HIKE ON DOWN TO THE LOCAL OCCUPY MOVEMENT

It has been a chilly week with wind and rain clouds, and so when I saw a posting on a social networking group that asked for hot food to be brought to the Occupy San Francisco encampment, I decided to make some soup and take an urban hike.

With my two-year-old daughter pulling her Red Flyer wagon, loaded with paper bowls, cups, spoons, and a towel or two, and myself carrying a five gallon vat of vegetable soup, we arrived at Justin Herman Plaza, a little nervous, and a little excited.

For two months, I've heard about the Occupy movements across the globe. I've supported them in spirit, but hadn't made the trek to an encampment. I believe in the reasons for the Occupy movement--the non violent protest against Wall Street--and I'm furious about the deregulated capitalism that has caused so many problems in my life, including an imminent foreclosure. I don't know what my financial future will be like, and my child's future is completely blank. I've had lots of excuses as to why I couldn't get down to the local Occupy movement: I've got a toddler, I've got graduate school work, I've got an old mom who needs me more and, frankly, I'm busy. Yes, I'm BUSY. I'M JUST FRICKIN BUSY. And besides, what would I do down there?

Bringing soup was the right thing.

Right away, an activist saw me lugging my pot and offered to carry it, leading me to a central location where I could serve soup (there was a choice to donate my soup to the food tent, but I wanted to dip the ladle in the pot and get to meet some occupiers).

My toddler enjoyed the experience too. She eagerly distributed spoons, and if anyone forgot a spoon, she squawked and waved at them. Finally she turned to me and said, "You too! You too!" which in her language means "Me too! Gimme some soup!" She ate a bowl along with everyone else.

My grandmother, Marie Louise, with
my uncle, David, when they still
lived in Germany during WWII

It's funny, but I thought later about a story my mother once told me, about how her parents, who had immigrated with her and my uncle from war-torn Berlin to Long Island, reacted to Senator McCarthy's anti-Communist campaign in the 1950s. "It is like the Nazi regime is starting in America," my grandfather said. His cousin, Peter Yorck, had been hung with piano wire for being involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler. If my grandfather had been caught by the Nazis for his own clandestine activism (he was a spy for the British) he would have been killed. Perhaps my mother would have been killed too. Perhaps I wouldn't have been born.

When my grandparents moved to America to be free from oppression, and learned about what McCarthy was doing, they took action against him as best as they could. My grandmother obtained some anti-McCarthy leaflets, and she took my mother, who was maybe four years old, and went down to the local passenger train station to distribute them.

My mom has faint memories of passing out fliers to commuters who normally rushed to their train, but stopped to see what this little girl was holding up in her hand.

My mother became a Civil Rights activist, then an anti-war activist, and finally a social worker. She likes to say that the childhood experience of passing out leaflets in the busy train station was her first moment of activism. I once thought to myself, Gosh, so Grandma used you? I've come to believe that we have only one life in this lifetime, and we can be silent and make excuses when the government mistreats its people--I've got a small child, I said, and so I shouldn't do anything but bring her to the playground and sing "Ring Around the Rosie"--or we can work to make the world a better world.

Within twenty minutes, all of the soup was gone. I've never met so many thankful, kind people who made it clear how important a cup of hot soup is for morale.

As my kid and I walked through the camp with our empty soup pot, someone called, "Thank you for the soup! Thank you for bringing your kid! We need more children here!" Genevieve raised her own hand up and shouted "Bye bye!" She was all about solidarity.

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For more information, please visit these sites:

• OCCUPY TOGETHER
• Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

Justin Herman Plaza, site of San Francisco's Occupy Movement

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SIMPLE VEGETABLE SOUP RECIPE
Ingredients

• a couple pounds of washed red potatoes, cut into big chunks
• an onion, chopped
• 5-6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 4-5 scrubbed carrots, chunked
• a half pound of Brussels sprouts, cut in half
• a couple handfuls of cherry tomatoes 
• two zucchini chopped into quartered pieces
• half a bag of frozen corn
• a glug or two of olive oil
• salt, pepper, and several dashes of hot sauce to taste
• two handfuls of grated Parmesan cheese
• herbs (I used marjoram and parsley from my garden)

Cooking Directions

Get the biggest sized pot you have and fill it a little over three-quarters full of water and set it to boil. Toss in the onion, garlic, and oil. Toss in the potatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Wait a couple minutes, then add carrots. Add the rest of the ingredients in the last twenty minutes. The zucchini and tomatoes will melt down and help create a great broth, but the potatoes will still retain their shape. Total cooking time is about thirty minutes, maybe a hair longer. Taste and see. 

