PoleWalking at Lake Merritt in Oakland

Join us on Friday afternoon, March 2, 2012 for a Nordic Walking training around beautiful Lake Merritt in Oakland.  This park has undergone an amazing transformation thanks to the voting citizens of Oakland.   Class is listed with the City of Oakland.

Nordic Walking helps you walk with the attitude of youth.  Click here for a step-by-step tutorial with video.

Photo from our bird-buddy, Len Blumin, with edited comments below.

The Redhead (Aythya americana) is sometimes seen in bays (Tomales Bay, Bodega Bay, etc.) but more often on lakes and ponds. In my limited experience they have been shy birds, always too far for a photo. Imagine our delight when this one joined all the scaups and other Aythya at Lake Merritt yesterday. Swimming with 50 feet of the Redhead were a male Tufted Duck, male Ring-necked Duck, and both sexes of the Canvasback, Lesser Scaup and Greater Scaup.   The Redhead is a pretty duck, and rather unmistakeable.  An old name for the Redhead was “American Pochard”.   If there is a better “natural” spot in the world to view the Aythya, I’d be surprised.

Danger on the Trail – Dogs, Horses, Poles and Etiquette

Yesterday a friend and I were horse-back riding in a popular riding area.  We saw a dog off leash (an absolute no-no in this area), then around the bend saw the owner walking with poles.  We called immediately to ask her to leash her dog.  Her dog came towards us growling and the horses spooked.     She called to her dog who did not come to her.  She ambled over to her dog and casually leashed it.    When finally she had her dog under control, we asked her to also please keep her poles steady.  She responded, “I know how to use my poles.”

Her poles were adjusted – on flat terrain – up to her armpits.   I rest my case.

Daily Quote for Inspiration, Motivation & Mindfulness

For several years, I’ve gotten a daily quote from Seasons for Nonviolence.   Most come with a practice which suggests ways to weave the quote into our lives.   I share this with my AdventureBuddies!

“We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room,
drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched.
Maybe this year,
to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives…
not looking for flaws, but for potential.”  ~ Ellen Goodman

Practice
Today I begin a practice of looking out for opportunity, possibility, unactualized potential.   Today I choose to focus on what is good, what is right, what I want to grow more of.

From the website:  A Season for Nonviolence, is a national 64-day educational, media, and grassroots campaign dedicated to demonstrating that nonviolence is a powerful way to heal, transform, and empower our lives and our communities.

Inspired by the memorial anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
this international event honors their vision for a nonviolent world.

Seasons for Nonviolence …

Daily thought-provoking messages designed to help increase your capacity to:

• honor the dignity and inherent worth of every human being
• understand that all of our words and actions have an impact
• practice compassion with apparent adversaries
• become stewards for the rights of individuals and the environment
• use our talents to empower rather than to exert power
• engage in constructive dialogue with one another to solve conflicts

        No charge, no spam, no gimmick.

WISHING YOU PEACE ON THE INSIDE.

Happy New Year Photo for 2012

From our nature buddies, Len & Patti Blumin, who do so much to help others enjoy the natural world:

Wishing you all the best and brightest for the New Year. May your days be filled with birds and odes (both kinds).

Seems appropriate to end the year with a photo of creature that almost never lives a full year in adult form, but has woven itself so successfully into the web of life that it has survived with little change for hundreds of millions of years, the dragonfly!

Here is the Four-spotted Pennant, taken on a memorable Bob Stewart trip to Texas in April of 2005.

Fondest regards to all,  Len & Patti

Happy New Year 2012 & end of year hike photos

As 2011 comes to a close, I reflect on so many blessings…. Health, Family, Friends, Nature, Activities…and I share some end of the year photos with you in deep gratitude for your friendship and time.

Above are some FungusAmongus, a row of newts (the middle one I call peekaboo, none of which are touched up at all – the colors are natural from the sunshine), a little bear hiding in the woods, a hooded merganser, a pileated woodpecker (birds don’t pose, well neither do newts).  Click on any photo to enlarge.

We had early rains, then lots of wind to dry things out, so it’s not been a great year for either newts or FungusAmongus.   Hiking while looking around so as not to miss the magic around us can be tricky, but good for the neck, balance and agility.  Good thing we have our poles!  Also, we call hazards in the trail so our buddies don’t bash their heads or walk into poison oak.    Happy New Year!

