My annual PSA on fireworks

If you plan to set off your own backyard fireworks, I urge you to take a moment to consider:

Dogs

Cats

Horses

Donkeys

Other animals such as cows, goats, and pigs

Birds including chickens, ducks,and wild songbirds

Wildlife in general

There are statistics showing that many animals are displaced due to fireworks each year, that birds actually drop dead and fall to the ground, and that rate of injury and accidents goes way up for large animals.

If that isn't enough on its own to convince you to put the fireworks away, consider the risk of injury to yourself, your friends and family, and the risk of fire that could damage your own property as well as that of others if it spreads. When you light the fuse of anything that goes up in the air you basically have no control over where it comes down. I have had still burning fireworks land in my back field before from neighbors four farms away.

And if that isn't enough, consider the likelihood that somewhere nearby lives a combat veteran with trauma and that the sound of fireworks is very similar to live fire. 

I'll add in that not everyone wants to hear the noise of fireworks and when you set them off you basically ruin the holiday for all of us who prefer a quieter celebration.

When you set off fireworks to celebrate independence you basically trample all over the rights of others. 

Why not go watch the fireworks set off by cities and towns? I'm not fond of those either, but at least they're controlled and they have emergency teams nearby in case they're needed.

Or you can spend your 4th of July the way I do - with cats and dogs sequestered safely inside, horses and donkeys contained in small paddocks near the barn, and a bottle of Rescue Remedy in hand to help all get through the evening. 

UC-Berkeley's stunning campus

UC-Berkeley campus was amazing. I couldn't walk more than a few steps without stopping to take a picture!

These are roughly in the order we encountered things as we walked to campus from the Berkeley City Club. The best thing about the campus was the sense of energy that was all around. I actively wanted to be back in graduate school just to tap into it.

This was the first thing that stopped me in my tracks:

Then this:

You'll see how much I notice trees when I visit places. Berkeley's campus feels like it is inhabited by trees and the spirits of trees. I love how they live so very close to the buildings. 

The tower is a centering structure on the campus. Once you get your bearings you can use it to get around. 

And this is the view toward San Francisco from the bottom of the tower:

More trees and buildings:

It felt like the trees were perfectly suited to the buildings they flanked, almost as if the trees chose what course of study they would live with.

This one was stunning on the cool gray first day of our visit:

Of course we were heading for the physics and astronomy departments where my son had meetings with professors. This was the first thing I saw:

How many Nobel Laureates does one university have? And is that a future one walking to the door of physics and astronomy? Inside, I found this:

And this very cool display in the astronomy lobby. Note the temperature in June at near-mid-day:

I stood there pondering whether I could up my math game and apply to the program. On the other side of the lobby there was this:

Upstairs, my favorite display of all:

Meanwhile, over in the physics department:

In case you'd like a closer shot:

I left my son to do his thing and I went on my own expedition. This was outside the physics department entrance, looking back toward the building:

This large courtyard sits outside the physics department and I became mildly obsessed with it:

Somehow it felt like a mathematical equation.

Or a metaphor for a physics concept.

I came at it from every angle, trying to understand:

Sometimes my brain goes sideways when I think too hard.

But I decided the answer lies here:

Then I made a friend and ended my obsession.

I walked down the hill and found a wonderful coffee and lunch spot:

Somehow I think I should have been at Berkeley in the 60s, though I would have been a very young revolutionary.

My son went back for more meetings and I headed to the library that lies just below the physics building. It was the beginning of another obsession.

A display on the National Park Service. Of course horses were a part of making national parks happen. I couldn't help wonder - could the November Hill herd manage to eat their way around the trunk of a redwood?

It was a lovely display and I photographed each panel.

And more:

I especially loved this:

And this:

I finally walked on and discovered the undergraduate reading room, where I loved the artwork more than the desks:

And then the graduate reading room:

This was a lovely space and I spent some time writing here before wandering on to my favorite space in the library. I can't recall the name of this lovely room but it had literary journals on display, shelves of fiction and more journals, and even upstairs study nooks that peeked down around one side. I wanted to take more photos but there were people working and I didn't want to disturb them. Suffice it to say, if I went to Berkeley this would be my hang-out.

Leaving the library I spent a few moments with an old friend. 

What a campus! I hope I can go back one day and explore further. 

November Hill farm journal, 10

We had a dry spell before I left for California on June 8 and then only one rain while I was gone, so the farm has been dry and dusty for most of this month. On Sunday I took advantage of the dryness to power wash the dirtiest half of the exterior of the barn.

Armed with Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap and a handy power washer I rinsed off dust, spider webs, some green algae, and the stain of November Hill's red clay from the walls and doors of the barn.

