Go for it at Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi

By Dennis Hall

Go For It magazine immediately caught my eye in a restaurant prompting me to read it and study the advertisements. My take is that this is a great publication for informing people about ways to get out into the world for exploring and having fun, which includes wine tasting all throughout the Sacramento region.

Tasting wines at wineries in several wine regions within the Sacramento region is an adventurous way to find intriguing, fun, picturesque settings perfect for dates and family picnics. With Fair Oaks as an epicenter, there are over 100 wineries within a radius of 50 miles with wine tasting rooms, most open from 11:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. You are in the wine capital of the world!

Many tasting rooms charge customers about $5 for each person wine tasting. SipCalifornia.com markets Wine Tasting Cards via e-commerce, and retail sales for $35 wherein the tasting room waives the wine tasting fee at the many participating wineries. Each Sip California Wine Tasting Card affords the cardholder complimentary tasting for two at wine tasting rooms through December 31, 2013, on a repeat-usage basis. There are wine tasting rooms all throughout the Lodi Wine Region (at least 20 locations), and the Sacramento Valley / Sierra Foothills Wine Regions (at least 25 locations) honoring the Sip California Wine Tasting cards. Sip California markets two distinct cards, one for the Lodi Wine Region, and one for the Sacramento Valley / Sierra Foothills Wine Region.

It’s a misnomer that the world class winery founded decades ago by wine icon Robert Mondavi, Woodbridgeby Robert Mondavi, is located in the Napa wine region[/ ]. The tasting room often gets calls from people wanting to visit, but say they are in Napa and cannot find it. That’s because Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi is near the town of Woodbridge which is adjacent to and northwest of Lodi, California. While watching HGTV (Home & Garden) on television which is broadcast to millions of viewers globally, I smile when I see the advertisements for Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi wine knowing its world class, and just a miles from us to visit, enjoy, and buy the wine right from the vintner. Here you will experience a world-class winery founded decades ago by Robert Mondavi. This destination is particularly wonderful because you can wine taste, buy wine, and picnic amid a quiet, tranquil setting, plus take a one-hour long fascinating tour of the whole wine-making operation every day of the year except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s day. The tour groups gather each day at the Tasting Room are at 9:20 a.m. and again at 1:20 p.m. Larry Pilmaier, the Tasting Room Manager, informs that during the middle of the week those touring also get the added bonus of seeing the full bottling operation which does not operate on weekends.

Very near Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi winery, there are four other tasting rooms as well for creating a wonderful day trip. They are The Dancing Coyote, Woodbridge Uncorked, Cycles Gladiator, and m2 Wines. The quaint town of Woodbridge offers several options for lunch and dinner dining.

Enjoy going for it!

Dennis Hall is a free-lance writer, author, and entrepreneur. Dennis and his wife Dana founded Sip California, a wine industry business. Sip California markets Sip California Wine Tasting Cards through SipCalifornia.com. Dennis.SipCalifornia@gmail.com

916-541-1992.

iFest Rancho Cordova - Small World. Big Party.

small world.  big party. Rancho Cordova iFest!  5-9 p.m. Saturday, May 18 Village Green Park FREE ADMISSION New this year... Plein Air!

For information on becoming a sponsor or an exhibitor, click here.

Memorial Day at the Fair Oaks Cemetery

by Ray Young

The Fair Oaks Cemetery District and the Memorial Day Ceremony Committee are finalizing plans for one of the most popular and inspiring Memorial Day ceremonies in the area.

The Fifteenth Annual Memorial Day and Avenue of Flags Ceremony will be held Saturday, May 25, at the Fair Oaks Cemetery, located at 7780 Olive Street, Fair Oaks. The formal ceremonies start at 10 AM.

This year’s theme is to honor “Our National Cemeteries”, with the Emphasis on Hawaii’s Punch Bowl. The Punch Bowl is a cemetery located in Honolulu, Hawaii that serves as a memorial to those men and women who served in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Dedicated on Sept 2, 1949, approximately 53,000 WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam veterans and their dependents have been interred. It is administered by the National Cemetery Administration of the U.S. Department of the Veteran Affairs and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Chairman of the Fair Oaks Cemetery District Memorial Day Committee, Tom Askins will be the Master of Ceremonies. The musical program will be provided by the American Veterans Band, conducted by Warren “Bud” Turner.

The Fair Oaks Cemetery will be also decorated with hundreds of flags lining its roadways as “The Avenue of Flags.” We will also be adding more names to the Veterans Memorial Wall. The Honored Main speaker will be Allen Hearl, Retired Navy Chaplin.

A formal Color Guard and Rifle Salute Team will provide military honors and assist with the laying of the wreath at the memorial in honor of over seventeen hundred veterans who are buried in the cemetery.

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VA History

The United States has the most comprehensive system of assistance for veterans of any nation in the world. This benefits system traces its roots back to 1636, when the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony were at war with the Pequot Indians. The Pilgrims passed a law which stated that disabled soldiers would be supported by the colony.

The Continental Congress of 1776 encouraged enlistments during the Revolutionary War by providing pensions for soldiers who were disabled. Direct medical and hospital care given to veterans in the early days of the Republic was provided by the individual States and communities. In 1811, the first domiciliary and medical facility for veterans was authorized by the Federal Government. In the 19th century, the Nation's veteran’s assistance program was expanded to include benefits and pensions not only for veterans, but also their widows and dependents.

After the Civil War, many State veterans homes were established. Since domiciliary care was available at all State veterans homes, incidental medical and hospital treatment was provided for all injuries and diseases, whether or not of service origin. Indigent and disabled veterans of the Civil War, Indian Wars, Spanish-American War, and Mexican Border period as well as discharged regular members of the Armed Forces were cared for at these homes.

