Teaching Everyday Alchemy to Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget in San Juan Bautista (California) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Teaching Everyday Alchemy to Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget in San Juan Bautista (California) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

One day I received an invitation to attend an exhibit opening, lecture, and poem readings by artist Marsha Connell at the Galeria Tonantzin in San Juan Bautista, California and decided to take my young daughter Florence along.  Connell was working in collage at the time, which I thought might interest a young girl.

When we arrived, we admired the collages, which were devoted to various goddesses representing the sacred feminine.  We sipped glasses of orange juice amongst the wine drinkers around us.  I thought it was hard to deal with the sacred feminine when you are limited to photographs of models from fashion magazines.  Connell worked around this constraint by using travel photos as counterpoints and supplements to fashion magazine photos. 

“The travel photos are antidotes,” I thought to myself.

The gallery manager invited us to take seats and the lecture began on the alchemy of creation.  Connell talked about how she made new combinations of ordinary objects such as photos to create art objects.  She said she used this method for collage as well as poetry. 

She said she looks at the world around her and wrote poetry about the sacred feminine.  You have to know a little bit about California to understand the sacred feminine, especially if you have only been exposed to American feminist thought and interpretations of art.  When I arrived in California I quickly learned that you are either a feminist or goddess here.  I would add alchemist or poet to that selection of choices, too.

The sacred feminine is religious, taking in all faiths of women.  Religious women contrary to what many people think are well educated and teach children to read and do arithmetic.  They practice and perpetuate many art forms that the non-religious pay top dollar for in galleries.  Many poets in California have been inspired by the artistry of religious women and trace its origins back to the origins of time to goddess worship or the era when god when was a woman.  Both Marija Gimbutas and Elinor Gadon have researched and written about the sacred feminine for further research.

Connell read her poems about the sacred feminine and feminine strength to grand applause.  I thought to myself, “You have to be strong to cook every night after work.”  I agreed with her wholeheartedly about feminine strength.

After the lecture, I showed Florence one of the collages I liked.

“Miss Connell put the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus in this collage,” I remarked.

“Artemis is the goddess, who loves wilderness,” Florence said.

I laughed at how her vegetarian Waldorf School had changed Artemis the hunter into a wilderness lover and no doubt a tree hugger.

“Artemis was athletic.  She liked walking and hiking.  She’s a perfect goddess for California.  Would you like this collage if I bought it for you?” I asked.

“I might.  I’d like to check the other collages before we get it,” Florence said.

I told the gallery manager we would like to buy the collage, but we wanted to look at the other collages before making a final purchase.  Florence finally said she wanted the Artemis collage.

Marsha Connell came to speak with us.  “Every girl needs a goddess picture,” I said to Marsha Connell.

“It will encourage you to exercise,” Connell said.

“I love it.  It’s going up in my bedroom,” Florence said.

“I’ll give some examples of alchemy on the way out,” I joked with Connell.

That was Florence’s first question when we left the gallery.  “I’m still not sure what alchemy is,” she said.

“Well, for starters, you’ll hear people use that word all the time in California to describe their poetry writing, sculpting, painting, drawing, and so on.  Let’s do an Artemis walk to the ice cream store, and I’ll explain more,” I said.

“People have always been trying to make gold.  In the Middle Ages, they tried to change cheap lead into gold.  The people who did it were called alchemists.  Alchemy split into two parts. The scientists became chemists.  The failed gold makers became artists, who still produced things of value just not gold.  You do alchemy at your Waldorf School everyday,” I said.

“Like what.  I’ve never heard that word before,” Florence said.

“First you have done things in textile arts that would qualify as alchemy.  You have knit and crocheted carrier bags for your recorders.  You took a single piece of yarn and used your knowledge and skill to change it into a lovely and useful item to protect a musical instrument,” I said.

“I am beginning to get it,” Florence said.