The pony and Redford galloped most of the time I was power washing. For the first minute I thought they were afraid but then realized as the pony tossed his head that they were using the noise of my machine as an excuse to play. It wasn't as warm as it has been but even so, the pony lined up for 2 consecutive cold hosings when all was said and done. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the grooming tools, de-webbing in the barn, and scrubbing and refilling water troughs. And admiring the equines, who are all slick as seals right now and very shiny.

Today I woke up to soft rain which has quickened a number of times to very solid rainfall. After a month of dry weather (and for me a solid month with no sound of rain at all) it has been a wonderful respite listening to the drops fall and feeling, for it's a palpable sensation, the thirsty earth drinking the water down.

Later today I'll take a few pounds of grass seed out to sprinkle a few bare areas where I've spread stall waste. 

And once the rain stops I aim to use my new machete tool to strip the saplings we cut two months ago and get started on my wattle fence around the garden. 

For now, though, I'm just listening to the rain.

the Berkeley City Club - a traveler's delight

On the first leg of our trip to California, my son and I flew into San Francisco and drove across the bridge to Berkeley where we checked in to the Berkeley City Club. I found this hotel online when booking lodgng for our trip and really didn't know much about it except that it got great reviews and was very close to UC-Berkeley's campus. 

When we arrived I knew immediately we had hit the hotel jackpot. It was amazing and I highly recommend it to anyone traveling in that area. It's a destination itself!

The building was designed by Julia Morgan, the first woman architect licensed in California in 1904. She designed Hearst Castle at San Simeon and more than 700 other buildings. The six-story Berkeley City Women's Club opened in 1930 as a social club and residence for women. In 1962 it opened to men as well and today is a hotel, conference center, and event center while retaining its historical significance. 

The hotel has steel-reinforced concrete walls and ceilings which are fashioned to look like wood, leaded glass windows, interior courtyards and a stunning indoor pool. I wish now I'd taken more photos but enjoy the ones I did take and if you have any reason to be in Berkeley (or want a good reason to go!) I highly recommend the Berkeley City Club. 

The rooms have no TV and retain the ambiance of the 1930s. They are well-appointed and comfortable but if you want cell phone and tablet ports, TV with all the channels, and new everything, this is not the place. The windows open, even in the bathroom. Our room had a huge dressing closet which was nice for all our luggage and for changing in. 

The hotel breakfast was in their dining room and was the most elegant, lovely hotel breakfast I've ever had. The restaurant is terrific for dinner. The lobby and first floor have nooks to read, work, or just relax. The interior courtyards are beautiful and inviting. The second floor has several huge meeting/event rooms which are fun to wander when nothing is going on. And there's an open air dance pavilion that I'd love to see all lit up one cool Berkeley night. 

If you loved Merchant/Ivory's film Room With A View, this is the place to be.

Here's the view from our room:

A peek at one of the courtyards from inside:

A shot of the lovely stairway from lobby to second floor:

From inside the lobby, the front door:

One of the many nooks that surround the lobby:

Another shot of the stairway - the architecture is just gorgeous:

And two views of the stunning pool:

There are so many photos I could have (and should have!) taken. Clearly there has to be a return visit one day to add to this series. 

November Hill farm journal, 9

We do not fuss too much over the property, for any good house is as much a living and growing thing as a tomato plant or a calf, and a stability of perfection is neither wise to seek nor possible to find.

-Henry Beston, Northern Farm

I returned on the summer solstice to find that many things I had tended to before leaving were needing tending again, and new things were waiting too. 

The honeysuckle and wild muscadine vines are climbing into the front porch and winding their way through the porch screens so will need to be cut back.

The flower beds which my husband weeded down for me have grown back to foot-high and thus will need weeding again before I can proceed with my efforts to restore them to real beds.

My materials for the wattle fence are still waiting in the long and narrow meadow and now nearly covered over with wildflowers and grass.

But my husband has kept the pastures mowed and dragged, and the fence line looks tidy too.

The vegetable garden went completely crazy while I was gone. Cucumbers, yellow crookneck, acorn, and zucchini squashes abound. The butternuts succumbed to squash bugs before maturing fully. The rainbow chard is still growing and lovely, but most of the lettuce has bolted. There are radishes, red onions, garlic, and tomatoes. The melons are bearing fruit as are the blueberries.

The day I came home my husband picked nearly 60 pounds of produce and took it to his office to share. We have eaten heartily since Monday night and have a full produce drawer in the fridge plus more on the island.

What a wonderful homecoming gift.

The sunflowers are all up and nearing bloom. The herbs are growing well too. There are a few mystery volunteers.

Having spent 12 days viewing mostly desert and finding it lovely in its own way, the biggest gift of all has been returning to this verdant, lush landscape we live in. I'm not happy with our governor or the legislature, our forests and rivers and ocean shores need protection, and development is a constant thorn in my side. But time away has renewed my appreciation for North Carolina as well as my energy to work hard to keep it as beautiful as it is. 

And that begins with November Hill.