Green Gal

"After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with color, bountiful with life. Within decades we must close our eyes again. Isn't it a noble, an enlightened way of spending our brief time in the sun, to work at understanding the universe and how we have come to wake up in it? This is how I answer when I am asked -- as I am surprisingly often -- why I bother to get up in the mornings." - Richard Dawkins Pinecrest Lake in Winter

I just returned from the dining hall after eating a delicious omelet scramble. My large brown bear mug is filled with the rich, suprisingly well-made coffee the dining hall serves, and it's sitting here on my desk, wafting wonderful scents into the room. When I got back to my house, I checked on the laundry I'd put in the wash right before leaving for breakfast, and my timing was perfect: the laundry was finished washing just as I walked in. Don't you just love when things work out like that? After I post this, I will return to my reading assignment that is supposed to be completed by noon today for my Native American studies lecture. We're reading Native Features: Indigenous Films from Around the World by Houston Wood. I have to read to chapter 9, and then I'll move on to Archaeology homework. This book on films is quite interesting, as it describes many of the central themes found in indigenous films, as well as analyzes the issues with stereotype found in films ...

Yesterday, I attened Orientation at UC Santa Cruz! I met some cool people, learned a lot about classes and the school, and signed up for as many environmental group emails as I could find! I also signed up for classes and got a tour of my college, Stevenson. I originally signed up for Chicano Teatro and History 2A: The World to 1500, but today I decided to drop Chicano Teatro and add Theater 61-B: Tragedy. The Tragedy class is part of the theater minor requirement, so I decided to take it in case I decide to minor in theater arts! :) Unfortunately, the Anthropology 1 class I was hoping to take it supposedly very challenging and not worth taking first quarter freshman year. That's fine with me to not take a super hard class, and after reading on RateMyProfessor.com about the history professor I'll have, I can't wait to begin classes! Tomorrow, I'm leaving for the mountains to go camping and then on Friday I'm heading into the wilderness for some backpacking with my d...

Last Friday while on vacation in the mountains, my family took a day trip to the town of Murphys . We make the drive from Tuolumne to Calaveras county almost every year when we're up there. Though historic like its neighboring towns, Murphys is a little more upscale. It's a big wine-tasting place: in the Sierra Nevada Adventure Co. , I saw a shirt that said "Save the Earth. It's the only planet with grapes." After lunch at Firewood , my family sat in the shade by Murphys creek, which runs through a park behind the main street. My sister and I waded in its waters, and we read our various books at a picnic table. The library is right across the creek from the park, so my dad and I ventured in, since we'd never been in before. They had the same Miwok book that my friend Alexys's grandmother let me borrow. It was printed at Columbia Junior College and can't be found online. We spent some time in Sustenance Books , on the main road in Murphys. It's a de...

On Saturday, I returned home from a little more than a week of vacation in the Sierra Nevada mountains. I had an interesting and enjoyable time venturing around Twain Harte, Sonora, Columbia, Murphys and Pinecrest. Here's a brief recap of the first few days of vacation: Thursday, July 1 I drove up with my grandparents and their dog Simba. We stopped at their favorite pie stand along Highway 120, at Jack Tone Road. My grandma bought two frozen cherry pies and a cantaloupe. My mom and sister surprised everyone by showing up past dark at my aunt's cabin that evening! That night, my cousins and I slept on the deck on cots, under the stars. I woke up to birds chirping and their dog Chester barking. Delightful! Friday, July 2 My cousins Ben and Nick, my cousin Ryan, his friends and I hiked around Pinecrest Lake , a moderate hike of 4 miles. Ben set a quick pace and we soon lost Ryan and his friends. It was a great hike that definitely pushed me, which is good since I'm going BA...

I'll be enjoying the pine-scented mountain air for a week. I'll be back July 10. Green Gal

Interested in learning some quick facts about five of our nation's national parks? Read this informative guest post by Louise Baker: The United States is home to an array of beautiful monuments and natural phenomenon, from Niagara Falls, to the Grand Canyon, to the Rocky Mountains. Beauty is what the United States is all about and the national parks are no different. The beautiful scenery, exciting trails, and family environment makes the country's national parks a must see. Five national parks that everyone should visit are Yosemite National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, and Denali National Park. Yosemite National Park is located in the eastern region of California stretching 761,268 acres and extends across the slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain. This beautiful park is known for its aesthetic waterfalls that include Yosemite Falls (2,425 ft), Bridalveil Falls (620 feet), Vernal Fall (317 feet), Nevada Fall (...

I always forget that I know how to draw and that I actually enjoy it. When I was little I drew like crazy, but as I got older I drew less and less. Every once in a while I draw something and remember that I can. It's not that I can draw really well (as my sister PawPrint can), but I can at least get my point across sufficiently. So yesterday after I posted the drawings I'd made in December , I thought I might as well take pencil to paper and make another addition to my Miwok Picture Language Book. I brought my Native American and Miwok books downstairs to our coffee table and began sketching, looking up words and images when needed. I copied the roundhouse from a drawing in a book published through Columbia Junior College called "Miwok" that Alexys's grandmother let me borrow. I collected the words from various sources: Alexys's knowledge of the Miwok language, the internet , Deeper Than Gold , the "Miwok" book, and a pamphlet from the Stanislaus Na...

In December, my friend Alexys and I spent some time at my family's cabin in the mountains. She taught me some Miwok words and I created a picture book that incorporates the words so I can better learn some of the language. Since then, I've learned some more words and have written many new words from various California tribes (Maidu, Konkow, Nisenan, etc.) in a language and culture journal I'm keeping. Here are the pages that I made in December. I hope to make more soon. watu: sun, lama: tree, oha: woman, nanga: man, kiky: water, lapisay: fish, ohnem: to fish, haju: dog nowehkowai: I love you, ohnem : to fish, nawa: love Alexys drew this one. honon : bear, funawa : laughter Learn how to count in Miwok using this picture. If I make more, I will post them. Thanks for reading! Happy Monday. Green Gal

Photo from the book Deeper Than Gold On Friday afternoon, my family drove up to Nevada County to visit my step-mom's parents in Grass Valley. Saturday morning we drove to Empire Mine State Park for a family portrait. I had never been to Empire Mine before, but unfortunately we didn't really get a chance to look around. We took the portrait on the well-manicured grounds and walked around the gift shop. While looking at the interesting rocks and knick-knacks in the shop, I spotted some carved rock hippos, which happen to be my sister 's favorite animal of all time (no doubt, pictures of the various hippos she acquired this weekend will appear on her hippo blog soon!). Surprisingly, they had a variety of different stone hippos for her to choose from. She bought a pink-colored rhodonite one. I found some bear fetishes carved from various stones with a description about what they signify. Bears are my favorite animals. The first time I saw a bear was while hiking with my dad ...