John Muir

John Muir was born and raised in Dunbar "Dùn Barra" (North Sea coastal town just east of Edinburgh "Dùn Èideann") until his family emigrated to the US when he was 11. (High Street statue on right) If I was taught this in school, the knowledge did not stick. I assumed he was a California son, which he really was as one does not need to be born in a land to belong to it. And John Muir truly loved California.

John Muir was a long time friend of John and Annie Bidwell, the founders of my town. Their friendship started when Muir and Asa Gray (Father of American Botany) stayed at the Bidwells in 1877 and they traipsed about Mount Shasta studying wildflowers. (Annie in a corset and long dress and not a hiking boot in sight!) Asa Gray was a buddy of Charles Darwin so the conversations must have been quite lively with conservative Annie Bidwell. John Muir stayed on with the Bidwells after Gray left and later corresponded with both Annie and John separately for over 35 years. When she died, Annie deeded acres of land to the people of Chico for a park (now at 3,670 acres/nearly 11 miles in length, making it one of the largest municipal parks in the United States). John Muir, John and Annie all shared the belief that nature should be preserved for all generations to come.

But I digress...back to Muir and Scotland.

This all came about when I was digging around the net for information about the amazing island of Skye. I came across the John Muir Trust. Of course, we all know Muir founded the Sierra Club and is responsible for preserving Yosemite..., and I wondered why these Scottish people were honoring him in such a way, being so nationalistic and all. Well, duh, he's Scottish! I am also a bit ashamed to admit, but I did not realize John Muir (standing with his walking stick looking towards Half Dome with a Calif condor flying above) was on the California quarter. Apparently, the quarter is something Scottish school children know about - they even have an on-line puzzle of it. Well, I have been on a mission ever since to collect the coin in the hopes that someday I can mail them to kids in Scotland. Just two "problems" - I don't know anyone in Scotland to give them to and the darn coin is hard to find. There are 50 states and each one has a coin and then there is the old quarter. Georgia peaches, Oregon Crater Lake, Idaho bird of prey (thanks Nanci for taking me to the preserve), Kansas buffalo, South Dakota Mt. Rushmore....abound. The California quarter is as elusive as the condor itself. Rolls of the quarter are only available from the banks when it is first minted. So, I have two rolls that I continue to swap each week for fresh rolls when I do the office banking. I have found only 4 coins so far, and one was on the floor of my son's room. No worries. I'll find them when I find them.

Lord, three blogs in a row!!! Kids at their dad's so computer is mine, an early long walk with the pooch in the wind and light drizzle, and top it off with PBS's Globe Trekker with Megan in Scotland makes for a grand day so far.