Art Cards

 

I haven't done any art recently, so for Nicole's Sunday in the Art Room I show you some beautiful art cards I found at one of the local nurseries. All of these cards were created by Marion Rose Stern, a local artist. Unfortunately I couldn't find any information about her and the staff at the nursery couldn't tell me much either.

I'm tremendously enjoying her art. She works in both watercolor and acrylics.

Her acrylics:

"Cedar Waxwing"

"Burro and Butterfly"

This card reminds me of our sweet neighborhood donkey that passed away in January 2025.

A favorite of mine:

"The Raven"

And these are the watercolors:

"Red Avadavat"

"Lucy, on a Stroll, in the Fog"

You bet, that I love this one. Kibeau was orange and white, but he had spots, not stripes.

"Notorious Bee Catcher"

And this is the watercolor card, that first drew my attention to this artist. I wish I could paint like that.

"Yelo Moon"

Whenever I am at the nursery I look through Stern's cards, always with an idea in my head to whom I will send them. The nursery will soon close for the season, but I hope there will be more cards next year, when they open again at the beginning of March.

Owls and Quails

 

During our visits to the Sonoma Botanical Garden (here and here) we came upon these owl and quail sculptures before entering the shady part of the garden. They were part of the 2025 "Winged Wonders" exhibition. The sculptures are made from split and solid bamboo by Boston-based artist duo The Myth Makers, Donna Dodson and Andy Moerlein. The Winged Wonders sculptures represent native birds found in the garden. Unfortunately I didn't see the exhibition back then, but I was glad that the owls and quails remain at the garden.

These owl and quail sculptures are 20 feet tall and tower over you - it's quite impressive. The following picture was taken from inside one of the owls.

The quail sculptures used to sit at the edge of the vineyard during the exhibition. Now they live in the shade of old oaks. 

After all, it is our state bird, so it should feel quite at home here.

And the owls do have their very own home.

These are my - owlish - faces for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

If you're interested in seeing more of these Winged Wonders birds (there are some really beautiful ones), just follow this link. 

The House of Happy Walls

 "The greatest story Jack London ever wrote was the story he lived."   

                                                            - Alfred Kazin

In summer California State Parks gave out a free pass to all its historic state parks that is valid for the remainder of this year. So a couple weeks ago the Geek and I visited Jack London State Historic Park in the beautiful Valley of the Moon (also the title of one of London's novels), just a short drive from our home. This wasn't our first visit by any means - we hiked here on Black Friday in 2017, we visited Wolf House and the gravesite of Jack London and his wife Charmian (I realized I never wrote about it; I should definitely do that) and I had always wanted to visit the House of Happy Walls.  

The House of Happy Walls was built by Charmian London and Eliza Shepard, Jack's stepsister, after London's death in 1916. It was to be Charmian's home and she lived in it from 1935 until 1952. It now houses a museum about Jack and Charmian London.

Admittedly I didn't know much about Jack London. I knew him as the author of "Call of the Wild" and also "The Sea-Wolf" because a popular German mini series in 1971 was based on this novel. It was much talked about back then, but I never watched it. So in short I knew next to nothing about this man who in 1905 had made Sonoma County his home.

Here, in the House of Happy Walls, I learned that Jack London wasn't "only" a novelist. According to the museum he was an 

"Internationally acclaimed author, world traveler, able bodied seaman, celebrated lecturer, model rancher, animal rights advocate, photojournalist, adventurer, social activist, humanitarian".

Quite the list.

For Nicole's Friday Face Off

Jack London was born as John Griffith Chaney in January 1876 in San Francisco. His mother, Flora, was a single mom until she married John London in the same year and brought baby Jack into the marriage (before that he was in the care of a wet nurse, Jennie Prentiss, who was an important maternal figure throughout Jack's life). The family moved to Oakland where he completed public grade school and also met the librarian Ina Coolbrith in the Oakland Public Library who encouraged his learning. At the age of 13 he began working 12 to 16 hours in a cannery and, as a way out, became an oyster pirate. Later, he lived as a tramp until he returned to Oakland and attended Oakland High School. In 1896 he was admitted to the University of California, Berkeley, but financial circumstances forced him to leave the following year and he never graduated. At age 21 he joined the Klondike Gold Rush, but the time in the Klondike was detrimental to his health. After his return in 1898 Jack began his writing career. 

Do you think the adventurous part of his life was over? Well...

In April 1900 Jack married Elizabeth Maddern and divorced her in 1904. The couple had two daughters. In 1902 he visited London where he took pictures of people living in the slums of the East End. He was a very skilled documentary photographer and photojournalist (and before you ask, yes, I purchased a big fat volume of his photographs). This is the aspect of his life that impresses me the most. Later, in 1904 he was a war correspondent for the San Francsisco Examiner in the Russo-Japanese War where he was arrested three times in four months. He was released through the personal intervention of President Theodore Roosevelt.

