I’ve spent a good amount of time in downtown Mill Valley the last couple of days. Yesterday I treated myself to a Havana cappuccino at Peet’s while I was waiting for the second hand store where I was going to be dropping off some donations to open. I unexpectedly found a bench next to a stream behind Mill Valley Market so I sat there and journaled. It was a great spot to sit and think. There was a plaque set into a stone at the entrance to the space saying it was dedicated to Ernest Bloch who wrote his symphony, America, while he was living in Mill Valley. I had never heard of it, so I’m going to check it out later tonight (thank you, YouTube)
I was very happy to be able to drop off my car load of donations at the Mount Carmel Salvage Shop. I remember spending a lot of time in there as a kid searching for all kinds of treasures – jewelry, books, trinkets (back then 50c bought you a lot of stuff!) The money brought in from the sale of donated items goes to help fund services at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, where my mom has been a member for over five decades. After that, I walked the three blocks to the Mill Valley public library to pick up some books that I had on hold. It is such a beautiful, welcoming library with lots of comfortable reading spots, many chairs beside windows that look out into the redwood trees in Old Mill Park next door. In the women’s restroom there were free sanitary supplies! We need free sanitary supplies in all women’s public bathrooms.
While I was at the library, I noticed a sign for a ‘Star Party’ where participants can view the night sky through telescopes, including a new one the library just purchased. Apparently, Jupiter and Venus are going to be more easily visible than usual that night. I have not been stargazing for a long time, so I decided to sign up. On the library’s website I noticed that the next day they were hosting an African drumming event in celebration of Black History Month so I registered for that as well. Lots of fun stuff to check out!
I went for a wander further in the neighborhood and found the O’Hanlon Center for the Arts which had outdoor art as well as a lovely, light-filled, two story open space gallery. There was all kinds of different art from paintings to fiber art to sculpture and even one piece that incorporated the scent of Juicy Fruit gum and listening to music on an iPod while looking at the piece. There were several pieces that I found really intriguing, especially one made out of driftwood and another composed of different colored yarn pieces tied to a metal framework that was suspended from the ceiling and almost touched the ground. There are studios on the site where they host artists in residence, I think that would be such an amazing thing to be able to do!
This morning I did some collage work, then dropped off more donations, and went to the library for the African drumming event. It was such a fun time! About half the attendees were young kids with their parent or minder, the rest were closer to my age, the exception being a teenage girl who told us she was originally from Kenya. She seemed so happy to be part of the celebration. We all got to play drums, tambourines and a variety of other music makers, then there was an opportunity to dress up and dance. Everyone, including the 9 year old girls sitting in front of me who weren’t interested in playing instruments, got into dressing up and dancing. There was such a joyful noise in the room! That positive energy stayed with me the rest of the day.
On the walk back to my car I noticed a brick stairway leading up to the next street, so of course I had to check it out. Halfway up I came across a shrine to Buddha surrounded by bamboo – it was quite a magical spot. Down the street there was an area with whimsical garden art and chalk for decorating the walkway. I love stumbling across things like this in my wanderings!
