Been a long time since I made a blog post. Much has happened
in our lives since I last nattered on about birds and orchids and cookery and
books I like. I reckon I’ve felt distracted.
We recently went to Ireland for a week to attend the World
Science Fiction Convention in Dublin, and that seems to have knocked loose some
inspiration, some renewed desire to natter on again outside of Facebook.
Spouse and I made two trips to new places back in 2018: San
Jose, CA (again for Worldcon), and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (for a birdy
vacation). (SEE NEXT POST for more about that trip.)
California is a delight to us because we know delightful
people there. We stayed in Piedmont (part of the Bay Area) with a delightful
family for a week, from Spouse’s group of amazing friends. They made us
comfortable and fed us and entertained us and we did our best to be good
guests. We love and adore these people and feel so lucky that they seem to like
us too. The August weather was cool and bracing; we enjoyed the open windows in
our guest room every night, and only once in that week did we catch whiff of
the terrible wildfires destroying huge swathes of northern California that
month. (The fires did come much closer in the next few weeks, but we were gone
by then. Our friends were fortunate to suffer only from the choking smoke,
though for asthmatics that is plenty terrible.) (See above for a sunset view from their home.)
One thing we did that was necessary was to visit the
American Museum of Bookbinding in San Francisco. Our hospitable artist friend
needed to see the place, and we wanted to see author and friend Madeleine
Robins again, as she now works there. (Do please visit her page in Book View Café. We are fans of hers as well as friends.) I highly recommend this museum
to anyone with a love of books, a geeky love of the history of technology, and
a love of the arts of covers and type. Witness the efforts people have made
over the centuries to make the written word not just more widely accessible but
also attractive to have and hold.
What else was wonderful was our new appreciation for the
bird life of the Bay Area. When last we visited it wasn’t quite one of our
obsessions yet. But now? I paged through the guide to Western US birds on the
plane, with emphasis on those creatures featured in the eBird lists Spouse had
shared. One of my rewards was to stand on our host’s rear deck overlooking a
forested canyon road lined with native scrub as well as hill gardens, and know
INSTANTLY that the twittering cigar with wings swooping at eye level had to be
a White-throated Swift. The backyard also yielded Anna’s Hummingbird,
California Scrub Jay, Lesser Goldfinches and Hermit Warbler. Spouse later saw
Bushtits, and I was sorely vexed to have missed those. They remain a target
bird for me.
We visited Lake Merritt and we found an Oak Titmouse and
Chestnut-backed Chickadees, a Bewick’s Wren, California Towhees and Brewer’s
Blackbird. California and Western Gulls were abundant, as were both White and
Brown Pelicans. Black Phoebes were on the wires. No Bushtits. Argh.
San Jose was close by but oh so different. The sun felt so
much hotter, for one thing. It’s a smaller city than San Francisco or Oakland,
but has quite a distinct personality of its own. The public transit trams run
frequently, there was bike and scooter sharing, and a lengthy pedestrian (and
tram) street mall lined with shops and good restaurants. The Museum of Art was small
but quite wonderfully inviting, with intriguing exhibits and good public space inside.
Our convention-block hotel, the Fairmont, faces Cesar Chavez
Plaza. Spouse had learned from eBird and elsewhere that Acorn Woodpeckers, a
normally shy and non-urban species, had established themselves in the palm
trees of the park, and when we actually arrived at the hotel and saw the park
we were skeptical, to say the least, that shy birds would enjoy living there.
But lo! We exited the hotel after checking in, and FIRST THING we saw looking
up was not one but two Acorn Woodpeckers flitting about above our heads. It turned out there were dozens of them. Magic.
We soon got to know their favorite trees for acorn storage, and really enjoyed
watching them going about their lawful woodpecker business every day. Furthermore,
there were Black Phoebes casually perching on the backs of benches, something
we’ve never seen Eastern Phoebes do in Central Park. Made more remarkable by
the large numbers of people using the park every day.
Worldcon 2018 was quite enjoyable, shared with multiple
friends also in attendance, and I might’ve bought a few books and um, some
jewelry. The panels were good, except that towards the end the crowds did
exceed many room capacities. I'll always have fond memories for attending.
