Ginny Prior/for Bay Area News Group Italian Colors, a go-to restaurant for many Montclarions, is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Guitarist Michael Wollenberg, above, who has played at the restaurant since it began, performs Christmas tunes for diners on a recent night.

EASTBAYTIMES.COM: DECEMBER 28, 2018

Italian Colors has beaten the odds. The go-to restaurant for so many Montclarions is celebrating its 25th anniversary — remarkable when you consider 90 percent of independent restaurants close during their first year and the rest last an average of just five years. For owner/chef Alan Carlson, it’s a matter of pride. Continue reading →

Laurel Ace Hardware garden team member Miguel Ruiz, left, appears recently with Lisa Ratusz of the Our Water Our World program through the Alameda County Clean Water program. Ratusz taught visitors about integrated pest management and helped with pollinator-friendly gardening tips. Laurel Ace Hardware staff held a pollinator event earlier this fall.

MONTCLARION: November 16, 2018

We’ve always been a one-pet family. But these days we have dozens of birds to add to our brood — wrens, sparrows, jays and dark-eyed juncos — all feeding at our seed stations. Anna’s hummingbirds sip from our Dollar Store nectar bottle. Nuthatches balance on the wire basket, binging on peanut butter suet. And I sit inside with my field guide, logging bird varieties as I sip my morning coffee. Often my cat will lay blissfully on my lap, as if watching a reality show. Continue reading →

courtesy of Bruce Wendler Fall leaves appear along Dunderberg Road in Mono County. Whether you take a road trip to the Sierra or leaf-peep in your neighborhood, California’s fall colors are showing.

MONTCLARION: October 12, 2018

It’s mid-October, and all these swirling leaves have put me in a mood. It’s not a Sinatra mood, where I liken my life to a vintage wine, (although I am a fan of late harvest zins) but more of a Guess Who mood, as in “seasons change, and so do I.” Continue reading →