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:

Flowers, Trees and Prayer Flags

 

Last week I took you to the Spirit Guides exhibition at the Sonoma Botanical Garden. Most of the colorful sculptures are displayed along the California Oaks Trail where a California Native Garden had also been created. But this botanical garden had so much more to offer.

The California Oaks Trail leads right into the "heart" of the garden which is focused on plants from Asia. As soon as you enter the Asian part, you find yourself in beautiful wooded areas with lots of shade and you feel a drop in temperature which is very welcome on those warm and hot summer days.

We were extremely lucky that the Emmenopterys henryi tree, native to China, was in bloom. We first only saw its display of creamy-white leaves.

But getting closer, we noticed the actual flowers. This tree is very rare and near-threatened in the wild. While it may produce a few flowers some years, a big bloom like this one is unusual. The last time that this tree bloomed "bigly" was in 2022. The creamy-white flowers have a sweet jasmine-like scent.

Being in an Asian garden, you would expect an arched bridge.

Beautiful art sculptures of birds could be found in the dense foliage.

I especially liked the base of this tree, a Père David's Maple (Acer davidii).

The pictures you see today are actually from two visits to the botanical garden, because a week after I was there with Liz, I took the Geek there as well. The two of us walked a little bit further than I did with Liz, and we decided to take the short, but steep climb to the summit. 

We had to go through this beautiful conifer tunnel.

There is a prayer flag display at the summit. When I was here the very first time - 2010 or 2011, when it was still called Quarryhill Garden - the prayer flags had already been here, and some of them showed their age.

It's a beautiful quiet spot, and thankfully there was a bench where the Geek and I took a short rest and enjoyed the beautiful view over the Valley of the Moon. Right across from us is Jack London State Historic Park, another favorite place of mine.

Back in the woods I was delighted by all the beautiful flowers and berries.

Some kind of magnolia (there wasn't a sign and I wasn't able to find out what kind of magnolia this is),

a viburnum, I think, maybe Viburnum dilatatum, but I'm not sure,

and Fringed Pink (Dianthus superbus).

Then we discovered something very interesting, and I think Erika aka BioArtGal will like this. A tree nest for honeybees!

Aren't these flowers beautiful? I have no idea what exactly they are, so Liz and I decided to call them "tall water lilies".

Of course, there were "normal" water lilies as well. When Liz and I were there they covered the pond, but a week later they were all gone. I guess they have become too invasive and the garden staff had decided to remove them.

Above the lower pond we saw Himalayan Gloxinia (Incarvillea arguta) and if you look closely, you can see an Anna's Hummingbird in the lower left corner - I blends into the green of the foliage behind it. There were so many hummingbirds flitting around this flower.

One flower that shouldn't be missed in an Asian garden is the Japanese Anemone (Eriocapitella x hybrida). They are stunning, but can get quite invasive. However, they do fit into this kind of garden.

These are my flower faces for Nicole's Friday Face Off today.