“Another alchemical thing you do at school is woodworking.  You made you own knitting needles by sanding down the ends to a point.  Then, you put beeswax on the other ends in balls to make them pretty,” I said.

“What other alchemical things do we do at school?” Florence asked.

“You’ve made beeswax candles in a mold from lump beeswax,” I said.  I smiled thinking of the French people making German crafts.  The candles did smell good when they burned, but they irritated my eyes.

“Basically, when you make something that takes on a different shape or form from what you started with or create something where there was nothing before is alchemy.  Those haiku poems that you write with your Japanese teacher are alchemy, too,” I said.

“Give me some more examples,” Florence said.

“Okay.  The artist Picasso took a bicycle seat and handlebars and put them together to look like a bull’s head.  That’s the kind of alchemy Marsha Connell does with her collages,” I said.

“I do alchemy, too,” I ventured.

“No, you don’t,” Florence said.

“I can take a bowl of heavy cream, add a little sugar, and mix it with a blender to make whipped cream,” I said.

“That’s cooking.  That’s not art,” Florence remarked.

“The French consider cooking alchemy and an art,” I said.

“I like ice cream alchemy,” Florence said as we arrived at the ice cream shop

While we ate our double scoop ice creams outside, I continued with the alchemy lecture. 

“Another form of cooking alchemy is taking hard popcorn kernals and letting them pop in hot oil.  You get popcorn that is soft from doing that,” I said.

“Making an omelet from an egg is alchemy,” I said.

“I get it now,” Florence said.

“One last thing.  Making things nice for the holidays is alchemy.  You turn everyday life into art by cooking nice meals, decorating, and putting gifts together for the holidays.  The best alchemy of all is turning your life into art,” I said.

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

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Going on an Astronomy Field Trip to Pebble Beach (CA) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Going on an Astronomy Field Trip to Pebble Beach (CA) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Note: The American Astronomical Society has many activities for K-12 students listed on its website - K-12 Activities from American Astronomical Society


I was beginning to eagerly await the parent packets that my daughter Florence’s Waldorf School sent home.  I read that my daughter’s class was going on a star gazing field trip to support work in the classroom on the topic and thought that sounded interesting. 

I volunteered to drive a carful of kids of from Seaside to Pebble Beach for the stargazing outing.  We arrived early to drive around and play on the rocks.  We finally drove to the appointed parking lot for our beach meeting point.  A blazing bonfire was burning on the beach.  The Pebble Beach golf links were behind the car.

The kids scampered down to the fire and got vegetarian marshmallows to roast.  The class mom handed me vegetarian graham crackers and chocolate bars to make ‘smores with roasted marshmallows.  They tasted great.

Florence’s teacher led the skygazing discussion.  He had a masters degree in education from Stanford and stayed with the class throughout their education according to the Waldorf model.

We began by locating Polaris, the North Star.  Florence’s teacher said the school was northeast from where we were.  He asked us to point to where the school was using Polaris.  Everyone wandered around until we reached a consensus on direction.  Teamwork begins early.

Next the teacher talked about the moon getting bigger (waxing) and getting smaller (waning).  He showed us the Milky Way Galaxy and fielded questions about UFOs and aliens.  He played shaman as well and pointed out the zodiac signs and told their stories.

Everyone was getting red cheeked and cold at this point.  We sat around the fire again and sang songs as we ate ‘smores.

I was actually getting eager to leave and helped put out the bonfire.  I was nervous the Pebble Beach CEO Clint Eastwood might show up at any time and shout, “Put the that bonfire out now, you ragamuffins.”

I got my car loaded up with kids and marshmallows for the trek home.  I noticed my gas tank was empty.  I could not find my way to an exit.  There are no streetlights in Pebble Beach and few signs to indicate exits.

The junior astronomers all told me, “Find Polaris, Ruth, to get to Country Club Gate.”  That gate was by their school and gas stations.

“Ask someone,” one of the kids remarked.

“Where?” I said as we drove through forest.

