Dinner in the dining room.... I feel so lucky to have the space in which to host friends and family.   This year the weather was relatively warm, and although we had a fire in the wood stove, it probably would have been fine without it.  Caught Claudine and Buff before their move to Florida; Christopher and Lucy before leaving for Loma Linda;  met Big Bob's girlfriend, Alison; had a great-great niece join us; and managed to get the "boys" off their bicycles and out of the "big" sandbox long ... [Continue Reading]

Each year we make buns for Thanksgiving.  This year, instead of the Library getting the proceeds, we gave the money to the Community Foundation's Disaster Fund for Mendocino County.  Although we had numerous smoke-filled days this fall, the closest the Northern California fires got to us was 8 miles..... darned close enough!  The concept of losing one's home is not something I have ANY desire to experience. Kashaya was here to help, along with Michelle and Melissa (two former Emandal ... [Continue Reading]

We unwittingly scheduled our April Willing Hearted Work Weekend for Earth Day this year.  Had we known about the March for Science early on, perhaps we would have altered our plans a bit, and headed for a massive march.  But we didn't, so spent time outside in the garden, on the hillside in the woods, at a local market and up in camp..... all projects glorifying the beauty of our natural world in some way.  These folks joined us from across the country (our staff) the bay area and the coast, ... [Continue Reading]