Postcard from Glen Ellen

Out and about in town

B.J. Blanchard

Man, there's a lot of water coming down lately. Good for the creeks, of course, so we'll soon spy those quirky river otters again, bobbing their silky heads in and out along the hanging vegetation. Speaking of that very creek, last month we ran into a gaggle of good-looking teens in wetsuits including Kevin, Tyler, Desmond, Luke, and Jamie, hauling their kayaks down to the rushing Calabasas. They put in by the Post Office and floated down as far as Larson Park. Along side them, jumping in further up by the Warm Springs Bridge, were several audacious kids IN T-SHIRTS, riding the creek on boogie boards and rubber rafts in the rain. Quel excitement!

Well, shoot. No sooner had Chief Peter Van Fleet fought off the press defending our brave fire volunteers regarding Boy Scout Cadets at a fire scene, than the poor guy came down with a light case of a heart attack. Glad Chief Van Fleet is back home and on the job, chipper and ready to face the press again.

And talk about turning a lemon into lemonade! Favorite Bank Person Evelyn Schofield and her bank buddy Susan Fitz Simmons were merrily crossing Arnold just before Christmas IN THE CROSS WALK which stretches from the corner clear across to London Ranch Road. Smiling and waving to friends in the spirit of the jolly season, they looked left, looked right, cars coming from the bridge went up London Ranch Road, but one continued left, and bam, ploughed into Evelyn, tossing her over the hood like a bull flinging the matador. Evelyn remembers every second of the flight as it passed, yes, in slow motion. Lying flat on her back on the cold cement street, looking up at the dark sky, Evelyn had a mystical moment, wondering if she was dead or alive. She soon found herself looking up at the distraught driver and comforting her, and then being in the hubbub of sirens and husky men shouting directions. She sustained a concussion and more than that: she experienced a conversion, an epiphany, a sea change in attitude. She knows now what it means to live life fully, and takes nothing for granted. Now back at work, she feels calmer, sweeter, warmer, and more thankful. She even LOOKS different, somehow. She knows she is here for, among other things, grand baby Dinah Schofield, first child of Nate and Casey Schofield of Tracey. Nate, of course, a Dunbar kid, big into music and dance, is now a middle school music teacher after graduating from University of the Pacific.

Talent coming out our ears! Whooda guessed that Abba songs you used to rock out to among the naked and the beautiful, would now be a musical in which your children sing and dance! How Can I Resist Ya? The music and songs of Mamma Mia is showing at the Sebastiani in Sonoma, with Cat Austin and Aimee Alioto arranging the singing and dancing. Singing their little heads off are talented young Glen Ellenites Heather Villasenor, Jessica Mullen, and stealing the show is tiny Juliene Ducorroz of Riddle Road. Rousing songs like Dancing Queen, Winner Takes it All, Super Trouper and more, will have you singing out loud, and dancing in your velvet seats. You can still catch it Monday night (Feb. 15) at 7 p.m. at the Sebastiani, if you're lucky.

Jim Shere is wondering if you want to jump in to help the Glen Ellen Historical Society with their newsletter, organizing historical archives for display, and more. Check out their Facebook page - you ARE on Facebook, aren't you - at www.facebook.com/GlenEllenHistoricalSociety.

Don't' you like the new look of the Glen Ellen Grocery? Inviting, varied, friendly.

Getting to know the locals

Have you met that blond whirlwind Ms. Jeannie Fitzsimmons? (Different from the aforementioned Fitz Simmons.) Jeannie is a force unto herself and runs the little Showcase Art Gallery downtown next to the Chauvet. Friendliness personified, Jeannie hails originally from San Jose, and worked for years in the world of biotech start-ups around Cupertino. But her true love was dance: tap, jazz, ballet and choreography, dancing in a myriad of productions in the Montgomery Theater in San Jose. Later raising beautiful daughter Sophie, now 20, in Marin County, she ran a Limousine service using vintage limousines. She'd always eyed the little yellow building in Glen Ellen for an art center and “salon,” so when Sophie went off to Sacramento for nursing school, Jeannie was able to move into her “next chapter” as the Glen Ellen Gertrude Stein, fostering local artists, holding gatherings, and encouraging the arts.

Jeannie has great plans for her Showcase Gallery. Get this: a drumming circle to get your thumping groove going. A Reading Room for book groups and lectures. Classes about knitting, potting, painting, dancing. A little Community Center like that would give us a nice “town center,” and who's going to lend Jeannie a hand? In the meantime, Jeannie lives the bohemian life she's always wanted and more power to her. Say a cheerful hello when you see her entertaining, un verre de vin à main, out in front of the Showcase on warm days.