Part 3 - Back in Time in Yosemite - The Owl

The Yosemite Conference is exactly what I expected and covered a full range of environmental issues including discussion of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) updates on the cap and trade, safer consumer products and hydraulic fracturing. California is a wonderful state for environmental scientists. In the afternoon a break was provided to allow time for contemplation and communion with the environment we all work so passionately to protect. 

The Meadow

I found my solitude and contemplation on a hike on the Meadow Loop. It was an easy three-mile walk. On this sunny fall day I saw only 3 people. Almost at the end of my walk I was treated with a view of a Great Horned Owl how sat peacefully up in a pine tree. Upon seeing me he looked at me intensely as if to say stay where you are and we will both be okay. We stared at one another for quite a while and then he flew away. 

What a gift!!

Great Horned Owl

As I walked back to the hotel thoughts of Great Horned Owls and the environment rolling around in my head, I saw the hotel grounds in a new light. The hotel though simple and rustic fits into the wilderness and doesn't try to dominate it.  It’s amenities are wholesome, comfortable and simple things like good people, good music, good food, fire in the fireplace, games, chairs for sitting and relaxing and beauty everywhere. When I got back to the hotel from my hike, I heard of another woman hiking alone near the hotel. She was a Park Service employee who worked at the hotel. When she did not return that evening, she was declared missing and a search ensued. A few days later she was found at the bottom of a ravine injured and suffering from exposure. It turns out that she fell 35 feet off a cliff only a short distance down the trail and fractured several vertebrae and could not move. One never knows what danger might be encountered in the mountains.  

My day ended with the best pot roast I have ever eaten and a glass of organic wine. Sharon, of the wait staff, told me that some of the families have been coming to Wawona Hotel for a 100 years and one man loved the pot roast so much he ordered it every day during his visits. Then she said, "Let me go get you the chef's business card, you can email him and he will send you the pot roast recipe".

Wawona Hotel Fountain

After dinner, sitting on the porch in front of my room I hear the sounds of the bubbling fountain out front, laughter down the hall, and the birds. I think of Ken Burns and his PBS documentary. National Parks really are America's Best Idea.  Honestly, though, I would have preferred to have my own bathroom.

Part 2 - Back in Time in Yosemite - The Wawona Hotel

As I check in, the hotel registrar said, "Don't leave any food or cosmetics in your car, it attracts bears”.  I asked, “Are there that many bears ?“  She answers, “Oh yes, did you see the signs in the park? Each sign is placed where a car hit a bear.” Sadly, the signs say speeding kills bears.

Several staircases and a porch lead to my room.  My room has tall ceilings (I mean very tall....probably 20' high).  There is a ceiling fan and a window over the door that opens.  Outside my door is another porch with more chairs overlooking the fountain and grounds. Though warm in the daytime it is 32 degrees at night! 



Nope, no private bathroom; no internet (except in the sun room); no phone; no TV; no satellite coverage for my cell phone. The toilet is separate from the showers, which are shared (one of each for women and men).  Towels and bathrobes are provided in the rooms.

I am definitely gone back in time here in Yosemite at the Wawona Hotel like Marty going back to the Old West in the De Lorean during the movie "Back to the Future".   

I am not sure I can survive this? 

It was very dark at night and I fell asleep thinking of the bears. 

Part 1 - Back in Time in Yosemite - The Drive

Recently, I drove to Yosemite to attend the Yosemite Environmental Law Conference. Not being a lawyer, I was happy to discover that this conference was attended by many of the top California environmental consulting firms. The consultants came to meet California attorneys and learn about hot topics at the intersection of environmentalism and law. Of particular interest to me are the sessions on the Clean Water Act at 40, Green Chemistry and Hydraulic Fracturing.

I can't think of a more inspiring and wonderful location than Yosemite National Park for an environmental conference. 

Yeah!!!


