Smith: Where on Earth has this card been?

At Paradise Ridge winery, Sonia Byck-Barwick found a picture postcard on her desk.

It’s from Zimbabwe. Curiously, the postmarks showed it was mailed 18 years ago, in April of 1997. And this made Sonia gasp:

The greeting was written in the hand of her late mother, Paradise Ridge co-founder Marikje Byck.

Sonia saw that she herself had signed the card, along with her mother, her father Walter, and her sister Carole-Ann.

Sonia has no recollection of that postcard. But she and her family trekked to Africa in ‘97, and clearly her mother had mailed it to “Everyone at Paradise Ridge Winery,” telling them the family was having a great time.

Sonia learned the card was dropped at the winery by the person who discovered it recently - in a shopping cart at The Home Depot in Santa Rosa.

The finder, Elaine Sussingham, was all the more astonished because she happens to be a longtime member of the Paradise Ridge wine club.

“It’s all very crazy,” Sonia said. It is, and quite magical.

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AN OBAMA MOMENT may come next week for SRJC student Erika Hernandez.

A daughter of Mexican immigrants, a 2010 graduate of Petaluma High and a leader of the JC chapter of MEChA, Erika goes to D.C. on a fellowship to a summit of Organizing for Action. That’s the nonprofit that advocates the president’s agenda on issues such as health care, immigration reform, climate change and gun laws.

Erika, who’s 23, expects to see Obama and she hears there will be a “special guest.” She says, “We’re wondering if it will be Michelle.”

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KIDS CAN’T LEARN if they’re not in school.

All of Sonoma County should feel good about the Probation Department being awarded a first-ever $2.14 million, three-year state grant to work with the families of children who are chronically truant.

If the students and their parents agree to take part, case workers with a partnering community agency will explore with them what can be done to keep the kids in class.

As it is, truancy costs county schools $9 million a year in lost revenue and prepares absent students for a lifetime of woe.

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BEE NICE: Who pulled up as drivers and residents freaked out over an enormous swarm of bees outside a convalescent hospital in Santa Rosa?

Emery Dann arrived to visit a patient at Summerfield Healthcare. What a honey of a coincidence - Emery is past president of the Sonoma County Beekeepers Association.

Naturally, he had a swarm box in his truck. He found the queen bee and, as her workers buzzed about, placed her inside the box. Emery wasn’t stung even once as the maybe 4,000 bees dutifully followed her in.

He paid his visit at the rehab center, then safely relocated the colony. Bee-eautiful.

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Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CJSPD.