WHEN YOU READ this, the Town Crier will be — crying. My daughter will have left for college and I will be moping about, wondering where the last 18 years of my life went.

I’m not alone. Parents across America are finding the nest they’ve fluffed and feathered for years is suddenly empty. Three local moms have just published a book on the subject called “Writin’ on Empty.”

Author Julie Renalds says the book was spawned from the tough times she faced when her own teen left home.

“I really struggled,” she says. “It was a rough year for me.”

Thinking it would help to talk with someone, she ran a notice in The Montclarion advertising a discussion group and got seven calls in three days.

Joan Cehn was one of those callers.

“I called Julie and we ended up talking for hours,” she remembers, saying their group of moms took solace in their meetings in each other’s homes.

Then one day, Julie told Joan she wanted to write a book on the subject. Joan knew just who to ask for help — her longtime neighbor and friend Risa Nye. With three kids already out of the house, Nye knew plenty about empty nests. She was also a seasoned writer — the perfect choice.

Their brainchild is a compilation of stories, both joyful and sorrowful, from moms and dads across the country. It’s an anthology that goes to the very heart of parenting.

For me, the timing couldn’t have been better. I’ll always miss my little girl. But this book has helped me let go.

There will be an authors’ reading and book signing of “Writin’ on Empty” at 7 p.m. on Aug. 27 at A Great Good Place for Books in Montclair Village.

NEIGHBORHOOD PATROLS: Just when you thought our city didn’t care, hills folks are being asked for feedback on fighting crime. From now through Sept. 11, the Montclair Safety and Improvement Council is polling residents on behalf of the Oakland Police Department, asking for input on where to put police patrols. Pockets of crime in the past have included the area in front of Montclair Elementary School, as well as sections of Thornhill, Colton, Mountain and Snake.

Skyline Boulevard has been a priority, too — especially for traffic cops. To see and make comments on the OPD’s patrol priorities, log onto www.montclairsic.org.

SPEAKING OF CRIME: Purse snatchings are nothing new, but a recent crime outside the Montclair Lucky is cause for concern. Neighbors say an 87-year-old woman was loading groceries into her car (in a handicapped space in the parking garage) when a woman emerged from an older model Honda Prelude and grabbed her purse. The suspect got back in the vehicle and the driver sped off. What makes it extra creepy is the fact that the suspects were seen trolling the parking lot before the crime occurred.

TOOTH TALK: What’s one of the biggest pitfalls of going off to college? No, it’s not the “freshman 15” (those dreaded 15 pounds one puts on freshman year), it’s tooth decay!

Montclair dentist Dr. Laurie Shepherd says college kids are coming home with more than just dirty laundry these days. They’re bringing a mouth full of cavities from all the sugary treats and flavored waters they consume. There is a solution. In your next package send rinse, floss and an electric toothbrush.

Editor’s Note: Ginny Prior is on vacation this week. The following is a Town Crier column from Aug. 2003.

I’M FEELING a little strange this week. You might say I’m shell-shocked, after returning from a trip to Montana. Landing at the airport in Oakland on Saturday night, I walked into a mob scene with long lines of people pushing carts of oversized luggage. Overworked and understaffed, the security folks could barely handle the rush of travelers.

The scene at the other end of my trip was almost surreal. Helena, the capitol of Montana, has an airport so sweet — you can walk through security and onto the plane 15 minutes before takeoff. You can leave your unlocked rental car in the parking lot next door with the key under the mat. This is post-Sept. 11, Montana style.

So it’s not surprising that all over the Big Sky State, there are California transplants. Helena is such a hip, artistic community now. There’s even a California flag flying next to the Montana flag in one shopping district. And Helena’s baseball stadium has our old bleacher seats, brought over from the Oakland Coliseum after it was remodeled.

At the 320 Guest Ranch outside Yellowstone National Park, Fred Kiemel likes to tell the story of how he moved to Montana.

“I was on the Hollywood Freeway, Friday afternoon, six lanes of traffic — bumper to bumper and about 94 degrees, when Willie Nelson came on the radio with the song ‘My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys.'” That was all it took. Fred says he sold everything and bought a place on the Gallatin River.The Gallatin is where Robert Redford filmed “A River Runs Through It.” It’s a gorgeous river that runs so clear, you can see the trout skimming the surface, looking for hoppers.

Fly fishing is a religion here, and it takes just one try to see why. Standing in waders in a rush of tumbling mountain water is a powerful lure. So is shooting the rapids in a raft or kayak, or a good old fashioned inner tube. At 320 Ranch, we even rode horses along the rugged riverbank, much the way wranglers did over a century ago.

It was the promise of adventure that brought me to Montana State University for college some 30 years ago. I formed a band that played at a supper club outside Bozeman, where famed broadcaster Chet Huntley liked to dance with his wife, Tippy.

