What a wonderful world

@monique99

Trying to focus on the positive. ❤️🌍🕊️🌈☀️🏝️🌺🪇 Science! 🧬🔬🌊🐙🌱🪺🐣🥐🍷📚💡💉📱✈️ 🧠🪐✨ ❤️ Kindness ❤️

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What a wonderful world@monique99· Jun 16

The Odyssey of Homer, translated by Lattimore. (Inspired to read it for the upcoming movie; had tried about 3-4 years ago and making much better progress this time, and even enjoying it!) Reading next to crashing waves of the ocean adds a cool sensa-round experience to Odysseus’s adventures!

Book cover for The Odyssey of Homer with blue waves, held up in front of ocean, in shade of tree, framed by two palm trees

What a wonderful world@monique99· Jun 7

Love this movie!! And for those in San Francisco Bay Area, it’s actually playing in a real theater June 17-21! stanfordtheatre.org

Excerpt of movie schedule:

The Stanford Theatre
Summer 2026

including the Films of Marilyn Monroe
June 3 - September 6
Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
June 3-7
The Big Sleep (1946) 7:30 (plus 3:35 Sat/Sun)
To Have and Have Not (1944) 5:40, 9:35
June 10-14
Key Largo (1948) 7:30 (plus 3:30 Sat/Sun)
Dark Passage (1947) 5:30, 9:30
June 17-21
The Seven Year Itch (1955) 7:30 (plus 3:20 Sat/Sun)
Some Like It Hot (1959) 5:15, 9:25w w was

What a wonderful world@monique99· Apr 6

View from the Asilomar Coast Trail near Monterey CA, last Friday. Also lucky enough to see an otter playing in the surf!

Coastal view of surf with natural rock jetty and pink ice plant flowers in foreground

What a wonderful world@monique99· Apr 5

Great news!! Highly recommend Maria Ressa’s book: “How to Stand up to a Dictator”. She reads the audio version, too. Key advice: Hold the line! Do not obey in advance.

Gray-toned book cover with photo of author in front of a building and text that reads:
FOREWORD BY AMAL CLOONEY
HOW TO STAND UP TO A DICTATOR
THE FIGHT FOR OUR FUTURE
MARIA RESSA
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

What a wonderful world@monique99· Mar 29

Bay Area Protest Tour for #NoKings : Saratoga CA! (not to be confused with its namesake in NY). And it was Saratoga’s first local protest too!

Protest sign of a drawing of orange face with swoop of blond hair wearing a gold crown, all enclosed within red circle with a slash across, stating underneath “Since 1776”

Protestors lining a shady street hold signs—one sign displays a U.S. flag, above which states “Pro-America” and below states “Anti-Trump;” another sign states “Make Facism Wrong Again!” Someone waves a Canadian flag, and a large U.S. flag is visible in the distance.

Protestors line street in dappled shade holding signs and U.S. flags. The sign in front reads: “I’d rather be a “Fierce Patriot” than a “Loyal Subject””

Protest signs stating “America Deserves a Boring Government” and “Criminal in Chief” with a small cartoon picture of Trump behind bars. A couple of U.S. flags are also visible.

What a wonderful world@monique99· Mar 12

Came here for this. Definitely read more for the vibe than fact

Book cover stating “Complete and Unabridged. The Legendary Underground Classic of Hollywood’s Darkest and Best Kept Secrets. Kenneth Anger’s Hollywood Babylon” Has a photo of Jayne Mansfield, smiling and leaning forward in a low-cut dress

What a wonderful world@monique99· Mar 5

One was a salesman of smoking pipes. I still have some of his samples! My favorite has simple horizontal bands in front but from side becomes silhouette of Abraham Lincoln! During depression he lost his job but pretended to go to work for months before he could bring himself to tell my grandmother 😢

Close-up photo of pipe bowl with design of horizontal lines

Close-up side view of pipe bowl where cross view of bowl design is silhouette of Abraham Lincoln

What a wonderful world@monique99· Feb 21

❄️ Survived Sierra Snowmageddon! ❄️ No internet for most of time which forced unplugging. Also read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (original 1818 version)—it seemed fitting with the Artic setting! (Sure, no trees in Artic, but still!)

