Going for a walk..
So we were on a walk by the sea in a hoity toity area one afternoon in a new neighborhood to us, admiring the beautiful homes. (Janice is always on the lookout for great ideas for me to do). These homes are on the sea bluffs, so they are in the high rent district. As we went on, we walked by this fabulous estate that was unusually large and opulent. I surmised that it had to be occupying several lots when a local told me it actually covered 7 lots and was assessed at a mere $13 million. It is owned by the Chapman foundation as the owner had passed and left it to them.
I have lived on the central coast for 50 years and 42 years in our home just 3 miles from this place and I never knew it existed. My curiosity was killing me and I wanted to see every nook and cranny. So I contacted them, offered to volunteer as a docent and was taken on an in-depth tour. Maybe when we get back in October....
We then spent a few days in the City. (San Francisco is referred to by Californians as 'the City' as though it was the only one in the world worthy of the name. Some outsiders have called it "Frisco" or "San Fran"....UGH!!! Tourists!
In the past few years, its image was seriously damaged by the homeless having taken over and the city government dolling out cash like it was ... well never mind. Don't look at me, it was that other political party.
Well, we missed it so much we wanted to see the current state of affairs and decided to go back to our favorite haunts. We are thrilled to report that we found it every bit as spectacular as we remembered it and enjoyed ourselves immensely.
The Palace of Fine Arts
The WWII gun emplacements at the military base on the Presidio of San Francisco at the mouth of the bay. They were built to protect the city from invasion.
Team Rubicon
No, this is not a long yarn about another deployment. The fact is, I have reached Janice's 2-week quota for this year. Still, I have just been asked to go to Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and Virginia to cut trees covered with ice that fell through power lines after the recent Snow and ice storms.
There are 160,000 people who have signed up to be Team Rubicon volunteers. I have been told that 10% have completed the required training (16,000). Of those, I understand that 10% actually deploy (1,600). A fraction of those are TR qualified to cut those trees. They need all the help they can get. Volunteering with TR is like making a donation to a politician. Once identified, they come back to you again and again. And again and again. I am still getting requests to deploy every couple of days.
In December's Epistle, I wrote about my deployment to Jamaica. Shortly thereafter, I got a message from a friend that wanted to publish the story in the Thousand Island Life magazine. She is the editor and publisher (AKA the BIG dog) of the publication and has run other pieces about TR in the past. Proof positive that it is not what you know, but who you know! If you are interested, you can read it HERE.
A midwinter story
What are the Coldest Countries in the World ?
We are using data from the World Bank, which keeps reliable records of this, broken down by country. These temperatures are averaged over the 10 years spanning 2012-2022.
As we'll see, several of these are probably easy enough to guess, but some might be surprises. And the order might not be what you expect to see, either.
1. Canada (24.8 F / -4.0 C)
Canada, with its vast stretches of of tundra and boreal forest, is the coldest country in the world. With a massive amount of land near the Arctic Circle, it has long, brutally cold winters, bringing its average temperature way down.
2. Russia (26.4 F / -3.1 C)
Russia, to no one's great surprise, takes the title of the second-coldest country in the world. Winter temperatures in this country, which includes the enormous expanse of icy-cold Siberia, are seriously frigid.
Even Russia's southern regions — on the Western side of the country — tend to be on the chilly side, due to higher elevations.
3. Mongolia (34.5 F / 1.4 C)
Mongolia, located to the north of China and to the south of Russia, is the third-coldest country in the world, with an average temperature just above freezing. Frigid temperatures are recorded all winter long, and the mountainous terrain means that much of the country's landmass is high in elevation.
4. Iceland (36 F / 2.2 C)
The name kind of gives it away: Iceland is a cold place, on average, with harsh winters that bring lots of snow and (yes) ice.
Given that its climate is classified as subarctic, this should come as no surprise. However, Iceland's climate is moderated somewhat by the mild gulf stream, which brings warmer air.
