MONTCLARION: April 27, 2012
A lot of my neighbors are nightwalkers. We meet on the street and exchange pleasantries under the moon.
But after last week’s shooting of a dog walker on Elverton Drive, I’m — quite frankly — a little afraid. And mad.
What does it take to stay safe around here? We have our neighborhood watch groups and our video cameras — do we need to start walking with escorts? Get bigger dogs? Walk only in daylight? Continue reading
Parkmon Vineyards
HILLS NEWSPAPERS: April 12, 2012
The Bay Area is blessed with the richest wine regions in California. LaMorinda wants to be one of them.
Granted, there’s no celebrated wine trail yet — but the growers in Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda have big plans for the future. Continue reading
MONTCLARION: April 12, 2012
Spring is in the air — get a big whiff. It’s the heady aroma of hot dogs and beer, the perfume of cherry blossoms and eucalyptus in the breeze. It’s wildflowers springing from the meadows and foothills and forest floors.
I’ve just come back from Texas with wildflower envy. You should see the blankets of color outside Austin — with bluebonnets and Indian blanket flowers and fields of fiery Texas paintbrush. There are more than four-dozen varieties of wildflowers in the hill country, and folks come from all over the West to see them bloom. Like most things in Texas, the wildflowers spread out as far as the eye can see in every direction. Continue reading
MONTCLARION: April 5, 2012
Crimes of opportunity are nothing new in Oakland. We hear about them all the time, but what happened to a hills couple recently is one for the books. They discovered a woman was living on their boat down at Jack London Marina.
Reader Laura Thomas says it started when a neighboring boat owner spotted something amiss. “Amy had seen this stranger going onto our boat, so she went over to our boat and asked the woman what she was doing. The woman said, ‘I’m friends with the owners.’ So Amy asked what their names were, and she said ‘Mark.’ So Amy said, ‘Wrong answer. Get outta here now.’ ” Continue reading
MONTCLARION: March 29, 2012
The doctor is in.
The Town Crier is feeling a little like Lucy Van Pelt, these days, fielding phone calls and emails that are better handled in a complaint department. Yes, crime is up in the hills and yes, $2 is too much to pay for parking. And yes, the Town Crier knows she is referring to herself in the third person right now.
It’s time for an attitude adjustment.
Breathe. Continue reading
HILLS NEWSPAPERS:March 29, 2012
In all the Bay Area, who knew that Half Moon Bay would be a great place to pick up chicks?
I’m talking about the feathered kind, the kind popping up in coops around the Bay. Day in and day out, Half Moon Bay Feed and Fuel sells more baby chicks than their competitors — some 200 peepers a week. And these are not your father’s hens. Some lay white eggs, and some lay light brown. But some chicks lay pink, green and blue. Think Easter eggs without the dye.
MONTCLARION: March 23, 2012
No one likes being a victim. Yet, collectively, we’re being bullied. Thieves are working the hills like contestants on a timed shopping spree. What they see is what they get.
Consider the latest reports — criminals casing the street outside Montclair Elementary School — watching for moms who leave purses in their vehicles. In broad daylight, with parents all around, they smash car windows and grab anything of value, then drive off. Continue reading
HILLS NEWSPAPERS: March 16, 2012
I never thought I’d say it, but Lady Gaga has good taste. She had lunch at one of my favorite restaurants recently, ordering just what I would have ordered — muscles, frites and a Fig Kiss.
Can’t a girl get a martini without the world knowing about it? Apparently not, as Twitter and Facebook erupted with Gaga sightings across the Sonoma Valley. Continue reading
MONTCLARION: March 16, 2012
It was the biggest memorial I’ve ever seen for an average guy. A thousand people turned out last week to remember Brad Shaw, a hills scout leader and dad who died doing what he loved — fishing.
Corpus Christi Church was packed, and so was the gym, where the Mass was telecast to an overflow crowd. When it was finished, an army of loved ones served sandwiches and drinks and kept the food coming for another three hours. Nobody wanted to leave. Continue reading
Doug Perry, of Alameda, stands in front of an amphibious vehicle where he works for Ride the Ducks, a company that takes tourists on a tour on the streets and in the waters in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 24, 2012. (Ray Chavez/Staff)
ALAMEDA JOURNAL: March 8, 2012
You think you’ve got a tough commute? Try driving a boatload of people around San Francisco — then ending up in the Bay.
Alamedan Doug Perry works for Ride the Ducks, the company that takes tourists on those curious white boats on wheels. They’re actually updated versions of World War 2 amphibious vehicles that motor down city streets and then take to the water like — you guessed it — ducks.
Driving one is harder than it looks. Continue reading
Ginny Prior 