When I was in Auckland in November, my friend Barbara and I dashed down to High Street to the incomparable Unity bookstore. I really didn’t have room in my luggage for more books–but when has that stopped me from browsing? I purchased a couple of books including a pocket-sized one called F*ck*ing Apostrophes for a friend. Then Barbara spied the Penguin Professor and knowing my interest pointed it out. Without even reading a paragraph to see if it was dull as toast or not, I purchased it and hauled it home.
I am thrilled to say it is a wonderful book. I learned new things about penguins and Antarctica. Each chapter begins with a brief Adelie penguin snapshot–from a penguins point of view. Then one of Lloyd Spencer Davis’ stories about his accidental penguin research career and then a profile of a colleague or mentor who deserves to share the title of “Penguin Professor.” Most of his adventures are set in Antarctica, so if that locale fascinates, you will find this book hugely satisfying even if you are not crazy for penguins.
Wait! This post is to celebrate Penguin Awareness Day. Let me share some of the gems from his book. His early research in 1977 and early 80s helped to dispel the idea–at least within the science community–that penguins mate for life. They do not. Although he gives a good explanation of how this misinformation took hold in the popular imagination. Furthermore, the male Adelie penguins are not the initiators in the game of love: “Ultimately it is the females, however,that decide whom to mate with and whether a male can mount them. The fights observed within Adelie penguin colonies at that time of year had traditionally been seen-in the blokey way of science up to the 1960s and the women’s liberation movement–as males fighting with each other for access to females, as if the females were somehow the spoils of war. Our observations showed, to the contrary, that the fights were often female against female.” (p 116)
Spencer Davis is a good raconteur and the chapters fly by. He pays tribute to Bernard Stonehouse as his role model in popularizing science. Storytelling is a skill that seems to come naturally but actually takes practice and Spencer Davis has practiced. He also introduced me to the Antarctic “classic” The Worst Journey in the World.
I highly recommend Professor Penguin. He has also authored an award-winning children’s book to raise awareness about penguins: The Plight of the Penguin.
Lloyd Spencer Davis: Professor Penguin (Random House New Zealand, 2014. 185 pages paperback, $__NZ) ISBN: 978-1-77553-725-0. This delightful book chronicles Professor Lloyd Spencer Davis’ adventures studying Adelie penguins in Antarctica. His storytelling abilities shine through combined memoir, light scientific information, and tribute to his penguin-expert colleagues. Available in USA as Kindle only for $16.99.
He has also authored a children’s book to raise awareness about climate change and how it is impacting penguins: The Plight of the Penguin.
I love the way women create together. The Women’s March was a spontaneous reaction to the US election results. Loads of women (and men) thought they’d be celebrating the first woman President. Cue glass ceilings shattering. Instead we shared a state of shock and dismay. What does it mean when a man who grabs kittycats and whose Vice President is hostile to women’s health issues is going to form the 45th Administration? So after a viral bump and then some rumbles about the organization and sustained enthusiasm from around the USA and then the world (over 35 countries having Women’s Marches too), the Women’s March in Washington and over 270 cities in North America will take place on January 21, 2017.
Sometime in early January friends sent me links to the Pussyhat Project. I knit and I’m going to the March in Washington, DC so it’s like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. I scooted over to my local wool shop Rumplestiltskin to buy pink wool yarn and some circular needles and downloaded a couple of patterns for Pussyhats on Ravelry.com. My knitting is not as fast as it used to be and I have enough yarn for six hats. My goal is to knit four before I leave on Wednesday morning for Boston, then two on planes, and automobiles. It is fun and women are sharing photos on Instagram and women who cannot go to DC are knitting in support. This so reminds me of other women organized events–we ace the details and embellish and enhance until it is something truly special.
Why am I flying to Boston? Don’t I know that Boston is an 8 hour drive from DC? My son and granddog Dozer moved to Boston in August and I have not visited them yet. I am going to spend some time in Boston before and after we drive to DC for the March. Not sure my son will want a Pussyhat, but he’ll have the option. He is an excellent driver so I will be able to knit, a lot.
#WhyIMarch is to speak out as a woman who has experienced adversity because of my gender that women’s rights are human rights. I am motivated by this election to #staynoisy and to not take the progress women have won for granted.
