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Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Attending San Jose (CA) Science Conferences for Teens with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget





Attending San Jose (CA) Science Conferences for Teens with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget



My husband Laurent and I took our daughter Florence to the “Exploring Your Horizons in Science and Mathematics Conference” for three years in a row to San José State University (SJSU).  This conference was organized by SJSU and the Math/Science Network for young women between the 6th and 9th grades.

2003 was the best year we attended since it was the 25th annual conference.   Laurent went to all the fun science workshops that were led by women with Florence while I did the college admissions and financial aid sessions.

The first session that Florence and Laurent went to had them look at the properties of density and surface tension.  The session was called “Sink or Swim” and had real-life applications I thought for swimming.  The session was run by graduate students, which was a good way for them to do community service work I thought. 

Then, Laurent and Florence went to a session run by Agilent Technologies Engineers called “Lasers, Lenses, and Light.”  They did experiments with lights and laser to learn how a TV uses color and how fiber optics is used to transmit phone calls.

In the third session called “Can a Cardboard Boat Float?” the girls worked in teams to get a boat to float.  Florence said her boat floated, but it was hard to tell why exactly.  Later that night Laurent worked a calculus problem to show Florence that you want to get a cube as big as possible to float on the water.

Meanwhile, I went to workshops on financial aid, the college admissions process with information on writing college admissions essays, and choosing the right college.  I had been to these workshops beginning in grade 6 for Florence, but they got better every year.  I especially appreciated having admissions deans from competitive schools speak.

We ate lunch and we traded stories about what we learned at the workshops.  I wished a similar conference could be held where I lived; it takes venue, insurance, workshop leaders, supplies, bag lunches, and children, teachers, and parents to organize.  You need money to fund this, but you need the basic organization first.

Florence participated at two science fairs as a result of this conference.  She did one project on volcanoes and another one on the golden ratio found throughout nature.  I am grateful to “Expanding Your Horizons” for that alone and wish the conference held a workshop on how to prepare for science fairs.   This conference drove home the fact to her that math is very important in every sphere of life as well.  The money spent on this conference was well invested I thought.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books



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Hiking in Big Sur (California) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget




Hiking in Big Sur (California) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget



When I saw that the Ventana Wilderness Society was offering a day camp for children, I immediately enrolled my daughter Florence in the “Hooray for Habitats” program. 

The Ventana Wilderness Society had successfully reintroduced bald eagles and condors to the Big Sur Wilderness area, and I fully trusted them to give children a great educational experience in ecology and conservation.

I dropped Florence off everyday at the Carmel Crossroads Shopping Center and got reports on what the children had done at night.  Florence was subdued when I picked her up, because hiking is an integral part of Ventana Wilderness programs.

The first day of camp the children went on a hike through the Redwood Forest at Pfeiffer State Park.  There is a small waterfall along the hiking trail there.  However, Florence said she spent most of the time there letting a little girl know she was going to be okay.  The Redwood trees tower above you at Pfeiffer State Park and make the woods dark.  Illustrations for books about Hansel and Gretel show a similar landscape; maybe the little girl was thinking about that.  (Youth Services Librarian’s analysis)

On the second day of camp, the children went tide-pooling at Point Lobos (lobos means “sea wolves” in Spanish, referring to sea lions).  This craggy piece of land with cypress forests juts out into the Pacific Ocean.  There are many coves, and that is where the children looked for starfish and shells.  They examined them and put them back into the water without hurting or damaging the animals.  Tide-pooling is not souvenir hunting.

Day three was a hike through the oak woodlands of Garland Ranch Regional Park.  Our family had been there on picnics and had gone hiking on their many trails.  They have a field of old farm equipment that has been “donated” for use by children.  I knew the children had all been pretending to drive tractors when I picked Florence up.

Things got a bit more physical for the children on Thursday.  They hiked in Elkhorn Slough, looking for birds, and went kayaking.  You can see birds, fish, and crabs in the Slough’s water.  Elkhorn Slough is shallow, which makes it possible to see fish swimming.  The water is also very clear to aid in fish sightings. 

Thursday was also camping night under the Redwoods in Pfeiffer State Park.  Camp guides told the children about bugs and other wildlife that come out at night.  I am sure the animal stories kept the children in their tents.

Friday was a day of giddy excitement for the children.  They helped the biologists band birds by the Big Sur River.  The children had to go from giddy to gentle to handle the birds.  Florence told me that she put bracelets on robins to help the scientists.

Learning the gentleness to band birds was one of the best outcomes for Florence from the Ventana Wilderness Society’s “Hooray for Habitats” camp I thought.  Hiking in nature with explanations of what you are seeing along the way is great for children and adults, too.  You forget you are exercising when you do this.

