In Petaluma When is “North”…”East”?

THE ANSWER–It depends upon where you stand. 

A fuller explanation follows at the end of this article. But first, a little background is in order…

Petaluma’s Water St. in the downtown area recently required a little repair work as some of the cobblestones were sinking…

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Part of the “renovation” included a stone compass in the walkway by the Balshaw Bridge…

By my observations on The Streets of Petaluma over the last few years, this is the second such pedestrian compass. The first one is discussed in The Corner of Main & Washington…

Of course I checked the accuracy of this installation and found it to be spot on as with the first one…

Some may wonder why North points to what is commonly called “The East Side” or “Petaluma East”. Well, it is also true of the compass at Main & Washington.

WHY IS THIS?

• The line demarking the East Side from the West Side was originally set at Petaluma Blvd… formerly known as Main St.  As the City expanded, the line moved to The 101 with the area between Petaluma Blvd and the Freeway informally denominated the Old East Side. Kathleen Martini recalls life on Petaluma’s Old East Side
• The answer to the question posed in the title of this post is almost straightforward 🙂 Magnetic North is a fixed line while the streets and freeways do not follow such dictates–they often wander in all directions of the compass. You can call the streets and roads North or South or East or West but they do not take a straight line to the goal.  Much like life, I suppose 🙂

Offered by yours truly, An East Side Resident…standing on Water St. looking North to the East Side.

Or am I a North Side Resident? 🙂

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A Great Russian Honey Bear Sunflower Story…

Every year I seem to go a bit over the top with sunflower varieties in the gardens.  This year is no exception.  However, I will not bore you with another annual set of photos from the sunflower groves.

But there is one sunflower that I wish to bring to your attention.

At first we thought it would be a standard Great Russian bloom.  But this plant had its own ideas.  My best guess is it is another hybrid created by the bees from last year’s plantings.  For now I am calling it a Great Russian Honey Bear.  It is only half the height of a typical Russian but the bloom is huge.

It started with the bloom opening on August 3rd…

By August 5th the bloom was turning into a very large Honey Bear…

Following NASA’s lead sending a probe to the Sun I sent my lens to the center of this sunflower bloom…

By August 10th the bloom was 10 inches in diameter—twice the size of any Honey Bear (or any sunflower for that matter) I have ever experienced…

Looks ever so much like a huge powder puff for a clown act…

DISCLAIMER–Any interpretation a reader might make that somehow this story is an oblique reference to current Russian or Russian America political stories—is entirely of their own creation  🙂

Still here…But Focused On Other Things!

I have not posted on either of my blog sites for a bit so I thought I would let everyone know I am still around.

Must focus on things closer to home, etc., etc. Keeping the photo walks at home does present some new vistas to explore in our own landscape…!!!!

Petaluma’s “Piano Man”

Visitors to Downtown Petaluma may encounter brightly colored pianos on downtown streets or placed in retail stores…

Some may even encounter a piano masterfully played by a man in a vest and bowler hat! The man, of course, is Petaluma Pete (a.k.a. John Maher)…

• For example, Petaluma Pete playing Mr. Bojangles
• Video of his very first day on the street in 2007–Piano On the Street!
• Audience street reaction…Piano Fun!
• Pete’s street pianos are also enjoyed by other musicians… Petaluma Pete’s Piano…sans Pete!

Personally, the best encounter is Petaluma Pete working on a “new” piano

For More Information about Petaluma Pete & His Artist Painted Pianos…Go to Sponsor Promo

For additional background information, check out these links…

• CNN Interview
• Piano Man!
• Petaluma Pete

RTP April 2018

Rebuilding Together Petaluma  (RTP) volunteers once again fanned out across the city this month to repair homes and public facilities at 10 locations throughout Petaluma. These efforts are supported and made possible by Wells Fargo, Ohana Construction, Save Energy Co, Sears Heroes at Home, Heffernan Insurance Brokers, Friedman’s Home Improvement, the Hillblom Foundation, Nova Group Inc, Audio Visual Design Group, and roughly 200 community volunteers!

I had occasion to visit some of the worksites and offer a few photos of the volunteers at work. 

My photo selection, as usual, is arbitrary and capricious!!

 

The Bolek Family

GALLERIES BELOW

Click On Any Image In Each Gallery To Open

 

 

 

 

 

Surprise for Paula!

I recently received an e-mail from historian Katherine Rinehart: “Paula Freund, Petaluma Museum volunteer, will be presented with an award for her work on the Portraits of Petaluma Pioneers exhibit. The award is from the California Council for the Promotion of History.”

“We thought you would like to join us in honoring Paula on Sunday, April 8th at 10 AM at the Museum. THIS IS A SURPRISE. Paula thinks she’ll be coming to meet me to discuss what she learned while visiting the Carnegie Archive at Columbia University.”

So I packed up some photo gear per Katherine’s request and arrived on scene!

• Was Paula surprised?
• Did everyone keep the secret until the appointed day?
• Surely someone must have let it slip!

Judge for yourself…as Paula entered the room with Historian, Katherine Rinehart)…

I think it is safe to conclude that she was genuinely surprised!

Being the trooper that she is, Paula quickly recovered her composure…

The audience included Mayor David Glass, Council Member Teresa Barrett, and former  U.S. Representative for California’s 6th Congressional District, Lynn Woolsey.