Secure the lid with a rolled up kitchen towel, and place in a box; stuff towels in the corners to keep it from slipping about. If you have a wagon, it might fit in there, or you might have to carry it. Bring bowls and/or cups, spoons (not necessary, but nice), and overcome any hesitation to say hello to people.

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Please spread the word about the OCCUPY Movement...    Let's make a change.

Not Lost in Berkeley's Tilden Park

Lake Anza

On another cold-ass day in San Francisco, wind and fog blowing in off the Pacific right from the morning on, I set out with my baby hoping for a bit of East Bay sunshine. Tilden Park was the destination, and in that green, hilly swath, Lake Anza.

"You can get lost in Tilden Park," I sometimes tell folks, and their eyebrows always get crazy, one up, one down.  I was last in Tilden Park in my early college days, and I was lost all night long. Go ahead, laugh. I was with a group of friends, packing j's and beer, probably. We left the trail to climb a hill and stargaze. Of course we went wandering. We ended up walking for hours. We had no sense of direction. Where the hell was Berkeley? Then there was an enormous explosion, lighting up the sky, but *that* is another story. Suffice to say, Tilden Park is long and deep, and mysterious.

Advice to folks meeting there: choose an easy meeting spot--Little Farm, or Lake Anza. Cell phones struggle for signals amongst the big trees.

Back to Hill Babies. My momma friends, their toddlers, my toddler, and I planned to visit Lake Anza for a swim and picnic first, perhaps a walkabout. Then Little Farm, a kid-lovin' wonderland where you're encouraged to feel celery and lettuce to the animals (think big brown cows, curly-horned sheep, baby pigs, ducks, bunnies, chickens, goats).

Lo and behold, the East Bay had sunshine, cloudless skies, and a brisk wind. Babies don't mind. They made a bee-line to the water's edge, those tiny aquatic monkeys, those baby humans. Itchy-snail larvae be-damned! (Yes. *Sigh* There was a sign we noticed later about "swimmer's itch" caused by tiny snails in Lake Anza--but no worries, nobody got it.)

One of my friends thought to bring celery, which certainly heightened the positive experience of Little Farm. It's interesting to note that toddlers who had pet dogs were much more at ease with the cows, for instance, compared to my daughter who loves a cow in a book, but tried to burrow into my neck at Little Farm when faced with the real deal.

From a mom's perspective, Tilden Park is awesome for kids. Besides the countless trails, the swimming, the animals, other "features" include a steam train, a merry-go-round, an environmental education center, and botanic gardens. (Forget the damn golf course, seriously. Let the weeds grow.)

Happy travels, and know that if you get lost, don't worry--eventually you'll end up in Berzerkley.


From  Tilden Park's Official Website 
Address: Entrances off Wildcat Canyon Road and Grizzly Peak Boulevard in Berkeley, CA

Download Brochure

Open between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m. unless otherwise posted or permitted

LAKE ANZA 1 (888) 327-2757 option 3, ext. 4563

Note: Facility is closed from 9 a.m.-11 a.m. for maintenance and training purposes.  Patrons who enter earlier than 9 a.m.  must leave during this period and re-enter after 11 a.m. Lifeguards and entry fees weekends only through Sept 25 11a.m.  – 6 p.m.  (also open weekdays with no lifeguards or fees) Sept. 26 – Oct. 31 open daily,  no lifeguards or fees WHEN LIFEGUARDS ARE NOT ON DUTY, SWIMMING AT YOUR OWN RISK PERMITTED IN ROPED-OFF AREA ONLY. Swim area closes for winter November 1st.

Free: 1 yr.  under $2.50 1-15 yrs. $3.50 16-61yrs.

