Bodega Bay Beat by Joan Poulos - July 2018

Springtime on the coast can’t be beat. It is sunny and bright, not too hot and not cold. We, admittedly, do have some wind, but that is not uncomfortable.

This is the premier time to see the area. The wonderful Art At The Source gives you an excellent reason to visit other homes/art studios that you normally would not have access to. In some sites (like at Jan Elmore’s) we were lucky enough to see an artist actually painting. Ms. Elmore is famous for her wonderful watercolors and this artist looks to be following in her footsteps.

Even if you don’t buy one of the paintings, it is wonderful to spend $10 and take home some postcards that are too nice to send (or perfect to send to that discriminating relative that always critically inspects all paintings.)

Speaking of artists, John Hershey is just the best photographer around. He is busy shooting pictures of Faces of Bodega Bay. He goes to great lengths to put his subjects en situ and reflects the personalities of his subjects by the way he sets up the locations. I thoroughly enjoyed his last book and will look forward to this new one when it comes out.

There will be an important meeting Tuesday, July 10 at the Grange, entitled Bodega Bay Town Hall Meeting. There will also be a Sonoma Coast Mac meeting in Jenner on June 26th. Apparently our Supervisor, Linda Hopkins, wants us to be part of a Sonoma Coast Mac. Most of the locals I have talked to think that a group which ranges from Sea Ranch to Valley Ford is just too diverse to serve Bodega Bay well. Maybe we should try to go to the Jenner meeting Tuesday, June 26, and see if our fears are valid.

If you wonder whether Bodega Bay is indeed an unique community you should volunteer to be an election day judge. It is fascinating to see how many fill out their ballot by mail, but want to come down to the election site to personally post their ballot. We have a small but very intense group of voters and they make a point of coming down to the Grange and voting, even if they may have to stand in line. The increased number must be partly a factor of so many voting sites being closed down. We had people from towns all around (even from Sea Ranch) coming in just to post their ballot in person. (Maybe it’s the little red, white and blue sticker “I have voted” that we hand out.)

It is time to cull your libraries and bring your books to the PTA sale, profiting Bodega Bay School. You can bring your books to the school and tell them they are part of the sale. Shirley Hughes is doing a great job of reminding all of us that this used book sale is one of the best sources of income for our little school.

The Harbour is intently trying to deal with the issue of non-owner residents. They are faced with having more absent owners and more temporary renters than the rest of the town (although that is changing). They have problems with too many cars; with too much noise and with general lack of concern for neighbors that comes with temporary rentals (like AirB&B, which San Francisco has been struggling with for some time). It is not just that there are valid questions about whether the temporary residents carry their share of TOT (supporting local fire and law enforcement). But this this is a complicated issue that many localities are struggling with.

The Farmer’s Market is open again. Go by Sunday afternoons and see your friends and buy some good local produce. It is interesting to see how both the kids and the dogs have grown up in just a few months between markets.

Many of us have had grandkids graduate this last month. Personally I had a grandson graduate from Claremont; a granddaughter graduate from University of Washington and several from High School. Last year it was Davis, Alaska and Granite Bay. The common denominater is: they all intend to keep on going to school, whether medical school, law school, advanced degrees at their own schools, or spending some time traveling. We can all just wish them Godspeed.

This month I bid adieu to Kansas. We traveled back to close down and sell my mother’s house. She has been dead a few years, but we have hired housekeepers and kept the family home. It is a nostalgic time to sleep for the last time in a bed you spent the first fifteen years of your life in. The little town in western Kansas keeps losing population but the town strongly supports its schools and tries to remind the younger generation of the effort and commitment their ancestors shared. To their credit, nearly all the high school graduates go on to further education. In California we are used to population growth and increased value of real estate. There the opposite is true. Perfectly good houses sell for less than $40,000. Everywhere farmers are finding it tough to make a living. Equipment is so expensive; water is so scarce. California farmers share those concerns, although on a different pay scale.

My exodus was almost different than I had planned. In our six hour drive from Denver we hit western Kansas about one a.m. We had a good car and thankfully good seat belts because as we raced to get to the house, a HUGE buck slammed into our windshield. He was apparently trying to get over the highway to where there is water, but he was so big, so fine, that he thought he could ignore the motor traffic. Not. He crashed into the windshield; totaling the car. He was a beauty; but dead after our contact. Just a caveat; if you travel in the wide open West, be aware that your California carrier won’t work on your phone. We could not reach the sheriff; we could not reach the tow truck. Fortunately we had two big rigs stop and help us. Their phones worked, and the sheriff and tow trucks were reached. Truckers are my new heroes. They obviously have time schedules, but two big ones stopped and helped us out and waited until the Deputy arrived (at 1 .a.m.)

And so ends my life in Kansas. Good people; wide open spaces and beautiful (but careless) deer. It was a good saga.