Native Plant Sale at Berkeley Botanic Garden

The Berkeley Botanic Garden in Strawberry Canyon is having a rare sale, tonight (April 27, 2-7:30 pm) and tomorrow (10 am-2pm).

MouseKicks

Mouse Tricks

When I was a child, people at a nearby park would often form human pyramids and perform other gymnastic feats. Here are the mice, balanced carefully.

Puffins can be found in California

And not to forget my favorite birds: puffins. Here are some puffin links. Puffins are hard to spot in the wild, since they like to nest on sheer cliffs over the ocean. There are nests at Point Reyes.



British Columbia Puffins, Puffins in Seward, Alaska.

Peregrine Falcons -- Urban Birds of Prey

One of an urban-dweller's only defenses against the hordes of pigeons which can be hazardous to hair and hats, is the peregrine falcon. You may have heard the phrase, "She Stoops to Conquer" -- which comes from the term for a falcon's bullet-like dive to break the neck of a bird flying below it.

I learned recently about George and Gracie, a peregrine falcon pair that has been nesting on top of the PG&E building near the foot of Market Street in San Francisco. There's even a webcam on their nest: http://www2.ucsc.edu/scpbrg/index.htm


Here's George.

-- Rachel

Rainy Morning Photos: Yellow Iris, Long Silver Grass

I took these photos early last week (maybe April 10?). -- Rachel

Tiny Scissors

A birthday gift from my sister (delayed by the Post Office).

These scissors came from a vendor whose contact info is: phone (859) 881-0377, fax -1927.

Mouse Square Dance: Grand Right-and-Left

A Grand Right-and-Left takes everyone around the circle and usually begins with an "allemande left" where partners link left hands and walk around each other. In the grand right and left, men go one direction around the circle (usually counterclockwise), women go another (usually clockwise); so each dancer takes the hand presented to them and walks past to the next dancer. When they get back to their partner, usually the caller says, "swing your partner and promenade home" -- so the couples embrace and go around each other, then link both hands (often crossed in a sort of figure-8 pattern) and walk back to their original spot in the square.

-- Rachel

Mouse Square Dance: Do Si Do

(Pronounced dough see dough, it means "back to back".) The mice are learning to square dance!

Flaked-Out Mice

The mice had a busy weekend, so they are all taking a nap.

Hobby Theaters -- Card-table Sized

One fascinating store that I visited during a trip to London sold miniature theaters printed on paper, for cutting out, assembling, and using to produce your own plays. One could buy theaters, scenery, sheets of drawings of people in various costumes (with the sizes of the people scaled to match the sizes of the theaters). I could never decide which one, and hoped to return to the store, but I never did.

http://www.kannikskorner.com/toytheater/abouttoy.htm

When I did a websearch hoping to find them, I turned up the Kannik's Korner site. They're not in London, but here in the U.S., and I immediately purchased a theater.

The Kannik site is full of interesting information; one can buy plays, see photos of the lightweight wood frames which are used behind the scenes to give structure to the paper facades, and read discussions of such topics as how to use moving wave backdrops!

For anyone hoping to wean their children away from too much television -- or with a budding actor, playwright, or drama queen in the family -- this site might be fun to explore.

-- Rachel

Unusual Folding Fork

I was amazed by this unfolding fork -- at first I tried to rotate the back portion like a clock hand, but then I realized the two parts were hinged, and the hole-and-spoke mechanism merely locks everything in place. -- Rachel Holmen

Group Hug -- Fourth Mouse Reunited with Friends

Da Splits

Amazing East-European Easter Egg

I bought this fabulous hand-painted, empty egg at Sweet Adeline in Berkeley. Here are two more views of this fabulous egg. -- Rachel

Welcome back, Stephen!

My co-worker has been away from the office for several weeks, so the mice are celebrating now that he's back.

-- Rachel

MousePlay