Adding to my excitement was the fact that I could travel by car instead of by airplane.  I set out in my Prius with no expectations of the journey except the goal of arriving at my hotel before dark. I mapped out my route on Google Maps and then set out.  The day was sunny and the roads clear as I drove listening to the Eagles and Buddha Bar on itunes.  All was fine until my Google Maps directions differed from the information displayed on the road signs.

What!!! Oh no!!!

Google Maps told me to follow Route 99 South while the road signs directed me to follow Route 120 toward Sonora and Yosemite. 

What to do while traveling at 65 miles an hour?

I made my choice (follow road signs) and continued.  After passing through the Central Valley, where the almond trees and farms gradually transitioned to oak trees, golden foothills and curvy roads, my little Prius climbed and climbed up to 6000 feet and then entered long dark tunnels that cut through the mountains and finally headed down again to emerge on to the Yosemite Valley floor.

Nirvana!

The meadow, the gray cliffs bathed with light, the birds soaring above, the giant rocks framing the sky, Half Dome, and Bridal Veil Falls; how could I embrace all this beauty? 

Then up again to 5000 feet and into long dark tunnels … then down again to 4000 feet.Trees, light, green, brown, blue, forest smells, pine cones, clouds, quiet;  so much beauty it was hard to take it all in. 

At the gate to Yosemite the Park Ranger gave me directions to my hotel.  She said "Go 18 miles, turn left, go two miles and turn right.  It takes about one and a half hours”. Exactly 90 minutes later as per her directions, I arrived at Wawona Hotel.  The long circular driveway wrapped around a bubbling fountain ending at a grand staircase and porch full of wicker chairs. The lobby is bustling with hotel guests reading newspapers, sitting by the fireplace, having drinks and listening to the pianist play Cole Porter.  

This was the beginning of a great adventure!

Where I am - Goes Netherlands

This is week 4 of our visit to Goes (pronounced whoose). Goes was founded in 1405. The population of Goes is about 27,000 people and the town is located in south Netherlands - Zeeland (sea land) in Zuid (south) Beveland. The largest church in the central square is named Grote of Maria Magdalenakerk. The existence of large churches, according to our Dutch neighbor's son Koos, indicates that a town was well off at one time. Goes wealth was derived from cloth and salt. Today the economy is focused on agriculture.

View from the Market Square of  Grote of Maria Magdalenakerk

Goes still maintains a medieval character with walls and a moat that is still identifiable today. On our first day in Goes we happily found ourselves in one of the oldest sections of town, near the Oost Wal. The hot summer day was quenched by a visit to the Grand Cafe Raymondo where we tried our first Kriekbier (cherry beer) and enjoyed dutch style witbier. This photo shows the old moat and bridge next to where the fortified east wall would have been. 

Moat along the Oost Wal (East Wall) of Goes

Tuesday (Dinsdag) is market day. For me it requires patience and a high level of tolerance for embarrassment as you to stand in line and wait for your turn and then state what you want in Dutch to the vendors who weigh and bag your orders. It is challenging if you don't speak Dutch but everyone is so patient and friendly it works out just fine. 

Did I mention that we are the only Americans we have seen in the past 4 weeks? There are tourists but most of them are from other parts of the Netherlands, Germany or Denmark. Returning to the market a variety of foods are available, including all sorts of Gouda cheeses, fish, meats, nuts and candy. My personal favorite was Gouda Cheese with coriander seeds. Tom has discovered Appleflaps (a kind of tart with apples). These pastries are so good they melt in your mouth. And of course stroopwafles (two thin waffles with caramel in the middle). The highlight though, is the fish (kiebling). We love the kiebling. Which tastes to me like fish and chips but baked in a not too sweet pancake batter. Here is a view of the Tuesday Market. 

Tuesday Market Goes the Stadhuis (City Hall)  is in the background

The high quality and freshness of the seafood in the market is a result of a direct link to the North Sea via the canals; boats can tie off and unload fish 30 meters from the town square. Goes is also located along the Rijn, Maas and Schelde rivers. Once a series of islands, Zuid Beveland and Goes along with it are now connected to one another and the mainland by a series of bridges, dikes, neeltje jans and sediment. 