Balance Exercise for the Trail

This balance exercise can be done anywhere but start next to a wall or support.

DO NOT start as Bob is doing on a post!   He’s just showing off for his trainer!

Shift to one leg and stand squarely on that leg.

Make sure you stand tall (think of lifting from your ribcage) so you’re not collapsing into the standing hip.

Touch the same knee.  If easy, touch the same foot.    Switch legs.   Touch the opposite knee.   If that’s easy, touch the opposite foot.

Work up to a set of 10 repetitions.

When it gets easy, slow it down.

Try to make your movements fluid.

Remember, the journey is at least as important as the destination!

Another good thing to do for improving balance is to walk on sand.

We did a sand hike in Bodega last week and it was wonderful for my ankles!

Hope to see you OTT (on the trail) in 2012!

Crab Cakes – Gluten Free

Tis the season for crab!  Here’s Brenda’s recipe for Gluten-Free Broiled Crab Cakes
Group A:

• 1 lb of crab meat, picked over
• 1 tsp cider vinegar (for blue crab) or lemon juice (for dungeness crab)
• 1/3 cup finely minced parsley

Group B:

• 1 egg well beaten
• 1/4 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 – 3 tbsp of mayonnaise
• 1 tsp prepared mustard

Pick over crab meat to remove tiny shell pieces.
Sprinkle cider vinegar or lemon over crab meat and gently mix.
Gently mix parsley into crab.

In a separate bowl mix, Group B ingredients together and then add to Group A ingredients, mix gently, but completely.  Form balls for cocktail portions, or into paddies for meal portions.

Spray broiler pan with oil spray before placing crab on broiler pan.

Broil, high, on each side until brown.
(3 to 5 minutes or more depending on your oven.)
Stay close – these cook very quickly.

This recipe also works great for Salmon cakes (use cider vinegar) using either freshly cooked salmon, (good way to use left-over cooked salmon) or canned salmon.

Quick Cocktail sauce

• Good Quality Ketchup
• Add horseradish and lemon juice to taste.
• Optional – capers

Shared to AdventureBuddies by Brenda M. Goodwin, MBA
Principal, GoodWin Leadership, Executive & Leadership Coaching
Chair, Registration and Logistics at Professional Coaches, Mentors and Advisors

Whether hiking or kayaking, this little gal…

…is frequently seen, but rarely for long enough to admire.

From many bird-lovers to another, deep thanks to our bird buddy, Len Blumin:

Today at Miller Point Boat Launch (Nick’s Cove, Tomales Bay) we got good views of a female Belted Kingfisher at the north end of the parking lot.

These shy birds are difficult to approach, so we were pleased she sat in the morning light for a photo.

Kingfishers are rather distinctive, to say the least. Huge head and bill, short legs and tiny feet.

Our Belted Kingfisher is widespread in the U.S., taking fish that it spies from a perch near the water or even an irrigation ditch. Their distinctive rattling call is known to all birders. The female Belted has orange on the flanks and across the belly, whereas the male is blue-gray with a blue breast-band. Both have very shaggy crests.

Happy Holidays! A Favorite Photo

From my hiking buddy Alison, a lovely morning photo – as with any photo on this blog, click to enlarge (it’s worth it), press back button to return to post.  Enjoy & Happy Holidays!

Winter FungusAmongus Hike and Trail Tips

Early Rains brought out some amazing FungusAmongus and the newts were crawling!

A wonderful (and well known) balance exercise is to turn your head and look around while walking.  This skill makes spotting gems on the trail easier, BUT make sure your leader is calling out obstacles and hazards in the trail.  Ultimately, we’re each responsible for ourselves, but it’s nice to have good trail communication.    When I call “LOW Branch” or “Banana Slug in the trail,”  I like to hear my sweep acknowledge the hazard.  That way I know that everyone heard it.

Mt. Tam was so amazing I went back again this week.  What a change from Wed to Sat.  But big winds changed EVERYTHING.  Fungus were dessicated.  Trails were like Green & Yellow Brick Roads with the yellow fir needles and broken branches covering everything.  This is why we don’t hike when there’s high winds.  Wow!

As always, click on any photo to enlarge.  The lake scene above is as close as I could get to a trio of hooded mergansers – my favorite winter visitors!

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