Sonoma County December through March The Makahmo Pomo Year (Rotated to show winter at the top)*     The on-line magazine sonomapicnic.com is an outgrowth of and continuing update to Sonoma Picnic, a California Wine Country Travel Companion and the recently published Napa Valley Picnic, a California Wine Country Travel Companion. Scroll on for highlights excerpted and updated from this handy little book! Walnuts and old vines at sunrise   West Dry Creek Road     The seagulls have come in from the coast to share space in the ballfield with our neighborhood crows. In November, they are harbingers of winter, flying in to shelter in advance of rough weather over the coast. When we see them massing for a westbound flight, we can pretty much figure on a pleasant day over at the beach.    A Special Tip from the Editor Intended as a resource for journalists and other public broadcasting stations, the "Pressroom" section of San Francisco's KQED Web site serves up details on the impressive menu of KQED's radio and television productions. Shore Report     Check out our friends at the Tides Wharf Fish Shop or call them for current information on locally landed fish. The Tides Wharf 835 Hwy 1 Bodega Bay 707-875-3554     For up-to-date information on ocean fishing or bird- and whale-watching trips, you might give our friends at Bodega Bay Sport Fishing Center a call at 707-875-3344.     Call the good folks at our local surf shack for up-to-date shore conditions. Bodega Bay Surf Shack 707-875-3944 www.bodegabaysurf.com Hot links to Local Events: Sonoma County Wineries Association Russian River Wine Road Consorzio Cal-Italia Culinary Institute of America Greystone Campus in Napa Valley Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods: Supporting Volunteers in the State Parks Late Winter Mustard Meadow in Knights Valley RED Toyon berries kindling for the mind's eye and spirit body on a shriveling December morning. Ideas enough to span the Serengeti spawn inside of me. All from a dither of red in a ransacked plantation of green. Red so deep it ferrets behind my eyes-- rounding up my neurons branding my synapses and saying    Wake up! I am the essence of being alive. I am the satin lining of your joy pocket I am the bass note in a sunshine symphony I attract hummingbirds to your garden, and your lips I am the liquid rhapsody in your veins I gloss your infant body at birth I am red ruby red, garnet red crimson red, pomegranate, scarlet and betelnut. Now my eye discerns red just coming on, red at its ZENITH red just past its time . . . fading Finally, red making land fall and sailing into the UN-visible. And my eyes rest again, quiet-- zinging with the memory. The rev of red cannot be sustained But please, scatter her berries throughout my days. © 1999 by Penelope La Montagne ("Morning Haiku," 5:58 a.m. on KRCB 91.1 FM) Oak Tree from Red Barn Road in Alexander Valley Fire   Wood-fueled warmth for wintry weather Winter Events by Month: Please call the phone numbers listed for details Art Events are listed on our Sonoma County Arts Update For late inclusions see our page! December     Olive harvest continues. The vines sleep while the field crews prune away the summer's canes. Healdsburg Antique Dealers Open House 707-433-6935 Historic Tree Walk Downtown Healdsburg, 707-431-3301 Christmas at the Sonoma Mission 707-938-1519 Gray whale migration reaches its southbound peak in mid-month Winter at Navarro Winery in Mendocino County January     A year in the wine country starts with pruning of the vines. Look for the pruning crews in their yellow rain slickers working their way through the rows. Russian River Winter Wineland A weekend of tasting and education 707-586-3795 The ZAP Tasting Annual Zinfandel barrel tasting at Ford Mason Center San Francisco, 530-274-4900 Old-Time Fiddle Contest Cloverdale Citrus Fairgrounds, 707-894-3992 Winter Chilies, Preston Vineyards in Dry Creek Valley February     The daffodils and acadia are in bloom, and pruning continues. Winter Wine and Food Series 707-586-3795 Citrus Fair Cloverdale Citrus Fairgrounds, 707-894-3992 The Forno in Winter, Preston Family Farm March     New green grass spreads over the hills, the tulips come out, and the vines begin to awaken. Russian River Wine Road Barrel Tasting 707-586-3795 Heart of the Valley Barrel Tasting Kenwood Area Wineries, 707-833-5891 Sonoma County Folk Festival Luther Burbank Center for the Arts Santa Rosa, 707-546-3600 *Figure 4a, p. 58, "The Makahmo Pomo, an ethnographic survey of the Cloverdale (Makahmo) Pomo," Peri, Patterson, McMurry (1985, Sonoma State Univ. Academic Foundation, Inc., for the US Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento Dist.)