The couple opened Big Sky Resort in 1974, and we were invited to stay and play. Chet died not long after that, but his dream of a world class retreat outside Yellowstone National Park lives on.

With 400 inches of annual snowfall and 80 miles of runs, Big Sky’s skiing and snow-boarding are legendary. But this resort holds its own in the summertime, too, with hiking and mountain biking and horseback riding and rafting. Arnold Palmer designed the golf course here, and I played every inch of it as I tacked like a sailboat back and forth across the fairway. But that’s a story for another column.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Montana’s a great place to visit, but you’d be bored to tears living here. Not enough excitement. Not enough culture.

Well, Montana’s changing. The whole state may have fewer people than San Francisco, but there’s no shortage of things to do. And the only airport stress is deciding whether to have free beer or wine on your Horizon airline flight over the those big, blue skies.

AFTER 14 HELLISH MONTHS, A Little Piece of Heaven has finally opened in Montclair.

“Everything was going wrong,” said shop owner Nafisa McGlynn, who had a devil of a time trying to renovate the space last occupied by Body Options at 2056 Mountain Blvd. There was mold behind the wall, asbestos under the floor, termites, and then — just as she was ready to open — a computer virus wiped out all her files.

Ever faithful, McGlynn, a devout Catholic, called on divine intervention.

“We blessed the store with holy water from The Basilica of Lourdes in France — had a little cry — and here we are,” she said.

McGlynn, a former fashion designer, has made the most of her space with a soothing, tasteful décor and some 10,000 pieces of clothing and accessories for her baby boutique. If her phone number is any sign, the shop will be lucky from this point forward. It’s 510-339-7777.

AROUND TOWN: Flavors Indian Bistro has opened in the old sausage shack which was once Top Dog (and later The Dog) in Montclair. A la carte entrees start at around $8 with lunch specials daily (except Tuesdays when they’re closed).

And two Montclair retailers have found a creative way to deal with soaring rent and a sour economy. Utopia Designer Fashion Exchange is now sharing a space with The Jewelbox at 6116 La Salle Ave. The partnership seems perfect; kind of a one-stop shop for chic clothing and jewelry. There’s also a consignment section, which Montclair hasn’t had in awhile.E-MAIL BAG: Thanks to reader Linda Safir for her touching letter regarding a Bishop O’Dowd youth who was injured in an accident earlier this year. John Murphy has been hospitalized since falling from a Berkeley building several months ago. And while the details are still uncertain, a Web site called www.caringbridge.org has allowed family and friends to stay connected with medical updates, as well as messages of hope.

“Most people would not begin to know how to develop a web site to communicate with everyone,” Safir said. “This does it for you.”

TAKING ACTION: Just weeks after writing about this in my column, neighbors have finally managed to get “No Parking” signs in the center triangle at Skyline, Snake and Colton. The effort was spearheaded by realtor Laurel Strand, who was tired of looking at the collection of cars and a large RV parked in the intersection daily. Now that the space is clear, Strand said she is looking forward to helping plan a “mini park” for the area, something that would raise the property values, not lower them.

CAT TALE: If anyone is looking for a good luck charm, “Beau” might just be it. You may remember the tenacious tabby from a column I did several years back on his dramatic rescue between the walls of Corpus Christi Church and the neighboring Keller Center. He’d become wedged in the space, no doubt, after attending a church potluck.

Anyway, kitty has been living happily ever since with a parish family, but I’m told they’re moving and can’t take tabby with them. If you’d like to adopt a good mouser, call the parish office at 510-530-4343. My guess is he still has a few of his nine lives left.

MY SON GETS his driver’s license soon and I’m worried. It’s not that I don’t trust him — he’s played enough video games to have the hand-eye coordination of a karate grandmaster. It’s not even the other drivers on the road who scare me. It’s the bikers.

The other day, a bicyclist was speeding along a fog-drenched section of Grizzly Peak Road when he lost control on a curve. My husband and daughter were coming along at that moment as he slid into their lane and bounced off the back bumper of their truck. Luckily, the rider only had road rash — but what if he had been seriously injured or killed? Blame aside, it would have been traumatic for both families.

We live in a beautiful place where bikes are as numerous as cars on some scenic byways. All it takes is one miscalculation to cause an accident. An accident that will forever change the lives of both parties involved.

PROUD MOMENT: Congratulations to two local ladies for earning the highest honor in Girl Scouting. Sophia Moradian and Lauren Harano, both 18, have accomplished something that only one-tenth of 1 percent of girls who start out as Brownies ever achieve — the Gold Award. It didn’t come easy. The girls put 60 hours each into their community service project, sprucing up a Peter Pan pre-school in Oakland .

WILD RIDE: Most people celebrate their birthday with a cake — and maybe a party. But local senior Bob Frick is marking 71 years on the planet with a bike ride across America. He leaves Aug. 7 on a two-month trek from San Diego to St. Augustine, riding up to 60 miles a day.

