until suburbia!

Sojourn to the MarinMOCA, Novato

June 2, 2023Silvia

My favorite piece at MarinMOCA in Novato was one of the sculptures outside, in the courtyard between the museum and 789 Hamilton Parkway. The Immigrant by Aristides Demetrios (who also did the Wind Harp in South San Francisco), depicts a bronze body that’s fluid in shape, holding up a mask in one hand, and a short ladder in the other. The head bent away from the body. The symbolism hit me immediately of always pretending, bending to other’s needs, and yet struggling to climb up the ladder.

The museum is part of the historic Hamilton Field, a former Air Force base. The ornate entrance is a clue that this was the former administration headquarters. In the near vicinity is also a theater building and a church. All buildings are in the Spanish Colonial style. The museum also serves as an art center with classes and over 60 artist studios.

The current exhibit by Barbara Stauffacher Solomon & Nellie King Solomon: SUPER-SILLY-US at the main gallery and the members showcase, Elena Guryeva : PHENOMENA on the second floor, will end on June 4th. Two new exhibits will start June 17th, 2023.

The general admission is $10, $8 for seniors, students, military (with valid ID). A steep price for the little museum. The museum’s store has tempting offerings from jewelry to scarves and cute elephants. There are also unique hand-crafted items from the MarinMOCA artist members.

The MarinMOCA is located at 500 Palm Drive, in Novato, CA. Opening hours are Wednesday to Friday from 11am to 4pm and Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 5pm.

Where is your favorite art museum in the Bay Area?

A sign saying: 'The barking lot is occupied'

Take Care of an Animal

May 26, 2023Silvia

The last three weeks we were a medical foster family for Millie, a 2 year old husky mix. She’s been in the animal shelter since October of last year. Her dermoid, a condition that grew skin over her eyes, was removed a few weeks ago and paid for by the generous Friends of Yolo County Animal Services (YCAS). Now she is a beautiful, active doggy. I hope someone with a big yard and a furry sibling will adopt her soon.

I usually write more on sights to see, but I really wanted to introduce people to the idea of helping pets. After all, this is also a great way to spend your free time. And you will discover interesting parts of your neighborhood. You don’t need to adopt them (right away); there are lots of ways you can contribute. Shelters are overflowing right now with pets that became inconvenient after their people had to return to work, or it might be too expensive with a high inflation rate. Whatever the reasons, the shelters provide valuable care.

Here are some ways you can help:

Volunteer at the local shelter
I started a few months ago volunteering at the local animal shelter. It is a great way to spend time with dogs. You get to walk them, play with them, and connect with a new buddy.
Foster an animal
This is a short term commitment to give a pet a chance to be in a home and get more personal attention. [There is no shame in foster fails! Meaning if you decide to keep the animal after a short while this should be great news for everyone.]
Donate to your local shelter
You can make a monetary contribution, always welcome, and look for lists on the shelter’s website of things they might need, like towels, blankets or toys.
Spread the word
Use your social media presence to help get the word out and hopefully someone in your circle will see a pet they are interested in.

Yes, there are pitfalls to this, too. I am writing this after I returned Millie to the shelter yesterday. I know she is in good hands there, with a caring staff and volunteers. But even in these short three weeks we miss having her around. Yet we also know what Millie needs is a permanent solution. You can’t possibly help every pet. But the love you give will be returned; it means a lot to them to have human contact.

Do you volunteer? What areas do you like to give you time for?

A sign pointing to the garden walk with an info box on top

Walk the Line, Woodland, CA

May 19, 2023Silvia

I’ve written about labyrinths before. There are a few in Palo Alto, and I highly recommend the one on top of Eaton Park in San Carlos. Mostly these are classical patterns of walking from the outside in, winding to the center, and then back out again. A great tool to contemplate life’s questions.

The American Lutheran Church in Woodland, CA invites you to walk their beautiful garden walk. The path is made of dirt and lined with bricks in a zig-zag pattern. It ends at a bench, inviting you to sit and reflect. While on your walk you can either focus inward or appreciate the mural of a sunset over a mountain range with sunflower fields.

The garden walk is open from dawn to dusk, so you can enjoy it any time of day. The church is located at 1114 College St, Woodland, CA. If you’re looking for a peaceful place to relax and connect with nature, be sure to check out the American Lutheran Church’s garden walk.

A more traditional labyrinth can be found at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on 515 2nd St, Woodland, CA.

Do you have a labyrinth you like to walk?