What a wonderful world@monique99· Feb 5

I’m grateful for this book which introduced me to their legacy, and hopefully it will continue to do so for others during this shameful period of censoring history by National Park Service

Book cover for Medgar & Myrlie, Medgar Evers and the Love Story that Awakened America, by Joy-Ann Reid

What a wonderful world@monique99· Jan 12

Bay Area Protest Tour continues: Santa Clara!!

Protesters with signs and some in costumes as dinosaurs and a bunny in a black leather jacket

People at a recent protest including someone dressed as Batman

Group of protesters with signs and flags

At recent ICE protest with sign showing a block of ice being melted from underneath by a hot flaming heart

What a wonderful world@monique99· Jan 1

Screenshot from video since no thumbnail available. (They are so cute!)

Photo of the elderly Del Rubio Triplets singing and playing guitars while wearing festive red holiday outfits

What a wonderful world@monique99· Nov 20

Heard great things about The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown. (Full disclosure: I was on crew team at university so may be a little biased!)

Book cover for The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown. Cover shows the silhouette of an 8-man rowing boat with a golden sunset reflected in the water

What a wonderful world@monique99· Nov 20

Also the Maus tales by Art Spiegelman, about the Holocaust

Book cover for Maus by Art Spiegelman. “Winner of the Pulitzer Prize”. Graphic of a stylized cat head over a Nazi symbol in front of a white disc (moon?), looming behind two frightened mice wearing trench coats

What a wonderful world@monique99· Nov 20

How about graphically-illustrated history? Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, about growing up in Iran during the revolution. Excellent!

Book cover for Persepolis, The Story of a Childhood, by Marjane Satrapi. Shows a drawing of a young girl wearing a headscarf and sitting at a table with arms crossed, centered in a red background with a spiky border around her as well as around the edge of the book cover

What a wonderful world@monique99· Nov 15

Why I ❤️ Pope Leo, Reason #3: Leo’s “on a mission from God,” (quote from the film The Blues Brothers) www.thetimes.com/world/europe...

Pope Leo as young man dressed as a Blues Brother with sunglasses and black fedora

What a wonderful world@monique99· Oct 19

Post-protest sunset walk along cliffs near Half Moon Bay CA 🙂

Cliffs by the sea with pink glow from sunset

Tunnel of trees, light bleached trees on left, dark trees on right

What a wonderful world@monique99· Oct 18

Mountain View CA shows up yet again!! 🪧🐸📣 #NoKings

Protester with sign stating “No Kings in America since 1776”

Protesters with signs and American flags. One sign states “Hell No to Dictatorship”; another states “Patriots Protect the Constitution”

Protester with sign of an image of a black cat kicking a pumpkin head with swoop of blond hair and a crown, and underneath states “Nope”

Protester with a sign stating “the Power of the People is Stronger than the People in Power” with bottom row of flowers

What a wonderful world@monique99· Oct 16

I heard you! Did not feel in South Bay BTW

US Geological Survey map marking recent earthquake near Berkeley, with insert box stating it was M (magnitude) 3.1 and 2 kilometers east of Berkeley CA at 9:23:45 on 2025-10-16

What a wonderful world@monique99· Sep 2

Forgetting sign left me hands-free to lend energy 👋 💪 to signs of family friends and former neighbors who came despite mobility issues and ~15 miles distance 🪧

Three smiling older-women protesters on sidewalk. Two are seated due to mobility issues (including due to being cancer survivor) yet still came. One holds sign that reads “Honk if you’re not in the Epstein files”. Another holds a sign that reads “Keep your grubby greedy hands off Medicare, Medicaid & Social Security”. Third stands behind the two with tote for Resistance Summer School. A small American flag appears in frame (from other protestor (who is out of frame)