“There’s lions, tigers, and bears out there,” another kid remarked.

“Actually, they have mountain lions in Pebble Beach,” I said.  “Nobody is getting out of the car.  They have skunks here, too,” I said.

“Ew!” the kids said in unison.

My engine warning signal started beeping just as we found an exit – not the one I wanted, but I wanted out.  The road led through the forest to the freeway.  If I ran out of gas and blocked traffic, I knew the police would come.

We had mountain lion sightings on the way home.

“Did you see those orange eyes?!  Speed up, Ruth!” was a typical comment.

When we approached Seaside, the kids were wondering if lions came out during the Pro-Am golf tournament.

“They hide during the day,” I said.

“Pebble Beach is dangerous.  I’m glad we don’t have mountain lions in Seaside,” one of my little guests commented.

“We have coyotes where we live,” Florence remarked.

We dropped kids off at their homes.  I took Florence’s sleepover friends home and gave them some real food – delivery pizza.

Florence’s school focused on naked eye stargazing.  I wanted to do more than that at home.  One of my husband’s degrees is in physics and we wanted to amplify stargazing work.  We bought an equatorial mount telescope, and my husband showed Florence how to use it.

The sky by the coast is incredibly clear.  We used the sky maps in Rick Shaffer’s Your Guide to the Sky to identify constellations by season.

I had read E.C. Krupp’s books and found his book Skywatchers, Shamans, & Kings: Astronomy and the Archaeology of Power to be very useful in discussing astronomy in other cultures.

I showed Florence our globe and the area under the equator.  “The area under this line is called the Southern Hemisphere.  The people here see different stars and constellations, so they have different names for what they see and different stories,” I said.

We looked at images of observatory towers at in Macchu Pichu (Incan Civilization) and designs of astronomical symbols from the Mayan and Aztec Empires.

“People in power have always had control over who knows about the skies,” I said to Florence.

“For example, in China the emperor’s astronomers told him about the changes in seasons.  In spring, he would plant the first seeds to show that he was in charge of the country’s being fed.  Kings who knew astronomy like in Babylonia were called priest-kings,” I told her.

We went through more of Skywatchers, Shamans, & Kings and looked at Native American astronomical sites in California, Stonehenge in England, and Carnac in France.

“We also have to watch the sky to see if meteors are going to hit us,” I said.  “One of the theories about how the moon formed is that a meteor hit the earth and created the Pacific Ocean while the moon was put into orbit,” I told her.

“That’s scary,” Florence said.

“Not if you prepare for it,” I remarked.  “Studying science and math, which is the language of science, is very important for knowing how to deal with the skies.”

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

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Duke of Windsor Married Wallis Simpson Chateau by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting the Chateau where the Duke of Windsor Married Wallis Simpson with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

On the way to Château de Candé outside Tours, in Monts, France, I told my daughter Florence that we were going to see the castle where a real love story wedding took place.

Candé is the château where the Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII of England) married the American Wallis Simpson.

“The English king loved his American sweetheart so much that he gave up his throne for her,” I told Florence.  I was sure he had investment income and other resources to take care of him and Wallis, but he rid himself of rigmarole.

Florence was excited to see Candé, which is hidden from view and required reservations to visit months ahead of time when we visited.

There was no furniture in the château when we entered, but it had been remarkably well preserved.  The first room we visited had iron grips on the fireplace.  Our guide told us that men would hold onto these grips when they had wet boots.  They would dangle their feet close to the fire and dry their shoes after a hunt.  We took a picture of Florence doing this.  I thought she had visited some pretty nice spots in her day.

The second room we visited was a study in luxury.  Instead of wallpaper, the walls were covered with patterned leather from Cordoba, Spain.  The leather was soft to the touch.  Several of Candé’s owners had been Spanish, which would explain this lovely addition to the château.

