Books do furnish a room.

And you can furnish an entire house with what’s on sale today and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday at the Yuba County Library, in Marysville.  It’s the spring book sale put on by the Friends of the Library, and all proceeds go to Library programs and facilities. The Library has some great children’s programs planned for this Summer, and they are made possible in part by the money collected at the book sale. 

Bring a bag of your old books to donate and then fill it back up with amazing bargains. Hardcovers are only a buck and trade paperbacks are only fifty cents. 

By the way, if you are a big fan of those romance novels, have they got a treasure trove for you.  Literally hundreds and hundreds of bodice-ripper paperbacks are on sale for only 25 cents each. 

Today’s sale is open until 4 pm, so hurry on down to the library and get your read on.

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Marysville Expands “Red Light District”

I went to my first City Council meeting last night. I have been meaning to go for about a year now.  Maybe it was the dreary weather, but the council members and staff seemed in need of a B-12 shot or some caffeine; the energy level was almost zero. I had expected a lot more enthusiasm or at least more than a monotone. Got so I was waiting for Ben Stein to appear and start intoning, “Bueller.  Bueller.”  

The award for most lively presentation went to the Yuba College professor who gave an articulate and well-reasoned support for Casino Marysville being allowed to offer No Limit Hold’ Em.  So I guess that makes two of us who watch WSOP and Poker After Dark.  (Whoever thinks Phil Hellmuth is a crybaby narcissist, raise your hand.)

Glad to see we’ll probably be putting in more red-light cameras around town. The new ones even come with a collision avoidance feature: if the sensors detect someone running the red, they delay the opposing lights from turning green.  These silent traffic officers have reduced collisions and injuries dramatically, so it always amazes me when people object to them.  The only people objecting to the system, it seems, are those who have gotten a ticket because of it.  Well, too bad.  Break the law, pay the penalty. 

Congratulations to new Marysville Police Officer Shannon King, who is being brought up from the reserves to a full time position.  

Speaking of Shannons, Shannon Jacobsen presented a proposal to expand our Peach Festival from two to three days.  Good idea.  Now let’s all get out and promote it.  Tell four of your friends from out of town to tell four of their friends, etc., and let’s everybody come out for it this year.  More vendors, more visitors…it all means more revenue for the city, in addition to it being a great family outing.  Step One: change the year on the website, which still reads 2008. 

The Council voted to accept a donation of $1,500 from a local loan company, to purchase police vehicle equipment.  Now if only Starbucks will send them over some coffee.

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Preview: On the Red Carpet at the Hall of Fame

If you read tomorrow’s (Monday’s) paper, there’s an article about Marysville’s ties to several inductees into California’s Hall of Fame.  To get that story, we went to Sacramento last week to attend the induction ceremonies, which included the obligatory “red carpet” parade of notables.  Click back here later for some behind-the-scenes tidbits that didn’t make it into print.

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Be True to Your School

I stopped in at the Mary Covillaud School where today they were celebrating its 150th anniversary. The original grammar school that stood at the same location on F street was designed by Julia Morgan. The school’s two-block campus is right across the street from three homes she designed for local residents early in the 20th century. When I got there, Sue Cejner-Moyers, portraying Julia Morgan, was just beginning to give the audience some background on the role this famous architect played nearly a century ago in the development of Marysville.  I am lucky enough to live in one of those three Julia Morgan houses (interior renovations are almost done), so it was perfect timing for me to sit in on Sue’s presentation. (And weird to see her hold up an historic photo of my own home!)  

Mary Murphy Covillaud herself (well, Karen Compton in 19th-century dress), also made an appearance, which is only fitting since both the school and the city are named after her.  There was “birthday” cake galore and dozens of tabletop collections of old yearbooks and other ephemera from classes over many decades, which was a treat for the alumni of all ages who came to the party.

I missed Santa’s visit earlier in the day, (who knew that Santa started work at 7:30 am?), but it was better to finally meet long-time principal Doug Escheman and his wife, Deirdre.  Oh yeah…Doug confirmed that the Community Garden at the north end of the school’s campus, fronting 8th street between F and G, is definitely no more, and soon to be replaced by an expanded parking lot.  Hmmm, that’s the view from my front windows; here’s hoping the City plants some trees to soften the landscape.  

