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Opportunities to engage with nature in GE

 

If you're looking for news of the Ides of March, you've come to the right place. This Saturday, our glorious moon will be in perigee. Don't know the term? Jim Berkland is the fellow to ask. But don't inquire too closely about natural disasters around the Ides. He'll tell you what you don't want to know. As for me, I trust in the moon and the man therein.

And speaking of remarkable men, certainly Glen Ellenite Bernie Krause and his Sonoma friend, Tom Rusert qualify. Just one month from today, these two gentlemen will lead a Science Salon at the Bouverie Preserve in Glen Ellen, discussing the "Great Animal Orchestra: How Nature Communicates By Sound." Tickets for the evening event are $35 and reservations can be made by calling 415-868-9244 or by e-mailing rsvp@egret.org.

Meanwhile, Bouverie docent Linda Alwitt heads up the committee seeking new docents, nature education teachers. Many years ago, in the early '80s David Bouverie teamed up with Audubon Canyon Ranch to establish a training program to prepare teachers to share their love of nature with children.

During the school year, the volunteer docents of the Bouverie Preserve lead guided nature hikes for third and fourth graders from throughout Sonoma County. Many of these children have never hiked in nature. Invariably, the children are thrilled with their day at this 600-plus acre nature preserve.

Docent training will begin in late August 2011 and will continue every Wednesday for 23 sessions, with holiday breaks. Then, the two-year hiking commitment begins. While 23 class days and two years may sound like a significant commitment to the preserve, don't be mislead.

The time flies with classes in natural history that are the equivalent of college courses and hikes that will soon become your favorite activity of the week.

While docents are only required to give a two-year commitment to the Bouverie Preserve, most of the folks who become docents maintain their relationship with the preserve for more than 20 years. Some Glen Ellen folks you may recognize: long time docents Pat Smith, Susan Garcia-Foshay and Sarah Clegg hail from the early classes in the '80s while Sue Thompson and Pamela Kerr are members of the most recent class. In between, we have scores of good folks from Glen Ellen, Sonoma and beyond who continue to hike and serve the preserve in a variety of ways.

If you'd like to learn more about the preserve before making the commitment, call Linda Alwitt at 933-9795 or check out the ACR website at egret.org.

Linda will escort you on a beautiful hike through the preserve where you can enjoy a spring's worth of blooming wildflowers right now.

The next presentation of the Glen Ellen Historical Society (in Mayflower Hall, April 30) will be a free community-wide show and tell. We're looking for longtime residents who are willing to share stories of what it was like here in the great Before Now. Write Jim Shere at P.O. Box 35, Glen Ellen CA 95442.

Friends of local artist/musician Timothy Dixon have gathered some of the finest Bay Area acoustic musicians to perform at a benefit for him at Murphy's Irish Pub, Sunday, March 20, from 1 to 5 p.m. Slated to perform are Faith Ako, Scott Gerber and Cori Wood, Dan Hicks, Steve Kahn, Tommy Thomsen, Ted Macklin, David Maloney and the Perfect Crime. This is a rare lineup of veteran acoustic musicians.

Dixon has been undergoing treatment for cancer for the past several months. He is a familiar face in Sonoma Valley having spent many years in Glen Ellen and Kenwood. He now resides in Warm Springs Valley on Bennett Valley Road. A self-taught artist, Dixon designed many rock 'n' roll posters in the late 1960s for big-name groups across the country. The benefit show at Murphy's is open to the public, with a minimum donation of $10.

For more information, call 935-0660.

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Share your good news with friends and neighbors in Glen Ellen. Call or write me at the numbers up there by my smile. Or e-mail me at creekbottom@earthlink.net. Glen Ellen chatter rarely requires timeliness; however, if your news does, please be sure to contact me at least two weeks before the run date.