Poor, poor Placerville. Overlooked as a destination except for those in desperate need of a restroom and a hot drink on their way home from Tahoe. Or just an exit to get to Apple Hill. So unfair. Of course the town is laid out more to please itself than visitors (and bathrooms are scarce).
Lunch at the Farm Table at 311 Main Street
My friend Cameon had spied Placerville’s latent charm when she passed through with her kids. She thought we should go back and explore. So one Saturday we did. It just happened to be raining cats and dogs.
Our first intention was to check out Lofty Lou’s yarn shop. If you Google it a photo of the old shop comes up. They have moved to a much roomier place at 263 Main Street. Lucky for us it was also a short jog from the public parking lot. It is a lovely store with a great variety of wool and other fibers. They also offer a lot of classes and have a classroom space.
We also found hard to find candy, and terrific Christmas ornaments. It does not take more than an hour and a half to circuit the main part of Main Street with stops.
We ended our visit with a delicious lunch at the Farm Table. They describe themselves: charcuterie – good food – provisions. We warmed up with a tasty soup and shared a salad. There is not a lot of sit down dining space, but there are choices for picnic lunches and pickled preserves to go.
The best thing going for Placerville is how close it is to downtown Sacramento and Folsom–different and yet not more than a 45 minute drive. It offers a different vibe–because it is essentially a mountain town to serve the local community. I mentioned our adventure to a friend and she asked if I had checked out the hardware store. She gushed about how awesome it is–an old fashioned, hard-to-find anymore hardware store.
Cameon and I also just went to old town Folsom for breakfast and shopping. It is much closer (especially for Cameon), with good food options. We ate at Peaches for a wholesome and tasty meal. The shopping options were also good, although my favorite store Roost is closing at the end of January. By comparison it is more quaint than Placerville. Aside from the farmer’s market on Saturday, it is designed more for visitors than Folsom residents. It is a destination for cyclists and runners using the American River trails, or for antique hunters.
Both towns are great options for something interesting to do with a friend on a Saturday morning.
Whenever I leave New Zealand I make a plan in my head for a return visit, Lord willing. I also stock up on my favorite NZ products. The Dove roll on deodorant is better here, not sure why. I also bought a number of Lynley Dodd children’s books for my newborn grandson. Finally I bought manuka honey. It is a lot more affordable to buy it here than in the USA.
Manuka honey doesn’t taste distinct from other honey, but it has terrific medicinal properties. The Maori have long known the medicinal qualities of the manuka plant and of honey from bees collecting manuka pollen. In 2006 German scientists isolated the property that gives it antibacterial properties (methylglyoxal). I use a little every morning on my toast or in a bit a of tea if I’m feeling under the weather. The amounts are probably not enough to be more than a placebo effect. Nonetheless, I like to have some on hand.
Bees generally collect from one type of flower rather than sample many types. Manuka grows in groves (like manzanita or gorse) and once they start collecting the bees are able to recognize and return to the same flowers by sight and smell. Once the hive is committed to the manuka flower the bees use dance to communicate to the rest of the workers locations of blooms. Beekeepers can also test their honey to establish the level of “unique manuka factor”.
I am trying a new manuka product this visit. Our penguin guide swears that manuka tea will cure sea sickness. He’s used it and it worked instantly. I am skeptical since my seasickness is both severe and related to the convoluted shape of my ear canal. Nonetheless, I am going to try to find a way to test it because then I could go to Antarctica with less trepidation.
The final product I am bring home is chocolate. I mail Crunchie bars to my friend Mara. They are a Cadbury bar made with honeycomb and chocolate. I also bring chocolate fish (also by Cadbury)–fish shaped marshmallow dipped in chocolate. I also usually bring a Picnic bar for myself when I’m feeling low from missing the clean air and southern light of New Zealand.
I bought my AllBirds in the USA (from the internet: http://www.allbirds.com). On this visit I noticed AllBirds are trending in New Zealand, although Kiwis are more likely to wear them without socks. I also learned they are washable and I have subsequently washed them and they look like new! Check it out: http://thisnzlife.co.nz/put-new-zealand-merino-allbirds-shoes-test/
Not listed was the mural walk, or Second Saturday, or the Kondos Gallery at Sac City College
What happens if you read the list of 51 things to do in Sacramento before you die and you discover you’ve done most of them? Sacramento Magazine’s cover story for January 2017 throws down the challenge. So over lunch at Plates2Go I read through the list and realized that I have very little to do before I die.
