February 5 – Western Monarchs in Pismo

Posted on February 5, 2014


Have you ever seen hundreds of thousands of orange butterflies blanketing tall eucalyptus trees? Most of the butterflies look like leaves that barely move in the breeze-sheltered grove, but a few flutter from branch to branch. 

 When I first went to see the migrating monarchs, I saw the few flying butterflies and was dazzled by how many there were. Maybe 100 or so! In nature, when do you see 100 identical-looking butterflies flying around one small area at the same time? I was so excited!

My husband asked me, “You see all the butterflies in the trees, don't you?”

“Of course!” I answered. I was moving my eyes to follow their fluttery flights.

“No,” he said. “I mean, you see all the monarchs that AREN'T moving, don't you? The ones that look like leaves—not the ones flying around?”

And suddenly, just like that, I saw what he was talking about; my brain made sense of what I was seeing—and the flying butterflies became just a bit of background noise. I suddenly saw the thousands and thousands and thousands of still butterflies hanging in each and every tree.

There were so many butterflies clustered in each tree, I couldn't actually see the tree!

I couldn't see the forest for the butterflies!


Monarch butterflies are the only North American butterfly known to migrate south for the winter. Some fly hundreds of miles—some fly 3,000 miles!—to their winter homes. In my home state of California, there are groves of trees that shelter hundreds of thousands of butterflies from around November until February. One of these groves is in Pismo Beach, in Central California, where you can take a walk with docents to see the monarch clusters all through the month of February.




Learn more about monarch butterflies here, and more about their migration here. 








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Sapporo Snow Festival






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February 4 – Year of the Horse

Posted on February 4, 2014


Chinese New Year came early this year – on January 31! 

After a weekend of celebrations here, there, and everywhere—parades, parties, and fireworks—you might think that the holiday was over.

But you would be wrong.

The Chinese New Year Festival is actually a bit longer than two weeks long. In 2014, it ends on February 14, which is the date of the Lantern Festival. Between now and then, there are many special days such as God of Wealth's birthday, common person's birthday, and Jade Emperor's birthday. I think the most interesting of these (which this year falls on February 6) is Renri, the common person's birthday. According to Chinese tradition, it is supposed to be the anniversary of the date that human beings were created. It is the day that everyone adds one year to his or her age! 


(I am so used to adding a year to my age on my personal birthday; I find it fascinating to discover that, in some cultures, everyone “ups” their age on the same day!)

The spirit of the horse is energetic and capable, smart and warm-hearted. People born in the year of the horse (including 2002, 1990, 1978, 1966, and 1954) are supposed to have those good qualities.


(Since I was born in the Year of the Horse, all I can say to that is, “Well, obviously!”

Of course, the reality is that Chinese horoscope descriptions, like other horoscope and numerology descriptions, are so general and often complimentary, we can easily find ways to apply them to ourselves and others. There isn't, really, magic in numbers and dates, as you can easily see if you think about the fact that we have changed our calendars drastically since the traditions were created!)


  • On this Year of the Horse, check out the “Wild Horses of Mongolia” videos by Julia Roberts. (This is Part 1 of 5.)
  • And here is a celebratory Year of the Horse video you might enjoy. 


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Astronomer Clyde Tombaugh's birthday







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February 3 – Happy Birthday, Norman Rockwell

Posted on February 3, 2014


I enjoyed this artist's paintings in the form of jigsaw puzzles and magazine covers. Eventually, someone gave me a book that had pretty much all of his paintings and illustrations. 

I loved poring over that book!

The painter / illustrator whose 1894 birthday we celebrate today is Norman Rockwell. He was about as American as anyone with European heritage could be. He born in New York City. His ancestors came to North America way back in the early 1600s. He went to art school here in the U.S., and he began his career with such American institutions as Boy's Life, the magazine of the Boy Scouts of America, and The Saturday Evening Post.

