Time sure flies! Let's catch up on the state of west Sonoma County! The restaurant businesses are largely back to normal on weekends. Weekdays in Occidental are still limited as the Union Hotel and Negris are open for dinner Fri-Sun. Howards station, my favorite breakfast spot is open all week. The farmers market on Fridays is back in business but the music venues like the Occidental Community Center concerts have not reopened. The wine tasting business is in full swing for sure. The great outdoors is fairing well even though it was a dry winter.  So far this summer we have had excellent ..read more

Welcome to spring in West Sonoma County! I have some good technology news for the guests but first some history. Way back in 2013 when I was setting up the technology for Sebastopol Redwood House I could only get satellite internet and only 30Gigs per month (!) of data. No cable, no DSL, no options. Given that the signal was transmitted into space and back I was amazed it worked at all but it was slow and would be degraded by cloud cover. As streaming became more popular the 30 Gig /month allowance became an Achilles heel and the satellite company bumped me up to a whopping the 50Gigs/month. T ..read more

Welcome to 2021! While it may not seem much improved over 2020 at this point, I am encouraged that we are heading in the right direction and that normalcy will return this summer. As I write, Occidental is getting a ton of rain that will really help what has been a dry winter thus far. Outdoor dining is now legal again in Sonoma County so the outdoor venues in Occidental, Graton, and Sebastopol will be open on weekends. The creeks are running, the hills are green and the pussy willows are close to budding out. February is really the beginning of spring in Sonoma County. The mustard flowers wil ..read more

November. For those of us who love the outdoors, November is game changer. While October resembled a summer with shorter days, November is unmistakably winter. As I write this, Occidental is due to see rain four days in a row next week and everyone I know is quite happy to see it. The hills are parched and the rains will green things up, end the fire season, and will usher in a season of great air quality and rejuvenation. The Covid vaccines are looking very good right now and I have a feeling that 2021 will be the year of normalization across the boards. There are restaurants in Occidental th ..read more

Well then. My last post was in June and here it is almost October and the first day of fall. 2020 has been a challenging year. I think we are all getting fatigued with the masks and social distancing and general disruption of our lives. I find that it is hard to be joyful these days with so much bad news, and yet we must realize that this too shall pass. Lets catch up on some better news! I rebuilt the shed roof on the barn in anticipation of putting a 72 foot long 15kW solar system up there. If you have an electric car you should be able to recharge here pretty soon. Just trying to save the w ..read more

Quite a bit has changed since my February post! As we are all exhaustively aware, the virus pandemic has changed the way we live until we can get a vaccine. Here in West Sonoma County we are tiptoeing into reopening the businesses that can be reopened as our case numbers are doing OK. We are being asked to wear masks when in stores and other public indoor places and I have to say that the people in this area are pretty much 100% compliant. The restaurants are closed except for takeout, but that may be changing here as the summer progresses and there are more outdoor options. There are still am ..read more

Vivian Smith in her book When Wanderers Cease to Roam describes February; "Take the worst day you had in January and repeat it 28 times. That's February." She can be forgiven having written that while living on Long Island Sound. But of course February can't possibly be like that this year because it is a leap year and the much maligned month has 29 days! Aside from that technicality, February in Sonoma County is the unofficial start of spring. The mustards are turning the meadows and orchards and vineyards bright yellow and the pussy willows are leafing out and the wild iris is blooming and t ..read more

The late fall has been another interesting one in West Sonoma county. I gather the fire fighter community got tired of chasing people out of their houses in the wee hours during the last fire so the entire area was evacuated this time around. The fire was quite far from the house but the winds were concerning and the power had been shut down etc. That is likely all behind us now but I am going to install a propane generator that will power the entire house given that PG&E has grown quite fond of these public safety power shut-offs. So late fall continues to be unpredicatble in these parts ..read more

Well, there was April of course. It came and went and was followed by May, which came and went. Overall it has been a wet spring and a very wet winter which means a fabulous summer is upon us. What better month to usher in summer than June, the harbinger of summer. The summer solstice on June 21st is a bittersweet sort of day.The longest daylight of the year is something to celebrate, but the next day is shorter! Ahh, but at least it is changing. As Thoreau once said, “Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of t ..read more

January and February were very wet. Really wet. Flooding wet. Questions? Ok, Lets get on with March! I usually say that February is the beginning of spring in West Sonoma County but this year may have been different. The rains have been relentless and the Russian river Flooded Gurneveille and the Barlow in Sebastopol. Of course we locals have seen the area of the Barlow flood many times, some of us having run motor boats down hwy 12 a time or two, and Gurneville floods all the time so it is not very remarkable really. But March promises to be a harbinger of a spring that is big and lush and vi ..read more