Virginia Woolf and playwright George Bernard Shaw. 

His tutor recommended he move out of Cambridge to focus more fully on his studies. In 1909, Rupert Brooke took rooms in Grantchester in a former farmhouse called The Orchard and later, next door to the vicarage. This was a serene and gloriously happy time for him, walking, camping out under the stars in summer, berry and fruit picking. 

After the start of the First World War, a by-then world-traveled 27-year-old Rupert Brooke was posted to Belgium. He wrote and published numerous war poems, including The Soldier. In 1915 his troop ship sailed to the island of Skyros, Greece, where he died after developing septicaemia from an insect bite. He was the first Fellow of a Cambridge College to die on active service in the First World War and Winston Churchill wrote his obituary. 

I'm a big fan of Rupert Brooke's poetry and Sydney Chambers of the Grantchester television series (played by the handsome James Norton) and so I was more than happy making a pit-stop in the village this July while traveling from my parents' home on the Lincolnshire/Cambridgeshire border, south to Kent, to visit one of my sisters and also my sister-in-law.

After a pot of tea in a deck chair the bucolic gardens of Orchard House and a walk along the river, the sight of a big group of people gathered outside of the vicarage and church had me wondering if there was a walking tour I hadn't read of. Turns out it the production crew was on location that morning making plans for the upcoming shooting of Season Five of Grantchester. A brief chat with one of the producers informed me that it takes one week to shoot the Grantchester scenes of an entire series, with locals appearing as costumed extras. 

It must be a bit of nuisance to villagers to have their narrow streets and pubs and church commandeered for a whole week, but I'd imagine charitable causes such as the church fund benefit from the production fee. 

Grantchester is just enough off the beaten track to remain a glorious, gorgeous, unspoiled English village of the story books. If you go, do plan on a cup of tea at The Orchard Team Room & gardens. 

                                                                                                                                      Rupert Brooke 

Grantchester's Robson Green as Detective Inspector Georgie Keating & James Norton as Sidney Chambers

The Old Vicarage, Grantchester
(Rupert Brooke, Cafe des Westens, Berlin, May 1912)

Just now the lilac is in bloom,
All before my little room;
And in my flower-beds, I think,
Smile the carnation and the pink;
And down the borders, well I know,
The poppy and the pansy blow . . .
Oh! there the chestnuts, summer through,
Beside the river make for you
A tunnel of green gloom, and sleep
Deeply above; and green and deep
The stream mysterious glides beneath,
Green as a dream and deep as death.
— Oh, damn! I know it! and I know
How the May fields all golden show,
And when the day is young and sweet,
Gild gloriously the bare feet
That run to bathe . . .
                                 ‘Du lieber Gott!’

 . . . would I were
In Grantchester, in Grantchester! —
Some, it may be, can get in touch
With Nature there, or Earth, or such.
And clever modern men have seen
A Faun a-peeping through the green,
And felt the Classics were not dead,
To glimpse a Naiad’s reedy head,
Or hear the Goat-foot piping low: . . .
But these are things I do not know.
I only know that you may lie
Day long and watch the Cambridge sky,
And, flower-lulled in sleepy grass,
Hear the cool lapse of hours pass,
Until the centuries blend and blur
In Grantchester, in Grantchester. . . .
Still in the dawnlit waters cool
His ghostly Lordship swims his pool,
And tries the strokes, essays the tricks,
Long learnt on Hellespont, or Styx.
Dan Chaucer hears his river still
Chatter beneath a phantom mill.
Tennyson notes, with studious eye,
How Cambridge waters hurry by . . .
And in that garden, black and white,
Creep whispers through the grass all night;
And spectral dance, before the dawn,
A hundred Vicars down the lawn;
Curates, long dust, will come and go
On lissom, clerical, printless toe;
And oft between the boughs is seen
The sly shade of a Rural Dean . . .
Till, at a shiver in the skies,
Vanishing with Satanic cries,
The prim ecclesiastic rout
Leaves but a startled sleeper-out,
Grey heavens, the first bird’s drowsy calls,
The falling house that never falls.

