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Napa Valley Events Newsletter
April, 2000

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IN THIS ISSUE:

• Arts & Culture Lecture Series
• Easter Egg Hunt
• Monticello's Spring Gala
• Designer's Show House Tour

• More Events
• Web Cam of St. Helena vineyard
• Weather Forecasts
• Allergens
• Editor's Note - Robert Louis Stevenson
• Past Newsletters

It's beautiful in the Napa Valley in April. The brilliant California Poppies are beginning to bloom among the scattered spires of Blue Bonnet Lupine, a striking contrast in the green grass. A great month for picnics! Many wineries have tables on their grounds; have the Antipasti from Dean & Deluca delivered to your B&B and you're set!

If you are in the neighborhood this month, here is our recommendation of interesting things to see and do:

April 13 -- Arts & Culture Lecture Series
Lynn Freed, Literary Artist. Sponsored by the Arts Council of Napa Valley. Location: St. Supéry
Vineyards & Winery, Rutherford. http://www.stsupery.com/
Fee: $20, or $18 for ACNV Members Time: 7:30pm Phone Number: (707) 257-2117

April 15 -- Easter Egg Hunt
Annual children's Easter egg hunt at Beringer Vineyards, St. Helena. http://www.beringer.com/
Fee: Free. Time: 9:00 for 0-6 years, 10:30 at Vintage Hall at St. Helena High School.
Call Phone Number: (707) 963-4456, (707) 963-4812

April 29 -- Monticello's Spring Gala
Local guest chefs, music, new releases and barrel samples. Jefferson House will be open for tours. Location: Monticello Vineyards, 4242 Big Ranch Road cross street Oak Knoll by Hwy 29.Knoll by Hwy 29. Napa.
Fee: $5.00 Call Time: 11am - 4pm Phone Number: (800) 743-6668

April 29 - 30 -- April in Carneros - Open House Extavaganza
15+ Carneros Appellation Wineries host an Open House weekend showcasing the uniqueness of this region which forms the southern end of the Sonoma and Napa Valleys. Featuring music, entertainment, new release tastings, Library wines, food & wine pairings, some
special wine prices, plus lots of fun and old fashioned hospitality.
Fee: $10.00. Time: 11am-4pm Phone Number: (800) 825-9475

April 31 - May 21 -- Designer's Show House Tour
Presented by Queen of the Valley Hospital Foundation. Open to the public through May 21. Shuttles provided to the property, located in Napa's Stonecrest area, then treated to docent lead tours.
Fee: $20 General, $18 Senior & Groups of 10+ Time: 10am-3pm weekdays, 11am-4pm weekends Phone Number: (707) 251-1818

For more events in the Monterey area for the rest of 2000 please look through our extensive Events Calendar:.

A view of old, head-trained Cabernet vines near St. Helena. You can see they have mowed between the rows recently. http://www.wineviews.com/

For weather predictions, choose the San Francisco area: http://www.weatherplanner.com

If you are sensitive to trees, grasses, weeds and molds see what might be blooming here around the time of your visit by looking at the web site of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology : http://www.aaaai.org/nab/west.stm
Select "San Jose (Station 2)," it has more recent data. Use the graph feature at the bottom of that page, input today's date 1999 (i.e. 4-1-99)
and you'll get a graph of the last 12 month's activity. Click on a bar of the graph to see what was active on that date. Pack tissues ;-)

If you enjoy Napa Valley, STOP what you're doing, grab a phonebook, call your local bookseller and order this book:

"The Silverado Squatters" by Robert Louis Stevenson, publisher: Mercury House, San Francisco.

Originally published in 1883 it recounts his 9-week stay in the Napa Valley in 1880. To see things through his perceptive eyes: "But Irvine had come scatheless through life, conscious only of himself, of his great strength and intelligence; and in the silence of the universe, to which he did not listen, dwelling with delight on the sound of his own thoughts."

"The silence of the universe" is here and I invite you to come listen. The Napa River has something to say on the topic - if you listen carefully, and the meadowlarks singing on the fence posts also, and as Stevenson described, the sound of the wind in the trees and grapevines. That's why when the weather's warm and dry, a picnic at a winery should always be on your itinerary and you might see swallows painting music in the sky.

Stevenson recounts his visits to two winemakers. You can visit the same Schramsberg winery he wrote about - by appointment. You can read Stevenson's chapter on the Schramsberg web site: http://www.schramsberg.com/rls.htm.

The area where the Stevenson's lived has been made into a state park 9 miles north of Calistoga on Highway 29: http://cal-parks.ca.gov/DISTRICTS/silverado/rlssp215.htm

And there is a wonderful museum dedicated to Robert Louis Stevenson in St. Helena with artifacts from his and mother's home, first addition books, paintings by his wife and books about him. There are manuscript notes, the lead soldiers he played with as a boy, one of his writing desks and his wedding ring. There are over 8,000 artifacts, the displays change every 3 months. The museum is appropriate for youngsters as well as scholars and bibliophiles.

The Silverado Museum 1490 Library Lane St. Helena, CA Phone: 707-963-3757 Fax: 707-963-0917 Mailing address: P.O. Box 409 St. Helena Hours: 12 - 4 every day except Mondays and holidays

Other information on Robert Louis Stevenson: http://www.sc.edu/library/spcoll/britlit/rls/rls.html, http://www.unibg.it/rls/bio.htm

We encourage your feedback, please send your comments to our newsletter editor, Karla Noyes: mailto:editor@napavalley.com. Suggestions of topics you would like to see in future issues are welcome.

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For information on advertising in the Napa Valley Events Newsletter, please contact Kathy Moore at mailto:kmoore@freerun.com or 707-265-1853 ext. 109. Please refer to the Napa Valley Events Newsletter.