The piano at the entrance of the Mary L. Stevens Davis Branch Library, Davis

Hit the Right Keys, Davis

May 12, 2023Silvia

There are three places in Davis that invite you to play a piano in public year round: Davis Food Co-Op (620 G Street), Mary L. Stevens Davis Branch Library (315 E. 14th Street), and Wyatt deck (at the arboretum). Wyatt deck is the most recent addition to the ‘In the Key of Davis’ program. This public art program puts out colorful pianos for the public to play. Because these three locations are covered over it allows the pianos to be out year round. The city will roll out additional pianos to the Manetti Shrem museum and other downtown locations in mid June.

In 2015, two sisters, Isabelle and Hailey Shapiro, then teenagers, launched the program with help from their family and the city of Davis. Thanks to them the pianos get tuned regularly and half of them are hauled to and from their summer location. You can even donate a piano for this creative and interactive public art installation. Check the city’s website for more information.

I envy people that can just whizz in and play a melody on the piano. Since 2015, the City of Davis Arts & Cultural Affairs Program recognizes the social and health benefits that come from playing music together. There are plenty of YouTube videos from pianists delighting their audiences. You can follow along virtually by checking the ‘In the Key of Davis Facebook page or following on Instagram @key_of_davis.

I love the quote on the website:

“The pianos offer a space for improvisational gatherings, spontaneous connections, and celebrations of music.”

When was the last time you spontaneously gathered and made a connection through music?

Visit the Excellent Rose Garden in Woodland

May 5, 2023Silvia

The Carnegie Library in Woodland is on its own worth a visit. From the 121 libraries built by the Carnegie Corporation in California, from 1899 to 1917, 37 still operate as libraries. Since 1989 there is another attraction around the building, the rose garden. To be exact, this garden is composed of multiple rose gardens. In 1991 the Memorial Rose Garden was established. A year later the Perimeter Wall Garden opened up. Since 1998 the John A. Saltsman Garden has extended the gardens of the Library to the north and west.

With nearly 600 varieties of roses this is a delight for every rose lover. Furthermore, in 2015, they won the “2015 Garden of Excellence Award” by the World Federation of Rose Societies. It’s an incredible honor, overall there are only 11 US rose gardens that received this award. Other examples are: San Jose’s Municipal Rose Garden, Sacramento Historic Rose Garden, and Biltmore Rose Garden.

Gregg Lowery, an antique rose expert, reveals that

”Their two plantings of Rosa primula represent the only correctly named specimens that I have encountered in gardens, both public and private, in the world.”

If you would love to learn more about how to cultivate roses you can join the group, meetings are every 2nd Saturday of each month, membership fee starts at $15. Every January they invite you to learn about pruning. Check out their web site for further events.

The Woodland Rose Garden can be found around the Woodland library, between College and Court.

Render Eggheads as Positive, UC Davis

April 28, 2023Silvia

At UC Davis you might be called an egghead and be proud of it. However. Wikipedia describes eggheads as: “U.S. English slang, egghead is an epithet used to refer to intellectuals or people considered out-of-touch with ordinary people and lacking in realism, common sense, sexual interests, etc. on account of their intellectual interests.”

Large ceramic sculptures collectively known as eggheads can be found across the campus. These seven eggheads were among Robert Arneson’s last works in 1991. Arneson, a former art professor at UC Davis, is considered the father of the ceramic Funk movement.

Tour the eggheads

Like the name, the egghead pieces are many folded, funny, with a wink into sarcasm. There are five stops on the egghead tour around campus. We started at the Welcome Center (550 Alumni Ln) to pick up a campus map. If you follow the road north on Mrak Hall Drive you’ll meet the first two eggheads: See No Evil/Hear No Evil. Notice that both sculptures are missing ears!

If you are touring on a day the administration building Mrak Hall is open you can cut through it to find the next stop: Eye on Mrak (Fatal Laff) The eye that ‘looks’ at Mrak reminds me of the Eye of Providence (also known as the all-seeing-eye). The other side is upside down and laughing.

Next, we turned east towards Lake Spafford and then north through the orange arches of Celeste Turner Wright Hall where you can see Yin & Yang. These two might look familiar. A replicate of them sits on the Embarcadero in San Francisco.

In front of the Shields library you’ll find my personal favorite: Bookhead. The head collapsed over a book, the nose right in the crease of it. I think this egghead needs sleep.

Lastly, Stargazer can be found by going north, then turning right onto Shields Ave. At the next opportunity, turn left on East Quad. Take a right after South Hall. Once you are in the courtyard turn left. Stargazer is near the original entrance of UC Davis, a brick wall from 1908.

Do you think eggheads are funny or have a deeper meaning?

