Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Polo in the Wine Country

The Annual Stick & Ball Polo Cup 2013

A Benefit for Breast Cancer Emergency Fund
10-5, Saturday, August 3, 2013
Wine Country Polo Club, Santa Rosa

Polo players and polo ponies join forces for the Stick & Ball Polo Cup 2013, a day-long wine country tournament that benefits the Bay Area's Breast Cancer Emergency Fund. This country chic event takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday August 3 at the Wine Country Polo Club located at 560 White Oak Drive in Santa Rosa.

Celebrating the rich history of this equestrian sport in the Valley of the Moon, cup participants come from all over the San Francisco Bay Area. The full-day event features include an Argentine asado lunch, premium wine tasting and outdoor shopping.

According to event coordiator and Wine Country Polo Club member Elizabeth Wellborn, the day was inspired by a desire to help others. "Several of my friends have breast cancer and I wanted to do something for people facing this disease."

Discount Tickets: $55-$135 (Code: KPGPR). General includes tournament, Argentine asado lunch, wine, access to shopping, and event wine glass. VIP includes tournament, Argentine asado lunch, wine, access to shopping, event wine glasses, seating in the VIP lounge with a private bar and a luxury, canvas, Stick & Ball tote and picnic blanket. Tickets: http://stickandballpolo.eventbrite.com.

About The Breast Cancer Emergency Fund ( BCEF): http://bcef.org/
BCEF is a tax-exempt non-profit organization that provides emergency financial and basic needs assistance to low-income women and men who are in active treatment for breast cancer.

About Stick & Ball: www. stickandballco.com.
Founded by Elizabeth Welborn. Stick & Ball, a luxury clothing and accessories line that embodies the lifestyle, fashion and culture surrounding the international sport of polo blends together the West Coast casual side of polo with its South American counterpart.

About Wine Country Polo Club: www.winecountrypoloclub.com
The Wine Country Polo Club was founded by Henry Trione, a banker, vintner and former polo player. Since 1969, the club has hosted polo-related events to help raise awareness and funds for a variety of Bay Area non-profit organizations, including Wounded Warriors, Junior Achievent of Northern California and Breast Cancer Emergency Fund.

Sponsors: Wine Country Polo Club, Napa Sonoma Magazine, Bespoke Collection & Ma(i)sonry Napa Valley, Hi Ball Energy Drink, Voss Water, Stick & Ball.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

George Bernard Shaw: Irish Playwright and Socialist



        
What kind of folk hero rejects the prestigious Noble Prize? Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw did. He is the only person to have won a Noble Prize (1925)  and an Oscar  (1938) for his literature and his work on the film Pygmalion (which is an adaptation of his play).

At his wife's urging this literary master did finally accept the honor . But he insisted the monetary award  be used to translate a fellow playwright’s work from Swedish into English.  An ardent socialist born July 26, 1856 in Dublin he wrote more than 60 plays. Also an essayist  novelist and short story writer. He addressed issues of education, class privilege, marriage, and more.

            Some of his more well-known plays were The Apple Cart (1929) considered by many to be his most popular work , Too True to Be Good (1931), and The Millionairess (1935).

            Shaw was also a member of the Fabian Society, a socialist British organization that peacefully advanced socialism. Members of the Fabian Society members established the London School of Economics and Political Science which is now one of the world’s most selective universities.

 This literary folk hero celebrated for his ability to shed light on the concerns of the repressed working class, died November 2, 1950. In his wake he left a remarkable legacy, some of which is captured in these quotes:

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

New Funeral Folklore

A Funeral Drive Thru?

Have you ever wished you could mourn your loved one in the comfort of your…car?

Thanks to Carl Eggleston, it’s now possible.

If your still left questioning or confused why someone would want to view a loved one in their car, President Carl Eggleston of Farmville’s Oliver & Eggleston Funeral Establishment may be able to persuade.

Eggleston thought of this idea twelve years ago and has now made it a reality. Over the years, his Virginia Funeral home has seen it’s fair share of funerals and he fully embodies each person’s unique grieving process. He deems that a drive -thru makes it easier for people with disabilities to view their loved one at their own time and pace. It also prevents the elderly from having to bundle up when there is severe weather.

