The Verbal Commute


TM UPBEAT TIMES • February 2013 • 2 First Humor


day. That night, one hunter returned alone,


"You left him lying there alone and carried the deer back?"


Art by Fran Nielsen of Sonoma County.


"It was a tough decision," he explained, "but I figured no one is going to steal Harry."


If Time Could Fly... Fun Facts & Trivia #1 By Paul Andrew Doyle, Publisher


UPBEAT GUYS LOG; STARDATE 1•25•2013; 8:27A.M. & :06 SECONDS. SANTA ROSA, CA. ~ I saw this piece of art sent to me by Christina Siegmund, an intern for the Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation via e-mail and had this really enjoyable thought and memory from when I was a young boy growing up in Sebastopol, CA. I rode my bike and hiked everywhere. The scene I most remember was sitting at the top of 'the hill', as my dad called it, or 'the shed' on our Christmas tree farm and looking at Mt. St. Helena off in the hazy dis- tance. In the painting above, artist Fran Nielson captures it beautifully! In fact, I saw this ranch


every day on the way back from Willowside School off


of Hall Road where I attended junior high for several years. It always reminds me of Sonoma County, and of home. I always think of how lucky I am to have grown up in such beautiful country. It seems Sonoma County has become an international desti- nation for travel- ers world wide. How cool is that! I


have a this long standing joke about how time moves very quickly. It doesn't really, but perception can be very influential in giving one the feel-


ing of a rapid life. I know it is only January, but I have already said to people. 'Hey, it's almost Christmas!' Groans and


mild laughter ensue... only


because, it


may be partially true. Time for me means opportunity. It's not that I


have a lot, it's that


I use it sparingly. The moments I do have are spent inventing new ideas for the future. Truth is, I 'd like to live a 1000 years or so. Live to a hundred, a


hundred & twenty? Sure, but I figure at 75 to 80 years old, I will be in my prime. I could just imagine that if I could live to be 200 years old, I could get so much done, and if I know I were to be alive that long, time would almost become irrelevant in some way. This issue of Upbeat Times is dedicated to all of my read- ers who have reached many years of existence. I do this because of all the wisdom they have shared with me. One of my friends/writers, Eloise Tweeten interviews seniors and all the life expe- riences


they have had. The


knowledge we gain from these wonderful people assists all of us in understanding a form of 'fountain of youth', that allows us 'to see' what their secrets


...Continued on page 8 SIGMOND The Plant in... "Appreciation Day" Never published before. Drawn in 1987, from the old days. by Paul A. Doyle


The vanilla plant, Vanilla planifolia, is a slender, green-stemmed creeping or climbing perennial of the orchid family. Cultivating vanilla beans is a lengthy and labor-intensive process, as each flower must be hand pollinated to ensure it produces a bean. To complicate matters, a flower only lives for one day.


Its


beans grow to between 6 and 10 inches long and resemble a green string bean. Knowing the vanilla products to which we’re accustomed, it’s hard to believe that freshly harvested vanilla beans have no flavor or aroma. To develop their signature flavor, the beans must endure an elaborate, three- to four-month curing and sun drying process. Once this is complete, the beans are graded and bundled to ship to the United States.


On the Cover


This picture was taken by Paul Doyle at Bodega Bay, Doran Beach in early January 2013 and is a form of Sand Piper, possibly a Pectoral adult Sandpiper (Calidris melano- tos). We attempted to research and it seemed to match, unless someone out there may know exact species. It was not par- ticularly bothered by people.


2 • February 2013 • UPBEAT TIMES Seagulls... slim yachts of the element. ~Robinson Jeffers


staggering under a huge buck. "Where's Harry?" asked his friend. "He fainted a couple miles up the trail," Harry's partner answered.


A group of friends who went deer hunting sepa- rated into pairs for the


©2012. Sigmond.


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