By the way, if you have kids who have outgrown their winter jackets and coats, please consider bringing them over to the school.  These are distributed to students in need.  You might even consider checking out the thrift shops and see if you can buy one or two for just a few dollars.  On any given day 25 to 50 of the school’s more than 400 students are homeless, and the school does an outstanding job of caring not only for kids’ educational needs, but also their nutrition, health and well-being.  Details are in an article from last year. Mary Covillaud School is a Marysville miracle, but they can always use some extra help.

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Vernissage à Marysville

Well, this Friday night is the opening of my first gallery show.  Not attending, being in one! And, of course, it’s not just my work, but that of about two dozen local artists. It’s the Yuba Sutter Regional Arts Council‘s Member Invitational. The community is invited at no charge to the opening reception tomorrow (Friday, Dec. 12), so why not stroll over to the Council’s art gallery at E and 7th in Marysville for a glimpse of the great variety of artistic endeavors being pursued by your neighbors. Free cookies, too!

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Paper Trail

Everybody loves the Sunday papers.  The funnies in color, plenty of coupons, the week in review in case you weren’t paying attention lately, the Sunday “magazines,” the extra opinion pages.  I get three Sunday papers — the Appeal-Democrat, the Bee and the NY Times — but, you know what?  I like the Monday A-D just as much; it’s got the rundown of events for the week, and I do sit there and circle stuff I want to do.  I don’t always get to do them all, but I try to support as many of the local car wash fundraisers, rummage, plant and bake sales, street fairs, and other citizen-created events.  I love seeing all the folks working together on their project. (And they’re just plain fun.) It’s one of the aspects of life around here that defines it for me and drew me here in the first place.  I went to a few events this past weekend (the St. Isidore’s Rummage Sale, the Harvest Moon craft fair at Stephens Farmhouse, and the Farmer’s Market, as always), and I already have a few on my calendar for next weekend and beyond:

 – the Yuba County Senior Center Rummage sale on October 4
– the Sutter Buttes Canine Rescue Parking Lot sale also on Oct 4
– the Columbus Day 50% sale at the Goodwill in YC
– the Friends of the Yuba County Library Book Sale in Marysville October 25-29

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Multi-culti fun for the family

After an early morning run to the Farmer’s Market, (and thinking about how I will miss this wonderful community resource when it closes for the winter), I am off to Gauche Park for today’s 10th annual Cultural Celebration, hosted by the Yuba City Parks & Rec Dept. (which has a lot of great programs for locals of all ages).  I’m volunteering at the Children’s Art Area, organized by the Yuba Sutter Regional Arts Council (on whose Board of Directors I am proud to serve) and sponsored by the Sutter Yuba Association of Realtors. The arts and crafts for kids, like all the other music and dance performances thoughout the day, is free.  That’s F.R.E.E.  Every local family should be coming to this event. The Appeal-Democrat and KUBA, among the event sponsors, has certainly provided a lot of advance information about it, so I hope there is a big turnout.  There’s still time – for more info, click here.  In addition to the entertainment (from Hmong butterfly dancers to an Eagles/Creedence tribute band), there’s a wine tasting area, foods and arts and crafts for sale.

