Sonoma’s photo day; food for FISH; Zillionaire’s local shopping list; and more

Smile extra wide on Friday, November 18 – that’s the day The Sun will document in “A Day in Life” all-photo Thanksgiving issue. Be part of it by taking pictures that day and night and sending them, with a brief caption, to [email protected]. Around the house, on the job, kids, pets, outdoors, landscapes… we’re looking for snapshots of Sonoma at work and play, the kind of photos you’re probably posting to Facebook anyway. Snap and share!

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association handed out its annual legislative report card, and the local reps — Assemblymembers Dodd, Levine and Wood; State Senators McGuire and Wolk – all got F’s. When the organization finds out that the city and county of Sonoma passed all school bond and every sales tax measure, we may get suspended.

Friends in Sonoma Helping mounts a food drive every year, and every year it gets a little harder to fill the barrels. The need is growing, but donations need a boost. To complete the 500 Holiday Food Baskets, reports Sandy Drew and Bette Holloway, FISH last year had to buy products from the Redwood Food Bank. A great way to gather donated food is to place a barrel at group or individual holiday events, and ask guests to bring canned or packaged food items to the party. Tax deductible checks, to purchase fresh eggs, fresh produce and other staples for each box, are welcome, too. Find out about having a barrel delivered to your bash at 707.996.0111.

With the erstwhile Chateau Sonoma hotel plan on a brief hold, attention is drawn to St. Helena, which is looking at proposals for a major hotel development. One plan: an ultra-luxury resort with 113 guest rooms and suites, a “signature” restaurant, an all-day restaurant, a ballroom, meeting rooms, three event lawns, a spa, three swimming pools, and perhaps even an under-pillow-chocolate chef. The pitch: the company buys the city land for $22 million, and deeds part of it property back to the city for the new city hall and affordable housing construction. Behind it all as primary investor: Koch Real Estate Investments, a.k.a. the Koch Brothers, to rich what white is to rice. “As you will note,” wryly notes the proposal, “the financial qualifications of the financing members of our team are substantial.”

Kathryn Aronsohn checked in from Tokaj, Hungary, where she’s finishing up a wine internship under the auspices of e Sonoma-Tokaj Sister City Committee. Those 15-hour harvest days didn’t leave time for much else. “I have the choice of sending an email or eating,” she said. “I have been choosing to eat.” What’s next? “I will leave Tokaj in a few weeks. I am sad about it. Tokaj seems to be a place that exists in and of itself, a beautiful, special place that produces some of the most unique wines in the world.”

For friend Francie Ward, a gathering on what would have been Dick Cole’s 89 birthday was a chance to honor him, “raise a glass two, and allow joy to mix with your tears as we celebrate that life goes on.” A picture Cole would have appreciated.

 — Val Robichaud

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