God! I will pack, and take a train,
And get me to England once again!
For England’s the one land, I know,
Where men with Splendid Hearts may go;
And Cambridgeshire, of all England,
The shire for Men who Understand;
And of THAT district I prefer
The lovely hamlet Grantchester.
For Cambridge people rarely smile,
Being urban, squat, and packed with guile;
And Royston men in the far South
Are black and fierce and strange of mouth;
At Over they fling oaths at one,
And worse than oaths at Trumpington,
And Ditton girls are mean and dirty,
And there’s none in Harston under thirty,
And folks in Shelford and those parts
Have twisted lips and twisted hearts,
And Barton men make Cockney rhymes,
And Coton’s full of nameless crimes,
And things are done you’d not believe
At Madingley on Christmas Eve. . . . 
But Grantchester! ah, Grantchester!
There’s peace and holy quiet there,
Great clouds along pacific skies,
And men and women with straight eyes,
Lithe children lovelier than a dream,
A bosky wood, a slumbrous stream,
And little kindly winds that creep
Round twilight corners, half asleep.
In Grantchester their skins are white;
They bathe by day, they bathe by night;
The women there do all they ought;
The men observe the Rules of Thought.
They love the Good; they worship Truth;
They laugh uproariously in youth;
(And when they get to feeling old,
They up and shoot themselves, I’m told) . . .

Ah God! to see the branches stir
Across the moon at Grantchester!
To smell the thrilling-sweet and rotten
Unforgettable, unforgotten
River-smell, and hear the breeze
Sobbing in the little trees.
Say, do the elm-clumps greatly stand
Still guardians of that holy land?
The chestnuts shade, in reverend dream,
The yet unacademic stream?
Is dawn a secret shy and cold
Anadyomene, silver-gold?
And sunset still a golden sea
From Haslingfield to Madingley?
And after, ere the night is born,
Do hares come out about the corn?
Oh, is the water sweet and cool,
Gentle and brown, above the pool?
And laughs the immortal river still
Under the mill, under the mill?
Say, is there Beauty yet to find?
And Certainty? and Quiet kind?
Deep meadows yet, for to forget
The lies, and truths, and pain? . . . oh! yet
Stands the Church clock at ten to three?
And is there honey still for tea?"

 

 

British Fashion Icon Mary Quant Whose Designs Are Still Fresh as a Daisy — Visiting an Exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

"The whole point of fashion is to make fashionable clothes available to everyone," 

Mary Quant

From miniskirts and hot pants to vibrant tights and makeup, Mary Quant took the sixties by colorful, riotous storm, launching a fashion revolution on the British high street and around the world. An exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London showcases over 200 garments and accessories, including unseen pieces from the designer's personal archive.

I was lucky enough to be in London for a few days of selfish pursuits which was a rare commodity for me in the midst of an overdue extended family trip to Sicily and the UK and a multi-generation family reunion to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday.

Inventive, opinionated and commercially minded, Mary Quant was undoubtedly the most iconic British fashion designer of the 1960s. A design and retail pioneer, she popularized super-high hemlines and other irreverent looks critical to the development of the 'Swinging Sixties' scene. Exhibit fashion collections include examples of her famous designs from across the 1960s and 1970s, on loan from women who responded to a call for original Quant designs hanging in their wardrobes. 

I'm not sure if my mum had any original Mary Quant outfits in her closet during the years of my childhood, if she did, she didn't hang on to them, but she certainly dressed in the Quant style and likely bought affordable Mary Quant tights and makeup. 

Quant was a self-taught designer, attending evening classes on cutting and adjusting mass-market printed patterns to achieve the looks she was after. Once technically proficient, she initiated a hand-to-mouth production cycle: the day's sales at Bazaar paid for the cloth that was then made up overnight into new stock for the following day. Although exhausting, this cottage-industry approach meant that the rails at Bazaar were continually refreshed with short runs of new designs, satisfying the customers' hunger for fresh, unique looks at competitive prices.

