Greenwood/Elk: Community Notes
Our Foreign Correspondent
A few times a year, I receive a photo dump via WhatsApp from our friend and former Elk resident, Laurence Martin. Usually, he is in some Central or Eastern European country teaching English to teens and traveling about taking amazing photographs. Of course, during the pandemic, his teaching assignments were curtailed but he is now back at it and on Saturday morning, I received a number of photos from Vienna. His report stated, “Just chillin’ back at the hostel now (21 euros/ night) and heading to a little town near the Czech border tomorrow.” His photo journal included the famous baroque and rococo architecture of Vienna, the Donaukanal (apparently a former arm of the River Danube), a busker playing accordion and donning a white horse head (funny!), theatre marquees advertising the new Inspector Poirot film, numerous statues of men on horses, a poster of a Ludwig Wittgenstein exhibition at the Leopold Museum, an anti-vax protest, various and scrumptious looking Viennese pastries, cakes, breakfast assemblages, and foamy coffees, and, of course, some Viennese dogs (Laurence is known for his photographs of catching children and pets at play). I have to say, waking up to these Austrian scenes and the video tour of his swanky hostel made me a bit envious, but the traveler in me was also satiated by his mini-tour as we messaged back and forth in real-time. Laurence now resides in his native England, so Europe is only a one or two-hour plane ride depending on the country of your destination – the equivalent of a trip to Santa Rosa for us, but cheaper because flights seem to be starting at around $43 from London. Here in the States, traveling to Europe seems rather dream-like at the moment, did we really ever do that? Yes, we did, and we will again. In the meantime, though, it’s fun to peek through Laurence’s photographic windows and imagine ducking into one of those cozy cafes for a coffee and a sweet. Danke schön, Laurence!
Vacancy on the Board of the Elk Community Services District
The Elk Community Services District has an opening on its Board of Directors. The ECSD is a governing board that oversees the administrative, financial, and legal aspects of the Elk Volunteer Fire Department. The requirements of serving on the Board are to be a registered voter within the District boundaries (from just north of Irish Beach to the Navarro River and east about 13 miles). If you are interested in serving your community in this way, please contact Rosi Acker, the secretary, at racker@ mcn.org or at (707) 8771800. Thank you for your consideration.