Tag: flowers

Art Savage Memorial Saturday at Raley Field

River Cats owner Art Savage, who passed away last week at age 58, will be remembered Saturday in a public memorial at Raley Field. From the River Cats:

The entire River Cats family is shocked and deeply saddened by the passing of Art Savage. Art was an extraordinary person whose dedication to his community was only surpassed by his commitment to his own family. All those who were lucky enough to have had their lives touched by Art were far better because of it. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Savage family during this incredibly difficult time.

The Savage family has asked that, in lieu of flowers, those who wish to show their support and honor Art’s memory can do so in the form of a donation to the River Cats Foundation. The River Cats Foundation was created to serve and benefit children and families in need in our community. Donations should be made to:

River Cats Foundation, Inc.
Attn: Dan Vistica, Chairman
400 Ballpark Drive
West Sacramento, CA 95691

Art Savage Memorial Service
Saturday, November 28 – Service begins at 1:00 p.m. (ballpark opens at 12:00 p.m.)
Raley Field
400 Ballpark Drive
West Sacramento, CA 95691

Urban Farm Celebrates Autumn Equinox

Soil Born Farms
Soil Born Farm: “A Day On the Farm”
by Annie&John via Flickr

Some folks wait with giddy anticipation for their latest movie rental to arrive in the mail. Others look for letters from Mom. Me? I pace the front porch waiting for the arrival of my seed catalogs. Well, apparently, it’s still too early for those. But I got something equally exciting yesterday: my invitation to the Soil Born Farm AUTUMN EQUINOX CELEBRATION!

What better way to party than with a gang of dirt-loving, plant-hugging gardeners? Weeds and wall flowers won’t stand a chance with this bunch! The affair promises live music, strolls under the stars and through the gardens on Hurley Way, and seasonal, organic food prepared by some of Sac’s finest chefs. The Waterboy, Grange, Hawks, Old Soul, and plenty of others are turning out to provide yummy eats. They’re even serving up wine and organic beer.

In case you haven’t heard of the wildly popular farm yet, Soil Born Farms started in 2000 when two ambitious youngsters left a note in the mailbox of a local landowner, asking permission to grow crops in exchange for fresh produce. With a nod and a handshake, the farm began.

Today, there are two farms: one on Hurley Way and another in Rancho Cordova. In addition to growing food, they educate youth and reconnect them to the land. On Saturdays, you can volunteer at their American River Ranch in Rancho Cordova and discover farm life first-hand. You can also sign up for one of their monthly gardening seminars to learn about pruning fruit trees or composting with worms. Or, if you just want to eat their juicy heirloom tomatoes already, you can sign up to receive a weekly box of fresh farm goodies year-round. The fun never ends!

It’s pretty cool stuff, and it’s happening right here in urban Sac. If you want to join the fun, hurry and get your ticket to the Autumn Equinox Celebration, held Saturday, September 19 from 4:30 to 8:30 P.M. They anticipate a sold-out event. You can call the farm at (916) 363-9685, or purchase tickets at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op, 1900 Alhambra Blvd.

Support Your Vets

Having had a recent pet emergency (lilies are toxic to kitties, as are many other plants and flowers, so get your fluffball urgent care, and keep flowers out of the house — out of reach is not enough, I learned), I thought I’d give a run-down on my experience with some of Ken the Katthe region’s veterinarians.

Our beloved feline is fine, thanks to the fine folks at VCA Sacramento Veterinary Referral Center. We were referred to VCA from another VCA clinic (on Manzanita, south of Madison), and we were referred to them by the Banfield inside of Petsmart on Watt Avenue.

Here’s my take on some of the vet clinics I’ve encountered over the years:

Continue reading “Support Your Vets”

Forbidden City

On your first trip to Forbidden City, you may think that you’ve made ammm..nagel mistake. You may think that this Chinese restaurant is closed for business, that the sign out front is just a remnant from an old tenant who no longer slings the hot and sour, that the weed choked parking lot is not, in fact, a recommended place in which to park a family vehicle. I would not begrudge you any of these thoughts. You would, however, be wrong. Forbidden City is indeed open for business. Had the owners named the restaurant Forbidding City, it might support the exterior décor, (or lack of) but, trust me, the place is still open.