Quant's developing aesthetic was influenced by the dancers, musicians and Beatnik street chic of the Chelsea Set, and the Mods (short for 'Modernists'), a subculture that helped define London's youth culture in late-1950s Britain, with their love of Italian sportswear, sharp tailoring and clean outlines. Quant's first collections were strikingly modern in their simplicity, and very wearable. Unlike the more structured clothes still popular with couturiers, she made"relaxed clothes suited to the actions of normal life". Pairing short tunic dresses with tights in bright, stand-out colors – scarlet, ginger, prune and grape – she created a bold, high-fashion version of the sorts of practical outfits she'd worn as a child at school and at dance classes.

Quant is frequently credited with inventing the decade's most iconic look: the mini-skirt. Who first took hemlines north of the knee is up for debate, but she certainly was one of the frontrunners. 

Capitalizing on the sixties love affair with new materials, Quant was the first designer to use PVC, creating 'wet look' clothes, and different styles of weatherproof boots in her footwear range, Quant Afoot.

As London's boutique scene continued to build, Quant was cementing her position as a commercial and cultural powerhouse around the world. In 1962, she signed a lucrative design contract with American department-store chain JC Penney.

In 1990 Mary Quant was awarded the prestigious Hall of Fame Award by the British Fashion Council, recognizing her outstanding contribution to British fashion. She published her second autobiography in 2012, and became a Dame in the 2015 New Year's Honors list.

The printed dress above was made for the American market in the seventies. It would not look a stitch out of place today, lovely fall colors!

Red and white platforms are a little too rock and roll for me but I would love a pair of these multi colored heeled sandals and a red pair with ankle straps further on.

The Manhattan is perhaps my favorite. 

The Mary Quant exhibit runs through 16th February 2020. If you go, tickets are 12 pounds and it's a good idea to click here and book ahead to avoid lines or disappointment if the museum is too full. 

Mary Quant smashed fashion norms and traditions and her designs still have a lot of influence on contemporary designs.

Top Pick for Weekend Warriors — Windsor's Notre Vue Estate Hosts 4th Annual Tour de Cru Wine, Food, Music, Running, Biking, and Hiking Event

Wine lovers and fitness enthusiasts are invited to experience one of the most scenic and inspiring workouts in Sonoma County. Notre Vue Estate Winery in Windsor will welcome guests for a day of wine tasting, exploring the property, an outdoor lunch from The Wurst and live music from Rag Tag Sullivan on Saturday, June 29, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Guests will be able to hike, bike and run along the Estate’s private trails. Tickets are $55 per person, and kids’ tickets are $25 and are available at http://www.tourdecru.com. The winery is located at 11010 Estate Lane in Windsor (95492).

 Chamomile and mustard will be in full bloom as guests traverse the scenic trails winding through the 250 acres of vineyard and along the 350 acres of open space. Red-tailed hawks, turkeys, hummingbirds and perhaps a Golden Eagle or two will soar above as bikers, hikers, runners and walkers enjoy the views of the estate’s lakes and rolling hills. At the highest point on the property there are sweeping views to the east to the mountains above St. Helena and to the west as far as the Pacific Ocean. The Notre Vue Estate encompasses both the Chalk Hill and Russian River Valley appellations.

 There are five hiking, running and biking trail options which accommodate both novices and experienced athletes, ranging from 1 mile to 5 miles. Following an active morning on the trails, at 12 p.m. guests will return to the winery, crush pad and lakeside pavilions to relax and enjoy wine tasting followed by a lunch by The Wurst and wines from Notre Vue Estate and Balverne Wines. 

Notre Vue Estate encompasses 700 acres and was founded by Bob and Renée Stein in 1992. Approximately 350 acres are dedicated to open space and classified as “Forever Wild” under an agreement with the Sonoma County Open Space District. The vineyards are planted to 18 varietals.

