Winter Movies 2017: The Martian

Our last winter movie is The Martian (2015), directed by Ridley Scott and screenplay by Drew Goddard, based on the book by Andy Weir. Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, and Krissten Wiig play the lead roles (but we know plants have the starring role)! In this movie, a team of scientist from earth is nearing the end of a multiple-year mission to mars. The crew consists of various scientists, including a botanist, Mark Watney, played by Matt Damon. Their mission is cut short by a mega storm that threatens their lives and planned departure date. They leave hastily, just as the storm hits, leaving behind one member of their crew, Watney, thinking he died in the storm. They begin the long journey back to earth.

Watney regains consciousness once the storm has passed. He is wounded, but very much alive (his suit’s ability to transmit his vital signs had been damaged). He patches up his wounds and assesses his situation, realizing the crew has left the planet. Using his scientific skills, he analyzes how to extend his survival until the next mission arrives based on the food and materials left behind. He repairs what he can, plants a potato garden for food, and reestablishes communications with earth, all to the sounds of a lively disco sound track that was left behind by one of his crew members. Watney is on track to survive, until a series of events jeopardizes his food supply and fragile existence. However, his chances for survival increase once his crew members and the world realize he is alive.

I enjoyed the film’s interesting story line, appealing characters, and crew comradery (evident even after living in close quarters for a long mission). I appreciated Watney’s cool, scientific approach to his situation, and his adaptability and ingenuity using available materials. Best of all I enjoyed his potato garden project—creating a greenhouse, emulating sunlight, distilling moisture from the atmosphere, enriching the native soil, and monitoring plant growth. Take a look at the trailer: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3659388/

Winter Movies 2017: Silent Running

Our next movie, in which plants have the starring role, is Silent Running (1972), written by Deric Washburn and Michael Cimino, and directed by Douglas Trumbull. In this sci fi adventure, set in the 21st century, man has brought plant life to the brink of extinction. Freeman Lowell is a botanist on a four-man mission to transport the last remaining plants from various habitats on Earth into space on a specially constructed ark, the Valley Forge. Several drones aid the team in running the ship.

Lowell spends his time tending the various habitats, growing food in his garden, and expecting to receive the order at any time to return to refoliate the planet. Instead, the crew is ordered to destroy the payload of plants, and return to Earth. Lowell grapples with the ramifications of this order, and takes matters into his own hands to ensure survival of at least some of the plants.

I appreciated seeing the movie again - to see a young Bruce Dern in the title role, and hear Joan Baez sing the title songs. The habitat pods (the "green houses in space") are quite imaginative, and artificial intelligence and robots are evident. The themes of conservation and stewardship are still relevant today. We have cleaned up many of our environmental practices, but the world’s population has doubled since the movie was released, so vigilance is still required. Take a look (click Watch Trailer): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RPK1P0/ref=atv_feed_catalog?ref_=imdbref_tt_pv_vi_aiv_1&tag=imdbtag_tt_pv_vi_aiv-20

Winter Movies 2017: Elysium

Life is back to “normal” after travelling to Seattle to celebrate Christmas with our son and daughter-in-law. Now, back in the San Francisco Bay Area, decorations have been put away, a few resolutions have been eliminated or down sized, and the days seem to be getting longer. Spring is still a couple of months away, so I like to seek out a few movies where plants are the movie stars (even if only in a supporting role). This winter I’m viewing movies with “green houses in space”. Grab some cocoa and a bowl of pop corn, and come join me!

Elysium

Our first movie is “Elysium” (2013), written and directed by Neill Blomkamp, and starring Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, and Sharlto Copley. This futuristic movie is set in 2054, at a time when two classes of people exist. The very wealthy live on a man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Elysium is spacious, disease can be eradicated, and the environment is like a pristine garden. On earth, the world’s resources have been stripped, garbage is everywhere, robots police and administer the land, and people eke out a living. The health care industry is overloaded, and citizens of the world are prevented from visiting Elysium for treatment (space is the ultimate wall).

Max is a parolee, trying to turn his life around, and working at a factory job “on the line”. After a small police-related incident, he reconnects with Freya, a childhood friend at an orphanage run by sympathetic Catholic sisters, and now a nurse, with a daughter who has inoperable leukemia. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn that, as children, Max vowed to take Freya to Elysium for a better life. Meanwhile, a coup is unfolding on Elysium masterminded by the ambitious and ruthless Secretary Delacourt, with aid from unsavory criminals on Earth. After a major industrial accident that renders Max with only days to live and nothing to lose, he signs on to take evidence of the coup to Elysium, and obtain medical care for himself and Freya’s daughter. An action-packed adventure ensues as he carries out the plan to bring justice and healing.

I love science fiction as a vehicle for exploring the what-ifs of other realities and situations. What if we failed to provide stewardship for the Earth? What if robots ran the world? What if overpopulation outstripped the planet’s resources? What if the disparity between haves and have-nots became too imbalanced? These themes are laced all through the action packed, sci-fi tale. Elysium is a garden paradise, with no hunger, disease or want, but at the expense of everyone else left behind on Earth. This movie may not be for everyone, but I appreciated its insight and gritty action. Take a look (click Watch Trailer): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GH75V1S?ref_=imdbref_tt_wbr_aiv&tag=imdbtag_tt_wbr_aiv-20

LIttle Brown Birds

We have had so much rain this fall and winter that some experts are calling the drought over in Northern California. That is great news! I still plan to cultivate good water conservation habits as a way of life, but am looking forward to a long shower every once-in-a-while, and giving some of my plants an extra watering during the hot days of summer and fall.