As a geologist, I may not know much about the ocean life but the formation of the delta interests me. The Oosterscheld Estuary was formed in a manner similar to our own Mississippi River Delta. Here as in the Mississippi Delta the river deposits have extended the coastline for miles and similarly the Oosterscheld Estuary delta and islands have created lush coastal wetlands, mud flats, meadows, and salt marshes.

For me this means fabulous sea life, seafood, great bike rides, beautiful countryside and technological hydraulic wonders like the Delta Works. More on the geology of Zeeland can be found at this link http://spijker.nl.eu.org/research/pdf/chapter2.pdf

Living Below Mean Sea Level

The Netherlands is great for a mechanical engineer and environmental scientist like Tom and I. There are water projects all over the place and living below sea level is a surprise.  We first realized that we were below mean sea level (below mls) when driving on the A58 here in Zeeland. As we passed under a canal there was a sailboat sailing over us!

Then in Oegstgeester, our elevation below msl was confirmed. We saw a cow grazing next to a sailboat. The sailboat at sea level and the cow and pasture below msl. These low-lying areas enclosed by dikes that are formed from reclaimed lands.

Cow grazings next to a sailboat in a Polder in Oegstgeester

 In my opinion, the windmill is the most romantic water pump every built. Not only is it beautiful it is elegant in construction. Windmills use scoops on water wheels and Archimedes screws to move the water from the well like shaft into the canal and onward to the sea. The canvas sails point into the wind and supplies the pumping power.  The entire top of the mill can be moved around on wooden wheels to point into the shifting wind.  Even though they say that there are 1150 working windmill in Holland (http://www.windmillworld.com/europe/netherlands.htm) and their presence in the landscape is a constant reminder that we are living below sea level.

Windmill in Leiden

Here is a YouTube video of a windmill at work.  200 Year Old Dutch Windmill in Operation

Don’t you love the sound of the wind in the sails?

We visited the Neeltje Jans. No I can't pronounce the words either. Nor can I say Oegstgeester. I just don’t think we can put “ltje” together in English... sigh. As an aside, there is a town nearby called Vlissengen. Yep, also can't say it. But there was a similar town in Queens, New York which used to be called Vlissengen back when New York was New Amsterdam. Now is is called Flushing. The British I guess couldn't say it either. Flusing is anglicized but sounds like Vlissengen.

Back to water and great hydro projects. The Neeltje Jans are part of the 13 dams of the Delta Works/Zuiderzee project. This project was declared to be on of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers along with projects like the Channel Tunnel and our very own Golden Gate Bridge. We visited the dams between Schouwen-Dulveland and Noord-Beveland both islands to the north of us. These barriers were initiated after the 1953 floods where the North Sea storm surges raised sea level up to 18.4 feet. Yikes!

Public Domain photo of 1953 Flood from Wikiepedia View from a U.S. Army helicopter
of Oude-Tonge on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee Source: http://www.archives.gov/ NARA

Neeltje Jans at Schouwen-Dulveland

The giant gates were open during our visit and the elevation of the sea was the same on the day of our visit. During storms the gates can be lowered by the giant rams to protect the low lands from flooding. 

The White Cliffs of Dover and Calais Bunkers

The other day we drove from Goes to Calais, caught a ferry to Dover and stayed the night in Dover. Calais is 2 1/2 hours from Goes, Netherlands by car and because Goes is located on a peninsula we traveled under the Westerschelde Estuary via a 6600 meter tunnel which ends at Terneuzen.  Terneuzen is still the Netherlands. This transition seems strange to me because my assumption is that political boundaries coincide with natural features like rivers and mountain ranges. However the Belgium border does not coincide with the Westerschelde. I understand that this boundary is complicated due to the Holy Roman Empire, the Spanish and French occupation of the Netherlands and Flanders. 