Balverne Wines was established in 1972 at this property and continues today as a line of wines within the Notre Vue portfolio. The name Balverne comes from a hybrid Anglo-French term referring to the beauty of the site, with a literal translation as “A Place of Trees.” The label pays tribute to the wildlife on the property with the image of the red-tailed hawks that fly through the vineyards.

The winery welcomes visitors for tours and tastings seven days a week between 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Reservations are recommended. Notre Vue offers an assortment of tastings and experiences, including the Nouveau (a flight of the estate wines), Eau de Vie (a lakeside pavilion tasting), Cultivar (a tasting accompanied by paired small bites), Heritage (an educational tour with the winemaker, including a walking tour of the vineyards) and Sauvage (a tour, tasting and luncheon outdoors).

Beginning June 2, the winery is starting Summer Sundays, welcoming guests for an afternoon in the sun from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., with live music by Jason Bodlovich and food from the fig rig (the girl & the fig’s food truck). There will be lawn games and more: there is no charge for attending but reservations are suggested, by contacting https://www.notrevueestate.com/events/June-2---Summer-Sundays. The series continues on July 7, August 4 and September 1, with a variety of musicians and food vendors. Food at these events is available for purchase.

Another fun event will be a drive-in movie on September 6.

 

Visit https://www.notrevueestate.com/ for more information.

 

Petaluma Arts Center Sip & Shop Pop-Up Market of Art & Crafts & Original Works - Free Entry Sat June 22nd 2-8pm — Cocktail Happy Hour 5-8pm

Mixed Media Collage Workshops (No Experience Needed) With Sonoma County Artists Jane Murphy & Michelle Chayes at SwallowTail Studios June 29th or July 13th

 

Workshops will be offered on Saturday June 29th OR July 13 2019. 10-2. 

Cost is $125. All materials will be supplied.

Future dates to  follow. Classes are limited to 8 people per workshop.

All materials will be supplied but you are encouraged to bring any personal images or bits that you’d like to work with. 

Class participants are going to work on wood panels prepped with a background paint and pieces will be started using two different transfer techniques, adding paper, images, stamps and paint to complete each piece. 

 

Email with questions or to sign up:

billchayes71@gmail.com

Swallowtail Studios is 5 minutes from Downtown Petaluma and easy to find.

It is suggested that you bring a bag lunch.

Michelle's work can be seen at: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/michellechayes/

Jane's work can be seen on her Pinterest “My Stuff” page:  https://www.pinterest.com/janeemurphy/my-stuff/

Canadian Captain Wendy Williams to Lead First Virgin Voyages Ship

I have yet to take a cruise, but if I was to take one anytime soon, this would be a good place to start. Virgin Group Founder Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Voyages President and CEO Tom McAlpin have announced the appointment of Captain Wendy Williams as Master of cruise ship Scarlet Lady. When Captain Williams takes the helm of Scarlet Lady in spring 2020, she will become the first Canadian woman to be captain of a ship for a major cruise brand. The company also announced a brand-new lineup of itineraries for their premier 2020 season.

“Captain Wendy's extensive maritime background makes her an excellent choice to lead the Scarlet Lady, but it is her spirit and drive to approach life at sea differently that make her the perfect fit to join the Virgin Voyages family,” said Tom McAlpin, president and chief executive officer for Virgin Voyages.

Originally from the coastal city of Sept-Îles, Quebec on the Northeastern coast of Canada, Captain Williams resides on her hobby farm on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Captain Williams has more than 28 years of experience working on ships at sea. Her extensive background includes more than a decade as a deckhand in commercial fishing off the western coast of Canada as well as working as a ferryboat captain. Although she has spent more than 15 years working on the bridge of mega cruise ships, her role with Virgin Voyages will be her first promotion to Master of a cruise ship.

“I have salt water in my veins and nothing brings me more joy than being at sea,” said Captain Wendy Williams. “It's a dream come true to be working with Virgin Voyages, a company that is focused on creating an incredible experience not only for our Sailors but for our Crew as well; while also taking action to minimize our footprint on our oceans.”