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Never too late to the fair

I’ve been down with a bad summer cold, bracketed by my visit to the Yuba-Sutter Fair and attending the final Gold Sox game of the season, so I’m finally able to write about both.Appeal-Democrat reporter Nancy Pasternak already wrote the quintessential Fair story when she reported on her visit with her teenage friend, so it’s not like you have been waiting for my report, but here goes.  Key take away from the Fair?  I am in love with barnyard birds.  I used to feed the chickens on my aunt’s farm when I was a kid, but those were kinda plain beige no-name chickens. These prize winners at the fair were absolutely beautiful and downright regal. My favorite looked like it was wearing a dotted Swiss dress; it was a black and white guinea cockerel entered by Dakota Wilder of the Wheatland 4-H.   From the same 4-H club, Abby Stineman’s feather-legged cockerel was another winner for me, and Chase Stineman’s bantam pullet was cool, too. (The Stineman family is number one for poultry in my book.)  Smaller livestock was one of my important stops.  Favorite goat names: Pandora, Patches and Pixie.  Did you know that goats have four stomachs?  Now I do.  As for larger “livestock,” I passed on paying a buck to see the Giant Florida Gator.  When I was a kid we lived not that far from the Everglades, and I have seen my share of gators in the wild.I was tempted by the Silver Streak ride, but I didn’t want to spill my medium-sized (two lemon) fresh squeezed lemonade.   I visited all the art and garden exhibits (didja see that giant blue-ribbon kohlrabi?!!), spent a while watching some martial arts exhibit, listening to the Chicago tribute band while waiting to see if Plasterman would blink, but although I timed my visit for it, I never did find the donut-biting contest.  Next year. 

My brother the baseball nut is visiting, so of course we had to take in Sunday’s Gold Sox game (what a blowout!).  Marysville has been a baseball town since the 1870s and it is still one of the best and biggest bargains around.  And, of course, it didn’t hurt that the Appeal-Democrat was giving away free tickets to the final four games.  We took our two coupons to the newspaper’s office and exchanged them for tickets (or ducats, as my brother, of course, insists on calling them).  The weather was fair but Not Too Hot and we sat through the whole eight and a half innings, although when the score hit 15-zip, John started wondering when the mercy rule was invoked in this league.  The Seals finally flapped out one run so it wasn’t a total rout. OK, it was still a rout.  Although it is especially nice that our team had a great, winning season, the game is just part of the ballpark experience, and the Gold Sox organization hit it out of the park. 

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Take the Last Lane to Smartsville.

My grandfather and I had a running joke in which we referred to all faraway places that we might be going to some day as “Timbuctoo.” I wish he were still here so I could tell him that it turns out it is only 20 miles from Marysville. (Yeah, I know we were referring to that other one, Timbuktu in Mali, but you get my drift.)  Jet and I went there and to Smart(s)ville on Saturday to the first-ever Pioneer Day. 

I learned about the event at the earlier History Day held a few weeks ago at the Yuba Sutter Mall.  (I wish as many people would have shown up in Smartsville as at the Mall!)  Earlier, I had met Kathy Smith, co-author with Lane Parker of the latest title in Arcadia Publishing’s local history series, Smartsville and Timbuctoo. (You can get a copy at Amicus Books and B. Dalton at the Mall.) Kathy and Lane have a whole website about the two towns and their research project. She is also one of the persons pushing to get the P.O. to put the “S” back in Smartsville. 

On Saturday, our local history groups were out there with more interesting displays of our past, along with some of the vendors who show up reliably at most local events.  One vendor that I had not seen before was selling home made mustards, Kelly’s Gourmet Mustards of Yuba City. I bought a jar of the green peppercorn one for my brother who is coming to visit next week. He is a good cook and a bit of a mustard connoisseur, if there is such a thing, so it will be cool to be able to put a local variety on the table for him. And it was only $2.50 a jar!

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Cows, Cavies and Cotton Candy.

Are you getting ready for tomorrow’s cattle drive?  I guess the steer on F Street during the Marysville Stampede this Spring was just a preview. It’s the kick-off event for the 150th Yuba-Sutter Fair. I got a sneak peek at the fairgrounds last night. I was asked to help judge the entries in the Yuba Sutter Regional Arts Council competition. (I am proud to say that I am a new member of the Council’s board of directors.)  The art was in Franklin Hall and walking over to it gave me a chance to see some of the set-up being done.  Hay bales being piled up, tents being pitched, banners being hung. It’s exciting and I can’t wait to explore the whole dang thing. High on my must-see list: cavies (cavys?) and other small critters, a performance by Plasterman (who??),  quilting, history and horticulture displays, the donut biting contest and all of the carnival. Whew. I’m pooped already.  Click here for the full schedule, and come on over! 

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