In 1905 he married Charmian Kettridge, a free spirit and each other's soul mates. The went on numerous trips together, including a 1907 cruise on their yacht Snark to Hawai'i and Australia.

And finally, in 1905, Jack and Charmian bought a ranch in Glen Ellen and arrived here in beautiful Sonoma County. In the words of the museum:

Jack London lived in the Valley of the Moon until his death in 1916. He was only 40 years old, but there are many people double his age who haven't experienced half of what he did in his short life. Here he is in his own words: 

" I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The purpose of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."

After his death, Charmian built the House of Happy Walls. She was an accomplished pianist, and her Steinway grand piano is still here. On weekends, volunteers sometimes bring it back to life.

I wouldn't mind hanging out in this cozy corner with a good book.

There are displays of the items they brought back from their various trips and journeys.

The view from the windows isn't bad either.

No wonder they loved to live here.

Please excuse the long "essay" about Jack's life. It actually only peripherally touches his full and adventurous life.

An Overdue Visit to the Laguna

 

It's been almost a year since I was last in the Laguna. I have no idea what kept me from visiting for such a long time, since this is a place I always enjoy when I'm there. So a couple weeks ago I finally decided to go there again.

It was an overcast morning, typical for many summer mornings in my corner of the world. I chose to walk the Laguna Wetland Preserve Trails.

Right at the beginning I noticed that one of the old and majestic oaks had fallen over. I assume this happened during the partly very wet winter we had. But what was this? There were things hanging from the branches of the fallen tree, and when I got closer I realized that these were some fiber creations. After I had returned home I did some research and found out that this art installation is called "A House without a Key" and was created by artist Melissa Jones. This is her Master's thesis project and consists of several elaborately knitted pod-like hanging structures that look vaguely like the nests of the Eurasian Penduline Tit (Remiz pendulinus)

Just a few days ago, the art installation mysteriously disappeared. Maybe someone mistook it for yarn bombing, which the artist says it definitely wasn't, and just took the "nests" down. It should be noted here that this wasn't a "wild" installation but it was put up with the approval of Public Works. Maybe someone took them down because they were concerned about the well-being of our local songbirds since yarn can pose a hazard to songbirds.

Maybe it would have helped if there had been a text or explanation next to the tree. There wasn't.

The Laguna Wetland Preserve Trail is my favorite trail in the Laguna. Less people walk here and it is full of life with little critters and birds. The Laguna de Santa Rosa is one of California's richest freshwater wetlands. Bald eagles, river otters, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes and over 200 species of birds depend on the Laguna for food and shelter. It is an important feeding and resting stopover on the Pacific Flyway, a major migratory route for birds.

It is also home to many wildflowers. Wild Carot aka Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota) is abundant, both still in its bloom and as beautiful seed heads.

Chicory (Cichorium intybus) is just as common and easily recognizable by its sky blue color.

Together with Wild Carot it makes a beautiful display.

There was still some Shortpod Mustard (Hirschfeldia incana), but the season for them was definitely coming to its end.

This is Bristly Oxtongue (Helminthotheka echioides), a plant I was unaware of until then. It looks splendid past its prime. It's a non-native invasive plant with yellow flowers. It seems that all the plants I saw that day are non-natives.

The following, however, is a native, our beautiful California Wild Rose (Rosa californica) and its rosehips.

These beautiful seedpods belong to Wild Radish (Raphanus sativus), an aggressive non-native invasive plant in the mustard family. It is actually quite beautiful in bloom with white and soft pink flowers. 

I was wondering why nothing is being done to control non-native plants in this area, and I can only think that this is done either on purpose or they just don't have enough staff. Having to work with not enough staff unfortunately is a problem that many of these places (like our regional and state parks, not to mention the National Parks) have to deal with. It is certainly not carelessness.

Another invasive plant we're all familiar with is Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis). Beautiful though.

A little critter (I assume) has made this place its home.

I like how fallen trees - most of them native oaks - are left in place where they can slowly decompose and still offer so much (food and shelter) to the wildlife.

Beside the Mourning Dove in the picture above I saw and heard Bewick's Wrens, White-tailed Kites,  Black Phoebes, House Finches, Song Sparrows, Lesser Goldfinches, California Quails, a Nuttall's Woodpecker, Spotted Towhees, Bushtits and of course American Crows.

It was a splendid morning!

The flower faces are for Nicole's Friday Face Off, but for those who prefer more "human"-like faces, I have these three guys: