JourneyLeaf: Life a Page at a Time

Silent Saturday -- June 30, 2012

 

 

 

Oakland Museum of California

Last month we visited the Oakland Museum of California.  There are three floors -- one dedicated to natural history (currently under construction), one dedicated to art, and one dedicated to history.  We chose to explore the latter.

I think this is one of the most interactive museums I've ever had the pleasure to visit.  Even though Eli can't read and didn't understand a lot about what he was seeing, he had a blast and did learn a good deal.  There are many listening stations featuring hand-held speakers, much to Eli's delight...

 

This exhibit on immigration even has headphones (and airplane seats)...

 

The museum offers little cubbies and windows, many of them at kid-level.  Sometimes Eli had to slide up a panel to peek at artifacts, which kept his curiosity level high.

 

This display about historic trains is inside a little cupboard with a door.

 

There is an interesting section about gold mining.  To make a point about how getting rich was a real gamble, they have a wheel you can spin to see what your fate might have been in those days.  I think Eli could have spun that wheel all day.

 

 

Eli loved this tall wagon.  The streets of San Francisco were often so full of deep mud that this was the only way to keep riders clean (somewhat) above the spattering wheels. 

 

 

Here's a big metal stencil for labeling cloth bags of flour.  I know just where this mill was once located...

 

The section about San Francisco in the 1960s has a psychedelic light display.  Oh, the colors!  The colors!

 

There is a children's section that helps kids understand what museums are all about.  Eli got to be a part of the museum, taking his place in an alcove like an artifact and picking his own label.  His reads "Strangest Thing in the Museum.  Who brought this here?" 

 

The hands-on section includes a keyboard that makes lots of great sounds.

 

This is an alcove for lectures and discussions, but Eli had a ball scaling up and down... 

 

 

 

One Mama's Two Cents:
We really love this museum.  The hands-on aspect kept Eli happy and occupied so I actually had time to read and absorb displays.  It has a nice cafe and lovely gardens, so we were able to take a break to eat, wiggle, and zoom around.  There were quite a few school groups visiting as we were there in May, at the end of the school year.  It got fairly noisy, yet the docents did a great job of keeping their groups together so others could enjoy the museum spaces too.  There is an easy parking deck attached to the museum building, but I noticed it filled up quickly on a weekday so arriving early may be helpful.

John Muir's Home

 

Years ago while rummaging in a used book store, I found a book of nature photographs accompanied by John Muir quotations.  It seemed just the thing for a good friend who was going through a rough time, so I bought it as a gift -- but found myself reading it cover to cover before passing it along.  Muir has been one of my heroes ever since.  

 

John Muir (1838-1914) was a naturalist and writer, but also an activist who helped save many of America's wildest, most beautiful spots including Yosemite and Sequoia national parks.  He earned the nickname "Father of the National Parks."  He helped found the Sierra Club.  And when he found out that some of the nation's petrified forests were being ground up to make sandpaper, he galvanized the movement that resulted in the American Antiquities Act.  This act now protects battlefields, burial grounds, historical ruins, archaeological finds, and the like.  But Muir was first and foremost a nature lover who lived fully through his appreciation of the world around him.  Recently I read The Wild Muir:  Twenty-Two of John Muir's Greatest Adventures (selected by Lee Stetson).  Whether riding out a fierce storm high up in the boughs of a Douglas fir, facing a bear, riding an avalanche, or just taking a walk (from Indiana to Florida!), Muir was wide awake to life and made the world a better place.

Although quite the wanderer, Muir eventually married and helped raise two daughters on a huge fruit orchard in Martinez, California.  (The flexible, understanding love between he and his wife, Louisa Strentzel Muir, is an amazing story all in itself.)  Now a National Historic Site, the home and remaining grounds are open to the public.

 

 

Eli was a little afraid of the steep stairs from the attic to the belfry, but when the park ranger said he could ring the big bell to his heart's content, he determinedly faced the climb.  (I was a very proud mama!  In the picture below, doesn't he look like an explorer braving the unknowns?)

 

 

 

As a writer, I love seeing where other people write.  My own writing room is definitely a haven full of my favorite things, so it was a treat to peek into the spot where Muir wrote so many of his pieces.  

 

Development is creeping up on the Muir house, yet some of the orchards and garden spaces are still there.

 

 

 

 

The John Muir home is lovely and peaceful.  I loved walking in Muir's footsteps and sharing the adventure with my son.

(Psst!  While you're in Martinez, stop by Waterfront Park!)

Bird's Eye

The weather is cool and clear.  We had a lovely, lazy picnic lunch at the beach with friends.  Since we were in the Marin Headlands north of the city anyway, I decided to try a drive my photography teacher told me about.  Poor ol' Eli was sleepy and was soon to nap in the car, but when I saw the world spread out before us, I knew we had to partake.