Just last year, Virgin Voyages announced its Scarlet Squad program, an initiative dedicated to bridging the gender gap in leadership roles across the maritime industry, where women represent less than three per cent of the workforce. The program aims to recruit, support and mentor female shipboard talent, and to grow opportunities for leadership roles in marine, technical and hotel management positions on board.

While Virgin Voyages is still in the early stages of the crew for Scarlet Lady, the company has already recruited Captain Williams as well as nearly a dozen other female officers, including Jill Anderson as hotel director, Christin Wenge as safety officer, Lindsay Kerber as environmental officer, among other incredibly talented women engineers as well as second and third officers.

Virgin Voyages' intention is to create an onboard environment where everyone has an equal opportunity to reach their full potential.

New Voyage Offerings

In response to the U.S. government's frustrating new restrictions on travel to Cuba from the United States, Virgin Voyages has developed a lineup of new itineraries featuring destinations that its sailors expressed interest in exploring while on a voyage aboard Scarlet Lady.

Continuing the company's mission to provide its sailors with epic day and nighttime experiences, the all new itineraries will feature multiple late-night sail aways, including a midnight departure on all new sailings.

Virgin Voyages will now offer five-night Riviera Maya sailings to Cozumel/Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. Cozumel and Playa del Carmen offer opportunities for sailors to experience some of the world's best diving, as the area is home to 26 coral species. Sailors will also have the opportunity to explore ecological and archeological treasures, including Mayan ruins, or opt to explore neighboring Tulum, the elevated Bohemian sanctuary with picturesque beaches and diverse nightlife.

For those who just want a quick getaway, Virgin Voyages' four-night sailings will now become Fire and Sunset Soirées including a sunset departure from Key West and a midnight departure from Bimini. Sailors will experience the cultural and boating paradise of Key West, paired with a day of rejuvenation in Bimini, Bahamas that's topped off by an exclusive late-night beach bonfire soiree. This celebration under the stars is exclusive to these sailings, and the artistic fire installations draw inspiration from the fireball sculptures on Branson's Necker Island and the alluring communal nature of a traditional beachside bonfire. Sounds great to me!

In response to Sailor demand for longer voyages aboard Scarlet Lady, Virgin Voyages has developed special seven-night sailings for the 2020 festive holiday season. Those looking to get a jump start on their holiday planning can opt for the all-new Holidaze and Nights and New Year's Ahoy voyages, which fall over the Christmas and New Year's holidays respectively, and feature stops in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic and late-night sail aways in both Bimini, Bahamas and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

All voyages will feature a stop in Bimini, Bahamas, home to The Beach Club, a private club for Virgin Voyages Sailors while Scarlet Lady is on the island.

For more information on Scarlet Lady, future Sailors and First Mates (travel partners) are invited to check out Virgin Voyages by visiting www.virginvoyages.com.

ABOUT VIRGIN VOYAGES

Virgin Voyages is a global lifestyle brand committed to creating the world's most irresistible holiday. With operations in the US, UK, and Europe, Virgin Voyages currently has four ships on order with master shipbuilder Fincantieri.

With its inaugural season scheduled for 2020, Virgin Voyages' first ship the Scarlet Lady was designed to reflect a yacht's sleek luxury. Featuring spaces designed by some of the top names in contemporary design, the Scarlet Lady will be Adult-by-Design, a sanctuary at sea for the 18+ traveler.

A dose of 'Vitamin Sea' will be naturally intertwined across the entire ship, with well-being activated through a mix of high-energy moments coupled with relaxation and rejuvenation. The Scarlet Lady will also feature alluring entertainment and 20+ world-class intimate eateries on board. Putting a twist on luxury, which the company refers to as Rebellious Luxe, Virgin Voyages will offer incredible value for its sailors with all restaurants, group fitness classes, soft drinks, and many more Virgin surprises included within the voyage fare.