Beach at Calais

As foot passengers on the ferry we lazily moved from the docks of Calais along beautiful beaches with summer sunbathers toward the harbor mouth. The spell was broken by the strange juxtaposition of WWII bunkers dotting the coastline and we were reminded of the great struggle that took place on these Normandy beaches so many years ago. 

One and one half hours later, the White Cliffs of Dover emerged on the horizon after the English Channel crossing in beautiful sunshine.  The White Cliffs really are as iconic as one imagines. Shakespeare's 'King Lear' mentions them "There is a cliff, whose high and bending head looks fearfully in the confined deep: Bring me but to the very brim of it" 

White Cliffs of Dover

Geologically speaking the White Cliffs are made of chalk. Formed from plankton they accumulated around 145.5 to 65.5 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. At that time this part of Europe was underwater and similar cliffs exist across the channel in France called Cap Blank Nez. 

As it turns out my husband Tom's Grandmother was from Dover and his Grandfather's family was from Colchester approximately 20 km north of Dover. It is interesting that though they were from such nearby villages they met in Venezuela. It was a great adventure for Tom. 

One of the highlights was enjoying several pints and a steak and ale pie at a pub. Tom was very happy.  We also had fish and chips!

Tom enjoying a pint in Whitfield

We visited Dover Castle and walked about 2 miles unexpectedly through green fields with sheep peacefully grazing under blue skies. Dover Castle is well... very castle like and it has working fireplaces. 

Dover Castle

Learning about Calais in history class is very different than actually being there. It is very moving to see the downtown which no longer has a medieval character all sacrificed for "Operation Dynamo". Only the old church bell tower remains in the square.  It really got me thinking about a world that my own parents grew up in. 

Market Square Calais with remains of the Church Bell Tower

We ended our visit at Dunkirk. Today there is a museum, a monument and it is unexpectedly quiet. Little kids drive go karts and families bike along the boardwalk. The city of Dunkirk like Calais shows WWII architectural scars. The homes though they are next to one another appear centuries apart in age. Providing a vivid reminder that one building was destroyed and its neighbor was not.  

Rembrandt and Me

Rembrandt's Studio  Museum Het Rembrandthuis Jodenbreestraat 4, Amsterdam

I begin this blog as a blank canvas. A canvas to help me better understand science and its unexpected relationships, juxtapositions and anachronisms with art, culture, and history. Essentially everything for which I have a passion.  As I am currently in the Netherlands, it is appropriate that my first blog explore one of the Dutch Masters. I choose Rembrandt because I suspect he was a conflicted scientist as well.

He explored. He systematically tried new media. He painted on linen, cooper, and wood canvases.  Is it fair to call painting in the 17th century a social media? Was it the blog of its day? Rembrandt's paintings attracted a broad audience.

Rembrandt, has drawn me into his world. I am attracted by his inspiration from nature and his use of the color red. As I visited his home and workshop, I was surprised to find butterflies, beetles, seashells and all sorts of biological, cultural and artistic things displayed in the manner of a scientist, catalogued, and encased.

Rembrandt's  Nature Collections (note tortoise shells on the right hand-side of the photo)

The chemistry of color. The Museum Het Rembrandhuis describes Rembrandt as using only 15 pigments throughout his entire career. Contributing to his mastery of color was his ability to develop and mix pigment. He used lead for white; bones for black; Lapis Lazuli for blue. His famous red pigment was derived from cochineal beetles!  And 300 years later we still use these beetles. Today we  use them to add a reddish color to Strawberry Frappucino's!  Last March Starbucks was embroiled in controversy over the use of a natural FDA approved cochineal beetle food coloring.  Here is the link to the Washington Post article www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/all-well controversy/2012/03/30/glQA7QAylS_blog.html

Rembrandt, it seems was not conflicted by the relationship between science and art. He captured the synergies and organized his paintings around color and nature within a systematic framework and a world where the macro and micro-details of both disciplines combine and emerge into monumental achievements.

Newly discovered Painting by Rembrandt 

Don't you just love Vermeer ! Sigh!!!