The Green String Farm Band is going all out, in their very best Christmas sweaters, at Murphy’s Irish Pub in Sonoma, tonight, December 20th, at 6 pm.

It promises to be a really good time and very family friendly. Raffle prizes will be given away all night… which means you will have a chance to win your very own bottle of Arann’s homemade, super hot, Strong Sauce, Green String Farm Band t-shirts and CD’s… all of which make great stocking stuffers.

Hope to see you there.

…and for computers that don’t break down after my AppleCare runs out at the end of the month.

Currently my computer is in the hands of the Geniuses of Corte Madera. Over the past three years, the life of my computer, I have been to the Santa Rosa Mac store so many times that I had to switch stores. It became too much like visiting all my ex-boyfriends. We would awkwardly acknowledge each other but at the same time avoid eye contact, because it was just too soon to be friends after the way it ended the last time.

So all my fingers are crossed that the Marin Geniuses fix it up once and for all, and that I will be Genius free in 2010. Here’s to wishful thinking.

Arann’s favorite book is The Man Who Planted Trees, by Jean Giono.

Dan’s favorite book is The Secret of the Old Mill, by the Hardy Boys.

(please click on their names to see the musicians in action.)

…Susan is the one on the left. They are still best friends today.

She has chosen to live…

And we are all so happy about it.

Happy Birthday, Juliet. I hope it is the perfect birthday, filled with all of your favorite things.

I am excited for my friend Rebecca, because this week she got pigs at the garden she runs in Sonoma.

Thinking about her pigs stirs up all my pig memories, and gives me an excuse to post an assortment of random photos in an attempt to stay true to my Rolleiflex Advent Calender.

It makes me think about the most incredible pigs I have ever met, who lived at Parducci Winery. They would chase each other just like dogs, play king of the castle on their deck, roll over to have their bellies scratched, and run in and out of the water as their caretaker sprayed them with a hose to keep them cool. They changed my perception about pigs forever.

And it reminds me of the amazing stories Novella Carpenter tells in her awesome book, that you should read if you haven’t yet, about her crazy adventures raising pigs in Oakland, and then coming to terms with butchering them, and ultimately her complete joy while eating the meat she worked so hard to raise.

Which makes me think about the photos that I took at Town Hall last summer and how beautiful ham can look, let alone taste.

And finally it reminds me about my best friend, since 5th grade, Betsy, who has given me an assortment of pig gadgets and gizmos for the last 20 years. It all started when we met a girl at basketball camp. After we introduced ourselves to her, she said, “Betsy, I have a pig named Betsy. I go out in the yard and call, ‘Suuuu-weeee,’ and she comes running.” You can imagine the joy that gave me then, and still gives me now, every time I tell that story.

I could keep going with the pig memories, but that is enough about pigs for now.

Congratulations, Rebecca. I can’t wait to meet them soon.

I attended a natural dye workshop in Missouri with Rebecca Burgess, for her book on natural dyes. While the landscape and the plants were definitely pretty…

…I often found myself distracted by the other people in the workshop.

I know that these portraits will not make it in this book, but maybe the next book can be about Natural Dyers… because I have found them to be a pretty visually unique group of people.

…of Petaluma, for ProjectHERE.

I plan on really getting going on the project in January, so please send Petaluman Artists and Farmers my way.