LITTLE FARM (510) 544-2233

Open Daily 8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

No charge

Useful Links:

• Tilden Park Website
• Redwood Valley Railway
• Swimmers Itch Website 
• Berkeley

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SPECIAL SUMMER TRAVEL: ARUNDEL CASTLE, ENGLAND

Arundel Castle

ARUNDEL FOR KIDS

Special posting by Tiki Stew: DJ, father and all around good bloke

Tiki Stew in the middle with his son

Arundel Castle is the perfect castle because it has all the elements of a good castle, and it wasn't a complete ruin with a small museum, like a lot of castles are. (And there was Michael Jackson there, eh? She was a woman in her sixties with a large Afro. She seemed to be white but had a very high voltage sunburn, and her jacket had loads of zips. She had orange lipstick and loads of phones.) My daughter was reluctant to go upstairs at the Keep because it was quite high but when we saw one of the guards (aka Michael Jackson), her fear turned to laughter. (I think Michael twigged, but rather than lose her job she kept schtunned, and we beat it.)


NOT TO MISS for KIDS

• The room with all the swords--the Armory room. 
• In the dungeon there was a dummy that my kids liked because my son said he had no clothes on and green feet. I said the moss had made his feet go green. 



Picnic on the castle grounds

• In the chapel there was a monk, and I took his habit off and he had the proper monk haircut. And there was a dummy behind him who had no face. 

AMENITIES
The castle had the best toilets ever, with hot and cold running water. The thing I liked about it, was the toilets, the cafe, the gift shop was all still in the castle. And the kids loved the chocolate cake. 

ARUNDEL CASTLE

Special posting by SARA KERRY

The view of the northeast from the Keep

It is a proper castle with proper turrets and amazing gardens [note from Tiki Stew: not "Tourette's" that is, but "turrets"]. I think it is a great for anyone who wants a day out in Sussex because it has brilliant landscaped, ornamental gardens. We actually ran out of time---it closed before we were finished. There is also some impressive fine art because they had Canaletto and Gainsborough landscapes and portraits. I liked the juxtaposition of the old and new, including the family history with new family photos along with the old shit.  

ARUNDEL CASTLE 

Special posting by Marshall Dow Hahn-Taylor, rock solid spouse 

Descending the stairs in the Keep

In the distance Arundel Castle looks absolutely fairy tale, almost unreal.  That one family would inhabit such a place seems ridiculously posh.  Apparently they open it up to the public tours to help maintain the vast property.  There must be a square mile of furniture, flooring and fittings to dust, sweep and polish.  Just living there would cause one to get the recommended daily allowance of walking.  Just popping down for a little snooker in the billiards room from any of the bedrooms is a several minute stroll.  It's beautifully appointed, but I can't imagine living there.  Maybe it's just my proletariat blood, but there's little about the place that says `cozy'.  It's a bit like living in vast museum devoted to the decorative arts.

The original Keep, built in 1067 by Earl Roger

THE HISTORY BEHIND ARUNDEL CASTLE

Special posting by Laura Jane Waters, 

authentic British lady and history geek

The castle was founded in 1067 by Roger de Montgomery, one of William the Conqueror's most loyal supporters. He had been rewarded for his support during the successful Norman invasion of 1066 with lands covering a third of the county of Sussex and the Earldom of Arundel, with the stipulation that he built a castle close to the mouth of the River Arun to protect the coast from attack. The original castle was a motte and bailey (mound and courtyard) with a wooden keep (tower) built high up on the motte.

Walking towards the castle Keep

Earl Roger's son Robert inherited the castle and Earldom and fought against the next king, Henry I. The king retook Arundel Castle and banished the Earl to Normandy. When Henry I died, his wife remarried and the castle passed into the Albini family. They rebuilt the Keep in stone in 1138. On her death Henry II inherited the estate and built the main castle.  Arundel remained in the Albini family until the 13th century when it passed through marriage to the Fitzalan family. In the 16th century Henry Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel, was the last of his line and when his daughter married Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, Arundel Castle passed to the Howard family where it has since remained.

The Fitzalan Chapel and Barbican (gatehouse) can be found in the castle grounds - they were built in the 1380s.  During the English Civil War (1640s) cannons were placed on the roof of the chapel by the parliamentarian forces (supporters of the government against the Royalists, who were loyal to the King). The barbican was damaged by cannon balls. The castle was eventually taken and parts of it were blown up when the troops left in 1653. Massive restoration was undertaken in the 19th century.

