Here is a short list of April happenings that will be familiar to many readers: The San Francisco Earthquake--one hundred years ago on April 18, 1906; the Great Sierra Snow Storm that blocked Central Pacific passenger trains for days on Donner Summit--April 1, 1880; the Titanic sank--April 14-15, 1912; taxes are due--Monday, April 17; and the record-setting Truckee-Tahoe snows of April 2006.

Tahoetopia will cover each of these briefly during the week ahead.

One positive event--of many, of course--remembered in April is the birth of William Shakespeare, the finest and most quoted writer in the history of the English-speaking world. He was born in 1564 and died at Stratford-upon-Avon in April, 1616. "I know myself now; and I feel within me a peace above all earthly dignities, a still and quiet conscience." Henry VIII, Act III, sc.2