As you’ve probably heard. However, I was suprised to learn just how far Corti’s reach went: all the way to the Bay Area and beyond and into the hearts, minds, and kitchens of some of California’s leading epicureans. Didn’t know what we had until it was (almost) gone.
There’s no surer sign that warmer weather is nearly here to stay than the blooming of Sacramento’s rose gardens. Just when I think the only plant growing in front of any business or home is a Camellia, poof!, there they go and in pop the roses.
The sight of roses and the scent of orange blossom – two reasons this town rocks more than outsiders know.
If you’re at home tonight at 6:30 PM and you want to watch the local news…you’ll get a healthy dose of Crystal Darkness instead. All local channels will be broadcasting with focus on our area and the “Meth Epidemic.” While I am cynical as to whether it is “just now” an epidemic, or if it has been an ongoing problem, I guess it is just a question of semantics.
Meth is here in Sacramento and the outlying cities, and if you don’t know what it looks like or how to spot the symptoms of someone using it, you might be caught unawares. Meth is involved in a lot of horror stories–and that lady with no teeth outside the Alhambra Safeway? I think she’s taking meth, or was–if she isn’t already dead.
If you live in Lavender Heights (part of Midtown), you should also watch the program…I learned something new today. Evidently meth is a popular choice in the Gay community. I wasn’t aware of that, but if you live in certain areas, your neighbor might be using. Or if you rent, you might want to check out who might have been living in the Victorian walkup before you–they may have left a gift that keeps on giving behind.
Seriously, if you can’t catch the program tonight, TiVo it. Or check out the website. Education, education, education. Education, prevention/treatment, law enforcement.
A poll on the KCRA website shows most people think law enforcement is the best way to handle the meth problem. Look around, people…we’re facing budget cuts and guess who gets hit first? Law enforcement, firefighters, schools.
Besides, if you don’t know what to look for, what it does, how to get help if needed–then when does law enforcement come in? It comes in when things are already out of hand. Law enforcement gets involved when there’s already a serious problem. Law enforcement gets involved when the user is on his/her way to prison or the morgue.
Local writers have a place to go to do just that. Check out Sutterwriters. Here’s a brief description from their website:
Sutterwriters was established in February 2002 with the mission to give patients, health professionals, caregivers (and just about anyone) a safe place to express themselves through writing.
Each session runs about 6 weeks and is quite inexpensive, with a $10 donation requested. Basically, you show up and write.
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Recently I had the (mis)fortune to visit the UC Davis Medical Center Emergency Room. It was an evening visit on one of these cold nights, and the place was packed. But not as packed as they expected later, when temperatures would be dropping into what felt like the teens–almost unheard of in Sacramento. The clerk said to me with a smile and a shrug, “That’s when all the good people will come in–” We both knew she meant. She meant the homeless, impaired, and otherwise similarly challenged.
Someone has a whimsical sense of humor at UCDMC. The ER waiting room is painted like a 1980s version of Finding Nemo and there’s a large aquarium at the center of it all. The chairs are a dull bluish-greenish. (It probably would have been better to have black seats–so at least you didn’t suspect what you might be sitting on.) Even though this lovely large fish tank is there for the patrons, ahem, patients of the hospital, no one was looking at it. We were all observing each other. One woman had trouble getting something out of the vending machine and started shaking it. Every head, including mine, turned to watch. Not only did we stare at her, we stared at the baby with a black eye, wondering if the father or mother did it. We stared at the man sitting in his socks whose child was having seizures in the other room.
Pediatric Emergency is even scarier than the main waiting room. You see children who are getting checked after “falling” and children who have other things like blisters or bleeding from an orifice–frightening, really. It occurred to me more often than not that the very parent who brought the child in may have been the parent who caused the harm–if not directly, then by neglect. We were there for a (thankfully) minor eye injury. It gave us the energy to watch others. I found myself hoping that, somehow, all of those ill and injured children could be saved.
Not only will you feel better, look better, and be more relaxed, but you will (should you decide to walk to work or to the local grocery) be contributing to the improvement of our local air quality. Can’t walk 10 miles to work? Can you bike it, or part of it and RT the other part? It’s inconvenient if you’re overscheduled, but in the long run, it’ll keep you sane. (Sanity being ‘relative’ this time of year…!)
We have a lot of nice parks here in Sacramento, as well as canals and bike trails in my part of town. If you’re in Natomas or Elk Grove where you’re burbed behind a wall from everything, ask yourself why that nice developer didn’t create a more walkable neighborhood. Like maybe putting a grocery store in the middle of it all or zoning for a few shops here and there? Then again, there’s downtown, midtown, and parts in the East and South which are very walker friendly. We’re even listed on the Walkable Neighborhoods website as an up and coming city–“second tier” but moving right on up into premier.
John at Uneasy Rhetoric wrote a really nice treatise on expanding your walking and here’s a link to it. I couldn’t think of any more reasons or tips than he has in the list. Check it out. Tell us if you have any of your own. See you out there–walk walk walk!
If you’ve ever contemplated community service but aren’t involved with an organization that does volunteer work, I recently discovered an excellent community-based organization that will link you up with projects happening right here in our community. Hands On Sacramento has year-round volunteer opportunities posted on their site, with a big push for a Day of Service on Martin Luther King, Jr. day. There are lots of opportunities to volunteer around the holidays, but the need is just as great throughout the year.
[Click to big-ify] A stolen photo from the Home Tour – just too good to pass up.
And with it, the return of the Sacred Heart Holiday Home Tour.
A 33-year tradition, the Home Tour offers a chance to tour some of the Fab Forties fabbest addresses – each decorated to the nines with all the holly, ivy, and evergreen you could possibly need to get you in the Christmas spirit. The decorations are provided by area designers who donate their time to support Sacred Heart Parish School. It’s a self guided tour that calls for a group of friends, some comfy (easily removable shoes – hey, these people are donating enough without having to worry about resurfacing their hardwood) shoes, and warm wooly mittens.
Tickets are just $20 from now through November 30, and $30 starting December 1. You can even buy them online. I look forward to this event every year. Whether you’re looking for that holiday spirit or just interior design ideas, don’t miss out!
Sacred Heart Holiday Home Tour: here’s how you get there; here’s where you get the tickets; 3 days only! Friday, December 1, 11am-8pm; Saturday, December 2, 10am-7pm; Sunday, December 3, 11am-5pm.
From this year’s 4th of July Parade in East Sacramento: this little pilot is not loving the ride. Not to worry little one – I look the same way on airplanes.
More after the jump –
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