The Duke of Windsor married Wallis Simpson in the library.  The bookshelves were full of English books.   The one-of-a-kind organ came from America and could be played by key or scroll.

The Art Déco marble bathrooms had modern toilets, tubs, and sinks.  The marble was green and the floor tile was white porcelain.  I turned on the bathroom lights and let Florence look at herself in the Art Déco mirror.

The Château de Candé was built in 1313.  Its most illustrious owner was François Briçonnet, the mayor of Tours and state treasurer.  In 1927, Charles Bedeux bought the château and installed modern plumbing and central heating.  He also built a golf course, tennis court, gymnasium, and solarium.  Fern Bedeau left the castle and grounds to the French state upon her death in 1972.

“You go to play in a real château,” I told Florence as we left to go home through the forest.

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

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Learning How to Draw Wildflowers with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Learning How to Draw Wildflowers with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

I always looked forward to going through the parent packet that my daughter Florence’s Waldorf School sent home every week. 

I read that an upcoming field trip for my daughter’s class would be a wildflower drawing adventure in Big Sur at the Garrapata State Beach and Park.

“If you know how to draw this will be a fun outing, but if you don’t, this will be a long rotten field trip,” I thought to myself.

Florence’s drawing skills were okay, because I drilled her in math constantly and did not want her to spend her time tracing unicorns in fantasy coloring books.  Drawing skills take just as much time and resources to master at home as math skills.  I knew drawing was important for making story boards for film directors, which Florence wanted to do as a career, so I was going to show Florence some drawing skills that I had learned in school.

I took out some Renaissance art history books and told Florence, “Shapes are in the background of many paintings.”  I showed her works by Raphael, in particular, and pointed out how triangles were used to position figures and help viewers read the painting.  We went through art books and figured out what geometric figures were in the background of the paintings.

Then, I took out the National Audobon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region that I used myself for hiking and walking by the ocean.  This book was not a drawing book, but it was what I had on hand to teach drawing.

“When you draw a flower, there are two main parts to draw: the flower and the leaves.  The leaves are the hardest part to draw.  Do them last,” said to Florence.

To start I showed Florence a drawing of a daisy in the book.

“When you draw a flower, decide what shapes to use and count the number of petals,” I said.

I went through the rest of the field guide, asking Florence to identify shapes to use to draw the flowers we looked at and explained symmetry as well.  We counted numbers of petals and I told her to draw them opposite each other, so the flower would look even.  After doing this for awhile, I had her draw basic flower shapes.

“Sometimes you have to draw in pistils and stamens in the inside of the flower,” I said.  She practiced those words for spelling tests and knew what they were.

“Okay, let’s identify basic leave shapes,” I said.  We went through the book and did that, too.

“This is easy,” Florence said.

“The basic shape is easy,” I said.  “However, the detail on the shape takes a long time to draw.  Take one half of the leaf at a time and count how many shapes you have to make in the basic shape to make it realistic.  Do this in light pencil and then fill in the other half,” I said.

“I’m getting this,” Florence said.

“Color comes last and covers everything up, especially the light lines you put in to get the leaves right,” I said.

Florence was intrigued now and began drawing flowers from photographs and coloring them.

I could just hear my art history professors at the University of Chicago say to me, “You favor Renaissance Florentine artists who thought line prevailed over the Venetian colorists.”

When I picked Florence up from school on field trip day, she was all smiles and showed me her wildflower drawings.

“We hiked on the cliffs and looked at the ocean.  Then, we ate lunch and drew wildflowers,” Florence said.

The wildflower drawings were nice, but I knew the real lesson in drawing them was teaching Florence to analyze work to be done and creating a finished product based on analysis.

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

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Learning about Space Exploration with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget at the Sally Ride Space Camp at Stanford University (Palo Alto, CA) by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Learning about Space Exploration with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget at the Sally Ride Space Camp at Stanford University (Palo Alto, California) by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

One of the great advantages a raising a young girl in Monterey, California is the proximity to Silicon Valley and its educational summer camps.  After sixth grade, my husband Laurent and I enrolled our daughter Florence in a weeklong Sally Ride Science Camp at Stanford University.