Rockwell was what is called “prolific” – he produced more than four THOUSAND original works!


Rockwell has long been dismissed as too commercial, too sweet and idealistic, too kitsch. However, if you study his compositions, his techniques, and his most serious pieces – such as the series on racism he painted for Look magazine – you have to admit that he was successful artistically as well as commercially.


Enjoy some of Rockwell's pieces here. 

Learn more about Rockwell's life here. 

Here is a short video about Rockwell that was created by a student. And here is a much longer and professional video biography.


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Paleontologist Gideon Mantell's birthday




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February 2 – World Play Your Ukulele Day

Posted on February 2, 2014


The website that declares today “World Play Your Ukulele Day” says that the goal is to change the world “four strings at a time”!

The ukulele is a small guitar that originated in Hawaii. The Hawaiians based their instrument on the machete, which normally means a huge knife but in this case means a stringed instrument brought by Portuguese immigrants to Hawaii in the 1800s.

Did you know that the Hawaiian word “ukulele” translates (roughly) to “jumping flea”? I suppose that is what the fingers dancing over the strings reminded someone who coined the word.


It's not just Hawaiian anymore...

  • Not that there is anything wrong with Hawaiian music! Oh, my gosh, you have to check out the music video of Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole's version of “Somehwere Over the Rainbow”! How gorgeous!
  • And here is Hawaiian musician Jake Shimabukuro playing “Bohemian Rhapsody” on ukulele. 
  • Canadian musician James Hill plays his ukulele in some pretty creative ways! 
  • And here is a homemade video by Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt; they're singing a song and playing a ukulele (her) and a guitar (him).


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February 1 – Anniversary of Hatshepsut's Death

Posted on February 1, 2014

Hatshepsut, Foremost of Noble Ladies, Pharaoh of Upper and Lower Egypt, lived more than 3,500 years ago. So we are not sure of the exact date that she died in 1458 BCE.

But late January or early February is a pretty good guess.

 Hatshepsut is considered one of the most successful pharaohs. She established trade networks that contributed to the wealth of Ancient Egypt. She is the first person known to have arranged the transplant of foreign trees. (Thirty-one live myrrh trees were brought at her request from the Land of Punt to Egypt.) Hatshepsut commissioned many building projects, and some argue that her monuments and buildings were grander and more numerous than those of any earlier pharaoh. Some people say that one reason for Egypt's prosperity during Hatshepsut's reign was that money was spent on increasing trade rather than on waging war.


 I didn't realize until recently that women had relatively high status in Ancient Egypt. They had the right to own property, and they could will their property to their heirs as well as inherit property from their parents. Women pharaohs were rare, but there were a handful of other female pharaohs as well as some wives and mothers who, it is believed, ruled in their male relatives' names.

So Hatshepsut wasn't the one-and-only female pharaoh, but she was still an amazing woman!

Not everyone was a fan!

All Egyptian pharaohs bragged about their accomplishments and strengths on their monuments and buildings, and Hatshepsut was no different. She bragged less about her military victories than did most pharaohs and more about her beauty. But they all exaggerated their wonderful qualities.

Hatshepsut's cartouche
I wonder if that bragging is seen as more unpleasant in a woman than in a man. It's hard to know why, but somebody—Hatshepsut's nephew, maybe, or his son, perhaps—had many of the images and name cartouches of Hatshepsut erased, as much as he could, from the public record. In many cases that meant that her images and cartouches were literally chiseled off of the monuments!

One of my favorite books from my childhood paints Hatshepsut as a monster who spent way too much of Egypt's wealth on her own silly plans and imprisoned her nephew, the rightful ruler, years after he should've ruled. I grew up thinking that she was one of Ancient Egypt's worst rulers instead of one of her best. But that is not what historians say.

(By the way, I think everyone should read this wonderful novel. Just because it isn't true – I mean, novels AREN'T true, they are fiction! – doesn't mean it isn't a really fun read!)

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