until suburbia!

Shroom out in Santa Cruz

February 23, 2024Silvia

If you missed the 50th anniversary of the mushroom festival by the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz (FFSC) this January you can still join fungi lovers on May 4th/5th for the Santa Cruz Mountain Mushroom Festival. At this event the mycological community is getting together for wild mushroom exploration, cooking and cultivation demos, functional mushroom talks, and DIY workshops. It comes with a steep price tag of $75 per day. In comparison tickets for the Morgan Hill Mushroom Festival, May 25th/26th, 2024 are $20 at the door.

If you just started out to be a fungi lover the easiest way to introduce you to all things fungi is visiting Far West Fungi – the Santa Cruz Mushroom store. This all mushroom place offers a one-of-a-kind mushroom cafe, a selection of fresh mushrooms, a line of at-home mushroom cultivation supplies, a collection of dried and powdered mushrooms, and a selection of myco-nutraceuticals (natural pharmaceutical).

An inexpensive way to admire mushrooms is to ‘hunt’ for them. I would not advise you to plug and eat, unless you know what you are doing. But to photograph these when they come up after the rain might just be a worthwhile hunt.

Are you a fungiphile?

Far West Fungi – 224 Laurel St Suite A101, Santa Cruz, CA

Hike the Sonoma Overlook Trail

February 16, 2024Silvia

Just a few minutes north of the Sonoma plaza on 1st Street and Mountain Cemetery is the entrance to the Sonoma Overlook Trail. Parking is limited, but you can also start your hike from the cemetery. This 3 mile hike with a steady gradual 7% incline took us about 1 hour to complete. Once you reach the top you will be rewarded with gorgeous views of the Sonoma Valley and San Pablo Bay. From the south end you can see San Francisco on a clear day.

The road is uneven and sometimes muddy, so I would recommend wearing hiking shoes. It is mostly shady until you come to the top with the loop of the overlook trail and its meadow. We returned through the historic cemetery and I think that in itself is worth a visit.

At the beginning, you can pick up several maps and info brochures by the map post near the parking area. No dogs, horses, or bikes are allowed. Please stay on the designated trail to avoid disrupting the hillside and encountering wildlife such as rattlesnakes, ticks, and mountain lions.

You can find the entrance to the Sonoma Overlook Trail on 198 First St. W. in Sonoma, CA. On many weekends docent led hikes are available.

Have you hiked in Sonoma?

Two Barbie dolls, one has its hands above her head

Reclaim and Reinvent Barbie, Sonoma Community Center

February 9, 2024Silvia

The Sonoma Community Center put together two popular concepts – reusing materials and Barbies as fashion models in its annual Trashion Fashion events. A funny wordplay on trash fashion. And who could be a better model than a Barbie doll?

You can pick up a doll at the community center for no charge. But to enter the contest you have to pay the non-refundable entry fee of $25 for one entry or $40 for two entries. If you, on the other side, have Barbie, Ken or other under 12 inches dolls to donate you can drop them off at the community center or at Bon Marche at 19405 Riverside Dr, Sonoma. Bon Marche is a Thrift Store that supports the community and funds building health clinics and gardens in Rwanda. Bon Marche accepts donations on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 am to 3 pm. Please don’t leave your donations outside. As a plus, if you buy something you will be a zero waste star to reuse!

After you acquire your doll the fun starts. Decorate your childhood style icon with recycled materials (please only wholesome images!). There will be a silent auction from March 28th – April 12, 2024. If your entry hasn’t sold in the auction it will be returned to you.

Your Barbie applications are due on or before: Friday, March 15th.

The Trashion Barbie: Reclaimed & Reinvented Gallery exhibit and auction has its opening night on March 28 and the exhibit will run through April 12th, 2024. The Sonoma Community Center is located at 276 East Napa Street, Sonoma. It is open 7 days a week from 8 am to 9 pm.

Trashion Classes & Workshops

February 10th

Trashion Design for Kids & Teens

10:00 am – 12:30 pm

February 12th, February 26th

Free Open Trashion Design Studio & All Star Demo’s

5:30 pm – 8:00 pm

There will also be two Trashion Runway Shows on April 6, 2024, 2:00 pm & 5:00 pm. These are wearable trashion creations. Tickets go on sale early March with SCC members 48 hour pre-sale. On the second floor of the SCC you can see previous examples of the winners.