Florence followed the Shoot for Stars track.  Other programs were offered and entitled Deep Sea Divas and Girl-Powered Gadgets.  On the very first day of class, Sally Ride did a talk on what she had to do for her education to become an astronaut.  She took questions from the girls.  I loved it that Sally Ride emphasized that mathematics is the language of science.  Camp counselors also used art, history, and writing to encourage scientific inquiry.

On Monday, they learned about Moon and Mars exploration as well as the past, present, and future of space exploration.

On Tuesday, they created a NASA glove box and learned how difficult it is to manipulate objects in space.  By midweek, the girls had all built rocket launchers.

The young astronauts formed exploration groups and made models of Mars to plan discovery missions.  They made hypotheses and objectives based on what they learned about Mars.  The group of girls Florence was in built and programmed Lego MindStorm Robots.  On the final day of camp, the girls drove their robots across an alien landscape much like Mars.

Women CEOs and executives from Silicon Valley also spoke and took questions from the girls at the Sally Ride Science Camp.  Ari Ripkin, who had worked on many films, spoke as did plant biochemist June Smith and Karen Drexler, a medical device executive.  I felt these women and Sally Ride had all smashed glass ceilings and probably kicked in a few doors in Silicon Valley.  They were wonderful examples of achievement for my daughter.

The young women who were camp counselors were all studying to be scientists.  A young Chinese woman who was studying at Harvard was Florence’s counselor.  I thought she was a fine example of achievement, too.

Florence wanted to work in theatre, but I feel that parents should offer their children a variety of educational and cultural activities to promote creativity and the ability to think outside the box.  Science camp is an activity that I wish more children had the opportunity to experience in their own communities for these reasons. 

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

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Going Whale Watching in Monterey Bay (California) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Going Whale Watching in Monterey Bay (California) with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget and Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

There was limited seating on the field trip to go whale watching with my daughter’s Waldorf School in Monterey, California, so I did not go along as a chaperone.  Instead, I would be the point man on land.

“Call me if you need Coast Guard Rescue.  I’ll get helicopter rescue and boats if you need it,” I told Florence’s teacher.

Her teacher did not laugh.  He got my number to be called after 911 in case of emergency.  I was going to write in a café across from the wharf while the kids were out in the Bay.

I helped zip jackets for the windy field trip.  I loved seeing the parents get on the boat with binoculars and flutes.

“Stand by the parents with flutes,” I said to Florence.  The boats have to stay 100 yards away from the porpoise and dolphin pods and whales, but these animals and the sea otters and brown pelicans come very close to the boats, especially if summoned by flute music.

The whales even swim under the boats and thwack them with their tails.  This causes chatter to die down and provides as much thrill as diving on a roller coaster.  Even the smallest humpback whales are 42 feet long and could probably overturn a boat if they wanted to.

Whales tend to surface, glide, and leave a stream of brown, smelly debris behind them.  You spend a lot of time on the boat moving around to see the whales as a guide tells you about cetaceans (whales, porpoises, dolphins and so on).

The Monterey Bay has a dense concentration of marine mammals due to the offshore canyon, which is one mile deep.  The Canyon keeps the water cool.  Even in summer, the breezes off Monterey Bay are cold.  Many tourists are unpleasantly surprised by the weather in their shorts and short-sleeved shirts.

While I was sipping chai and eating a cinnamon bun, the kids were scurrying around trying to see whales in 1 o’clock, 5 o’clock, and 7 o’clock positions.

When I went out to the wharf to get Florence, her face was cold and red.  She had kept her jacket zipped up.

“Dolphins are so cute,” she said.

“Would you like a hot chocolate,” I asked.

“Yes.”  She got one of these and a chocolate chip cookie.

