Commentary: Trivia Bee, writers, chefs, books, symphony, reader

Roper's Jewelers (818 Lincoln Way and 2288 Grass Valley Highway in Auburn Village) is selling tickets to Auburn AAUW's 9th Trivia Bee, 5:30 p.m. Saturday, March 25, at the Congregational Church, 710 Auburn Ravine. Tickets are $50 in advance, $55 at the door. Tickets include dinner and the Trivia Bee. And the Bee itself? The theme this year is HerStory – focusing on women who made history and people of all genders who are still making history and encouraging equal rights (which have no gender). Want to be on a team of three? Teams pay $300 to compete. AAUW would love to have you participate in this raucous, exciting event. The Bee raises funds for AAUW's scholarship program for local women and girls. Investigate at auburn-ca.aauw.net or phone 530-878-7938. ... Gold Country Writers invites those interested to a free workshop focusing on making the information you have researched more interesting. This workshop, presented by author Kathy Lynne Marshall, is scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesday, Feb. 15, in the Auburn Airport Barnstormer Room, 13626 New Airport Road in North Auburn. For information, investigate goldcoutrywriters.com. ... Auburn 49er Lions present Celebrity Chefs at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 2, in the Placer Building at the Gold Country Fairgrounds. Parking will be no problem. Tickets are $25 and available at Golden Swann, 881 Lincoln Way, and Assistance League Thrift Shop, 1263 Grass Valley Highway. If you want to be a chef and promote yourself or your organization, it's free – and fun, and a delight. For information, call Tony Ferrari, 530-320-1400. ... Recently, I was volunteering as a Sight Word Buster (do yourself and Auburn a favor and investigate: sightwordbusters.org) with Ms. Spence's second-grade class at Rock Creek School. Suddenly, in came Merrie Holman from the office, with a treat: a big box from Scholastic books. The message on the outside: "Unbox the joy of reading." The reaction was wonderful: cheers and applause, and several kids leaped from their seats and hugged Ms. Holman. Oh, I understood. At 7, I loved pouring through a new book. Surprise, I still do. And to continue the suspense and the excitement, Ms. Spence left the box where it was, on a desk in the back, waiting, unopened, increasing the anticipation. Before I left, I crept to the box and lifted it. Heavy! Be still, my heart! ... Because Don and I have given some money to the Auburn Symphony (I can't help it), we were invited to a "thank-you" event at Van Howd Studios on New Airport Road on Jan. 12. Who was there? Tons of people, including Karen Killebrew and Janet Nicholson of the Placer Artists' Tour (placerartiststour.org); Urs Wehrle on violin and Faythe Vollrath on piano in the corner; also – not playing – concertmaster Chase Spruill. Also: Kurt Simon, on the symphony's board of directors. He loves Auburn. "People talk to you here," he said. "This is the best place to live." I also chatted with Meredith Bruck and David Fenolio. Meredith is a bridge player and David plays the accordion. He belongs to the California Accordion Society, which meets 2-4 p.m. every second Saturday at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, 6365 Douglas Blvd. in Granite Bay. Many others, including (of course) Stephanie Snyder, president of the board of directors; Don Whittaker; Bill Kenney; Colleen Sands of the State Theatre – "It's a fabulous team we have," she said. "We all do what we do best." And I said hi to Jennifer Sanders (the symphony's business manager) and her husband, Brent. I'm always happy to see Brent. He helps as if he works for the symphony as well. I also chatted with a couple of Leo Club members from Placer High. They were volunteering their time to keep the place neat. Paige Warda, 16 and a junior, said, "I like to do community service. I like to help out." She plans to major in architecture when she gets to college. And senior Jamie Ranlett, 17, shared that, "I like to make myself useful and help out at events." He hopes to study zoology at a UC campus. ... Don and I had breakfast last Tuesday at Awful Annie's. As we were finishing, a woman approached and smiled at us. We smiled back. "I never do this," she said, "but I just had to. Are you Susan Rushton?" she looked at me. Then she turned to Don. "And are you Don?" We acknowledged as how we were, and the more I write about this interaction the more boasting I sound (I'm a star!), but oh well. This was Marsha Longden. Not only has she lived in Applegate for 32 years, she has read my column that long as well. And she wanted to meet me and tell me she enjoys it. Not that she always agrees with me, she said. But that's OK – Don doesn't, either. We stood and shook hands and thanked her. Such a pleasure. Remember up above that I quoted Kurt Simon? He loves living here, he said. So do I, and this is one of the reasons why. That's my town. Got any items for me? Email me at goldcountrydenizens@gmail.com.