The Random People’s Monologue/ Dialogue Project will present its seventh annual production of locally written, directed and performed vignettes. “Tell Me More/ Ten Tales” were presented Friday and Saturday.  They will also be available Sunday, March 18th at 2PM at the Mateel Community Center in Redway. Doors open a half hour before the performance and tickets are available at the door for $12-20 sliding scale. Refreshment will be offered by South Fork High School as a fund raiser for various activities.

This year’s production is produced by Anna Roger and Marilyn Foote who also fill various other roles. Jenny Edwards and Susan Alexander remain involved and invaluable to the production as directors, writing consultants, and stage expertise. This year we have several new authors and several old favorites. A little something for everyone.

SoHum Label GMO’s Press Release:

The SoHum Label GMO’s group will show the movies Unnatural Selection and Monster Salmon at the Mateel Community Center on Friday, March 30th. Doors open at 6 pm, movies start at 8 pm. Come early to sign the petition and snack on GMO-free organic popcorn and 100% GMO-free desserts.

The first movie, Unnatural Selection (one hour), reveals harsh consequences of genetic engineering worldwide.

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Last nights Arts Alive and Christmas Parade in Garberville enchanted my son and niece (and me.)   Beautiful weather, twinkling lights, floats with bands, motorcycles with candy, parents selling goodies to raise money for school programs, Santa Claus and laughter wrapped us in the holiday spirit.  Thank you everyone who worked so hard to put this on.

Last night, I had to do an errand in town.  I’d put it off all day. When we got there it was almost dark.  The town was lit and bustling with warmly dressed neighbors.  I dropped the kids off to do some Christmas shopping at Allsports and Blue Moon (pure magic for kids.)  When I came back from my errand, I walked through busy streets full of happy people. I  felt as if I has slipped into “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

By now it was dark, but the town sparkled with lights. I poked my head into Allsport looking for my kids.  The owner, Tina, still layered in a warm coat, gloves and a dark wool hat over her pretty blonde hair, asked if I needed help.  When I explained, her face lit up.  “Little redheaded boy, about so tall? Very polite?” Being a parent, I wasn’t sure if that could possibly be my kid but, when it turned out it was,…my heart lit up and I grinned.

Kind words are the Christmas lights of life.

Below, parade photos and winners:

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Recycled Youth’s Play, I-zone, Coming to Mateel December 1-4

            Every year, the teens involved Recycled Youth spend 3 months creating, writing and rehearsing their show, after school for an average of 3 hours, 2 days a week and increasing to more days and hours as it gets closer to their performance in December. And every year, their effort pays off big time with audiences loving the great shows they produce. Typically the performances consist of a four or five theatrical vignettes, that explore issues effecting their lives from personal angst and pain to the their views of the world at large.

This year their show, entitled “i-zone,” is looking at the prevalence of technology in our society, with an eye for both its pros and cons.  Other topics they tackle include drug use at school, prejudice and more. The show incorporates quotes from cultural icons, whose words have influenced them including Jim Morrison, who said, “Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power;”  Ghandi who said, “A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes;”  and Shakespeare’s words, ”There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

To help augment the costs of the Recycled Youth program, the group is holding a raffle this year. The grand prize is a 2-night stay and dinner for 2 of dinner generously donated by John and Theresa Porter of the beautiful Benbow Inn.  Tickets are available now and may be purchased in Garberville at Sweet Grass, (the former Folk Art), at the Mateel  office, or from members of the cast.  They will also be tabling in Garberville.

Recycled Youth is a free after-school theatre program at the Mateel Community Center for area youth ages 14-18.  The program directors, Joani Rose, Anna Rogers and Colleen Bingham offer lessons in acting, mime, clowning, trapeze and dance, and the students ultimately write and perform their own original show.

This year’s show will be on December 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and a Sunday matinee on the 4th.  Recycled Youth is grateful to have loyal sponsors, and we would be thrilled to welcome new supporters to help maintain this important  program.   Please pick up a raffle ticket today, for a chance to stay at the landmark Benbow Inn or call Cathy at the Mateel to be a sponsor listed in our program guide.

The homesteads of Humboldt and the North Coast share the same lack of paint and that is about all. There is something so charming in their variations that you can’t help love them be they masterpiece or mess. A woman who grew up on one of these homesteads has begun a new blog and I’ve fallen in love again.  She meanders through moments from then to her homesteading city life now with equal grace.  She speaks about the homes of her childhood in her first post,

It was gray, like all the houses in the mountains.  No one bothered to paint the wood, so all the houses ended up the same weathered color.  But, that is where the similarities ended.  Every house up in the mountains is as unique as a finger print.  They go every which way, sprawling out in whatever direction the builder felt like adding a room onto.  Usually, the rooms followed a view, or a stream bed, or even a tree.

She speaks about her quiet life in her city homestead in her third post,

Such city dogs! It rains once in a blue moon here and they start up with peeing in the house, then slowly relearn that they need to pee outside but choose the deck rather than get their arses cold for too long by making their way all the way to the dirt.  I was better about peeing outside at 3 than they are!

There is something so charming about her writing as she alights on the past or moves to the present that she is sure to delight–especially those who love the simple joys of life.

 We made our way back home, down the mountainside, across the creek, and back up the other side to our little A-frame home.  The journey had taken over two hours and I was hungry! My mom poured my brother and I each a glass of milk, and we eagerly drank it.  It was the sweetest milk we’d ever had!  Then my mom took out the jar of cream showed us how to shake the jar back and forth, back and forth.  We each took turns, dancing around the small living room, shaking our bodies as much as we shook the jar.  Finally, after what felt like forever, the cream in the jar began to coagulate. Little white lumps began to form within the cream.  Not too long after that, the lumps formed one large lump and the butter milk separated from the butter.  My mom let us taste the butter milk, yucky! Then we tasted the butter. Yum! No salt, but so delicious! We had to wait for the bread to finish baking, which my mom had put into the little propane oven while my brother and I shook the cream.

To pass the time, she pulled out her guitar and we took turns strumming and making up songs. Before we knew it, the aroma of fresh baked bread wafted from the kitchen and filled the house.  We could barely wait! My mom carefully cut a slice for each of us and spread the soft butter onto the bread. She showed us how to blow on the bread to cool it and we watched the butter melt into the fluffy whole wheat golden slices.  Finally, we took a bite and it was the culmination of a journey I would never forget.

Homemade bread and handcrafted reminisces await you at Harmony in the Hills.

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Photo from Harmony’s blog  Don’t you love the ubiquitous rubber boots.  Every little hippie kid had them and most of the Redneck kids, too.