As a mother and an American who believes in this great country of ours, I’m proud to announce that my eldest son, Blake, joined the U.S. Navy. What a thrill for our entire family as my father, grandfather and several uncles have served in the Navy. Now the tradition continues.
I will certainly miss Blake, however, we are excited to see him serve his country while traveling the world, allowing him to expand his awareness of other cultures, and planting his roots deeply into being an American serviceman. I love to travel abroad but whenever I leave the United States I’m always reminded how blessed we are to live in such a great country with so many freedoms we sometimes take for granted. Blake Bennett Alley, E3, IT Specialist in the U.S. Navy. Go, Blake!
At the end of the day we must find joy and take pride in what we pursue in life, no matter what the task or path we choose to follow. I know Blake is and we won’t be surprised if he stays in the Navy until retirement as this has been his lifelong dream.
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How exciting it is to live in “the nation’s salad bowl,” as the Central Valley is sometimes called. Last year we moved to an old farmhouse located on the Lodi Wine Trail and we are completely surrounded by grape vines. How exciting to watch the grapes evolve from tiny shoots in the spring to the incredible vines sprouting long, lanky arms reaching out in all directions by midsummer. Clusters of blue-purple fruit plumping in the August sun, soon to be plucked and turned into the nectar of the gods by fall. If you haven’t visited our local wineries, I strongly suggest a road trip. Lodi is the “new Napa.”
I’m seriously considering attempting a home brew with our old vine zin grapes. Not exactly sure where to start, but that was exactly how I felt when we built the raised-bed gardens in the back yard six months ago. The bounty from that shot in the dark has been unbelievable. Zucchini, tomatoes, carrots, corn, onions, melons, peppers, basil, parsley, cucumbers, strawberries, radishes, potatoes and more, some of which we have no idea what they yield. This is a learning curve so next year we must make labels when planting seeds. Beginners luck, perhaps, but it sure has me considering renting space at the local farmers market. How much can we really consume? I like vegetables, but this is ridiculous.
A trip to Barnes and Noble provided several books on canning. Looks like our weekends are gonna be busy.
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We are so excited. Our website has really taken off this year. Total traffic to our site has more than doubled since June 2011. Find us at www.cvbizjournal.com.
The reason is that we’ve changed our focus, and instead of thinking of ourselves as a monthly publication, we now think of ourselves as a daily, updating the website several times a day with new stories. We’re backing that up with an aggressive presence in social media – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. You can find buttons on our homepage so you can follow and engage with us.
Soon, we’ll add an events calendar, so that your businesses and organizations will be able to submit events and publicize them to the targeted business audience that we provide.
God Bless America,
Sharon Alley-Calone