Delight Yourself at a Fairy Garden in Woodland

April 21, 2023Silvia

Remember the fairy garden in Fairy Glen, San Jose? Someone told me about one in Woodland. In this garden the fairies and gnomes live together. They enjoy gardening (of course!), but they also have a zip line that you can help them use. If you have a wish you can take one of the trinkets, turn around, close your eyes and throw it over your shoulder into the pond. Adults will find a penny jar to use for their wishes.

The garden itself is a gem on its own. I believe the grown up inhabitant is a landscape architect. There are various elements of Japanese garden design, like bonsai trees, and buddha statues. Another interactive feature is the gong and children are encouraged to ring it.

You can find the fairy garden on the corner lot of Rancho Way and Westway Drive in Woodland. Please supervise your children when they interact with the fairies and gnomes.

I hope your wishes will come true.

Do you know of other fairy garden in the Bay Area?

Combine Flowers and Art, Margrit Mondavi Art Garden

April 14, 2023Silvia

Adjacent to the Manetti Shrem Art Museum on the UC Davis campus you will find the Margrit Mondavi Art Garden. A lovely tribute to a main donor to UC Davis, Margrit Mondavi on her 90th birthday in 2015,. A painter herself, Mondavi’s subjects were flowers. Atlas Lab, who landscaped the garden in 100 days, took inspiration from Mondavi’s paintings and planted an array of diverse and colorful flower beds. Curvy small walls with curved benches invite the visitors to sit, to contemplate, or start to sketch.

The sculptures you will encounter at Margrit Mondavi’s Art Garden are William Tucker’s Leda (1989-90), bronze, John Connell’s Earth-Touching Buddha (2002), bronze, Dan Snyder’s The Restoration of Hope II (1983), ceramic with cement, and Andrew Rogers’ I am (2016). Above all, this is a flower garden that even has a rose cultivar named after the gardens namesake “Margrit Mondavi”.

I found this an unexpected but joyful place worth discovering. Best said by Margrit Mondavi herself in the UC Davis Magazine in 2014, “There is so much beauty in the world, if we look for it.”

What is your unexpected but beautiful place?

Culinary garden at the CIA at Copia, Napa

Savor the Culinary Garden at the CIA

April 8, 2023Silvia

Not only should you check out the Chuck Williams Culinary Arts Museum when you are in Napa, you should also make a stop at the culinary garden. This gem of a cuisine garden is in front of the CIA at the Copia. While it features a variety of citrus trees on the right side, the main attraction is the 32-bed-garden. It is as educational as practical. Everything this edible garden has to offer is used by the CIA. In rare cases the website promises to offer any surplus at the Marketplace. The two gardeners Jacob Tracy and Rachel Kohn Obut show their love for the job and the sustainability of the land by ensuring crop rotation, no-till gardening, and an interesting array of local and climate related plants.

Currently they are working on offering garden tours, summer produce and flower sales.

The little stone walls invite you to sit down and take in the beauty and smells. You could even bring lunch from the next door’s Oxbow public market. The only thing you are asked to not do is sample any produce. Nevertheless they do offer a seed library! Get inspired and start your own culinary garden.

I hope you will take some time to enjoy the culinary garden at the CIA.

Entrance to the Chuck Williams Culinary Arts Museum, Napa

Inspire your Culinary Creativity, Culinary Arts Museum, Napa

March 31, 2023Silvia

If you are in Napa, CIA is short for the Culinary Institute of America. The CIA expanded its campus in 2015 when it bought part of the Copia, a museum and event venue that declared bankruptcy in 2008. Now this is the site for the Business part of the CIA. In 2017 the Chuck Williams Culinary Arts Museum opened. Named for the founder of Williams-Sonoma, this museum showcases his extensive 4,000 pieces cookware collection.

Chuck Williams through his store and cookbooks introduced Americans to French cooking and authored more than 100 cookbooks. At the museum you will be greeted by porcelain boar heads and everything you need to butcher an animal. If that is not your area of interest maybe you’ll like the 30 different rolling pins? I was fascinated by the wall of shiny copper bundt pans. Additionally, the old mixer and mixing utensils are ingenious pieces of equipment.

Although by any standards a small museum, it is still worth the trip and admission is free. Opening hours are every day from 11 am to 5 pm; except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. The Chuck Williams Culinary Arts Museum is located on the second floor of the CIA at Copia, 500 1st Street, Napa, CA. I recommend you stop at the gift shop afterwards, if you like cookbooks and the latest and greatest of cookware.

Do you have a favorite kitchen utensil?