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LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Anderson Marsh State Historic Park remains open and continues to hold monthly guided nature walks, followed by a tour of the Historic Ranch House Museum.
The final guided walk of spring 2016 is scheduled for Saturday, June 11.
Meet in front of the Ranch House at 8:15 a.m. for time to experience the early morning wildlife to be found in the Ranch House and Barn complex yard – the walk begins at 8:30 a.m.
Join Park Docent Roberta Lyons as she leads a leisurely walk to discover what the recent rains are continuing to bring to the Park.
Assuming the ground is dry enough, the guided walk will start along the grasslands of Anderson Flats, go up the hill past a vernal pool and then take the Marsh trail past the acorn woodpecker granary tree. The walk should take one and a half to two hours.
A ranch house tour will follow the walk. If rain cancels the walk the ranch tour will begin at 8:30 a.m.
Bring your binoculars. This time of year brings many migrating birds to the park, some to rest in the waters of Cache Creek and Anderson Marsh or in the nearby trees. There have been sightings of wintering eared grebes on the water and the white tailed kites have returned to the grasslands.
Anderson Marsh State Historic Park is located on Highway 53, between Lower Lake and Clearlake.
For more information about the walks, email
UPPER LAKE, Calif. – It isn’t too late to make reservations for the June 12 Lake County Land Trust Spring Celebration in the garden of the Blue Wing Restaurant and Tallman Hotel in Upper Lake.
This fun event is one of two fundraising gatherings presented by the Land Trust each year, with funds raised going to the Land Trust’s many projects, including the Big Valley Wetlands preservation effort and managing and maintaining the Land Trust’s current properties like the Rodman Preserve near Upper Lake.
The event is hosted by Bernie and Lynne Butcher, owners of the Tallman Hotel and Blue Wing Café and will feature Lake County wine, hors d’oeuvres and music by David Neft.
The celebration is from 3 to 6 p.m. and tickets are $50 person; the public is cordially invited to attend.
A short presentation on current Land Trust efforts will be given by the trust’s president, Val Nixon, and will also feature introductions of new personnel.
Reservations are requested and can be made by calling 707-262-0707. Payment in advance is urged and can be accomplished by going to the Land Trust’s Web site, www.lakecountylandtrust.org and clicking on the donate tab and writing “Spring Celebration,” in the comments box when entering your payment information. Payment can also be taken at the gate to the garden.
The Lake County Land Trust has been campaigning to protect and preserve one of the last stretches of the Clear Lake shoreline, specifically between the Clear Lake State Park and south Lakeport area.
The Land Trust is a local nonprofit, founded in 1994, and is a member of the Land Trust Alliance and the California Council of Land Trusts.
The Lake County Land Trust is completely supported by local donations and small grants. To get in touch, you can call 707-262-0707 and leave a message, or email
The Lake County Land Trust is also on Facebook, so you can “like” the page and visit it often for updates.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The blues benefit for Hope City has been rescheduled to June 11 due to rain on May 21.
The Lake County Fire Recovery Blues Benefit No. 2 will be held at Ely Stage Stop & Country Museum, 9921 Soda Bay Road in Kelseyville, which is one mile from Kit's Corner on Highway 29.
This outdoor concert will include local crafts, info booths, raffles and a silent wine auction. Food will be sold by Cactus Grill and Nay Nay's BBQ from Clearlake. Wine and beer from Lake, Mendocino and Napa counties has been donated for sale.
Tickets are $15 cash at the gate. Guest passes for the May date will be honored. Children age 12 and under may attend for free.
Gates open at 2 p.m. with music from 3 to 7 p.m. by 62 Blues, The Henry Oden Band featuring Rich Kirch, Lady Bianca and Craig Caffall.
Bring lawn chairs, hats, sunshade. Carpooling is recommended. There will be free hayrides, ATV and golf cart transport to the field. Parking near the barn is available for those who need close access. Americans with Disabilities Access accommodations will be available.
The barn and museum at Ely Stage Stop & Country Museum will be open for visitors during their regular weekend hours of 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For more information call 707-278-7126.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Lake County Republican Women Federated will host its monthly luncheon on Wednesday, June 8.
The meeting will take place at Howard’s Grotto, 14732 Lakeshore Drive in Clearlake.
Members will gather for the meeting at 11:30 a.m.
The group will host speaker Debbie Bacigalupi, who recently attended the World Climate Change Conference in Paris.
The cost of lunch is $20 and includes a choice of a variety of entrées – filet of sole, chef salad or tuna salad – coffee or ice/hot tea. All other beverages are no host.
Reservations are required, with the deadline the Monday before the meeting.
For lunch reservations and menu choice, or for club information call 707-994-3543 or email
Farewell to Muhammad Ali.
