Tag: Sonoma

The town, the people, the vibe – and the sheer joy of living here.

Hunkerin’

THE PHRASE OF THE DAY — let’s face it, of the hour (or even minute) — is “an abundance of caution.”

As I write this, I am anticipating a shelter-in-place order for my county (Sonoma) to begin today. No telling when it will end, or even if. It may not happen at all.

The mood at the Attinson Digs continues to be stop-and-go watchful. I imagine that’s true for most people in the world right now. As for me, I am delving more intensely into my daily routine (Torah and astronomy study, handwashing, cooking [actually, baking, as the fresh fruit and vegetables have all been picked over by my fellow locusts], loving the cat, handwashing). It seems to help, somehow, either as an escape or a connector. Or both.

The early morning Sonoma streets were largely empty today, but the grocery store parking lots were crowded. Continue reading “Hunkerin’”

Why I Love: Grocery Shopping

IT’S THE ANTICIPATORY PROCESS OF scrawling ingredients on a shopping list. It’s the simple pleasure of browsing a well-stocked and -stacked produce display. It’s the ritual of interacting with the people at the butcher/fish/cheese counters. It’s the Dad-inspired satisfaction of saving a few nickels here and there. It’s the smell of the various aisles — even the one with laundry and dishwashing products. It’s browsing three different stores: Safeway for staples and housekeeping supplies; Sonoma Market for meat and produce; Whole Foods for croissants, frozen fruits and spices. It’s the structure it gives to my days. Continue reading “Why I Love: Grocery Shopping”

“The Merchant of Sonoma”

THEY SAY THAT THERE IS never any “first Jewish settler” anywhere — because no matter who it is, some other Jew was there beforehand. Better instead to say “first known Jewish settler.” And in the case of Sonoma, that honor and claim falls to Solomon Schocken: immigrant, ship’s cook, entrepreneur.

This month marks the 140th anniversary of the opening of the well-stocked “S. Schocken – General Merchandise” store on Sonoma Plaza, in the building previously occupied by General Mariano Vallejo’s military barracks (now a museum). To introduce him to the Sonoma Index-Tribune‘s readership, I wrote a piece on Mr. Schocken for the paper’s June 1999 quarterly magazine. Please enjoy.

“The Soft Tyrant.”

Himself. (Click to enlarge.)
THE TITLE OF THIS POST is my unique (so Google tells me) signifier for “our” cat, Geronimo. “Our” is in quote marks because nobody owns a cat; cats own themselves and invite humans to join them in their all-encompassing self-regard.

Thus the nickname. Whenever Geronimo meows, it means he wants something: food, loving, lifting onto or off the bed, access to the out-of-doors (or back inside). He is nothing if not insistent, but rewards his human companions for these small kindnesses with purring, headbutts and slow blinks. Continue reading ““The Soft Tyrant.””

Mentors — An Appreciation

BECAUSE OF DARRYL CURTIS, I still say “deh-TAILS” instead of “DEE-tails.”

Darryl was my boss at Santa Rosa news-talk radio station KSRO more than 20 years ago. To say I learned from him everything I know about radio reporting would be an understatement, just as it would be to name Bill Hoban as being responsible for everything I learned about newspapering during my 1998-2003 tenure at the Sonoma Index-Tribune. I owe both of these guys a lot; not only for teaching me about the craft, but also about the ethics involved — and the sheer joy of doing the job. Continue reading “Mentors — An Appreciation”

Of Tone-Outs, Turnouts and a Press Badge

IT’S HARD TO WATCH LIVES literally going up in smoke in order to tell other people about it. But on a professional level, it’s thrilling to see firefighters bringing order to chaos.

When I worked for the Sonoma Index-Tribune between 1998 and 2003 (and for the Sonoma Sun in 2008), I wore a pager that one of the departmental chiefs had loaned me for the duration. It was the same make and model worn by the firefighters themselves (professional and volunteer), and would beep three times before broadcasting the appropriate jurisdiction’s “tone-out” (a two-note musical chime, unique to the responding department[s]) and an abbreviated situation report along the lines of: “Sonoma; possible structure fire; Andrieux Street cross of Broadway; time out, 1400.” Continue reading “Of Tone-Outs, Turnouts and a Press Badge”

The #popscope Phenomenon

AFTER I BOUGHT MY OWN telescope (an Orion StarMax 90mm Maksutov-Cassegrain with equatorial mount), I would take it out in the early evenings on the sidewalk in front of our building with a sign leaning against the tripod that read, “FREE MOON TRIPS!” If anyone happened by (as they often did,) I would ask them, “Would you like to see the Moon?” Almost everyone did, and I took great pleasure in their gasps of awe as they saw up-close lunar craters for perhaps the first time.

Something of the same spirit infuses the nascent #popscope movement. Continue reading “The #popscope Phenomenon”

Overheard in Sonoma, Redux

Dear Ms. Garchik,

I just overheard the following remark while sitting in my backyard adjacent to Broadway, Sonoma’s main drag: Quoth woman to dog-walking man, “I hope in my next life I can be owned by you.”

I hope in this life you can use this quote for your daily column.

Be well,

Neal

UPDATE: Ms. G. replied, “I am going to save that one for annual romantic Valentine’s Day column!” Be on the lookout.

Words to Bring Back: “Ambit”

– Definition: n. A space surrounding a house, castle, town, etc. A precinct.

– Used in a sentence: It is my ambition to diligently guard my ambit against encroachment.

– Why: Where I live in semi-rural Northern California, such things are known as “open space,” “green space” or “urban growth boundaries” and are considered sacrosanct against development. But “ambit,” being more compact, sounds like something to strive for rather than something attained.And isn’t the journey always better than the destination?

5 Thoughts: Grocery Shopping

1. IT USED TO BE CALLED “doing the marketing.” And it is one of my life’s favorite small pleasures.

2. This simple joy can probably be traced back to my dad and I doing it together every Saturday or Sunday morning (or so goes my memory), when I was a young’un in Massachusetts. We would visit one store for meat, another for produce, another for household products, yet another for baked goods. Continue reading “5 Thoughts: Grocery Shopping”

PS:

So: We’re at CVS just now, about an hour after I wrote “And On, And On,”, waiting our turn at the pharmacy, when this woman sits down next to me and says, “I’m very sorry about what happened in Pittsburgh.” (This, after she circled around where we were sitting in what I had assumed was a somewhat suspicious manner.)

We talked a few minutes about what happened and why; she asked me about the Sonoma Jewish community, told me her feelings about the current White House occupant, and couldn’t have been nicer or more compassionate.

Sometimes, it pays to wear a yarmulke. Continue reading “PS:”

And On, And On

“Am Yisrael Chai” – The People Israel Live!
I NEVER MET THEM. BUT I know them.

The eleven Jews murdered yesterday as they worshiped at the Tree of Life Congregation near Pittsburgh could be found in any synagogue, including my own: the former congregational president, the lay leader, the man with the famously dry wit, the shofar (ram’s horn) blower; the ones everybody loved and could depend on.

It could have been any of us. And in a sense, it was. Continue reading “And On, And On”

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