Of course I have lived here most of my 54 years so it is perhaps not surprising that I have done so much of what is on Anna Quinlan’s list.
So here is what I have done: (using their numbers)
2. Drink a $2 beer with the River Cats… I have been to numerous River Cats games, plus the Assembly vs. Senate ballgame, plus a 107.9 concert with SmashMouth. Great venue on a summer’s eve.
3. Dance on the Patio at The Pheasant Club. I have not danced, but I have dined at the Pheasant Club many, many times, including on the patio. It was former County Supervisor McGowan’s favorite place to meet. I sometimes wonder if they saw a dip in business when he got his Governor’s appointment. Supervisor Oscar Villegas prefers Broderick.
4. Find some food-truck fare. Not hard around the Capitol. But I have also been to Sactomofo.
5. Pack a picnic with items from Corti Brothers. I have shopped at Corti Brothers and it deserves respect for having a wide selection of gourmet items before anyone really appreciated gourmet in Sacramento. But if I am packing a picnic lunch, I am going to Selland’s on H Street.
6. Get a roast beef sandwich at Bud’s Buffet. OMG, get anything there and your delish meter will tilt, as will your fat and carbs meter. Funny how those are related.
7. Don’t walk past Moxie’s front door. It is in my neighborhood so I do walk past the front door, but I have also gone in and enjoyed an amazing dinner or two.
13. Cheer on the dachshund races. I have been to Picnic Day at UC Davis numerous times and I got close to the races, but could not get in. Happily settled for sheepdog trials instead.
14. Milk a cow at the State Fair. I have visited the livestock barns many, many times over the years…as a 4Her, as a cousin of a 4Her, and as a summer employee of the State Fair. I did not milk a cow, but I did get to ride a Budweiser Clydesdale early one morning at the Cavalcade of Horses.
15. Bet on the horses at Cal Expo. I remember when there were trotters.
17. Row a scull at the Port of West Sac. Okay this shouldn’t count but I’m going to try anyway… my daughter rowed one season at Lake Natoma and I watched.
20. Cheer on cyclists at Amgen Tour of California. YES! As a cycling fan I don’t miss this unless I am in Italy watching the Tour d’Italia.
21. Ring a cowbell at a Kings Game. Okay so I’ve sat a quarter at courtside courtesy of Southwest Airlines, and I have sat through many other Kings Games. I may not have rung a cowbell but my basketball days are done, so check.
25. See an indie flick at the Tower Theatre. Too many to count…
26. Take a friend to the drive-in… saw the first Star Wars there.
27. Pregame a show at Crest Theatre with drinks at Empress Tavern. Been to both more than once.
29. Go sledding in Strawberry. Check.
30. Check out the corpse flower at UC Davis Arboretum. I have walked around the arboretum too many times to count and I recommend you do too if you haven’t experienced it yet. My favorite is the oak grove.
31. Take a walking tour of the Christmas lights in the Fab 40s. My P.O. Box is right in the thick of the Christmas light traffic. Walking is a good suggestion. I have walked Dove Court in Orangevale with my family to see the Christmas displays. Counting it.
32. Tour the Old City Cemetery at Halloween. I have gone on a tour with a group of mystery writers. Highly recommend this experience with a knowledgeable docent any time of year.
33. Run to Feed the Hungry. Check.
35. White knuckle white-water rafting trip. I did this with a group of colleagues from the US Bureau of Reclamation as a team building exercise. Got my adrenaline pumping!
36. Take a historic river cruise. Check. Several times. They actually want you to take a cruise where they tell you the history. Technically I have done the river dinner cruise, and I’ve spent several evenings on the Delta King for various fundraisers.
37. Get a foot massage and Thai coffee in Sacramento’s Little Saigon. Thanks to my friend Anita and the Happy Day Spa, I’ve done this. Good times.
43. Tour the Capitol. It is a gem.
44. Pan for gold in Coloma. I was a 4th grader in Sacramento; my two children were 4th graders in Sacramento. Need I say more?