Two cautious LLBs

Quick bath and a drink

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Now we’re enjoying a few intermittent days of beautiful, cold days, here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Even I—one who loves the rain—am grateful for a few mild days peppered into the series of rain storms we have experienced! It is still early to get out in the garden, but I can enjoy the squirrels and little brown birds that visit the yard, digging up stashed acorns from the oak tree, and drinking out of the water dish left out for local wildlife.

Holiday Memories from Seattle

My husband and I are back in the San Francisco Bay Area after celebrating Christmas and New Years in Seattle with our son and daughter-in-law in their new home. We drove to Seattle, laden with gifts, cold weather gear, and art supplies, stopping at some of our favorite spots along Interstate 5—Redding, CA for lunch at Marie Callender’s (a longstanding tradition); and Medford, OR for the night and dinner at Porter’s Restaurant. We also found a new favorite—Tolly’s Grill and Soda Fountain in Oakland, OR—for tasty sandwiches and fountain style cream soda.

Tolly's in charming Oakland, Oregon

We experienced cold weather all the way to Seattle, with temperatures hovering between high twenties and low thirties. I enjoyed seeing the bare branches against gun-metal gray skies, higher water levels in the lakes, and snow-capped mountains. We listened to Christmas music playlists, and to the audio book, Artifact, written by Vaughn Heppner and Logan White, and narrated by Luke Daniels.

Ready to celebrate Christmas!

It was a pleasure to arrive at the new house, all decorated and lit up for its first family Christmas! Everything was so festive and fun, with many welcoming touches for a couple of cold, weary travelers! After unloading the car, we headed for Loretta’s Northwesterner, down the street, for hamburgers and fish and chips, and great conversation. We needed our strength for the serious cooking and baking in store for us!

Alaskan moose	Relaxing Santa
A couple of cooks	Snow Village retreat

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One of the great benefits of visiting foodies, is they know the best places to eat! We dined on everything from old school diner breakfasts, to crepes, lobster roll, Dim Sum, and Chinese Hot Pot. We visited the Starbucks Roastery& Tasting House on Pike street for a great cup of coffee and a view of the roasting process, went to Candy Cane Lane to see private homes all lit up for Christmas,  and made shopping runs to Costco, Uwajimaya, and Safeway for all the ingredients on our list. We cooked and baked for days!

Starbucks tour	Coffee roaster
Seattle skyline	Candy Cane Lane

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Christmas morning was filled with paper flying, ingenious stocking stuffers, and fun and thoughtful gifts. We feasted on our baked goods, and spent a lazy morning together. Friends joined us for Christmas dinner and great conversation, and their former roommate, now living back East, joined us after Christmas, so we enjoyed getting caught up with him.

Baking cookies	Chinese Hot Pot
Christmas cheer	Baked goods breakfast

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For entertainment we watched the Hobbit trilogy, and most of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. We built an all-paper marble run (no glue or tape), complete with a gear system. We ventured out into the rain for some walks, and watched La La Land and Rogue One at the theater. After a busy year, it was also fun to just relax, read in the morning, watch the rain from the windows, and experience Seattle in the winter.

Cure for a cough - ginger coke

Magnificent Marble Machine

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A big storm rolled in on New Year’s Day, as my husband and I left for the San Francisco Bay Area. A dusting of snow on the ground made us a little concerned for our drive home in the Honda (we both learned to drive in the snow in Alaska and Washington, but it has been years)! It got a little dicey through both Grant’s Pass and the Shasta area, with the mixed rain and snow, but the road was clear and we made it through safely, and missed the heavy snow fall that came later.

Grant's Pass

Now we are hunkered down in our cozy home to weather the series of rain storms that is passing through the Bay Area this week. What a welcome relief after so many years of drought, and what a perfect excuse to focus on some indoor projects, like reviewing the pictures taken during our time in the Emerald City, and enjoying the holiday memories with family and friends. The garden can wait for drier days!

Looking Ahead to 2017

Happy New Year, everyone! Hope you enjoyed a little break from your routine over the holidays, and lots of parties, gatherings with friends and family, good food, and beautiful decorations. Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, for both its spiritual significance and fun. My husband and I celebrated Christmas in Seattle, with our son and daughter-in-law in their new home, so the holiday was extra special. Now back to healthy eating, and some extra exercise to get “back” in shape!

Looking ahead, my theme for the year is “color in the garden.” For the last several years we have been studying native plants and water conservation, to help us re-imagine our gardens here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Now it is time for some fun – color! I’d like to delve into the topic, using Penelope Hobhouse’s book Color in Your Garden as our guide, along with some color theory principles from the art world. Let’s build a color palette of sustainable native plants for the Bay Area garden (keeping in mind that green and brown are colors too)!

Color theory	Mount Saint Helens
Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland	Color in the garden

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Other gardening goals for 2017:

• Learn more about the East Bay watershed, by visiting some of its parks. Redwood, Huckleberry, Sibley, Roberts, and more are right in our backyard.
• Investigate the native plants and street trees of Bishop Ranch, located near the Iron Horse Trail. My work office is moving after many years in Dublin, California. I will miss the familiar trees and turkeys, but am looking forward to exploring a new microclimate.
• Explore the gardens and wild areas of the Pacific Northwest, including the Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland, Mount Saint Helens in Washington, Alki Park in Seattle, Manito Park in Spokane, and the Old Mill District and family farm in Bend.
• Visit Bay Area gardens in various seasons, and look for great ideas to add seasonal color for year-round interest in our gardens. In general, visit gardens wherever my travels take me - from the deserts in Southern California, to the wilds of Alaska!
• Continue exploring the gardening innovations, ideas, and movements that emerged out of the Landscape Movement, as technology and society changed.

Hope you will join me on this journey!