Scarlet Lady will sail from Miami to the Caribbean in 2020, hosting more than 2,770 sailors and 1,160 amazing crew from around the world. Keep watch on virginvoyages.com for more updates.

 

Follow Virgin Voyages:

Instagram: @virginvoyages

Facebook: @virginvoyages

Twitter: @virginvoyages

LinkedIn: Virgin Voyages

YouTube: Virgin Voyages

Sky Hill Cultural Alliance & Petaluma Museum Association Present Schubertiade — Sunday June 16th, A Celebration of the Story and Music of Franz Schubert

Wines & Sunsets Live Music & Food Trucks Events Return to Paradise Ridge Winery's Russian River Valley Estate Amphitheater June 19th through September 18th

This summer, Wednesday nights once again mean Wines & Sunsets at Paradise Ridge Winery’s Russian River Valley Estate Amphitheater in Santa Rosa, June 19 to Sept. 18.

The Wines & Sunsets series was voted “Best Winery Event in Sonoma County” in 2017, just prior to the fires that ravaged the winery and many of the buildings on the property. This year’s Wines & Sunsets series will be held in the hillside amphitheater just below the tasting room and events center, which is being rebuilt and is set to reopen in November.

The amphitheater offers expansive views of vineyards and the Russian River Valley. Wines & Sunsets features festive live music, wines by the glass or bottle, and goodies from gourmet food trucks. Two of this year’s evenings are themed: Red, White & Bubbles on July 3 and Hot Havana Nights on Aug. 21.

Seating is family style, with everyone sharing tables. Click here for Advance tickets are $10 general or $5 for wine clubs members, and may sell out; if tickets are available at the door, it’s $15 general or $10 for club members.

Wines & Sunsets

Paradise Ridge Winery Estate
4545 Thomas Lake Harris Drive
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
707-528-9463

prwinery.com/

Also, The Ranch at Lake Sonoma welcomes us to its warm weather line up. 

Listen to live music and watch the sun setting over the water at the new Sunset Music Series concerts at The Ranch at Lake Sonoma, in northern Sonoma County.

Enjoy local food, beer, and wine, and savor the view from the scenic Redwood Barn, perched high above Lake Sonoma, Sonoma County’s largest and most picturesque park. Held from 4 p.m. until sunset on the second and fourth Sundays from June 9 to Sept. 8, the free concerts will benefit local nonprofit groups.

The schedule includes: June 9, electric blues by Johnny Sansone & The Remedies; June 23, Two Lions Band singer-songwriters; July 14, indie rock by Justin Schaefers & The Blind Barbers; July 28, funk and soul by Trace Repeat; Aug. 11, brass and soul by Spike’s Awesome Hotcakes; Aug. 25, The Thugz jam band; and Sept. 8, country music by The Easy Leaves.

The Ranch at Lake Sonoma offers scenic horseback tours for all levels of experience, as well as providing a stunningly scenic rustic venue for weddings, corporate events, dinners, parties, and other gatherings.

 

Sunset Music Series

The Ranch at Lake Sonoma
100 Marina Road, Lot A
Geyserville, CA 95441
707-494-4449

www.theranchatlakesonoma.com

Let's Build A Park — Informational Town Meetings for Petaluma River Park Plans on the McNear Peninsula 5.30pm June 13th at Hotel Petaluma, June 24th at The Petaluma Library

Petaluma River Park is a nonprofit organization by forward thinking locals on a mission to build a public park for recreation, education, conservation, culture and community. A park for everyone. 

My husband, Timo is brokering the sale of the land from the historic McNear Family to Petaluma River Park group and is a keen supporter of the project. He'll be at both of the public town hall meetings this June on to speak and answer any questions from the transfer of ownership perspective. This will be a dream come true for our community. 

PLEASE NOTE THERE IS A TYPO ON THE DATE IN THIS IMAGE - PETALUMA LIBRARY DATE IS MONDAY JUNE 24th. 

To learn more see PetalumaRiverPark.org