Still…Racism in America, UC Davis

February 2, 2024February 6, 2024Silvia

No one should be flabbergasted by the notion that there is still racism in the United States. We’ve all seen the pictures of white-supremacist storming the Capitol, Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. We know about gentrification, gerrymandering, redlining, tokenism, and other catch phrases explaining inequality. That these concepts still define racism in America postulates an exhibit at the UC Davis Design Museum.

The complete title of the new exhibit at the UC Davis Design Museum is: “Still…Racism in America: A Retrospective in Cartoons”. On display are cartoons by the father/daughter duo Brumsic Brandon Jr. and Barbara Brandon-Croft. Brumsic created the comic strip Luther in the late sixties. His daughter Barbara was the nation’s first black female cartoonist. She is known for: Where I’m Coming From.

The Design Quarterly outside of the Design Museum are mock-up newspaper pages about the exhibit. Listed are the subject matters of the exhibit: The Original Sin, White Supremacy, Racial Subjugation, Voting Rights, Racial Disparities, Redlining, Politicians, Extremism, Domestic Terrorism, Affirmative Action, Tokenism, Policing, (Mis)Education, Black History, Self-Reflection/Hope. And yes, everything is STILL there.

Inside are cartoon panels mixed from both artists, the year they were published, underneath. I get the stagnation, feel how exhausting it must be, smirk at the sarcasm. But I am still hopeful. The way to equality is to uncover the inequality and make people understand.

The UC Davis Design Museum is open Monday thru Friday noon to 4pm. Admission is free. Located at Cruess Hall, #124, Davis, CA. Still will be on display until April 21, 2024.

Entrance to the exhibit Different Worlds at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art

View Different Worlds, Sonoma

January 26, 2024January 26, 2024Silvia

Different Worlds is the title of the new exhibit at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art in downtown Sonoma. The exhibit shows works by Bay Area artist Tsherin Sherpa.

Sherpa was trained in his home country of Kathmandu, Nepal as a thangka painter. Thangkas are traditional Tibetan Buddhist art. The artist invites us to his different worlds as an artistic mixtape of his religious roots and contemporary perspectives. The outcome is mystic but familiar. On our visit we caught up with a museum guide who explained some of the symbolism and techniques. I really liked the vibrant deconstructed paintings of swirled thangkas suggesting the artist’s mixed emotions and introducing the western world into his traditional upbringing.

Multiple collages but also two carpets and a statue are on display until April 28th. Opening reception is Saturday, January 27th from 5 -7 pm. The film screening of ‘Above and Below: The Life of Artist Tsherin Sherpa’ is unfortunately sold out. But the museum might add a second screening. There are also activities for kids, for example free mangalas.

The SVMA is located at 551 Broadway in downtown Sonoma. Opening hours are: Wednesday thru Sunday 11 am to 5 pm. Admissions is free every Wednesday, otherwise general admission is $10, seniors, students, and Sonoma Valley residents pay $7, people under 18 are free.

How would your different worlds look like?

Follow up of People’s Park, Berkeley

January 19, 2024Silvia

After a long legal battle the UC Berkeley moved ahead the night of January 3rd, 2024 to clear People’s Park from its inhabitants and wall it off with double-stacked shipping containers. The park near Telegraph Ave, on the corner of Haste and Bowditch Streets and Dwight Way, will be reinvented with much needed student housing. The plan also includes affordable housing units and almost ⅔ of it will remain greenspace. The large greenspace is to commemorate the park’s history as a meeting point for free speech and protest culture.

The City thought that the unsightly container wall was needed after protestors destroyed $1.5 million worth of equipment last year.

So who is opposing the development?

Is it just wealthy progressive people being NIMBY’s (Not In My BackYard)? Or are these nostalgic hippies, recollecting the historical fights planned out in the park?

I think it is a mixture of both. The halt of the building project by a court order in 2022 citing environmental reasons. This definitely was a NIMBY move. In a KQED report on the park, students expressed concern that not all possible sites were evaluated before People’s Park was chosen. People’s Park is a historic landmark, and already has a bloody track record each time the UC decided to develop it.

Who is responsible for the housing shortage?

Berkeley has the lowest rate of housing offered to their students among the UCs (about 20% for undergraduates and 9% for graduates). When the university was founded in 1868 it modeled itself after German universities that offer a great education but no housing. The Bay Area, being one of the most expensive places in the world to live, worries students each year in search of affordable housing.

Are you a supporter of affordable housing or People’s Park?

