KatysBlog

December 26, 2012 · 11:56 am

New Home for Van Gilder Glass Panel

Last week, the Van Gilder stained glass panel was finally installed in the wall between our dining room and new porch. The large and elegant stained glass panel was created by Walter Somers Van Gilder for his home (1007 Circle Park Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee) about a hundred years ago. In July, it came home: re-leaded and refreshed by Vincent Taylor Architectural Art Glass. The picture below shows my son Paul D. Goodman, the great-great-grandson of Walter Van Gilder, helping to install the panel in our home in Willow Glen, California. We designed a window enclosure so that the panel could be removed for cleaning. Last night, I enjoyed sitting next to the panel as we celebrated Christmas dinner with family and friends. I think my great-grandfather would be happy to know that his creation continues to bring pleasure to his family.

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Tagged as House Work, Paul, San Jose, Willow Glen

December 22, 2012 · 11:58 pm

Merry Christmas

Best wishes to you and your family for a happy holiday season, from all of us here in the Silicon Valley!

Between trying to get the construction workers finished enough to be out of our house by Christmas, and all of the usual holiday preparations and activities, December 2012 has been particularly busy. There has finally been sufficient progress on the new porch to allow us to have family and guests in the house. The roof and final plastering were finished just before dinner yesterday – barely in time for us to go Christmas caroling on the cable car in San Francisco. Jessica and Matthew were able to get off from work to join us for Christmas – for which we are very joyful!

I went shopping in Chinatown with Sally and Lorene (our tradition for over twenty years). We were sad to see the closed up Sam Wo restaurant where we used to eat raw fish salad for lunch during our annual walking tour of Grant Street stores.
John and I were delighted to hear our young friends Max and Beth perform as part of the Cantabile Youth Singers at the ornate St. Joseph Basilica in San Jose.
My son Paul and I picked out and walked home a Christmas tree – which sat in a bucket of water on the driveway for two weeks until the contractors left and we could move all of the furniture back. Jessica and Matthew and Paul brought the tree inside and decorated it tonight. The decorations are eclectic but cheerful. I still need to put out the nativity figures John bought in Bethlehem.
My EfM class went to see the Bethlehem Christmas story re-enactment, and then went out to dinner together and exchanged gifts.
Last Sunday was the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church children’s pageant.
We have very much enjoyed Willow Glen’s enthusiastic Christmas light displays – which give every street its own twinkly charm as we go about our holiday business.
Today we went to the Dickens Fair at the Cow Palace in San Francisco to enjoy a Victorian Christmas, high tea, and last-minute shopping.
Tomorrow, John starts cooking for our Christmas feast on Tuesday!

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Filed under Church, Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as Charles Dickens, Education for Ministry, Episcopal church, Jessica, John, Matthew, Paul, San Francisco, San Jose, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Willow Glen

December 20, 2012 · 10:41 am

TechWomen Mentors’ Reunion

The TechWomen mentors gathered for a reunion and evening holiday party at Anar Simpson’s home in Saratoga, California, this week. Anar was a TechWomen mentor in both 2011 and 2012 and is on the TechWomen entrepreneurship advisory committee. At the event, Heather Ramsey (Director for Strategic Partnerships, Institute of International Education) gave us details about the October 2013 TechWomen program (more below), and the February 2013 delegation to Jordan – which I plan to join! I caught up with news from my sister Mentors and told them about my new job as the Vice President for Solutions at the MentorCloud startup.

Carmel Jud from Rising International gave us a presentation about her organization and brought in crafts made by women entrepreneurs – including some delightful lady dolls from Afghanistan. In the picture above, the doll on the lower left was the first one made. The doll on the lower right is the one I purchased for our family doll collection.

TechWomen potential Mentees may now apply for the 2013 program. TechWomen brings emerging women leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) from the Middle East and Africa together with their counterparts in the United States for a professional mentorship and exchange program. TechWomen connects and supports the next generation of women leaders in STEM fields by providing them access and opportunity to advance their careers and pursue their dreams.