The drive-thru has been opened for two months now, and so far no takers. However, Eggleston is not discouraged.

He told WTVR, “Somebody’s got to be the first one. We just offer the families something different, so they have options.”

If anything it has definitely attracted onlookers. Eggleston further explained to WTVR that he has received many curious phone calls and people wanting to take pictures of the drive-thru.

It seems that he is very satisfied with this obscure, yet thoughtful option for his mourners. Staff at the Virginia Funeral home are crossing their fingers that they receive a client soon and this new innovation will catch on and not become a ‘drive by’.


Thursday, July 18, 2013

American Folk Hero: Colonel Charles Young




The term “hero” means so many different things. The dictionary definition says a hero is someone who is admired for noble qualities. While, yes, this is often the case, there are so many different types of heroes – including those who aren't noble.  To some, a hero is a literal superhero like Superman, or maybe it’s a mom who serves in the military or a man who saved your life. Heroes can also be people you never met but who had the courage to go against the grain of society's boundaries and make something of themselves.

Colonel Charles Young was the third African American to graduate from West Point, the first black military attaché, the first black to achieve the status of colonel, the first black U.S. national park superintendent, and the highest-ranking black officer in the U.S. Army until 1922 when he passed. The amount of firsts in that brief summary have no doubt made Colonel Young a man worthy of admiration by all.

After his family became freed from slavery, he was also the first black to graduate from an all-white high school in Ohio at 16. He graduated from West Point and his military career progressed until he finally became the Captain in the Cavalry commanding a segregated black company. In 1903 he received orders to take his troops to Sequoia National Park to handle the daunting task of fixing the underdeveloped and hard to visit park that 13 years of previous leaders could not seem to manage. In that summer, Young nearly doubled the mileage of the wagon road that now leads to the famous Moro Rock.
The Ninth Calvary and the Tenth Calvary, with whom Young served, were infamously nicknamed the “BuffaloSoldiers” because of the Indian Wars. The honor and dignity Young brought to every assignment he worked on over 28 years made him a true folk hero, and a figure that many admire. The roads that he pushed so hard to build are now used by tourists in the Sequoia National Park every day and by being a black man who succeeded in a prejudiced society, he’s giving each of us the inspiration and courage to face life’s daily challenges because it’s never impossible to overcome them.







Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Anniversary Giveaway

  The Organic Gardener’s Cookbook

Lately, it seems as if more and more people are hopping off of the fast food train and traveling to a new destination filled with organically grown foods . Besides putting an end to muffin tops every time you put on your once favorite pair of jeans, there are many benefits to eating organic and even growing your own vegetable garden (unless you’re like me then all of the plants seem to die after a few weeks of flourishing). Some of these positive factors can include but are of course not limited to:

        • Avoiding GMO’s and improving your family’s health. This gives yourself and your kids the opportunity to get outside and do a little exercise. Once the hard work has paid off, it’s right there in front of you so you have no excuse to not eat it!
        • Reduce your environmental impact-this one is a biggy! You don’t have to drive to the grocery store, the amount of fossil fuels that pollute the air from transporting the product will decrease, and you’ll spare mother nature’s ground from pesticides.
        • Saving money on groceries and reducing food waste. You can also save the seeds from some fruits/vegetables to plant the following year.
It can definitely be hard work but there are so many positive outcomes that stem from growing your own organic produce. Now some of you may be thinking: “How can I truly satisfy my grown-caveman-meat-eating-husband and picky kids on an organic and mostly vegetable diet?” *BLING*! That’s the lightbulb clicking over your head because I have a solution for you: The Organic Gardener’s Cookbook. It’s filled with over 100 pages of advice on how to grow your own vegetables, how to cook said vegetables properly and even provides tons of delicious recipes.
To celebrate our 6th anniversary, FolkHeart Press will be giving away a copy of this book and our favorite foodlore book, BlackPepper Visions: Original Folktales & Stories You Can Eat and a journal to write your own recipes and food stories. All you have to do to enter is visit our Giveaway Page.
By the way, we've even got a recipe in the cookbook -yummy!