    
 

We climbed to the top of a hill and looked out into the Pacific Ocean.

 

And we looked east, down at the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and San Francisco, but also at Berkeley and Oakland across the bay.  In the distance, there was Mount Diablo.

Ten more minutes wasn't going to ruin a nap, right?  So I sat down and pulled Eli into my lap.  We sat there to watch the sailboats and tugboats and container ships.  We watched a couple of planes and a helicopter.  We watched birds dip and dive.  But there were a million other details to see too.  

We sat there and I soaked it up -- sun, wind, salt air, but also soft, warm boy.  At three and a half, can Eli remember this day?  Will he remember sitting up so high with the world spread beneath him and loving arms wrapped around him?  When Eli goes off to preschool in the mornings, I kiss the palms of both of his hands so he'll have mama kisses with him all day.  I wish somehow I could tear off a piece of today, fold it into a tiny square, and tuck it into his everlasting pocket where for the rest of his life he could pull it out anytime he feels too small (or too big), anytime he needs a vantage point to help find his way, anytime he needs to remember how very loved he is.

 

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Seven Hours

On the way to Six Flags amusment park...

 

Three animal shows, two mini train rides, one safari jeep ride, one peanut butter sandwich (with two handfuls of french fries), one walrus stare-down, one scoop of chocolate ice cream, one bouncing frog ride, one tot roller coaster, and 20,000 steps later...

Sonoma Lavender Festival

Last year I wanted to visit a lavender farm during our vacation in Santa Cruz, but day after day I kept missing my chance.  When I heard about the Sonoma Lavender Festival, I wasn't about to miss it.  So glad I didn't!

 

With the lovely backdrop of the California Wine Country, there was live music and lots of good food...

 

There were lavender crafts...

 

There was a marketplace with more herbal products than you knew existed...

 

There were unusual treats such as lavender lemonade...

 

And they even served mint lavender ice cream.  But the best part can be seen in the background of this photo of Eli savoring his icy treat -- an actual lavender farm. 

 

Festival goers were welcome to walk through the lavender.  The whole area smelled fresh and spicy.  Bees swam through the air.  Thousands of purple stalks rippled every time a breeze came through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As my dear cousin Norma would say, "It was really something!"  Wandering the lavender farm was sensual and memorable and fun, but also inspiring.  I used to always have an herb garden yet have let it slide in recent years.  As soon as we get to Georgia, I'm putting in some mint, chamomile, chives, salad burnet, thyme, oregano, basil...and, of course, lavender.  I'm looking forward to doing more gardening with Little Guy, but I've been wandering the web looking at herbal craft and cooking ideas too.

Everything Lavender

Easy Lavender Crafts

Herb Society of America -- Lavender Crafts 

 

V. Sattui Winery + Dean & Deluca, St. Helena

When I was new to California and just starting my third trimester of pregnancy with Eli, Brian's cousins came up from San Diego for a few days.  I'd been spending day after day unpacking, settling in, and working on my book project, so I let them coax me away for an afternoon in the wine country.  

By lunchtime I was getting hungry and hoped we'd stop soon, but they heard of a deli they wanted to try.  Just the word "deli" conjures up images of American cheese slices and dry bread crumbs.  Now that I've spent more time with our cousins, I realize I should have known better.  We soon rolled into the parking lot of V. Sattui Winery.

Oh.

Old stone buildings tucked between vineyards, the lines of grape vines spreading away into the distance.  Huge old oaks spreading branches over amazingly green lawn and flourishing flowerbeds.  Sturdy wood picnic tables dotted here and there.  And then we went inside.

This time "Deli" meant gourmet salads, still-warm loaves of crusty bread, cheeses from around the world, chunks of fresh fruit, rows of interesting crackers, and pastries that make your eyes pop.  After strolling the aisles with a shopping basket, soon we were settled in the shade, enjoying the breeze and tasting wonders to please any gourmand.  V. Sattui forever changed my definition of "picnic" and became a favorite spot to take out-of-town guests.  (The drive to get there through the wine country is lovely and pairs nicely with a late-day visit to the redwoods at Muir Woods.)

Here are some images from our last visit...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All this and then Dean & Deluca "Purveyors of Fine Food" is located across the street...

 

 

 

 

If you have a chance to get to the Wine Country north of San Francisco, don't miss the delights of St. Helena! 

(Click HERE for the V. Sattui website with address, directions, and more information.) 