DON'T MISS

• The Armoury - including a rare 15th century jousting saddle and the 14th century Mongley sword that formerly belonged to the Castle Warden.
• An amazing collection of paintings by artists including Canaletto, Gainsborough and Van Dyck plus family portraits - look out for the 3rd and 4th Earl of Norfolk who plotted and schemed their way through Tudor and Elizabethan England.
• The magnificent Victorian Gothic interiors, considered to be some of the finest in England. The house was almost completely rebuilt between the 1870s and 1890s. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited Arundel and you can see furniture made specially for them in the Queen Victoria's Bedroom. In 2009 Arundel was used as a location for the film YOUNG VICTORIA.
• The spectacular Collector Earl's Garden, a formal garden opened in 2008 and inspired by Jacobean garden design, particularly those which may have existed at Arundel House in London in the early 1600s.  



Outside of Fitzalen Chapel, where the ancestors are interred

Climbing a garden tree

Castle gardens with the cathedral in the background

Arundel Castle 

At the playground just down the street from Arundel Castle

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Consider the following points of interest for Hill Babies in the area:

• Arundel Castle website
• hiking Devil's Dyke (about 5 miles)
• hiking the Seven Sisters (up to 12 miles)
• walking from Brighton to Hove Lagoon (2.5 miles each way)
• playing at Stoneham Recreation Ground in Hove
• exploring Brighton Pier
• exploring the battlefield where Normans fought Anglo-Saxons in 1066 

Hard to leave the castle

SPECIAL SUMMER TRAVEL: ROYAL PAVILION of BRIGHTON, ENGLAND

Special posting by Laura Jane Waters, authentic British lady and history geek

HISTORY OF THE ROYAL PAVILION

The Prince of Wales (b.1762) first came to Brighton in 1783 to escape from the restrictive court of his father King George III. He enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the small town, and rented a house there for the following few social seasons. By 1786-7 he had commissioned an architect, Henry Holland, to convert and extend a farmhouse in the centre of town. From 1801-4 it was further extended and the interior was redecorated. Finally between 1815 and 1823 it was almost totally rebuilt and redecorated in the Indian and Chinese style by architect John Nash and interior decorators Frederick Crace and Robert Jones.

(no photos allowed inside...)

The Prince finally became King George IV in 1821 but by then he was in ill-health and spending most of his time at Windsor. He died in 1830 and one of his brothers became King William IV. When he died in 1837 their niece Victoria became Queen. She visited only a few times before she purchased Osborne House on the Isle of Wight as a more private Royal Family summer home, and sold the Pavilion to the town. Most of the contents and furnishings were removed to the other royal residences and parts of the service wings were demolished.

Tea on the grounds outside

During the First World War, the Pavilion was used firstly as a military hospital for Indian soldiers injured fighting for the Empire on the Western Front and then as a hospital for limbless British troops. After the war restoration of the state rooms began in earnest, particularly under the directorship of Henry Roberts and with the support of Queen Mary who began the ongoing return and loan of some of the original contents from the Royal Collection. The Pavilion was opened to the public, largely for functions and community use, until the 1970s when it was finally devoted to its own display.

Restoration continues and the Pavilion is now Brighton's most famous and iconic landmark and visitor attraction. It is the only former Royal palace now in local government ownership, and a fine monument to Regency culture. It is the flagship site for the five museums owned by Brighton and Hove City Council.

DON'T MISS

• the fabulous Banqueting Room and Music Room, designed for lavish entertaining and the kitchens which were so impressive for their time that George even took his guests in here!
• ongoing restoration in the Saloon - check out the delicate gold leaf being painstakingly applied to the cornices around the ceiling. If you visit in the week you may be able to talk to the conservator!



