A bit about last week, because we managed to do something interesting each day. We mentioned the very nice state park that we visited, Koreshan SP, which has a nice little river, the Estero, running though it. So we went back, rented a canoe, and paddled up and down the river for a couple of hours. It was very peaceful, a quiet river, narrow, slow-flowing, so great for two people who don't always agree on who should be doing what on which side of the canoe. As the captain, I found that my mate didn't always follow my orders. But I shouldn't have been surprised, cause that's usually the case with most things we do. A good day, with the canoe ride sandwiched in between two 10 kilometer bike rides.
Next day we dared to ride the urban bike trails all the way to the beach, about a 12 km ride. And a nice beach it is, as dear friend Marian Elllis well knows, as she's spent quite a lot of time in this area. It reminded us of Portugal on the Algarve. As you came down the stairs onto the beach, there was a considerable crowd of people, all bunched into a relatively confined area. As you walked either direction along the beach, there was hardly anyone. Just like Portuagal, where the people clearly wanted to be where lots of other people were. Nice beach, nice walk on it. That's it for me and beaches. Gail had a swim in the rather cool water. Good for her. I cheered her on.
We went back to Koreshan Park once again on Sunday, because they had a Farmer's Market going on. As well, some of the old buildings were open, with demonstrations going on, of baking, machining, and in particular, blacksmithing. I want to focus on the latter. The blacksmith was in the process of demonstrating a range of the elements involved in the trade, and set about creating a snake, which he fashioned out of a straight steel rod. He patiently explained everything that he was doing very clearly and in an interesting way, not overwhelming us with too much detail. In front of him was a young boy, about 7 or 8 years of age, between his parents, watching intently everything that the blacksmith did. Not only that, he had very mature questions about the process, which the smithy answered respectfully and patiently. At one point, the young lad said "I could watch you all day long".
As the snake took shape, the smithy involved the lad for the final stage of the process, handing him a brass brush used to polish the finished object. "Now that it's done, come back in 5 minutes after it's cooled, and you can take it with you," said the smithy. The whole thing was a beautiful example of good teaching. When the family left, I told the smithy he should go into teaching. He does do a bit of that, teaching adults, so I told him of my former role, and that if I'd had the opportunity, I would have hired him for sure. He was very appreciative of the feedback.
All of this also drove home the thought that hiring teachers could be much improved if we could ask them to teach a lesson before making a decision about their suitability for a position. So much more meaningful as a screening process than an interview and paper qualifications.
Funny thing is, my camera has stayed in the r.v. for most of last week. Not sure why. Guess when we're biking so much, it's a bit of a hassled to deal with a bulky camera. But I did get a few shots at Corkscrew, so I'll try to post a couple.
One, the big otter and his scat on the boardwalk in Corkscrew. Second, find the beautiful painted bunting in the bushes. And third, Gail's new slogan on a t-shirt I should have bought for her.
That's it for now. More later. Stay tuned.
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