During the five-week program, participants engage in project-based mentorships at leading companies in Silicon Valley, participate in workshops and networking events throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and travel to Washington DC, for targeted meetings and special events to conclude the program.

In 2012, 41 TechWomen Emerging Leaders participated from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Tunisia and Yemen. The 2013 TechWomen program has expanded to include women from Cameroon, Kenya, Libya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Zimbabwe. TechWomen is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). The Mentee Application deadline is February 22nd, 2013.

The Professional Mentor application will be available April 1st, 2013 (deadline is June 1st, 2013). Cultural Mentor application will be available July 1, 2013 (deadline to apply is August 1st, 2013).

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Tagged as Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Mentoring, Middle East, technical women, TechWomen

December 14, 2012 · 11:21 pm

Stucco Done

Our new porch got its stucco wall covering yesterday – which will cure for several weeks before we can paint. A stucco finish has many layers, starting with paper, then wire, followed by a smooth base coat, lastly the textured final coat. The original wet grey color is turning pale as it dries. The winter’s damp weather here in Willow Glen will ensure a slow curing and harder result. The final work is also complete on our new brick paths (made of old bricks) – which look wonderful! Still to finish:

Stucco around the final window (the new smaller window was installed today – a surprise late addition because of mis-measurement on where the roof ties in)
Install ceramic roof tiles
Install electrical fixtures – inside and out
Paint inside and out
Decorative iron work
Tile floor

We should be all done by the end of January. Of course, I originally thought we would be done in September… silly me.

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Tagged as House Work, San Jose, Willow Glen

December 6, 2012 · 10:21 pm

Interesting Data on Mentoring, and on Internet Growth

This week has produced two very interesting data analyses, one on mentoring success and failure, and the other on Internet growth. I recommend them to you:

A major new scholarly report has just been published on mentoring called “Characteristics of Successful and Failed Mentoring Relationships: A Qualitative Study Across Two Academic Health Centers” by Sharon E. Straus, Mallory O. Johnson, Christine Marquez, and Mitchell D. Feldman, January 2013, Academic Medicine, Volume 88, No. 1. While this report is in the context of the medical profession, there is much we can all learn from the new findings. The authors completed a qualitative study through the Departments of Medicine at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine and the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine between March 2010 and January 2011. Successful mentoring relationships were characterized by reciprocity, mutual respect, clear expectations, personal connection, and shared values. I included more about this research in my recent MentorCloud blog entry.
Mary Meeker, a partner at the famous Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers, has just published a fascinating analysis: “2012 Internet Trends Year-End Update.” I found the country-by-country data on smart phone usage growth particularly interesting. Check it out at VentureBeat.

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Tagged as Mentoring

December 6, 2012 · 9:21 pm

Bricklaying

This week, we are getting the bricks laid on top of some of our new concrete paths in our back garden. Jack and Rudy Batinich are the masonry contractors working on this project. The picture above is of Rudy’s work boots – showing the toes of a man who kneels a lot.

They started by sorting our collection of old bricks so that they knew what they had to work with. We probably need about 200 more old bricks than we have.
Next, we decided on design. The big area to be bricked will be running bond pattern with a border, and will connect with two walkways – one jack-on-jack (or stacked bond) and the other in basket weave classic brick pattern. We have about fifty irregular clinker or burnt bricks which will be in the border.

I think this is going to look good and be very functional.

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Tagged as garden, House Work, San Jose, Willow Glen

December 4, 2012 · 11:38 pm

Shakespeare Garden Books

I collect Shakespeare garden books. The photographs in this blog entry are of one of the most beautiful books I own: Henry Ellacombe’s The Plant-Lore and Garden-Craft of Shakespeare, 1896.

What is a Shakespeare Garden? Such a garden can be inspired by Shakespeare’s works, or can include plants he mentioned, or can reproduce a famous play setting. There are many famous Shakespeare gardens, including those at The Huntington (Pasadena CA), Golden Gate Park (San Francisco CA), Brooklyn Botanic Garden (New York), Central Park (New York), Northwestern University (Evanston IL), The Folger Shakespeare Library (Washington DC), and of course the garden of Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare’s wife) in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England. Check out my Pinterest Board to see pictures of over 50 Shakespeare plants. Most plants mentioned in Shakespeare’s works are still common today, 450 years later.