I felt Florence had learned about Monterey County’s natural beauty on this trip as well the need to preserve it based on scientific knowledge.


By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click here for:  Ruth Paget's Amazon Books



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Bird Watching at Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing (CA) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget





Bird Watching at Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing (CA) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget



After I chaperoned a field trip for my daughter’s Waldorf School to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, I wanted her to see ocean and migratory birds in their natural habitat.  We drove to Elkhorn Slough, a few miles north of Monterey across from Moss Landing to do this.

Elkhorn Slough is an estuary.  It is a body of water with an opening to the ocean with rivers and streams flowing into it.  The Reserves’ brochure said that Elkhorn Slough winds inland for seven miles and encompasses 2,500 acres of marsh and tidal flat.

The visitor’s brochure went on to state that nearly 90% of California’s estuaries have been destroyed.  An impressive number of wildlife finds homes in estuarine habitats.  The one at Elkhorn Slough is home to over 400 invertebrates (animals without a backbone), 80 species of fish, and more than 200 species of birds.  The visitor’s center staff said that if you included migratory birds, Elkhorn Slough hosts and is home to 267 species of birds that have been identified in its area.

The visitor’s brochure also stated that six rare, threatened, or endangered species use the Slough – peregrine falcons, Santa Cruz long-toed salamander, clapper rails, brown pelicans, least terns, and sea otters.

You can see the birds and other wildlife from eight different walking trails.  The day of our first visit, we started with the Overlook of Elkhorn Slough Channel Trail, which follows the main channel.  There are Native American burial sites visible on this trail, but you cannot visit them.

We had exchanged our driver’s licenses for binoculars at the visitor’s center and looked at tree branches and over the water for birds.  We saw white pelicans form a circle in the water and then dive for fish.  It was a cute bobbing show.  There were also black cormorants and bald eagles out in the water.  We walked about two miles and soaked up the sea breeze as well as the smell of dry leaves.

We bought a membership to the Elkhorn Slough Foundation to obtain free entry for a year.  There were seven more walking trails that we wanted to explore:

-Long Valley Loop Trail – Woodland Trail

-Coast Live Oak Trail – Native trees that are home to birds, mammals (warm-blooded animals whose females carry developing babies within them), and insects

-Parson’s Slough Overlook – Sand dune area with the opening to the Monterey Bay

-Eucalyptus Grove – Trees imported from Australia in the 1800s

-Old Elkhorn Dairy Site – Kids love playing in the abandoned barns here that are supplied with a few haystacks

-Marsh Restoration Project – Site of experimental studies in marsh biology and ecology

-Elkhorn Slough Overlook – Ancient river valley trail

I left the Elkhorn Slough happy that groups like our French-language and culture club, the Alliance Française, did monthly walks there to support the conservation efforts of the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve.  Elkhorn Slough also has picnic tables for families and groups who wish to make their visit an all-day outing.

I love exercise that involves bird watching and think Elkhorn Slough is great for this reason.

By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Hiking at Point Lobos outside Carmel (California) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget



Hiking at Point Lobos outside Carmel (California) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget



My family liked hiking in Point Lobos just three miles south of Carmel, California, so when my daughter’s Waldorf School asked for chaperones for a geology field trip there I readily accepted.

Point Lobos juts out with jagged coves into the Pacific with waves crashing all around it.  Gnarled cypress tree forests create many photo opportunities.  The name “lobos” comes from Spanish for “sea wolves,” referring to the sea lions that Spanish explorers saw. 

Europeans first arrived in 1769 to this area where descendants of what is called the Ohlone tribe lived.  Whaling was practiced here and there was an abalone cannery in operation at one time, too.  The photographers Edward Weston (1886 – 1958) and Ansel Adams (1902 – 1984) both photographed Point Lobos for posterity.   Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 – 1894) is also said to have drawn his inspiration for Treasure Island from Point Lobos.

When our school group arrived, a reserve docent gave us a tour and talked about the two main rock types at Point Lobos: igneous Santa Lucia granite and sedimentary Carmelo Formation.

The Santa Lucia granite was formed below the earth’s surface, uplifted, exposed, and then worn down by waves and weather into diverse forms.  We walked along the beach and took pictures of all the jutting granite.  Granite is an igneous rock formed by the cooling and hardening of lava.  Santa Lucia granite is called intrusive, because it forms underground.

We walked through a meadow of poison oak (no touching allowed!) to view sedimentary Carmelo Formation rock.  Carmelo Formation is a sedimentary rock that is formed by mineral and/or organic deposits on rocks that form layers.  (I wondered if the organic deposits were bird feces called guano.)