Hill Baby with a stroller found in the trash bin

• a small display on the upper floor about the Indian Military Hospital with period film, paintings and photographs
• changing annual displays in the new Prince Regent Gallery - until Feb 2012 you can check out Dress for Excess, with examples of Georgian costume displayed around the building and an exhibition about the Prince Regent in the gallery at the end of the visitor route

Musician Linos Wengara Magaya outside the Pavilion

• delicious seasonal/local food and drink in the Queen Adelaide Tea Room on the upper floor, with a balcony that is open for the summer months
• the views from the Pavilion gardens - there is a lovely cafe here between April and September (but watch out for the scavenging seagulls) and the flowers are spectacular in the summer months

Laura Waters, history buff and guest writer for Hill Babies

Snapdragons in their summer best

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Contemplating the history of the Royal Pavilion

Consider the following points of interest for Hill Babies in the area:

• hiking Devil's Dyke (about 5 miles)
• hiking the Seven Sisters (up to 12 miles)
• walking roundtrip to Hove Beach (2.5 miles each way)
• playing at Stoneham Recreation Ground in Hove
• hanging out on Brighton Pier
• exploring Arundel Castle
• walking around the battlefield where Normans fought Anglo-Saxons in 1066

SPECIAL SUMMER TRAVEL: DEVIL'S DYKE, ENGLAND

The western view from Devil's Dyke

Local legend has it the Devil was sick of the pious townsfolk with all their quaint little churches in southeast England. He had the brilliant idea to dig a great ditch to the English Channel, hoping he'd open the floodgates to drown all those irritating churchgoers.   He set to work digging his ditch, calculating that he should dig until dawn.

It happened that a little old lady with nothing better to do than stay up late and peek out her window, spied the Devil and his massive shovel, and figured he was up to no good. She lit a candle and stuck it on her windowsill. The light of the candle woke her rooster, who promptly puffed out his chest and cock-a-doodle-dooed, thinking it was morning. Wiping the sweat from his red brow, the Devil figured it was morning and tromped on home to get some shut-eye. 

Suffice to say, the Devil didn't go back to his digging, and the valley was never flooded. 

Tiki Stew and Sara Kerry -- the devils afoot

We actually didn't walk very far, but I have read that the trail is about five miles and circular. It is up and down steep valley sides, so not stroller-friendly. 

Sara Kerry and the devilish Hill Baby

There's a pub at the parking lot where you can find hearty English food, a stiff drink, and toilets. Keep an eye out for bunnies--they are everywhere. And if you don't want to drive there, you can take an open-top bus from the centre of Brighton in the summer. 

At the Devil's Dyke

Contemplating the interrupted handiwork of the Devil

Links
National Trust (info on Devil's Dyke and other hikes)
Wikipedia article about the Weald
Devil's Dyke website w/detailed travel instructions

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SUMMER SPECIAL: SHAM CASTLE IN BATH, ENGLAND

Sham Castle on Bathwick Hill

While I was bathing in a geothermal pool with my British girl friend, Laura, soaking our barking dogs after a rambling day, much like the Romans did here a thousand years ago, my husband and our daughter hiked to a hilltop to get a view of Bath, England. From the city center, Sham Castle is about three miles roundtrip, and up such a steep hill that my husband ditched the stroller in some bushes two-thirds of the way in.

Their destination was Sham Castle on Bathwick Hill. While my view for the next hour and a half was of other tourists' heads bobbing over a steamy pool,  my husband and daughter breathed fresh air, looking over the ancient city of Bath, nestled in the green hills of southwestern England, and played around the false front of a castle.

Crossing the Pulteney Bridge from central Bath, father and daughter set out. They passed Laura Circle, rounded the Holburne Museum of Art, meandered through the Sydney Gardens, across the railroad trestle and over the Kennet and Avon canal, ever climbing upwards, towards the Bath Golf Club located next to Sham Castle.

Eventually they walked up a road bordered on one side by National Trust pastureland dotted with cattle and historic homes on the other. After a long shady grade, they made a left turn up the one lane Bath Golf Club road.  Upon seeing the grand entry gate to the golf club, they made a right up the hill along a forested single track path for around a 100 yards before coming to a mowed clearing.

Rising from the lawn was the picture perfect castle facade. In 1762,  Ralph Allen commissioned Sham Castle to be built so that he could have a better view out of his windows. It was a monument to fantasy and whimsy, maybe only fifty feet wide. From the backside it looked like there was a door to get up into the tower (so it wasn't a completely superficial facade) but the door was padlocked. So father and daughter played on hide-and-seek on the grass, until they began their walk downhill to meet me in the city center.

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