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Exploring trails, learning about native species and cultures, getting up close and personal with animal ambassadors, my memories of Effie Yeaw Nature Center are tinged with golden light filtered through trees in a 77-acre riparian woodland.

Many locals don’t know this gem exists around the corner in Carmichael.

Let’s change that. As the center named for teacher and conversationist Effie Yeaw celebrates 50 years, now is the perfect opportunity to visit.

If you walk past the Sterling Hotel at 13th and H streets on Sunday, Jan. 11, and see people in Regency dress, you haven’t stumbled into a time warp.

It’s Jane Austen’s 250th birthday party, put on by the Jane Austen Society of North America, Greater Sacramento Region.

With luck, you’re a reveler in the ballroom, dressed in Austen-era finery, enjoying small plates, stimulating conversation and English country dance in an Austen novel come to life.

“Because it’s her 250th birthday, we decided we’d pull out all the stops,” event Chair Alanna Butterworth says. “We’re hoping to entice people who have not participated yet or who’ve never been to a Regency dance to come and enjoy a warm environment.”

The garden at Eskaton Village Carmichael is more than a beautiful place for residents to grow plants. It’s a place to get outside and connect with nature and each other.

Helen Root has headed up the gardening committee for five of the seven years she’s lived at Eskaton. Under her leadership, the garden expanded in size and mission.

“One of the first things I did when I was elected in 2021 was update our mission statement,” Root says. “The one I inherited was so straightforward: We rent boxes and fees are used to buy supplies. We do so much more than that! The revision became: We develop camaraderie with one another, encourage other residents to come through and enjoy nature and make it a real experience.”

Sacramento and its sister city Jinan, in China’s Shandong Province, are similar. Both are capitals, both have rivers and both share rich cultural scenes. Grace Liu knows this firsthand.

Liu is a Jinan native. She attended Shandong University before coming to Sacramento State¬. The J Street campus was the only U.S. school she applied to, due to its sister city status. She earned a master’s degree in management information science.

When Liu arrived in 1996, she was contacted by the Jinan-Sacramento Sister Cities Corporation, a nonprofit set up in 1984 to “foster mutual understanding, cultural awareness and friendship” between Sacramento and Jinan.

On the water, rowers can’t think about much else. Rhythm and teamwork take concentration. Or as Shari Lowen puts it, when you’re in the boat, you’re in the boat.

This works for Lowen and her fellow ROWsist members. Lowen founded ROWsist rowing group within the River City Rowing Club in 2023 for cancer survivors like herself.

She wanted to “give people who’ve been through cancer an opportunity to use their bodies and minds” along with “the community and emotional aspect of doing something together.”