EUREKA!

The California State Motto, meaning “I have found it!, ” is appropriate both for the state where the gold rush happened and for my state of being when –while rambling the aisles of the Bangor Target store– I stumbled upon THIS:

This mug, from Contigo, is my Holy Grail of Travel mugs! It has every feature I have wanted:

Grippy base so as not to scratch a table (or roof of my car when I set it down) or tip as easily.

Grippy middle so as not to accidentally deposit the mug in my lap.

It’s not boring silver.

Handle, for when I want to use a handle.

A CARABINER-style handle….

the bottom of the handle opens up so that I can hang it on a handle or slide it over the edge of the crates I use to lug stuff to teach quilting classes:

Keeps things HOT–tho according to reviews here on Amazon.com, I may soon be able to get an even better thermally insulated version (so we’re holding off buying another one, for Paul, until we can get that version… and perhaps bequeath mine to the kids as long as I can get the other version in not-silver).

And DRUM ROLL PLEASE!

This is me pouring hot water into the mug:

This is me, after screwing on the lid, holding the mug upside down…. and it DOES NOT LEAK!!!!!!!!!

Now my $%*(_) cup-holder in my car won’t slosh tea all over the dashboard!  Now I won’t slop tea onto stuff in my teaching crates.

I am a HAPPY CAMPER!

A thousand years or more ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and I was young, I attended San Domenico School. The school is not so much larger in terms of students, but my oh my the opportunities for those kids! The lower school is now co-ed, tho the high school is, for a while longer, still all girls (I think there are plans to change that in time, and I’m OK with it!). I’ve been able to donate my piddly little donation every year, while Mom was able to endow a music scholarship for the outstanding classical music program; in another time and era, mom probably would have loved to be a professional musician, but as a child of the Depression, earning a living came first and foremost. All photos in this post are clickable to view larger in a new window.

Sure wish I’d been that talented back then and then had the next 30+ years to improve on that foundation!

On my recent trip to California (by the time this publishes on the blog, I’ll be back for the last one, to get mom moved to Maine!), Mom and I were able to attend the Virtuoso Program concert. In the Faith France Lobby next to the auditorium, there is always a wonderful art display, this time by the students of the Upper School (high school). I am always so amazed…. and wish I could take the classes with them! I think the photo above, of the pomegranates, and the one below of the tree are my favorites:

Here’s a picture of mom with the two girls who currently hold her scholarship…one is a violinist and I think the other is a cellist:

Then here is more of the art:

Near Fort Cronkhite, on the south end of the beach, is Point Bonita. The point juts out into the water forming a corner of sorts between the bottom of the headlands, which head east to the Golden Gate, and the northward turn of the coast which goes beyond Fort Cronkhite up the coast to Point Reyes and more. When they started to develop the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, they opened up parts of the headlands that had previously been forbidden territory housing missiles and (later) falling down bunkers. On the headlands, there is the Point Bonita lighthouse (trust me…it’s out there….also, these photos are click-able to become larger).

At a certain point, the road becomes a one-way, narrow, twisty, white-knuckle driving experience of breathtaking beauty with the sunlight nearly blinding you reflecting on the water. Luckily, there was no one behind me, so I was able to snap these photos through the windshield…with emergency brake ON! The first part of the one-way road is a VERY steep downhill; as you look over the hood of the car, all you see is the guard rail and the ocean beneath…the drop-off is SO steep that you couldn’t even see grasses!

And to offset the sheer magnificent beauty of this scene, was this sign near the roadway that crossed the lagoon:

The sad news is that my lovely shells and brick project (blogged here) didn’t fit the criteria for the World Beach Project (click here to see a map of where the projects were made and here for the “lightbox”), but the note I received from the V&A staff was SO kind and thoughtful! I honestly didn’t realize the emphasis was on art made from stones. I had wanted to do more anyway, so when I was out visiting Mom, I asked if we could go to Fort Cronkhite (previous post) for one more visit. While there, Mother waited in the car while I trotted down to the beach with the goal of looking for carnelians and making another piece for the beach project.

Last minute update…the V&A has added my project to their project, here!

Alas, Cronkhite beach is much more nearly-sand and much less pebble-y than when I was a child, and I didn’t see a single carnelian (tho honestly I didn’t really have time to look much). I quickly set about gathering stones….. and started making swirls. There was a ladybug who flew in to check what I was doing, so I encouraged her to crawl up on my hand and help me:

I added more, and the swirls became a tree of life.

Finally, I added a single piece of beachglass to catch the light at the center-top to complete it:

And here’s a view of the stone art looking across the beach to the south. Bird Rock and Point Bonita:

My mom lives still (for a few more weeks–she should be here in Camden, Maine by mid-March) in the county where I grew up: Marin County, California, at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge. I was out there the past ten days to help her prepare to move. We moved to Marin in January 1964, shortly after President Kennedy was assassinated (we were in Buenos Aires, Argentina, when he was shot but moved back to the US a week or few later). I attended first and second grades at Bayside Elementary School in Sausalito, California, where we lived (it’s the first town on the north side of the bridge). Daddy didn’t always know what to do with me after school, so he used to take me to the beach at Fort Cronkhite. (PS…all photos in this post can be right-clicked to open up larger in a separate window or tab.) The old one-lane tunnel (thankfully retro-fitted to better withstand being smack dab on top of the San Andreas fault) is still there, and is one of two ways to get to the beach:

At the time, it was still an active military base (along with Fort Barry, just inside the bridge, and Fort Baker, between the bridge and Cronkhite on the outside). I can remember sometimes seeing the Nike missiles pointed skyward for periodic tests. The picture below is from the crest of the hills to the south of the beach.

You know all those car commercials with San Francisco (aka “the City”) in the background? They are taken from the road that skirts the coast, sometimes from a dizzying height and drop-off. This photo was taken from one of the few pull-outs. I don’t think there is a finer view of the city from anywhere:

Since I was a kid, the entire Marin Headlands area has become part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the first such “park” in the nation. I get goosebumps to think of the legacy Teddy Roosevelt gave to us all when he created the National Park system, and that this area which I have always loved so much is now a part of it. I love the red-wing blackbirds that populate the marshes and lagoon! Until I was in my 30s I never new that most red-wing blackbirds have yellow on the wings, as the ones at Cronkhite are a small subset with red only (others have red+yellow or red+white). One of these days there will be a redwing art quilt!

When the military bases were decommissioned, the area became even more accessible to the public. Eventually, the California Marine Mammal Center opened to help rescue stranded and injured pinnipeds (and I think the occasional small cetacean)–seals, sea lions, and also otters I think. After a few years the privately funded and volunteer-staffed center dropped the “California” to help folks understand they didn’t get state funding. They are now building a new facility (no more gift shop in a second-hand single-wide!), and I’m proud to say that Paul and I have given a modest yearly donation for 19 years now! Here’s a photo of the new facilities from across the valley.

I’ll share two more posts about this glorious area… come on back! And thanks for surfing in today!