Resources

https://www.kqed.org/news/11971858/berkeley-locals-lament-the-closure-of-peoples-park-as-shipping-container-barricades-go-up

https://www.berkeleyside.org/2022/05/08/uc-berkeley-student-housing-building

https://www.peoplespark.org/wp/

https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/01/03/uc-berkeley-launches-closure-of-peoples-park-construction-site

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Park_(Berkeley)

Party at the Art Butiki, San José

January 12, 2024Silvia

What is Art Butiki you might ask? A Comic book store, a T-shirt printing business, and an all age music venue, in short a cool place to hang out.

We visited during comic store hours, Monday – Friday 11am to 4pm. With an interesting selection of comic books and t-shirts, the store also has some seats and two sofas to let you chill. Behind the counter the owner Dan Vado explained the uphill battle of running a cult classic store and music venue, and let us peek in the back at the event space.

While Covid closed the place down, he found a workaround by recording local artists. The resulting videos can still be watched on YouTube or the Art Butiki website. Offering local musicians a stage for an all age audience is a tough business. Ticket prices for the shows are only around $20. The 300 person venue looks cozy and iconic, decorated with a lot of tiki figures.

I came across Art Butiki while I researched my list for 50 Free Things to do in San José. They have some events that are free, like a Drink ‘n Draw, open mic, and jazz jam. While I usually only note things in my 50 lists that I have been to, I include these because I still want to check out events at Art Butiki. I hope you’ll visit this independently owned venue and support local artists.

Art Butiki is located at 44 Race Street in San Jose’s The Alameda neighborhood. Parking might be a challenge; if you have to park in the neighborhood be mindful.

The sun is setting overlooking the Bay at César Chávez Park in Berkeley

Look up at César Chávez Park in Berkeley

January 5, 2024Silvia

Originally we came to the César Chávez Park in Berkeley to see the kites. But even the waterfront park is not always a windy place. This park was known for its annual kite festival, organized by Highline Kites. But due to a rate hike by the City of Berkeley, the once beloved annual kite festival at the end of July will be canceled.

A nice surprise were the info panels educating you about César Chávez. One of the stations explains Chávez’s connection to dogs and even has an excerpt of the poem A Dog Has Died by Pablo Neruda. Unlike kites, dogs were plentiful the day of our visit. There is a large off leash area where many friendly furry friends meet up.

The highest point in the park is used for the crossroads observation point. Four virtues of César Chávez: hope, determination, courage, and tolerance are celebrated and each has an info panel connecting these to Chávez. The four words are chiseled in stone, appearing like an altar for each of them.

If you come to find a relaxing place you can sit on one of the many benches and enjoy the view of the San Francisco skyline. But be aware that some dogs might come and say ‘hi’.

The 90 acre park is located at 11 Spinnaker Way next to Berkeley’s marina. Hours are from 6 am to 10 pm (unless otherwise indicated).

Have you been to César Chávez Park?

Check out 50 Free Things to do in San José

December 23, 2023December 23, 2023Silvia

Have you spent a lot of money on gifts? Here is my gift to you: 50 free things to do in San José! This is the latest in my series of 50 things to do. I hope you’ll enjoy them. I had fun compiling the list.

I’ll try to offer these also as a YouTube video, but it will take me a little while to do so.

What is your favorite of these tips? What are you looking for in general? More things to do with the kids? Hikes with your dogs? Or are you into museums and art? I’d love to hear from you!

If you would like to sponsor me you can now buy me a coffee.

Happy Holidays and an exciting New Year 2024!

Fourth Street in Berkeley with Holiday light display

See the Holiday Lights on Berkeley’s 4th Street

December 15, 2023Silvia

A great inexpensive activity for the holiday is walking or driving through the holiday lights display on Berkeley’s 4th Street. Unless of course you end up buying a lot of things in the stores and restaurants of this high-end shopping street.

The canopied shopping district wraps all its trees in tiny lights, then decorates them with stars and colored bulbs. Garlands of lights with blue snowflakes in the middle hang across the streets.

Until December 31st the lights will turn on at 5pm. During the weekends stop by for some caroling and crafting events. You can even drop off a letter for Santa in front of Peet’s Coffee. Last day for mailing your letter is Wednesday December 20th, 2023. All letters with a return address will receive an answer from an elf!

This Saturday is the annual Artisan Asian Market, 11 am – 4 pm, along the paseo between Warby Parker and Cafe Reville, 1911 4th Street. Additionally, from 5:30 – 7:30 pm, you can wave at the participants of the Holiday Fantasy Parade – You Drive, We Wave!

Each Friday and Saturday participating shops will stay open until 7 pm. The holiday lights spectacle is on Fourth Street between Hearst and Virginia Street in Berkeley.

Where is your favorite holiday light display?