Publications about Shakespeare plants and gardens have been popular for 150 or more years – since they are in the charming intersection of beauty and literature. Some examples:

Beisley, Sidney, Shakespeare’s Gardens, Longmans, Green: 1864
Bloom, J. Harvey, Shakespeare’s Garden, Tower Books: 1971 (reprint of the 1903 edition)
Carter, Annie B., Shakespeare Gardens / Design, Plants, and Flower Lore, Dorrance & Co.: 1937
Chronicle Books, Shakespeare’s Flowers, 1994
Crane, Walter, Flowers from Shakespeare’s Garden, Macmillan Publishing: 1980 (reprint of the 1906 edition)
Damrosch, Barbara, Theme Gardens, Workman Publishing: 1982
De Bray, Lys, Fantastic Garlands: an anthology of flowers and plants from Shakespeare, Blandford Press: 1982
Dent, Alan, World of Shakespeare: Plants, Taplinger Publishing: 1973
Ellacombe, Henry N., The Plant-Lore and Garden-Craft of Shakespeare, Edward Arnold: 1896
Eyler, Ellen C., Early English Gardens and Garden Books, (booklet) Folger Books: 1979
Fleissrer, Robert F., A Rose by Any Other Name / A Survey of Literary Flora from Shakespeare to Eco, Locust Hill Press: 1989
Fox, Levi, An Illustrated Introduction to Shakespeare’s Flowers, (booklet) Jarrold Publishing: 1990
Fox, Levi, The Shakespearean Gardens, (booklet) Jarrold Publishing: 1953
Grindon, Leopold Hartley, Shakespere Flora, Palmer & Howe: 1883
Hales, Mick, Shakespeare in the Garden, Abrams: 2006
Hubbart, Edith, America’s First Shakespeare Garden, (booklet) 1938
Hunt, Doris, The Flowers of Shakespeare, Webb & Bower: 1980
Huntington Botanical Gardens, Garden Notes, (booklet) 1978
Kerr, Jessica, Shakespeare’s Flowers, Thomas Y. Crowell Co.: 1969
Law, Ernest, Shakespeare’s Garden / Stratford-Upon-Avon, (booklet) Selwyn & Blount: 1922
Pallen, Nancy Shumaker, Shakespeare’s Garden, Cedco Publishing: 1999
Pomeroy, Elizabeth, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, Botanical Gardens, Philip Wilson Publishers: 1983
Pickles, Sheila, The Complete Language of Flowers / A Treasury in Verse and Prose, Pavilion: 1998
Prince, Martha, “Shakespearean Bouquet”, from American Horticulturalist v.64, number 4, April 1985
The Printing Corporation, A Trip Through Internationally Famous Golden Gate Park / San Francisco, California, (booklet) 1937
Putnam, Clare, Flowers and Trees of Tudor England, New York Graphic Society: 1972
Rendall, Vernon, Wild Flowers in Literature, Scholartis Press: 1934
Rodway, Avril, A Literary Herbal, Leprechaun Library: 1980
Rohde, Eleanour S., Shakespeare’s Wild Flowers, Medici Society: 1963 (reprint of the 1935 edition)
Ryden, Mats, Shakespearean Plant Names / Identifications and Interpretations, 1978
Savage, F.G., Flora and Folk-Lore of Shakespeare, E.J. Burrow & Co.: 1923
Simons, Adelma G., Herb Gardens of Delight, Hawthorn Books: 1974
Singleton, Esther, Shakespeare Garden, AMS Press: 1933
Thorpe, James, William Shakespeare at the Huntington, (booklet) The Huntington Library: 1977
Warner, James A., and Margaret J. White, Shakespeare’s Flowers, Middle Atlantic Press: 1987