My wife will be driving behind with supplies in the Prius,” he says, adding they’ve done several long distance bike rides and hikes together. But this trek isn’t just for fun. Frick hopes to raise $71,000 for East Bay Habitat for Humanity and is taking donations on his Web site at http://www.fricks.firstgiving.com/cycleofhope.

E-MAIL BAG: An anonymous reader is fed up with the city’s lack of response in cutting back brush on its own property at Skyline and Kimberlin Heights.

“The weeds are damaging the streets,” he writes. “Plus, you have rebar coming out of the ground at the bus stop. Somebody is going to get impaled.” The reader says repeated calls to the Fire Abatement District have yet to get the job done.

MORE MAIL: The bad smell I mentioned a few weeks ago at Moraga and Medau has reader Bonnie Candell wondering if it’s coming from the nearby storm drain.

“I’ve spoken to some bus drivers about it who agree it’s awful,” she writes, but says she’s gotten no response to her e-mail to Public Works regarding the matter. Where is it coming from? Not even her nose knows.

FREEBIE ALERT: Some people pay hundreds of dollars to belong to a health club. Reader Marcia Sugrow works out for free at the Montclair Recreation Center. She says you can too, if you’re 50 or older. Instructor Ellen Green teaches a free aerobics class at 8 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays. Reaching the half-century mark has its rewards!

YOU’VE HEARD OF life in the fast lane? Well, I’m trying life in the slow lane, as I look for ways to cut the high cost of gas. My inspiration comes from friend Rosie Nysaether (a Realtor for Alain Pinel in Montclair ) who says we can save 54 cents a gallon if we drive 60 mph instead of 70 mph. She picked up the tip from the Sierra Club and passed it along in her newsletter last month.

There is one problem with this theory. I’m afraid I’ll get mowed over as I turtle along on the freeway. Even in the slow lane, I’m getting “the look,” the horn — even the freeway salute. Is it worth the scorn to save $6 a tank? Calculated over time — the answer is obvious. A savings of $300 or more a year can buy a lot of lattes. Better to have the liquid go in my tank, then in that of my car.

SHOPPING ALERT: Here’s food for thought: You may want to avoid peak shopping times at the Montclair Safeway this summer. The upper lot is closed during the market’s conversion to a lifestyle store and parking is at a premium down below. That means no leaving your car in the lot while you run other errands. It just isn’t right. On the flip side, the store will have a new look, come fall, including a soup bar and other gourmet goodies.

E-MAIL BAG: The new head of the Montclair Village Association is responding to an e-mail I ran, recently, about the challenge of parking without meters to mark the spaces. Roger Vickery says with the help of Wlad Wlassowsky from the city’s Public Works Agency, he’s had all the parking spaces painted with “t’s” so motorists will know where to put their cars.

Speaking of parking, reader Mary G. (who doesn’t want her last name printed) has a bone of her own to pick.

“The ‘peeps’ that double park in front of SCORE every night between 5 and 6,” she writes, “are just idling their cars and wasting gas — waiting for their kids.”

She says one evening she even saw someone get out of their car, lock it, and leave it running in the middle of the street for a full 20 minutes. Starbucks, she observes, is another hot spot for rude drivers.

FUNGUS AMONGUS: There’s trouble in storybook land. The old Montclair Library has a mold problem that will need to be addressed sometime soon. The culprit was probably a leaky roof, which has since been replaced, but allowed water in the walls behind hundreds of books. Look for a fix this fall that includes tearing out the custom-made book shelves to get at the problem.

ANIMAL TALES: Just when you thought there were plenty of animals at the Oakland Zoo, hundreds of goats are living just outside the gates, “mowing” the brush during fire season. The four-legged weed wackers seem oblivious to the fact that they’re dining near their wild brethren. I even saw a bird sitting on the back of one goat while he was munching away the other day.

“Necessity is the mother of invention.” Could Plato have foreseen our high energy costs when he penned this phrase?

Montclair homeowner John Orfali has taken this philosophy and has run with it, inventing a quick, easy way to make renewable energy for his home.

It involves a windmill and solar panel connected to a battery, which he and his sons have installed on their property.

“We run our TV and bedroom lights off it at night,” said his wife, Mary, who claimed it could also come in handy during a power outage. “If there is a major earthquake and we are without electricity for days, how are you going to charge your cell phone or run some lights?”

John’s invention offers a solution, and with any luck he’ll find the financial backing to go public soon.

CHANGE METERS: Want to put your money where your mouth is? Top Dog in Rockridge is selling hot dogs for two-bits to anyone who pays with a quarter from 1964 or earlier. Why? The older quarters have silver — enough silver to make them worth about 3 bucks today — or the price of a hot dog. There’s a deeper political message about the government minting worthless money, these days, but you’ll have to go to the sausage shop to get that “food for thought.”