There are so many sides to the man. Now, at news of his passing, so many people have expressed their own impressions of this transcendent figure. So many different words have shown up in articles and posts.
Of course, people often speak first of his athletic skill. A writer in The New Yorker said he had “physical wit.” A clever phrase but maybe still an understatement. He was a physical genius who, in his prime, raised heavyweight boxing up to the level of art. Others speak of Ali's bravery, confidence, humor, grace, kindness.
To me, Ali seemed to always be coming back from defeat. If I was ever aware of him as Cassius Clay, I don't remember that. I was only 9 when he refused to serve in Vietnam, and my earliest memories of him are of the controversy that followed and his unjust exile from the career he had rightfully earned with his fists.
Another word we're seeing is “sacrifice,” and few other public figures in our time have proved their beliefs by sacrificing as much as Ali.
He had all the riches and power that America had to offer him. He was “King of the World,” as he said. Yet he was willing to give it all up, to go to prison if necessary, in accordance with his conscience. It's something he gave us all to think about – which requires more courage, to follow the crowd to battle, or to stand alone and question the fight's purpose?
When he came back, I listened to his first fight against Jerry Quarry on my bed with my ear pressed against a handheld transistor radio. When he lost to Joe Frazier, I watched in the local theater. When he rope-a-doped George Foreman to finally regain the championship in 1974, I was 16, listening in the driveway on the radio in my first car, a 1962 Ford Fairlane.
Of course, he lost again. And he came back again. In the ring and in the world. Against younger boxers, against a doubtful public and against cruel disease.
He became possibly the most well known, and certainly one of the most admired men in the world. The word “icon” gets thrown around too casually these days. Ali was the real deal. To quote the dictionary, “a person regarded as a representative symbol of something.”
Yes, a representative symbol of those many words showing up repeatedly upon his death: skill, grace, wit, kindness and the rest. But each of those words by itself seems to be reaching for a more complete summary. There must be something about the man that encompasses yet exceeds all those words, such that, even though we might not agree with his every word or action, we see that something about him represents the best in us.
I think what finally seals Ali's indelible power in our hearts, what we see in him that we wish for ourselves, what he truly symbolizes – is triumph over injustice. That is what Muhammad Ali is and will remain to me – an icon of triumph over injustice.
And then there is my all-time favorite Ali quote – and I'm sure I won't be the only one to recall this now, because it so captures Ali's wit, charm and fierce sense of self.
In one of their many post-fight interviews, Howard Cosell reacts to Ali's bravado. “You're being extremely truculent,” he says. And Ali comes back without missing a half-beat: “Whatever truculent means, if that's good, I'm that.”
And so much more.
Roy Dufrain Jr. lives in Kelseyville, Calif.
MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – EcoArts of Lake County is announcing a change of venue for the EcoArts: Lake County Sculpture Walk’s 2016 exhibit.
The sculpture walk, originally slated to open on June 5 at the Middletown County Trailside Park with an 18-piece exhibit, will now spend this season at the Middletown Art Center in downtown Middletown, with a new opening date on June 25.
The Lake County Parks and Recreation Department notified the arts nonprofit that the park will not be ready to receive the public in time for this year’s event. EcoArts and the Middletown Art Center fully agree with the decision.
The 107-acre Trailside Park, located at Highway 175 and Dry Creek Cutoff, suffered severe fire damage and is closed for the foreseeable future.
“After being notified by the county, we spent time looking at options and other sites,” said Karen Turcotte, founder of EcoArts of Lake County.
“Some of the works were very specific to the park and involved ecologic stewardship, so they won’t be realized until sometime in the future,” Turcotte said.
She added, “We are encouraged that the county has expressed their desire for the sculpture walk to come back to the Trailside Park in future years. The park needs healing and restoration. There has been a lot of ‘reacting’ to the fire and this park closure provides time to formulate plans and ‘act’ in the best interests of this wonderful property.”
Many of the sculptures anticipated at the Trailside Park will now be exhibited at and around the Middletown Art Center grounds.
“Our location provides a wonderful opportunity for sculptures to be displayed in downtown Middletown. We’ll have the outdoor exhibit up in time for Middletown Days on June 17,” said Middletown Art Center Director Lisa Kaplan.
The public is invited to a festive opening reception for EcoArts at the Middletown Art Center and for the art center's next exhibit, “Multi Lingual,” featuring musical and spoken word performances by Edgewise and Lake County poets on June 25 from 6 to 8 p.m.
The Middletown Art Center is located at 21456 Highway 175, at the junction with Highway 29 in downtown Middletown.
To find out more about the exhibits and classes offered at the center, visit www.MiddletownArtCenter.org or www.facebook.com/ARTMiddletown , email
