Occidental Oriented By Gino Gaffney — February 2020
Hopefully by the time you are reading this the 49ers will have beaten the Chiefs to be crowned Super Bowl Champs! Regardless of the outcome of this particular game it’s so nice to have our team back in a position of relevance and from the looks of things I’m guessing they’re going to be at or near the top for a while – yay!
I think most people know what I mean when I mention the waterfall on Bohemian Hwy between Occidental and Monte Rio. If you don’t but have ever driven that way, I’m sure you’ve noticed the large rocky cliff faces that look a bit like a quarry. Across the highway from these there was a bunch of work done last year to install large tree trunks, stumps and boulders into Dutch Bill Creek in the interest of creating in-stream habitat for salmon and steelhead. I stopped by this spot on a lunch break the other day and boy was I treated to a show! For a good 15-20 mins I got to watch two fish (I’ll say approx. 20Inch length) following each other from one side of the creek to the other. They went in and out of the current created by these new in-stream features, a simple flick of the tail moving them along with seeming ease. It was simply magical. It seemed to me like a rousing endorsement of good work to all entities who created this new habitat.
I wanted to give a shout out about OAEC’s James Pelican’s directorial debut in a play going on down in Petaluma. As many of you may already know he is the man behind the wildly successful Chautauqua series at OAEC. Here are his words about his new venture, the play entitled Ripcord. Hi folks, I have been slowly getting drawn into the realm of directing, serving as co-director for a number of operas and musicals at Cinnabar Theater the past few years. They have now kicked me out of the nest and I’m on my own at the helm of this new production of David Lindsay-Abaire’s “Ripcord.” It runs January 31st through February 16th (Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30, Sundays at 2:00) at Cinnabar Theater in Petaluma. This is some supercharged comedy with verve. Without saying too much about it, I’ll give you this: two ladies that share a room in a retirement home make a bet that very quickly gets out of hand. Let’s just say that the photo below is not metaphorical (photo is of two older women strapped to each other skydiving). The cast, in particular the two leads, Kate Brickley and Laura Jorgenson, are all stellar. We are having a good time putting it together and I’m sure you’ll have an equally good time if you come see the show. Here’s the link for tickets:http://cinnabartheater.com/ripcord/.
Snd here is detailed review on our pages: https://www.sonomacountygazette.com/sonoma-county-news/review-ripcord-presented-by-cinnabar-theater-jeanie-k-smith
Our cutest little library in the world is expanding its hours! Starting February 3rd, it will be open 6 days a week (closed on Sundays). Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday it will be open 10-2. On Tuesday and Thursday open hours will be 1-5. It’s nice to see the proceeds from measure Y (1/8th cent sales tax increase passed in November of 2016) being put to a myriad of good uses throughout the Sonoma County Library system. If you haven’t been to Occidental’s branch in a while you should check it out. They expanded the space which allowed them to add a couple of comfy chairs for reading and a couple of computer terminals available to work on. They have a lot more than just books to check out these days as well. Music, movies, video games are all available. There is a rack of books for sale also. The friendly librarian was also telling me about the options open to card holders to stream movies, audio books, etc.
One of my favorite local hiking trails is being over-run by fir tree seedlings. While hiking it the other day I came up with a fun idea that I call my 20/20 plan for 2020. I will hike the trail at least 1 time per month for this whole year. Each time, on the way out I will pull (or clip) 20 of these little firs and on the way back I will do the same. It’s easy and doesn’t take hardly any extra time. The first time around didn’t seem like much but when you do the math the yearly plan will add up to 480 firs removed – which will I think make a pretty significantly positive impact on the trail. I mention this because we all have ideas that seem big and daunting at first but when broken down into smaller pieces can be much more manageable (and even fun) to implement. I encourage you to get out there and do it!
