Saturday was not a walk in the park for Paul Ewing and Stefan Burns.

Last weekend’s two-day final show at the Oxbow School in Napa provided a tantalizing sample of what gifted teenagers are capable of creating at the end of their Oxbow semester.

It was a last minute invitation, but well worth juggling lunch dates to watch a Vintage High School production of “The Laramie Project,” last week. Amanda Bennett directed the performance as part of her senior thesis, which, she explained, was a study of attitudes toward homosexuality.

On Saturday at the Napa Valley Opera House the Moscow Cats Theatre was in town and the show featured 35 housecats, five clowns, a ballerina and one dog to complete the cast.

On Saturday evening l6 Trinity Prep student thespians performed a feat of magic. In their Theatre Under the Stars these talented young men and women brought “Cheaper By the Dozen” back to life.

From Register Staff

“Napa is not known as an arts mecca. If the arts had the respected allure that wine and food does here, being a Napa artist would have more meaning. It’s a great place to live and work, but the art world doesn’t perceive Napa as supporting a thriving artists community.”

Sunday afternoon at Yountville’s Lincoln Theater, we Napans were treated to a performance of “Cats,” directed and choreographed by Richard Stafford and featuring 29 talented dancers and singers bringing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic to life for the 25th anniversary Broadway tour.

If commercial fisheries maintain business-as-usual catches on the high seas, the world’s major seafood stocks will collapse by the middle of the 21st century.

A widely used diabetes pill raises the risk of heart attacks and possibly death, according to a scientific analysis that reveals what some experts are calling another Vioxx-like example of the government failing to protect the public from an unsafe drug.

Not long after I was hired at Napa Valley College to teach political science, I received a friendly invitation to speak at the Napa Rotary Club. After a warm welcome and pleasant lunch, I gave a presentation in which I argued that the way in which the social sciences are taught would change once the baby boom generation began to exit academia. I reasoned that, whereas many of that generation view college as a center for activating students to go out and solve society’s many “problems,” later generations see the college as an institution through which students are given the analytical tools to discover for themselves what society’s “problems” may be. It is the difference between activation and education.

WASHINGTON — The research is persuasive: When drugs don’t completely control epilepsy, surgery often can — and the sooner it’s tried, the better.

“This fight depends on securing the population, which must understand that we — not our enemies — occupy the moral high ground.” — Gen. David Petraeus, May 10, 2007

Army Pvt. Daniel Gilbert graduated from basic infantry training at Fort Benning, Columbus, Ga.

Distinguished Teachers honored

I've been looking forward to having our semi-monthly chat, and counting my blessings that I live in senior-friendly, beautiful Napa Valley.

Education

A long, winding back road passes farms and forests, gardens and grazing cows: The bucolic vision earns its name, Pleasant Valley.

The Napa Valley Grapegrowers will bestow its prestigious Grower of the Year Award on longtime Rutherford grower Davie Piña at the organization’s dinner on June 1 at Paraduxx Winery in Yountville.

In Memphis, barbecue means pork ribs and pork shoulder sandwiches.

Just in time for the upcoming outdoor grilling season, a pair of new cookbooks has been added to the shelves of local book sellers.

A cultural turf war is being waged across America.

Swimming. Crafts. Campfire stories. Must be summer camp!

As lavender season is just around the corner, Harms Vineyards and Lavender Fields is preparing for an open house to welcome visitors to the Napa farm.

NEW YORK — It’s the season for moving summer furniture out onto porches or deeper into balmy back yards. It’s furniture we may already enjoy year-round inside, and it’s often wicker — or do we mean rattan, or bamboo?

Every year you hear the fire service say this is will be the worst fire season ever. You are told to have a plan and prepare your home and property for the worst. Well, guess what? This could be the worst fire season in a long time. And you should have a plan and prepare for the worst.

Matanzas Creek Winery celebrates the bloom of their estate lavender gardens at Days of Wine and Lavender on June 23, 1-4 p.m. Stroll the gardens, taste Matanzas Creek wines and enjoy gourmet picnic cuisine prepared by the winery’s chef Taki. The winery’s lavender barn will be open for tours, and guests will have the opportunity to participate in Jeep tours on nearby Jackson Park, a 110-acre mountain vineyard.

Home and Garden Tour today

Q. We live in a mobile home. During the summer, we sometimes smell a strange odor in the bathrooms and under the sink. We checked underneath to make sure there were no dead animals, cleaned the cupboards, and deodorized all the drains, but nothing works. We have a regular discharge pipe and it is not a sewage problem.

ALLEN -- Gloria Allen vs. Ronald Allen, April 30, 2007

Danielle Marie Christani and Peter Stanley Netherton of Chico were married July 15 in the Cathedral of St. Eugene in Santa Rosa. This joyous ceremony was a Nuptial Mass with Fr. William Donohue presiding. Members of the immediate families participated during each part of the Mass. The groom's aunt, Susan Kurtz, delivered a remembrance in honor of loved ones who had passed. The theme of the wedding was "Let Marriage be held in honor by all" (Heb. 13).

ANGLIN-PORTET -- Jason Paul Anglin, 36, Stonnington Place, Toorak Vic, to Paula Portet, 29, Monticello Road, Napa.

Crista Burris and Joshua Grech of Napa announce their engagement to be married June 9 at the Lodge at Sonoma.

Denise Ernst and Greg St. John of Napa announce their engagement to be married on Aug. 18 at a private estate in Napa.

St. Helena Hospital

Lindsay Letitia Gill and Joshua C. Gonzalez of Everette, Wash., announce their engagement to be married in May 2008.

P. Lynne McCallister and Matthew R. Wall of Napa announce their engagement to be married June 16 at Living Vine Church of the Nazarene on Linda Vista at 2:30 p.m.