What a wonderful world@monique99· Sep 2

And went back to see Emma, based on Jane Austen but with a few modern twists including breaking the fourth wall—charming and funny! Extra fun: besides being in a redwood glen—they did a book swap! But since the last weekend, no swapping necessary—just take a book! Picked up the Canterbury Tales ❤️📚

Final bow by cast dressed in Edwardian style on a stage set of a drawing room with flowers and chandeliers

What a wonderful world@monique99· Sep 2

Final bow at Richard III with a production that flipped Shakespeare’s traditional all-male cast

Curtain call of gangster-themed cast of Richard III by Shakespeare. Entire cast is on stage to take a bow in front of audience. Some low cubby shelves in background have a gold crown in each cubby

What a wonderful world@monique99· Sep 1

Mountain View, California showing up for 17x17K rally on Labor Day along El Camino Real! Forgot my sign but at least had my new tote from #ResistanceSummerSchool #WeMove2025

Protesters lining the street holding signs and U.S. flags. One signs says “I’ll take my democracy neat, no ice”. Another sign says “Faux-King Joke” with picture of Trump wearing a crown and clown nose. Person in front holds tote that says “Resistance Summer School” and wearing T-shirt that says “All Rise” with image of bird, representing the play/book “To Kill a Mockingbird”

What a wonderful world@monique99· Sep 1

Had a bit of summer night magic with SV Shakespeare. Words by a deceitful king eerily relatable, hundreds of years later: “… alas, I rather hate myself For hateful deeds committed by myself! …. I shall despair. There is no creature loves me; And if I die no soul will pity me” (Richard III)

Nighttime at a bridge lined with small lights and banners, leading through a forest to a glen with a distant stage and tall trees lit with purple light

What a wonderful world@monique99· Aug 29

Sticker for “Resistance Summer School” with a shield enclosing the symbol of a resisting raised fist, a book, and an old-fashioned fountain pen, surrounded by olive branches and the saying “A Luta Continua”. Text and images in gold ink on a white background

What a wonderful world@monique99· Aug 26

So, now it’s turn it off?!? 🧐 But before it was turn it on? 🤷‍♀️ California has one of the most complex water systems in the world. 🤓 It’s actually quite a marvel! 💦 🌾

Map of CALIFORNIA WATERWAYS showing state of California with illustrations for the following LEGEND:

• Natural Lake / River
• California State Water Project (SWP) (Reservoir / Aqueduct / Pipeline)
• Federal and Local Water Projects (Reservoir / Aqueduct or Canal / Pipeline)
• State / Federal Joint Use (Reservoir / Aqueduct)
• Feather River Fish Hatchery, Oroville
• John E. Skinner Delta Fish Protective Facility, Byron
• State Water Project Visitors Facilities
• Cities
• Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta region

“Most of California's natural waterways like rivers, lakes, and streams are located in the northern one-third of the state. Yet 80% of the water demand comes from the southern two-thirds. Some communities rely on natural surface water. Others use wells or pumps to access groundwater. Still others depend on complex water systems built during the 20th century. These "water projects" store and transport water across the state.

The State Water Project (SWP) is the largest of the projects. Over 27 million people receive part of their water supply from the SWP. Most live in Southern California. Others live in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley, or along the Central Coast. The SWP also helps to irrigate about 750,000 acres of farmland. Some project reservoirs provide flood protection or water to generate hydroelectricity. Reservoirs also provide recreation like boating and fishing.

Whether natural or human-made, California's waterways are important. They drive our economy. They support our environment. Most significantly, they're an essential part of our daily life.