Santa Lucia bringing cookies to the celebrants at St John’s Lutheran 2016
45. Light a candle at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. I have attended concerts at this beautiful church, but I regularly attend St John’s Lutheran and we have a wonderful tradition of celebrating Santa Lucia Day. At the end we light candles and process to a light supper and dancing round the Christmas Tree.
46. Go on a dive bar pub crawl. I’ve met people at these establishments over the years and I hosted a pub quiz crawl fundraiser one year.
47. Grab a late night sweet at Rick’s Dessert Diner in midtown. Check.
49. Refuse to share a buttermilk bar from Marie’s Donuts. Well not the buttermilk bar per se…
50. Scream for Ice Cream… Yes, I have tried all of these ice cream establishments except Burr’s.
51. Customize a box of chocolate at Ginger Elizabeth. I lived above this shop for a year so I have eaten my fair share of delicious chocolate.
These ideas are worth pursuing:
One. Go to an event at The Barn in West Sacramento. Good idea, I hope to someday soon.
8.Score a ticket to the Tower Bridge Dinner. Want to take me?
9. Eat at The Kitchen. I am probably the only one of my friends who has not eaten there.
11. Get a degree from Cocktail Academy at Hook & Ladder. I don’t drink much but it still sounds like a fun and useful skill to acquire with friends.
18. Take your down dog off leash at Yoga in the Park. I enjoy yoga. I might try this. I did take my dog Radar to McKinley Park for dog training many Saturdays ago–so I’ll watch where I put down my mat!
19. Join the Tower Bridge Battalion at a Sac Republic Game. Really, really want to do this.
24. Dance at the Crocker Ball. I am not an enthusiast for getting all dolled up, but I do love to dance. And I love the Crocker Art Museum. Maybe if the right fella asks me.
38. Dance to the sound of Taiko drums at the Buddhist Church bazaar. I love percussion. I am game for this.
39. Eat a gyro at the Sacramento Greek Festival. Sure why not.
Sorry, I am not into that…
10. Ride the SacBrewBike. Oh, they are ubiquitous on a summer evening in Midtown. I don’t begrudge them their fun, just would rather ride my own bike to Big Stump Brewery for Pub Theology with St John’s Lutheran crew.
12. Book a limo tour of Amador County’s best wineries. Pass.
16. Get your butt kicked at SacTown Fit Crawl. Nope, if I am going to get sweaty it will be a Zumba class with Paco at Sierra II.
22. Let your freak flag fly at SacAnime. Hey, I enjoy seeing you all come into Starbucks when the the various conventions are going on, and I enjoy looking at Bill Reid’s photos of “freaks” but I will stay on the sidelines thank you.
23. Wear white after Labor Day at Diner en Blanc. I don’t enjoy getting dressed up. In fact, I have a friend’s fancy dress birthday party on the Isle of Wight in June and I am already getting stressed about what I’ll wear. Besides I’m sure to spill and then it would be Diner en blanc, and green, and yellow, etc.
28. Go paddle-boarding on the river. They are suggesting paddle-boarding from Discovery Park to Crawdads. Hmmm. I participated in Young Life’s Raft Race back in the day and I’m not sure I’d recommend paddleboarding on the Sacramento River.
34. Get on board the beer train. No thanks.
I’m not a super huge live music enthusiast: 40. Claim a front row picnic blanket at Pops in the Park; 41. Rock out with Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera; 42. Be an audience for One Man Band. I have enjoyed the Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus holiday concert.
47. Smoke a hookah and watch the belly dancers at Kasbah Lounge. Allergic to smoke.
Kafka’s statement, “A good book should be an axe for the frozen sea within us,” is actually something I read in David Whyte’s book The Heart Aroused whilst traveling.
gratuitous photo of grandson reading!
Many people travel to break open the confines of their perspective and cages of habit that can inhibit creativity. When people ask me to name times of my life when I felt most truly alive, I invariably think of times when I am abroad. So combine reading and travel and you have something powerful indeed.
First, there is reading to prepare for a trip. Before I went to Venice, Italy this year I read John Berendt’s City of Falling Angels. If I had not read this book I might not have prioritized Peggy Guggenheim’s exquisite museum. It also helped me gauge my expectations and I found myself liking Venice more for seeing it less romantically.
