Seeing Sacramento & Beyond » Leisure

Freeport Festa: You are Cordially Invited

melanie noel light — Tue, 25 May 2010 17:27:25 +0000

Mary, Monica & Justina Invite you to Festa

Craving a particularly easy and fun-loving event? Do as the Portuguese do (and some not-so-Portuguese) and attend the annual Freeport Festa this holiday weekend. Food, drinks, dancing and general frolicking beneath large shade-providing old river trees makes for an inviting and pleasant spring-day escape. And with a 75-degree-day expected, there’s no excuse not to dip your toe into a new experience. Since the Festa is open to everyone, ‘the more the merrier!’

Festa Dinner
Saturday, May 29
Tri-Tip, Beans, Bread, Salad, Dessert
$15 per person
Music

Festa
Sunday, May 30
Parade starts at 10am
Mass at 11:30am
Auction at 1:30 (Donations are welcome)

Freeport-Clarksburg
Portuguese Hall
54113 South River Road
[North of Clarksburg in Yolo County - 2 ½ miles north of Freeport Bridge]

For more information, contact Monica Souza at (916) 925-8661.

Goodbye to Summer?

melanie noel light — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:05:43 +0000

Summer Fades Slowly in Sacramento

Not yet. Not entirely. Not in Sacramento!

With our mild autumn weather, late Indian Summer and days still lingering longer than nights, those of us who don’t get summer breaks can immerse in summertime activities up until (and sometimes even through) the solstice at October’s end. Here are just a few things to look forward to this month while paying homage to clear skies, warm breezes and a softer sun spilling all around ~

Oktoberfest 2009 at Brew It Up – Thursday, Sept. 17
CA Brewer’s Festival – Saturday, Sept. 19
Eat Your Art Out Edible Walking Tour – September 26
Sacramento World Music & Dance Festival – Sept. 26/27

And don’t even get me started on the sweet blending of summer and fall in October and November! Well, not just yet anyway.

For more information on these happenings and more, visit Sacramento365.com and discovergold.org ~

More Day Trip’n

melanie noel light — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:52:44 +0000

Ok, not almond blossoms... but you get the picture.

… Continuing on the road less travelled toward Capay Valley (Hwy. 16), old agricultural towns are mere specks along the lush landscape and almond orchards line the way straight to Cache Creek Resort & Casino. But first, the sleepy town of Esparto is the crux of the annual Almond Festival every spring (although ironically you might be hard-pressed to find much ‘almond stuff’ there – it’s more about the scenery of the almond trees blossoming, I’m told). A little farther up and out, the even tinier town of Capay has a roadside pub (Capay Junction) that serves the coldest beer I’ve ever had (not to mention a pretty mean hotdog if you can get the grouchy bartender to heat one up for you). And while Capay Valley Winery gives tastings by appointment, I hear it’s worth the call ahead of time. (We didn’t have that tidbit of information before embarking on our journey…)

[more to come!]

Not-So-Sleepy Saturday Morning

melanie noel light — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:43:16 +0000

The Commotion Begins Just a Block Away...

There are only a few small puffy clouds scattered in the sky; against the bright blue backdrop, they look rather striking. The trees are blanketed with vibrant green spring leaves and a blossom storm whirls beneath like a tornado, rising majestically out and upward.

It is a quiet and serene Saturday morning in this part of Downtown Sacramento, but I know from experience that things in one part of town do not define all others. For just a few blocks away, things become anything but sleepy.

At the Capitol, thousands of adults, teens, children and dogs gather in readiness to march for a cause. It’s the annual March of Dimes March for Babies fundraising walk, and the Capitol is truly hopping. Participants are carb-loading, taking team pictures, socializing and even dancing to music blasting through the speakers. When Go-time comes, the crowd is so thick that we move like molasses through a tiny straw.

But marching west from the Capitol, down Capitol Mall, through Old Sac and Westfield Plaza, and snaking through Downtown and then Midtown, the crowd gets a unique view of their very own town, with major street closures removing obstacles and revealing a sparkling city that is perfectly comfortable in its own skin.

Fast forward 6 winding miles and an after-celebration, we walk back toward the office to find another kind of action on the streets of Sacramento: On K Street, a convention crowd watches as a legislator is being filmed. On J Street, activists line the road with signs and cheers for ‘Newsom for Green Jobs’. And on 16^th Street, a group of young tourists begins their day.

It’s just another ordinary day in Sacramento… revealing some extraordinary and unexpected things.

The Art of Ceremony

melanie noel light — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:02:58 +0000

Crocker Art Museum Entrance

It was Sunday, April 19^th, nearing 3pm, and the air was balmy outside the Crocker Art Museum in Downtown Sacramento. Couples, families, teens and solitary souls made their way to the back lawn of the museum grounds for a ‘Mass Meditation on Peace’. It was the closing ceremony for the ‘Buddha’ Exhibition.

I headed toward the entrance and past a guard who simply smiled as I walked by. There were no fees, no bag checks, no sign-in sheets, no questions, no hassles. The rather full crowd was mostly sitting in chairs and on the grass; a few were resting comfortably at picnic tables or standing around the shady perimeter.

There were brief introductions and warm welcomes to and from members of the Dalai Lama Foundation and Lion’s Roar Dharma Center, the exhibition’s curator and Sacramento’s City Manager. There was a brief (and very soothing) chanting demonstration by 3 monks in red and gold robes. And then the mass meditation and chanting began.

The crowd whispered the mantra of compassion and self-transformation (Om Mani Padme Hum) over and over again within the tall protective hedges of the grounds. It was so softly audible that I wondered what it might sound like to a passerby.

More like “an applied sacred psychology” than religion or even philosophy, Buddhism has long been revered for its openness and acceptance of others’ ideals and traditions. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to me then that the gate to the museum lawn remained open during the entire ceremony – with people quietly wandering in and out, and back in again. Nonetheless, I was pleasantly surprised at the complete ease that seemed rooted within this ceremonial gathering, and radiated so effortlessly throughout the crowd.