Here in California, we have both the world’s oldest living thing and the world’s largest living thing. As long as you’re willing to be flexible with the definitions of “oldest” and “largest.” By volume, the sequoia redwood tree “General Sherman” is the largest known organism. Before you raise your hand and say “what about the […]
Category: Blog
The last two times I’ve tried to go to the stupid Devil’s Postpile, the stupid roads have been closed. Why? Because there was still too much snow up there. In July. Curse you, Nature. Why do you have to be so danged inconvenient all the time? Anyway, this meant the first day of Road Trip […]
For me, beachcombing has always been this: My mom would give us empty milk cartons and send us out on the beaches of Fort Bragg, and we’d find a bunch of broken shells. Occasional whole mussels (yawn), broken sand dollars, and top shells without their tops. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun. When you’re […]
One of my kids — let’s just call her the one in the top middle — likes to visit abandoned places. This would be cool, except for the part where abandoned places are almost always heavily posted with “danger” and “no trespassing” signs, and I’m tired of having the “we could just climb through that […]
I think I just don’t like San Francisco. Shhhh this is a very unpopular opinion in Northern California. But when you think about it, what’s to like? I mean besides the culture, the food, the sights, the history, and Tartine Bakery on Guerrero Street. First of all, you can’t make a left-hand turn anywhere. And […]
Since writers’ websites mostly just exist as a form of self-promotion, I’m going to tell you all one more time about my recent story in Undark … which also got picked up by The Atlantic and Popular Science. I’ve been trying to maintain my writerly cool, but you know, it’s hard. Anyway, gold mining has […]
Just want to share my second piece for Undark, published yesterday: The Gold Rush returns to California Demand for gold has risen in recent years. Not everyone is happy about that, especially some residents of Grass Valley.
I have been nowhere and done nothing since last October. For a start, it’s just too COVIDy out there right now. Also, it’s cold. I don’t even like to walk back and forth to my car when it’s this cold. Someone from the midwest is going to read this and go, “Haha California girl complaining […]
It is possible to have a mild migraine. I would never say this out loud because people would start throwing things at me. I’m only saying it on my blog because I know how difficult it is to throw a rotten tomato through a computer screen. People feel pretty strongly about this. Evidently, if you’re […]
Not everyone has turkey for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we do. This would not happen if it was my job to roast the turkey. I’ve never roasted anything as big as a turkey. I occasionally try to roast a chicken, but I usually do them with fingerling potatoes and a side of salmonella. I […]