Second, there is reading while you are on the trip to better understand the people and culture. I am not talking about guidebooks, although they can be helpful. If you are in New Zealand, than any book by Barry Crump (whose short story inspired the wonderful movie The Hunt for the Wilderpeople) will help you understand any number of bastards* you will meet. To find those books you only need pop into an independent bookstore in the country you are visiting. My favorite in Auckland is the incomparable Unity bookstore. Or if you are going to a predominantly non-English speaking country, check out Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust To Go and take a few books with you.
Then there is reading to imagine that you are traveling when, in fact, you are not or cannot. This is the most important reading of all. In one of my favorite movies about CS Lewis, Shadowlands, Anthony Hopkins as Lewis tells a young student that we read so that know we are not alone. Yes, and we read so we don’t feel stuck. I am not brave enough to travel to the Middle East to visit the Christian holy sites, so I am reading James Martin, SJ’s Jesus, a Pilgrimage.
Finally, and perhaps best of all, we read to laugh. We laugh at cultural misunderstandings, travel mishaps, and more. The master of the travel book that will make you laugh is Bill Bryson. I laughed through The Road to Little Dribbling as I have through his other books.(The movie of A Walk in the Woods was wry and a good excuse to watch Robert Redford. Imagine being an author and having Robert Redford play you in a movie!)
What will you be reading in 2017?
*you will find “bastard” is not a shocking swear word in New Zealand, only mildly so.
I have visited Akaroa three times and finally I was able to see The Giant’s House. It seems it is more famous with foreign visitors than with Kiwis. None of my friends from New Zealand–even those who love Akaroa–had heard of it. This sculpture garden is an eccentric treasure.
I admire people with vision who develop the skills to execute it so masterfully. I am such a gadfly in my interests, I cannot imagine sticking with a project 17 years, let alone staying with it still. Josie Martin combines her love of horticulture with her artistic expression through painting and mosaic sculptures to create a truly original garden on the hill.
Someone in the village told us that she offered to create mosaic sculptures for the town of Akaroa, but the town council said no. She turned the no into a Yes! Yes! Yes! The hours are limited because she manages it herself. On the day we visited we paid the artist $20 each to visit her garden and gallery. We could stay until closing. We made sure to return and thank Jose for the experience.
One of several ceramic self-portraits of the artist in the gallery.
I am so glad I finally got to see the Giant’s House. Find out more at Trip Advisor. (#1 of 27 things to do in Akaroa.)
The road to Akaroa is a bit twisty, and yet for your effort you are rewarded with views, great restaurants, penguins, art, and more.
Created by volcanic explosion and settled by French pioneers, Akaroa is a small village constrained by steep hills and water.
We stayed at the Akaroa Criterion Hotel–great location and management. It is an easy walk along the waterfront to restaurants and shops. It is also next door to Sweet As Cafe.
Entertainment, war memorials, and a great store for buying merino wool sweaters and other possum items at Woolworx.
This beautiful spot is in my top three places in New Zealand. Go already!
For just $10NZ you can spend a couple of hours happily exploring the exhibits of Maori artifacts, and rotating exhibits of cultural history. My favorite gallery tells the story of the Napier earthquake in 1931 and shows a film on a continuous loop: Survivors’ Stories. It is 35 fascinating minutes.
“In 1931, New Zealand’s deadliest earthquake devastated the cities of Napier and Hastings. At least 256 people died in the magnitude 7.8 earthquake – 161 in Napier, 93 in Hastings, and 2 in Wairoa. Many thousands more required medical treatment.” (Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand)
There are many testimonies in the documentary that moved me, but my throat closed a little when someone remembered almost casually how most of the nurses were killed in the initial quake and so everyone had to help as they could do cope with the injured. Oh my.
If you look at Napier today you can envision how Christchurch can recover; however, not without suffering, not without suffering and hard work.
Postscript: I watched the video on Sunday with my mom. Her mom was 6 years old and living in Santa Rosa, CA when the San Francisco earthquake struck. She remembers the ground rolling up to meet her as she ran out the door. We thought about the latest NZ quake. We live on the “Ring of Fire” too, so we cannot become complacent. Check your emergency supplies and make sure you are ready with water, flashlights, candles, matches, and other supplies. Click through to this article in SFGate for tips on creating your own earthquake preparedness kit.