I knew in the age of Harry Potter that she was proud she was brave enough to go whale watching alone.

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

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Visiting Salvador Dali's Home Town in Figueres, Spain and the Dali Museum (Monterey, CA) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting Salvador Dali's Home Town in Figueres (Spanish Catalonia) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Figueres, Spain is a nearby outing in the Catalan Pyrenees mountains from Barcelona or the Languedoc-Rousillon region of Spain.

Figueres is sought out, because it is the childhood home of Spanish artist Salvador Dali (1904 – 1989), and the site of the Dali Theater and Museum.  The Surrealist exhibition and performance space was converted from a Neoclassical building built by Jose Roca i Bros in 1850.  According to Michelin’s Guide Vert Rousillon Pays Cathar, the glass cupola over the theater was built by Emilio Perez Piñero.

I like Dali’s satiric and critical artwork, but I also went to Figueres with my husband to help Spain’s economy.  When we visited in the summer of 2015, official youth unemployment hovered around 50%.

The Spanish are working themselves out of this fiscal crisis by maximizing attendance at tourist venues I think.  We arrived at the Dali Museum at opening time and the line wound around the streets with an hour wait.  Busloads of tourists were loading more people into the streets.  It is okay to wait when you are part of a group and the distress is part of the trip story experience.  I was already considering a postcard visit.

I was a little distressed by the admission price.  The Guide Vert listed admission at 13 euros.  The Museum’s website listed admission at 14 euros.   The price listed with a sign posted at the Museum’s door was 20 euros.  You could get into the Louvre with a few more euros added to the 20 euros.  Dali would have loved this huckstering to get the economy back in shape.

I wanted to spend my money on souvenirs, so I said, “Let’s just get pictures to say we’ve been here” to my husband.  He agreed, because he was probably thinking of what parking was costing us.

The decoration of the Dali Museum is wonderful for photos.  Dali topped the Neoclassical building with large egg sculptures and put pastry puff decorations on an orange background to make it appear fairy-like.  It was a great photo op.  We discovered a way to reserve tickets several months in advance if you speak Spanish or Catalan, too, on the side of the Museum rarely stopped at by tourists running to get in line.

Then, we went to some souvenir shops.  The paucity of choices attested to the bad state of the Spanish economy.  Only posters, calendars, and postcards were on sale.  We bought calendars and many postcards. 

I bought a postcard of Dali’s The Temptation of Saint Anthony.  It is not at Figueres, but in the Royal Art Museum in Brussels, Belgium.  (I have seen it.  Temptation, as usual, takes the form of a nude woman.)  Art books and guidebooks are expensive to produce.  T-shirts are relatively expensive to make in a depressed economy.

I thought of something that might boost the local economy, though, as we went back to the parking garage.  My idea deals with beating the heat, hydrating tourists in sweltering weather, and feeding tourists; sell chilled, bottled gazpacho vegetable soup along the line to get in the museum.

Make the bottles plastic to avoid breakage problems.  You can also recycle plastic for money.  Roving refrigerated carts could sell the gazpacho like ice cream carts do in Hispanic neighborhoods in California.  Eventually, other tourist items and recycle carts could be added.

Gazpacho is made with vegetables, olive oil, bread, and ice and crushed into a refreshing drink.  The green pepper and cucumber disagree with some people.  Otherwise, the cold soup is halal, kosher, vegetarian, and vegan.  A gluten-free version can be made without bread. 

And, that is my little token of appreciation to the Dali Museum in Figueres, written Figueras in Catalan, for a ride through the mountains to fairy-like, Dali-Land.

When my husband Laurent and I returned to Monterey, California from Europe, we loved finding out that there was a Dali Museum on the wharf in Monterey.  Dali spent several years in Monterey and painted and organized lavish parties around California.  His paintings of parties and curiosities from this period in the museum make it an unexpected outing for a trip to Monterey, California.

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

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Photo by Laurent Paget