These two types of rock formed different types of sand, which the reserve docent showed us.  Igneous Santa Lucia granite makes fine-grained sand that is deposited by waves.  Sedimentary Carmelo Formation rock makes “large pebble” sand that rolls around in storm surf.

Once our formal tour was over, we broke into two groups.  I took my group to see the whaling cabin.  The most interesting there was the whale jawbone on display.

I picked it up and lowered the jawbone over my head and said, “I don’t think I would go swimming with a whale.”  Some species of whale just eat plankton (microscopic plants) and krill (microscopic crustaceans), but other species eat fish, shrimp, squid, sea lions, walruses, seals, sharks, and sea birds.

Sea lions and their pups were on the beach where the whaling station was.

“Don’t go down there.  They might hurt you defending their children,” I said.

We all watched the sea lions play with their children and rest.  Even the rowdy students in the class were transfixed and quiet by the sea lions.

When we had to leave, I knew the students would be in an inquisitive state of mind to study mammals (warm-blooded animals whose female members carry babies inside of them till they are born) – the next unit at school.

My husband Laurent and I brought Florence back to Point Lobos to see whales surfacing and diving on their way from Alaska to Mexico.  The whole class went on a whale and dolphin watching boat trip as well.

Monterey County is very much an outdoor classroom.


By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Monday, March 9, 2015

Attending the Santa Rosalia Italian Festival in Monterey, Calfornia with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget



Attending the Santa Rosalia Italian Festival in Monterey, California with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget



Summertime means festivals on Fishermans’ Wharf in Monterey, California.  My favorite festivals when I lived in Monterey were the Turkish, Greek, and Italian ones.

My husband Laurent and I took our daughter Florence to all of them to get doner kebab, Greek desserts, and pasta.  Florence learned the words to many of Dean Martin’s songs and especially liked going to the Santa Rosalia or Italian Festival.

I had to move to Monterey with its large Sicilian community to participate in an Italian festival despite having traveled to Italy several times.

Monterey’s Santa Rosalia Festival commemorates this saint’s saving the Sicilian city of Palermo from the bubonic plague in 1624 when she appeared to a young Matteo Bonello.  She told him to go to her hermit’s cave and dig up her bones so he could scatter them in every corner of the city, which ended the plague.

In Palermo, they still parade Rosalia’s image to thank her for succor.  In Monterey, her image is paraded down Alvarado Street from the San Carlos Cathedral to the Wharf where a mass is said to bless the fishing fleet.

Before the procession arrives, there is plenty to do at the Santa Rosalia Festival.  Bocce ball players roll baseball-sized, leaden balls towards a ping-pong sized ball at the end of a lane as long as a bowling alley.  A player makes a good shot when his ball gets very close to the white ball.

A player makes an excellent shot if he (it is invariably a ‘he’ who plays) can get his ball to the white ball while knocking one of his opponent’s balls away from the white one.  There are no scorecards, but obviously a predetermined number of times you can roll your balls, because the players change ends of the lane a few times.

I just enjoyed listening to the aficionados cheer as I sipped Moretti dark beer.  (Italy’s northeastern corner was Austrian at one time and has a beer-drinking heritage.)

The food offerings at the Santa Rosalia Festival feature the foods of southern Italy.  I like penne puttanesca, which appears to be Roman.  Penne are short, hollow tubes cut at an angle that are good at catching sauce.  Puttanesca sauce gets it savor from capers, garlic, anchovies, olives, and tomatoes fried in olive oil and topped off with parsley and basil.

At our first of many Santa Rosalia Festivals, we ate and drank as the procession from San Carlos Cathedral paraded past our table in the sunshine.  A high school marching band did their steps double time, which garnered applause from the presto lovers in the audience.

Then came a phalanx of spit-polished 1970s convertibles crowned with two or three teenaged beauties, wearing white gowns with their hair up in buns that were topped off with diadems.  They played the part of beauty queen well, waving to the crowd with some of them blowing kisses.

Finally, the float with Santa Rosalia’s statue came down the Wharf.  Little girls wearing blue angel outfits, who were too shy to move, graced the float.

“That’s my granddaughter to the right of Santa Rosalia,” one of the ladies said to another one at our table.

“I made her costume,” she sweetly boasted.

“She’s adorable,” I said.

“I know! I know!  Thank you,” came grandma’s proud reply.

A boat float with little boys on it passed by signaling the end of the parade.

I loved being part of the pageantry and settled back to listen to more Dean Martin music and dance the chicken dance with Florence each time it was announced, so we could have some silly fun.


By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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