February 11th, 2010 - Well I just heard that this weekend could be sunny and warm! With so many cold and rainy days, I'll believe it when I see it. A few days ago we had a great day down the coast. First we stopped at Treasure Island and looked at the new bridge construction.

Then we continued on to Half Moon Bay and hiked out on the beach at Pillar Pt. Actually three sections of beach, including one that we had only seens from the bluffs above on a previous hike.

Searching in the tide pools I saw some strange little fish that we think might be sculpins, and lots of sea stars.

We had a nice lunch where both of us enjoyed fresh crab, and then walked out on the pier thinking we would take some home.

But in the end decided to let the live ones go to someone else. A nearby walk a couple of days ago was crowded with birds including this cormorant and these pretty avocets.

I guess I shouldn't complain about cold and rain when so many others are really cold and dealing with massive amounts of snow. And the gray here is punctuated with some brilliant bits of color...

February 4th, 2010 - So, still raining. Raining right now and more days ahead. However, we did make it out last weekend on two days that amounted to 8 miles of walking. Revisited our nearby baytrail again and saw the most shorebirds in one place ever.  Actually, it is a park next to the worst freeway in the bay area and called "Shorebird Park"! In one area we saw long billed curlews, dowitchers, godwits by the hundreds...

There was a lot of washed in garbage. I heard recently that there are estimates it will take another seventy years to clean up the bay from past pollution, including mercury. Sadly there was so much plastic! But even still, there were some pretty sites.

My favorites little hummies, and lots of these interesting looking surf scoters.

There is beauty everywhere if you take the time to look.

I did get into that cold studio and made some brilliant turquoise beads. So while my eyes can appreciate the silver gray of the last few months here in CA, my dream/bead life is remembering the warmth and ocean of my old home in Kailua HI...

January 29th, 2010 - When the rain stopped for a couple of hours last weekend we took the opportunity to get out and hike at a nearby park. It was cold and very muddy but also beautiful with the creek running and lots of green. Here is Jerry up ahead trailblazing...I was a bit slower because the mud made it feel like I had huge suction cups on my hiking shoes.

The redwood trees are second and third generation. During the gold rush years this area was cleared for 5 square miles in order to get the lumber for all the new dwellings in San Francisco.

A good deal of fallen trees and branches along the way showed how strong the winds were during the storms. You can see where this one broke off high up and the results below.

Another interesting thing about this park is that it is a hibernation place for ladybugs. They winter here and in the spring when it warms up will mate and fly off. Last year we got to see them flying and it was amazing! Here is one small example of what is throughout parts of the underbrush.

We heard hawks calling during the hike, and one came by and landed right at the end.

I did my inventory check list for all the beads I'll need to make for the next show (thankfully months away) and I made some lovely ivory beads yesterday. It was cold and damp in there...and with more rain expected today, tommorrow and Monday, the real test will be if I go back in any time soon!

January 14th, 2010 - Very pretty walk along a section of the Bay Trail last weekend. It will be nice to go back when the weather is a little warmer.

January 5th, 2010 - Ringing in the New Year! This bell pic was taken at the Stenzel-Muir house in Martinez on a recent visit. It was a gray and rainy day that made a short walk around the house and grounds about all we could take. Of course everyone has heard of John Muir, but I came away from the day wanting to know more about his wife Louisa (Louie Stenzel) Muir. She seemed to be an amazing woman for anytime but especially the mid to late 1800s. Now there is a biography I'd like to read! I searched and read a number of Muirs letters to his wife and family but it was difficult to find much that Louie wrote...Some facts on her here. Maybe the version of the happy helpmate in the background is true, yet I read some interesting items that suggest things may have been more complex. For instance when Louie agreed to marry John, she came home and asked her father for a Steinway which he bought her (and unless entertaining would not play if John was home) ~ that she ran the ranch while he was away and handled the finances...including paying his hotel bills ~ The Stenzel-Muir house in which both she and John lived was her inheritance, and upon her death she left the house to her daughter Helen, not her husband John...hmmmmm.

  Muir spent the last twenty four years of his life living in this house when he was not traveling ~ or writing in SF when the noise of the family got to him.

What about beads??? It's too cold to work in an unheated studio (even in CA), so I'm thinking about what to make when it warms up. I'm hoping it's soon!