What a wonderful world@monique99· Aug 17

Recently stumbled across an intriguing exhibit—“Untold Histories / Hidden Truths” by Mildred Howard—at Fort Point National Historic Site in San Francisco: three larger-than-life, red-draped statues of historical slaver owners which were toppled in Golden Gate Park after the murder of George Floyd:

Three red-draped statues, each in arched opening on third floor of historic brick fort, overlooking a large courtyard

Three red-draped statues in arched passageway of historical brick fort

Excerpt of first half of sign:
Mildred Howard
(b. 1945, San Francisco)
Untold Histories / Hidden Truths
Mildred Howard's Untold Histories / Hidden Truths drapes statues of Peter Burnett, William Gwin, and Francis Scott Key in striking red fabric to prompt a reckoning with the legacies of White supremacy embedded in our public monuments. Once celebrated for their achievements, all three were slave owners who wielded their influence to uphold racial oppression. Informed by the toppling of statues in Golden Gate Park following the murder of George Floyd, Howard obscures these figures in a color associated with urgency and resistance, compelling viewers to confront what history has chosen to remember and what it has sought to erase.

Francis Scott Key (1779-1843), writer of "The Star-Spangled Banner," not only enslaved people, but used his legal career to suppress abolitionists and represent the owners of runaway slaves. The national anthem's famous lyrics celebrating "the land of the free" stand in sharp contrast to Key's efforts to uphold bondage. Peter Burnett (1807-1895), California's first elected governor, sought to establish a White-only state, advocating brutal and exclusionary policies that targeted Black, Chinese, and Indigenous populations. William Gwin (1805-1885), one of California's first senators, was a staunch Confederate sympathizer who sought to expand slavery into California, aligning himself with the Southern plantation elite.

Howard's use of draped fabric is a gesture of both concealment and revelation. By covering these sculptures, she challenges their ability to confer honor on their subjects, yet in doing so, she also brings attention to histories that have been obfuscated or omitted from mainstream narratives. Ultimately, Untold Histories / Hidden Truths calls on us to reconsider who we choose to commemorate and why…

QR code link: https://www.for-site.org/black-gold-stories-untold

What a wonderful world@monique99· Aug 11

So what’s the good news out of DC? That violent crimes are at a 30-year low! (Data from Metropolitan Police as published in NYTimes; gift article: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/11/u...)

Graph of 2011-2025 Jan-Aug data by year from Metropolitan Police Department illustrating overall declining trend in violent crime; within years in graph, data drops by half. (Assume partial timeframe used for comparison in current year.)

What a wonderful world@monique99· Aug 11

It was their 30th anniversary! (Been going since about 20th). And since “Pacific Islands” it’s more than Hawaii. Low-key, local, and love it! www.pica-org.org

Flyer for Bay Area Aloha Festival in San Mateo CA

What a wonderful world@monique99· Aug 11

Recharged to face the week thanks to spam musubi, cream-topped shave ice, and aloha spirit at the Bay Area Aloha Festival by the Pacific Islanders Cultural Association. (As close as one can get to the islands from the mainland, literally and figuratively!)

Two women dancing with arms extended, wearing green and dark gold colored Tahitian-inspired costumes including green fronds and a white orchid-like flower in their hair

A group of festival attendees, including an older woman in a long tropical floral dress, are led in a Hawaiian dance by two women—one wearing a costume of an orange and green tropical-patterned top with a long bright orange skirt along with a lei and a haku lei (floral crown) of large white tropical flowers, and the other woman in a casual tropical blouse, jean shorts, also a white-flowered lei and and large white flower in her hair

One of the dance teachers in the public dance highlighting her tropical floral outfit

Three dancers performing a Hawaiian dance with right arm raised in the air, left arm on hip, smiling and looking to their upper right, wearing matching outfits of green and red patterned skirts, red blouse, white floral lei, and a white flower in their hair behind their left ear

What a wonderful world@monique99· Aug 10

The cafe at the De Young Museum in San Francisco had desserts inspired by the current exhibit of paintings by Wayne Thiebaud. Life is often art! www.famsf.org/exhibitions/...