What people refer to as the Christchurch earthquake was actually an aftershock of the first quake in September. The destructiveness of the February 2011 aftershock displaced the earlier incident as “the quake” and deservedly so.
Christchurch earthquake 6.3 magnitude on the Richter Scale. (Why Can’t Kiwi’s Fly?, p. 56):
A more accurate measure of how strong an earthquake feels or how much damage it causes is the Modified Mercalli Scale. It gauges the effects of an earthquake on the Earth’s surface, humans, buildings, and trees. It has a scale of I –XII (1-12); on this scale the Christchurch earthquake is rated IX (Violent: general panic, damage considerable in specially designed structures, well-designed frame structures partially collapse. Buildings shifted off foundations.) Some argue the Christchurch earthquake should have been rated as high as X (Intense: some well-built wooden structures destroyed; most masonry and frame structures destroyed with foundation. Rails bent. Large landslides.)
Another measure of the strength of an earthquake is peak ground acceleration or PGA. This does not calculate the total energy (magnitude or size) of an earthquake, but rather how hard the earth shakes. On that scale the Christchurch earthquake recorded one of the highest PGAs ever: at Heathcote Primary School it was an incredible 2.2 g, or 2.2 times the acceleration of gravity. And to compound the destruction, the greater force was upwards, with people lifted off their feet. Only the recent Japanese earthquake in Tohuku, on 11 March 2011, recorded a higher PGA—2.7g.
As geologist Hamish Campbell said: “No wonder so many stone churches, including Christchurch Cathedral, were destroyed. Such structures were simply not designed to be thrown up into the air and left to go into free fall, even though the fall is all over in a matter of milliseconds to seconds.
Wow.
I first visited Christchurch in October 2010. I experienced a small roller during my stay, but I’m from California so I wasn’t unnerved. I’ve never experienced what Christchurchians did for a period of several years: a seemingly never ending series of aftershocks of varying strengths. I feel like I followed it with the Ole JackMeter. My friend David introduced me via Facebook to Ole and Karen and I visited them and got the deluxe tour of Christchurch and Banks Peninsula in October 2010. They were away from Christchurch on the fateful day in February, but they endured many more sleepless nights. It was not uncommon to be woken up by the sound of a train–held in suspense as to the size of the coming trembler. Ole posted on Facebook when there was another significant quake by saying something like it was another “Jack night” meaning he was going to need Jack Daniel’s whiskey to get to sleep. Whenever I read this from my home in California I’d say a little prayer and think of the beautiful city in Canterbury.
Ole and Karen gave me another tour in 2013. Streets and sewer lines were dug up for repairs almost everywhere we drove. Places I had admired in 2010 were in ruins or closed. Upheaval was ongoing including occasional aftershocks. There were also signs of vitality. The Restore Mall had recently opened with shops in shipping containers.
UK Sarah made time on our road trip to meet Ole for breakfast (Karen was on a business trip) and he gave us another deluxe tour. The roads are in much better shape. There are more and more signs of life returning to normal. The Children’s Bookstore I love is closing/for sale; however, it is hard to say if it is earthquake or book industry related. Now the Sumner suburbs are completely cleared and going back to nature. The fallen rock along the Redcliffs is almost completely removed and many people have already rebuilt to a new standard.
I predict that Christchurch will go from tragedy to triumph. It takes time. And they’ve only just stopped shaking.
This documentary gives a moving account of the “big one”.
Postscript: Their Monday morning they experienced more earthquakes (7.8 Richter, 5+ aftershock(s)). The epicenter was further north near Kaikoura. I am sad to see the photos of the destruction of this beautiful seaside town. My prayers are with them. We can also donate to the NZ Red Cross.
If you look at Napier today you can envision how Christchurch can recover; however, not without suffering, not without suffering and hard work.
What people refer to as the Christchurch earthquake was actually an aftershock of the first quake in September. The destructiveness of the February 2011 aftershock displaced the earlier incident as “the quake” and deservedly so.
americanjulie.com 