Mac’s

Mac’s

by | Jan 9, 2025 | Friends & Family

I’m sitting at the counter of Mac’s Deli & Cafe in downtown Santa Rosa and it feels just like I’m in a movie about a typical morning at an old-school diner. My seat is a low, wicker- backed chair, the counter formica. Through the opening into the kitchen three...
Winter Trilogy

Winter Trilogy

by | Dec 19, 2024 | Nature

  On the cusp of Winter Solstice, I’ve had some thoughts about the upcoming season. Leaf Ballet A handful of leaves cling stubbornly to the branches of our majestic valley oak, a tree that one day 20 years ago poked its spindly trunk cautiously out from the...
Back To The Garden

Back To The Garden

by | Dec 6, 2024 | Music

  The definitive song about a seminal event in the counterculture of the 1960s was written by someone who wasn’t even there. Joni Mitchell was supposed to be at Woodstock. She was also booked on the Dick Cavett Show the day after the festival was to end. Joni and her...
Dad and Me and Sports

Dad and Me and Sports

by | Nov 25, 2024 | Friends & Family

My dad Ray Ferrera passed away quietly last week, he was 95. Here’s my tribute to him. On Father’s Day in 1965 I was eight years. My dad was taking my older brother Ray and I to see our first baseball game at legendary Yankee Stadium. I’m sure I must have been...
The Phil Zone

The Phil Zone

by | Oct 29, 2024 | Music

  The word of Phil Lesh’s passing at the age of 84 came via a text message last Friday from an old Deadhead friend of mine in New Jersey. It was a bit of a shock as I wasn’t aware that Phil had been sick. Most of the musical heroes of my generation are in their late...