Continue reading “Forbidden City”

Camellia Day

CamelliaYou might not know of this particular claim to fame, but it makes sense that Sacramento is officially Camellia City of the World. You also might not know that today is Camellia Day. One thing is for sure. You can’t miss the fact that there are probably a million of these brightly hued flowers blooming across the city, as they always do in the waning days of winter.

Camellias are native to Southeast Asia and first came here, like many other things, during the Gold Rush. Colonel James Lloyd Lafayette Franklin Warren came out West from Boston in 1851 to open, among other retail establishments, a seed shop. A year later, he imported the first batch of camellia seeds into Sacramento and they quickly took root as one of the favorite local blooms.

Continue reading “Camellia Day”

Fair Enough

So, the fair is pretty fair this year. I actually greatly enjoyed my day at the fair this week. They’ve revamped a number of items and restored a few that were missing from last year’s festivities. The animals were cute as always (why do they have to be so tasty?), and the mullets were out in force. One major disappointment though came from the bobsled ride. This is the ride where you go around in a circle crushing the person on the outside while ridiculously loud classic rock shatters your eardrums. Well, times are changing my friends. The basic ride hasn’t changed much, other than a paint job that now suggests a surfing theme rather than a bobsled theme, but the atmospere has completely been ruined. Rather than the Ratt and Scorpion and G&R that we were looking forward to, our musical selections were “Over My Head” by The Fray and “Stars are Blind” by Paris Hilton. Let’s just say that sound of Paris Hilton’s highly modified voice at 150 db is not my idea of “Big Fun.” But that’s not what you want to know; you want to know where to get the best lard infused, grease forward, atery hardening goodies that you’ve been waiting all year for. Well, here you go:
Continue reading “Fair Enough”

Run river

Is there any doubt the best thing about Sacramento is that which is also the most dangerous? I write, of course, about the rivers, so high at New Year’s that we watched the levees anxiously, images of New Orleans fresh in our minds. So beautiful now, flowing through river parkways still green with the rains and exploding with wildflowers.

Rivers, floods and levees… these have always been the story of Sacramento. Me? I worry more about a little creek than a big river, backing up as my house does to what by this time of year is little more than a smelly dribble. But at least three times in my lifetime, this little dribble became a torrent, once taking out part of Cal Expo and twice putting Woodside under water.

When the rains fall and the rivers rise, I watch the creek.
Continue reading “Run river”

How to plan a snark-free wedding

When my beloved popped the question on Christmas Eve this past holiday season, both of us knew we wanted to get married soon. (Why wait? It’s the classic “When Harry Met Sally” line of “When you know you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, you want the rest of your life to start right now” feeling.)

Both of us have gone to countless weddings over the years, have heard horror stories of Bridezillas and relatives getting carried away with the planning process, and with both of us leading busy lives, we wanted to keep things patently simple.

Here are a few things we did that kept things stress-free and allowed us, our families, and our friends to have a relaxing and enjoyable wedding weekend. Continue reading “How to plan a snark-free wedding”

The New Corner Store

For those of you Arden/Arcaders, I know you can’t wait for the newly built retail location on the corner of Fulton and Munroe to fill out. A Unocal station was abandoned years ago at the same spot and was torn down last year so that a basic stucco 4-business strip could be erected. Already, we have two storefronts moving in, one is La Bocca coffee and tea. I, for one, and ecstatic that we’re finally getting some coffee in the neighborhood. The Peet’s and Java City across the street and the two Starbucks less than 1/8th of a mile away are just taking up space. Good planning, La Bocca, the only area more saurated with coffee is Juan Valdez’s outhouse.

Oh yeah, the other store soon moving in, a Verizon cell phone store. Thank god! The three cell phone stores also within 1/8th of a mile were far too inconvenient for us. Is this just bad planning, or is this our new version of the “Corner Store?” Do we need coffee, cell phones and nail salons on every corner? Is each so geographically different and neighborhood specific that we need these services on every corner? I posit that in our suburban, car-centric culture, we are supersaturated with these types of services while we are totally deficient in the following: delis, bar/lounges (open for lunch/dinner, pub-style), men’s clothiers, parking, social clubs and a place where you can buy cards, flowers, gift cards and have a gift wrapped in under 10 minutes. What do you think?