NATURE RETREAT: Speaking of sausage, there’ll be plenty of brats at the Aug. 3 Biergartenfest at Nature Friends. This German retreat is like a Bavarian Village overlooking Butters Canyon in the hills. There’s a beer garden, kitchen and dance hall on the wooded property, which is open several times a year for folk dancing and festivals. The late summer event will feature a live band from 2-6 p.m. and the Nature Friends Schuhplattler Dance Group. Call 510-531-2930 for more information.

MAIL BAG: The Town Crier continues to get complaints about Oakland ‘s new parking meters. Reader Maleah Simpson says there’s no consideration for our aging population.

“Walking, in some instances, half a block to print out a ticket, return to the car, walk the same half block up hill to the shop they want to visit — it may be difficult for some,” she said.

She also points out that the city is losing money because people are taking up more than one space.

“There is no guideline,” Simpson said.

E-MAIL BAG: Thanks to reader Tod Vedock for alerting me to his year-long crusade to fix a buckled section of roadway along Broadway Terrace. He said the roots of a large tree have pushed the pavement up there, creating a nasty hazard for bicyclists and an eyesore for everyone else.

“I thought I would get this corrected,” he wrote, “as I’m sure you are bouncing all over it on your scooter!”

And in response to my recent piece on the renovation of Royal Ground, Eric Reynolds wrote that Raquel Saldana has left the coffee shop after 13 years.

“She’s been there almost everyday, from the crack of dawn until the late afternoon,” he said. “She’s loved by many of the Village moms because she kisses and hugs their babies and she’s not afraid to say hello to anyone.”

Saldana hasn’t gone far, however. She’s reportedly moved across the street, serving coffee at the Malt Shop.

JUST CALL ME the bird whisperer. A sparrow landed on the seat of my scooter the other day, just as I was parking in the Lucky lot.

He had two little tufts of fur and an odd look in his eyes as he bobbed up and down, giving me the once over. I asked him how spring was treating him and he gave me a peep. Then he awkwardly flapped his wings and flew into the side of a window.

“It must be a baby, just out of the nest,” said the receptionist at the nearby Montclair Veterinary Hospital. She scooped him up and put him on the ledge near his parents, who were obviously peeved that he’d left home without permission. But for that one fleeting moment, we had bonded; I with my scooter and bird with his new set of wings.

CRIME LOG: It’s a well-known fact that banks don’t like publicity when they are robbed. They don’t want to be seen as vulnerable. So I won’t mention the name of the bank in Montclair that was robbed, recently, by gun-wielding thugs who reportedly assaulted both the security guard and a teller. They got away but were later caught after another East Bay heist in which the bank had put a tracking device in the money. It’s just another example of how violent crime has escalated in Oakland.

E-MAIL BAG: Reader Michael Levy wants to know if the rumors about Royal Ground are true.

“I’ve heard it’s becoming a café,” he writes, adding the word is they’ll close for renovations soon. Michael, you’re right. Royal Ground’s new owner, Miguel Barron, confirms he’s putting in a kitchen, and will start serving food soon. He hopes the work won’t cause too much disruption to the coffee shop, where a multitude of Montclair residents get their daily caffeine fix. As I’ve reported before, Barron already has one restaurant in the village — the venerable Montclair Egg Shop.

MORE E-MAIL: Several readers have asked for an update on the median strip planting along Highway 13. Councilwoman Jean Quan says Caltrans is working on it — albeit slowly.

“They are incredibly slow but have worked fairly consistently since January,” she writes, saying they’ve installed the irrigation and have been hauling in soil to begin the planting.

PEDDLING FUN: Speaking of Royal Ground, the bike club that calls “the ground” home is celebrating its 10th anniversary on Sunday.

Ron Scrivani, Howard Neal and the Velo Raptors have been “peddling” the benefits of bicycle fitness and now have upwards of 65 people in their group.

“Our club started 10 years ago when Howard Neal said that he was going to take a bike ride on the coming Saturday morning, and I asked if I could join him,” Scrivani said. It’s turned into a weekly Sunday morning (8:15 a.m.) ride that starts at Royal Ground and goes through the hills and beyond. Everyone is welcome.

PAMPER PARTY: Strong hands and a warm heart. That’s a good way to describe the staff at Montclair’s Simply Gorgeous Day Spa. They are spending the day, today, giving free treatments to five winners of their recent “You deserve to be pampered” contest. Nominated by friends and family, one recipient was described in this way: “She is ‘mom’ to 2 smart, witty & handsome boys. She works her butt off as a gardener 7 days a week. Her joints are aching, her hands are painful & basically all her joints throb day & night, but still she works, cooks dinner, helps with homework and keeps her home impeccable.”

Hands down — this woman deserves a massage!