Village Chat

Ann Q. Peters

If you can't get enough of Valentine's Day, mark your calendar for Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. That's when Robert Young will be giving an all-Bach concert entitled “Suites for the Sweet.” Robert is the very talented music director at St. Patrick's Episcopal Church, where the concert takes place (9000 Sonoma Highway, 833-4228). Enjoy!

Sara Monte of Wildwood Farm Nursery & Gardens would also like to prolong the candy and flowers season. Wildwood is teeming with daffodils, and now the Wildwood team is offering you the opportunity to pick your own bouquet. U-pick bouquets are only $1 for a dozen daffodils, and you can't beat that price anywhere! Just drop by the Farm, 10300 Sonoma Highway next to the Kenwood Inn & Spa, anytime between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. The number is 833-1161, and they are closed on Mondays.

The Kenwood School Chili Contest was once again a fun and tasty experience. On Jan. 29 six brave souls - Allie Ahern, Maria Belmonte, Ivy Childs, Tyler Haen, Paul Hartman and Rafealla Morillas - judged 13 different chilis. Daren Bellach's “Fire in the Hole” chili won in three categories: 1st Place, Hot & Spicy, and Greatest Name. Jennifer Jimerson's “White Bean Chili” was voted Most Original. The Kids Choice award went to the Kindergarten for their “Kindergarten Best Chili Ever,” and Jack Duryea's “Light'nin Fast Vegetarian Black Bean Chili” was named Best Vegetarian. Yum!

And speaking of Kenwood School, it's time to start thinking about Kindergarten registration. If you live in Kenwood and have a child who will be five years of age by Dec. 2, 2010, you can register him or her for next year's kindergarten class. Just call the school at 833-2500.

Roger and Deanna Sanborn are happy to welcome twin grandsons Wyatt and Lynden born on Jan 29 to Tim Sanborn and Kristen Vogel. Mom and babies are doing well at home in Petaluma. Big brother Aiden, age three, tells Kristen, “give him milk, Mom,” if either of them fusses! Tim teaches 4th grade at Penngrove School, where his great grandfather was principal in 1917. Congratulations to the newly expanded Sanborn family!

Nancy and Pete Gruchawka visited their son Joseph in Portugal over the Christmas holidays. Joseph is a UC Berkeley student, but is spending a year in Utrecht in the Netherlands, and he did not come back to the states over the break. They met up in Lisbon and traveled to the island of Madeira, where they tried Madeira wine, then up the coast of Portugal to Porto, where they tried lots of ports. [Sounds like my kind of trip!] After that they flew to Amsterdam and saw Joseph's school in Utrecht and visited the Hague.

Gail Chapin reports that she and her husband Gary, along with Kerry and Dino Amantite and Bill Kunde and Sue Michaelsen, took an 11-day vacation down the Mexican Riviera aboard the cruise ship Radiance of the Seas. They all had a great time. It was a first cruise for the Amantites, and a 40th wedding celebration for the Chapins - congratulations! Gail noted that they have lived in Kenwood for 32 years now, moving from San Jose when their first child, Brett, was barely one year old. Time flies…

And that's about it for this week. Thanks to all of you for sending in your news and pictures. Remember, if you have an item for Village Chat, you can email me at ann@kenwoodpress.com, or call 833-5155 and chat me up! - A.Q.