Congress established a new system of veteran’s benefits when the United States entered World War I in 1917. Included were programs for disability compensation, insurance for service persons and veterans, and vocational rehabilitation for the disabled. By the 1920s, the various benefits were administered by three different Federal agencies: the Veterans Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department, and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.

The establishment of the Veterans Administration came in 1930 when Congress authorized the President to "consolidate and coordinate Government activities affecting war veterans." The three component agencies became bureaus within the Veterans Administration. Brigadier General Frank T. Hines, who directed the Veterans Bureau for seven years, was named as the first Administrator of Veterans Affairs, a job he held until 1945.

The VA health care system has grown from 54 hospitals in 1930, to include 152 hospitals; 800 community based outpatient clinics; 126 nursing home care units; and 35 domiciliaries. VA health care facilities provide a broad spectrum of medical, surgical, and rehabilitative care. The responsibilities and benefits programs of the Veterans Administration grew enormously during the following six decades. World War II resulted in not only a vast increase in the veteran population, but also in large number of new benefits enacted by the Congress for veterans of the war. The World War II GI Bill, signed into law on June 22, 1944, is said to have had more impact on the American way of life than any law since the Homestead Act of 1862. Further educational assistance acts were passed for the benefit of veterans of the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam Era, Persian Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

In 1973, the Veterans Administration assumed another major responsibility when the National Cemetery System (except for Arlington National Cemetery) was transferred to the Veterans Administration from the Department of the Army. The Agency was charged with the operation of the National Cemetery System, including the marking of graves of all persons in national and State cemeteries (and the graves of veterans in private cemeteries, upon request) as well and administering the State Cemetery Grants Program. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was established as a Cabinet-level position on March 15, 1989. President Bush hailed the creation of the new Department saying, "There is only one place for the veterans of America, in the Cabinet Room, at the table with the President of the United States of America."

In 2009, President Obama appointed Secretary Eric K. Shinseki to lead a massive transformation of the VA into a high-performing 21st century organization that can better serve Veterans. Under the leadership of Secretary Shinseki, the VA has adopted three guiding principles to govern the changes underway, namely being people-centric, results-driven, and forward-looking. These principles are reflected in the 16 major initiatives that serve as a platform from which transformation is being executed.

A Grassroots Peace Movement

by Lily Bernard

Have you noticed the return of the peace sign? It happened a few years ago. I hadn't seen it at all for many years, and then, all of the sudden, there it was. Well, it makes me think about peace. The peace sign originally meant: get our troops out of Vietnam; this generation does not believe in war; end war now and for all times... Well, our troops are still in another country fighting a war, and yet the peace sign is everywhere in Rancho Cordova. Right now, for me, it is a vacant sign whose very emptiness has haunted and inspired me to want to create peace--some sort of deeper more immediate and universal peace--something that will last.

What does it mean to be at peace? Well, I believe that true peace starts in the heart of an individual like you and me. So, I believe if we're going to be a nation at peace with ourselves and the world we need to start right here and right now in this wonderful community full of people of all races and religions, struggling to make it work for themselves and their families.

I know there are peace movements of the national or global variety, but they have a tendency of making us feel small and unimportant. Well, I think the people of Rancho Cordova ARE important to national security and peace as well as the people of Rosemont, Fair Oaks, Carmichael, Arden Park, Town and Country, College Greens, Gold River---our area. We spend our time watching or following national celebrities on TV or on the internet who don't know us or our community. They don't know there's a Food Source on Bradshaw Road, or that Rancho Cordova library is on Folsom or that there's an interesting, FREE magazine, "Go For It" or a great Fourth of July celebration every year at Hagan Park.

Here's my proposition: Let's turn off the TV and look at each other for the space of a few private minutes a day---that is all that joining the peace movement will entail---but it will produce powerful results in our community. We will be united and CONSCIOUSLY working towards world peace through the peace we daily give to each other.

I am a devout Catholic--a religious woman, yet I consistently learn virtue from my fellow human beings of no religion or a different religion. I believe with all my heart there is no peace without Jesus Christ, but I know there are people who don't believe this. My point is that, despite our differences, I believe if people in our community of all fatihs or no particular faith could come together and work AS ONE towards world peace, it would produce exciting and far-reaching results. United we will stand and stand proudly as Greater Sacramento adds its voice to the urgent cry for world peace. Let's give ourselves the satisfaction of seeing the peace sign somewhere and being able to say to ourselves, "Yes, we're united and we're doing something real and worthwhile!"

Here's the Greater Sacramento "As One" Peace Movement:

Join through email and name (an alias is fine) to lily@ivorytowergroup.net and make a personal DAILY commitment to do your current job well and DAILY do any ONE of the following:

 Perform an act of kindness, smile at someone you don't know OR pray one "Hail Mary" or one "Our Father" for peace in our community and the world.

I'll keep registered people updated on the number of people who've joined and other pertinent information.

I believe that DAILY, united, community effort will be the key and not weekly, long time commitments. By way of example, I'd like to share a personal story from my life of how a simple daily act of kindness has moved and changed me:

Every evening, my husband does the same thing---no matter how he's feeling, or how late it is---he gets me a COLD drink of water as he knows I like it cold, and some little pills I've accumulated that I need at night for this or that, and hands them to me. Out of all the things he's done for me, this little ritual is the one that has touched my heart and spoken volumes of love to me over the years and I know that if he dies before me---they will somehow appear (either physically or spiritually) on my bed table every night.

 Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.