Silent Saturday -- June 23, 2012

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Bear

Going to visit Papa at his office on campus is always fun for Eli.  The huge old building hosts a wide variety of classes.  That means there are nice people to talk to, but also interesting things to look at -- long rows of lockers with spiffy combination locks that swing noisily when you whack them, an old-fashioned telephone booth, a ramp that leads to a swimming pool, tap dancing classes, and even a huge old ship's wheel that turns with a creeeeeeeak!  But, aside from Papa (and any snacks that may be in his desk), the best thing about visiting the office is Mr. Bear.

Last summer Eli and I were getting out of our car for music class when we saw a very strange sight.  There was a woman struggling to drag a huge stuffed bear from her car and wrangle him into a dumpster.  When she saw me, she blushed and explained her husband bought the bear much to her chagrin and they simply had no room for it.  "Do you want it?  It's brand new."  Indeed, the bear was in perfect shape and still had the tag in his ear.  I couldn't bear (oh, awful pun!) the thought of such a nice toy being wasted in the landfill.  "We'll drop Mr. Bear off at Goodwill on the way home," I said to myself.

 

 

Yeah.  Right.  You know how that goes.  Eli loved this bear and his cozy lap.

 

For a day or two, Mr. Bear suffered through...I mean, was treated to...several tea parties.

 

And hug-wrestling matches... 

 

(Is it just me, or does Mr. Bear look a little worn out?)

 

But no matter how soft and charming, Mr. Bear is big.  Really big.

 

Brian came up with the brilliant idea of letting some of his students adopt Mr. Bear.  After all, Cal's mascot is the Golden Bears.  So Mr. Bear went to live in the student lounge where he has lived happily ever after.  There was some talk of getting him a Cal shirt, but it turned out his tummy and arms are too big.  Nekkid he remains.  But the students who sleep on him between classes don't seem to mind.  Mr. Bear keeps on grinning, so I don't think he minds.  And Eli doesn't mind either.  Better cuddling this way.

 

All is well that ends well.

Tiny Ragged Gifts

 

A few weeks ago I went to pick Eli up from preschool and he hurried over to the gate with a sunny smile.  "Mama, I picked you a plum because I missed you!  I found you the reddest one!"  

Eli's preschool has a garden, so now that the growing season is here he often greets me with a plum, berry, or a flower.  These tiny, ragged gifts are usually gathered inside his hat, which he holds out like a sack of treasures.  (We won't discuss the permanent pink and green stains inside it.)  The fruit is bruised and sticky.  The flowers are wilted and weedy.  But no matter how battered the gift nor how many times in a row he offers them, I always feel a lump in my throat.  He's been thinking of me while we're apart.  He's been guarding these gifts as "carefully" as a wee boy can, eager to present them.  Treasure indeed.

I eat the fruit right away -- dusty, grubby tot finger prints and all.  (Surely I'm building my immune system, right?)  The flowers can be a little trickier.  These aren't big, puffy peonies or long-stemmed roses, but rather small wildflowers he's found among the weeds.  Thus I've been scouting out different sorts of vases...

Wildflowers don't need a grand setting.  I find I like glass milk jars with their casual, vintage feel.  In antique stores you can still find single serving milk jars that work well for a few stems.  And here in the Bay Area, some grocery stores (like Berkeley Bowl) sell Straus Family Creamery half & half or cream in small glass jars that have that old fashioned look about them.

 

One of the challenges, though, is that many of Eli's gift flowers are tiny -- buttercups and the like.  If the stem is an inch long, I'm lucky.  Scouring antique stores, I've amassed a collection of small vintage bottles that make great tiny vases.  Medicine bottles are the best, but ink bottles work nicely as well.

 

 

Once upon a time, restaurants offered tiny glass bottles or pitchers of cream, and these great little "vases" sometimes end up in antique shops.  For newer versions of tiny pitchers, try stores with large collections of open stock dinnerware such as Pier One or Homegoods.  They look so sweet holding a flower or two.

 

One of my best vase discoveries was from a British blog I love to follow called Yarnstorm.  Thanks to writer Jane Brocket, I now know there are circular vases called posy rings made just for flowers with short stems!  Inspired, I trolled eBay until I found one on this side of the Atlantic.

 

 

Honestly, I'm having the best time with the posy ring, trying this flower and that.  (And I discovered they are also called "pansy rings" and "violet rings" since those types of flowers have short stems that work well in them.  If you want one too, try eBay but also Etsy.)

So just when I've found solutions for the weedy, short-stemmed flowers my little guy brings to me, now I've discovered the fruit may be trouble after all.  When I picked Eli up from school today he looked a little upset.  He'd put two plums in his pocket for me but then fell sideways in the sandbox.  I reached into his pocket and discovered they were now plum sauce.  (So hard to keep a straight face!)  When I did the laundry, I needed a spoon to scrape those plums out.  D'oh!  

Off to search for tiny berry buckets with lids...?