RoundUp: Bee still my heart
A bee adventure, the 40th year of exchange students from Japan, last chance to take the community survey, and a deep purple dream on Florence Avenue
Got a swarm? Visit the Report a Swarm page on the website for the Sonoma County Beekeepers Association.
On Friday, we had a swarm of bees on a tree at DRNK Winery. I (Dale) went to the website named above and found the name of Liz from Forestville and called her. She came out in a matter of minutes. She set up a bee box underneath the limb of the tree, gave the limb a good shake and most of the bees fell into the box. In her t-shirt and ball cap, Liz was as calm as could be, while the bees circled around her while she looked for the queen. She waited for other bees to move up the sides of the box and crawl inside. A small group at the winery interrupted their tasting to watch Liz in amazement. She would leave the box until dusk to round up all the stragglers.
Japanese students celebrate 40 years of friendship between Sebastopol and Takeo City
Japanese students were in Sebastopol this week celebrating 40 years of friendship between the two cities, fostered by Sebastopol World Friends. They planted a cherry tree in Sebastopol’s downtown plaza (above) and visited Armstrong Woods. They also visited Orchard View School to make tie-dye bandanas—so Sebastopol!
Here’s a report on their visit from Tim Forsland, an Orchard View Teacher and co-chair of Sebastopol World Friends Student Exchange Program.
Today the Sister City Student Delegation from Takeo City, Japan, visited Orchard View School to do a cultural art program led by Nell Hergenrather and Sunny Galbraith. Takeo students are here this week to celebrate the 40th anniversary of our relationship between Sebastopol and Takeo City. Activities have included homestay days, Armstrong Woods, Bodega Bay, school shadow visits, San Francisco, and the Charles Shultz Museum and ice rink in Santa Rosa. Takeo students worked with the Global Studies class at Orchard View School to tie-dye bandanas for themselves and their families back home.
Twenty students, three chaperones, and six adult delegates made the trip this year, promoting the motto of program organizers, Sebastopol World Friends: “World Peace, One Friend at a Time.” Next spring, our 20 Sebastopol ambassadors will travel to Japan and stay with their exchange partners to learn more about Japan and strengthen this longtime connection between our two cities.
Here are some photos from the visit to Orchard View:
Your cart’s desire
Sonoma County Library posted a fun thing on Facebook earlier this month. They noted that some libraries give their reshelving carts whimsical and pun-ny names, such as Dolly Carton or Shelvis Presley. Then they asked readers what they would name a library cart? Here were some of the suggestions:
Wheelie Nelson
Cart Dracula
Louisa May Alcart
Jimmy Carter
Rene Descartes
The Magna Cart’em (for oversized items)
Shelvia Plath
When you return your books at the Sebastopol Library, they are scanned back into the system and distributed to carts by the new automatic materials handling (AMH) system, which was installed in January. Here it is in action:
You’re running out of time to take the Community Goals Survey
The deadline has been extended to March 30 (i.e., tomorrow)
The Sebastopol City Council is preparing for its annual Goals and Priorities meeting on April 14 and needs your help. Last year, with input from the community, the council established six broad goals for Sebastopol, including:
Community Vitality: Enhancing Sebastopol as a great place to live while preserving its unique character
Public Safety: Strengthening public safety and supporting first responders
Infrastructure: Maintaining high-quality infrastructure, facilities, and services
High Performance Organization: Improving organizational effectiveness and public trust
Long-Term Financial Sustainability: Achieve greater fiscal resilience
Economic Development: Supporting local business growth
The city council would like your help in identifying specific issues or needs related to these goals. Your feedback will help the council decide where to focus scarce city time and resources. Take the online survey.
Deep Purple Dream
Wisteria is exploding all over town this week, and one of the finest examples is this beauty on the Thai restaurant Khom Loi at the corner of Healdsburg and Florence avenues.
The song “Deep Purple” was written in 1933 by pianist Peter DeRose. The British rock band Deep Purple named themselves after the song, which was a favorite of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore’s grandmother. My favorite rendition—this is Laura speaking—is this 1938 version by Artie Shaw and Helen Forrest.
