Peter Fish
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Writer, editor & teacher, specializing in California and the American West.
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Articles by Peter Fish
The West’s Best Botanical Gardens
Explore the Natural Area in Salt Lake City’s Red Butte Garden and Arboretum. It’s almost impossible to feel stressed when you’re visiting a botanical garden. Outside, in the 21st-century world, you’re contending with AI, self-driving cars, and the sense of your life zooming by. Step inside a botanical garden, and the world becomes timeless. You’re embraced by the natural intelligence of trees and flowers. You take a deep breath and smell pine, sage, bay laurel, roses.
One Highway. A Thousand Miles of Western Wonder.
Mile 0: Piegan Port of Entry, Montana The U.S. Customs and Border Protection building’s blue metal roof shimmers in the midmorning sun. A few hundred yards north, across the 49th parallel, a smaller Canadian Border Services Agency station flies the maple leaf. Here, where Canada meets the United States and the Great Plains meet the Rockies—that purple wall rising to the west—is where U.S. Highway 89 begins. There are more-mythic American roads than Highway 89.
‘American Oasis’ asks if the future of the U.S. lies in the Southwest
“American Oasis: Finding the Future in the Cities of the Southwest” by author and journalist Kyle Paoletta. Photo: Pantheon Welcome to the boomtowns, Southwest style. Phoenix is now the fifth-largest city in the United States. The population of metro Las Vegas is nearing 3 million. The cities and their states proved their political potency last November when Arizona and Nevada helped swing the presidency to Donald Trump.
Lost in the System: The Labyrinth of Rare Disease Diagnosis
One in 10 people may be affected by a rare disease (RD) in their lifetime.1 This is the surprising paradox of RDs. While each disease is individually rare, when considered collectively, they affect a staggering portion of the population. This prevalence is expected to be even higher in those who frequently seek care. The full burden is often hidden and poorly understood.
Review: How S.F. soured on sugar baron Claus Spreckels
“The Sugar King of California: The Life of Claus Spreckels” by Sandra E. Bonura. Photo: University of Nebraska Press He was, for a time, one of the 10 richest men in America. He launched a California industry. He was lauded as a king and damned as a monopolist. He built two towns — one in California, one in Hawaii — that he named after himself. Yet compared to famous plutocrats of California’s past (Leland Stanford, Collis P.
Can anyone tell me roughly what this Vintage Omega 18 K Gold Automatic is Worth
Hello, I just recently lost my dad and he left me this watch. I don't know anything about watches, but I think this watch was purchased in the late 50s or early-mid 60s. Is it worth anything besides its weight in gold? It seems to work well. Any info you have would be great.
Review: 'Cast Out of Eden' unpacks racism of John Muir and the movement he inspired
"Cast Out of Eden: The Untold Story of John Muir, Indigenous Peoples, and the American Wilderness” by Robert Aquinas McNally. Photo: University of Nebraska Press What do we do with John Muir? For generations, the answer was easy. We worshiped him. Muir was California’s Thoreau, the charismatic prophet preaching that salvation could be found in the Western wilderness. Author, national parks defender, founding president of the Sierra Club, Muir was the American environmental movement’s secular saint.
Branxholm Brewers go back-to-back
By Peter Fish Branxholm won the NECA T20 grand final in convincing fashion over a depleted Bridport team on Saturday. Bridport went into the match without key players Taylor, LeFevre and Brown and batting first were kept to just 122. Veteran Troy Milne was promoted to opener and after a promising start was run out after a fatal mix up with fellow opener Andy Rudling. At the half way mark of the innings, the Port were 1/42 and a challenging score appeared beyond them.
Female footballers to flock to Scottsdale
By Peter Fish In a major coup for female football in the region, Scottsdale will host a gala day for NTFA women's teams on Saturday April 20th, with 14 teams set to take the field. Club president David Mullins said the NTFA would be administering the day's proceedings. “Having two grounds was obviously a big plus for us, and we are looking forward to hosting what will be a celebration of female footy,” Mullins said.
Review: How Point Reyes was snatched from developers
“Saving Point Reyes: How an Epic Conservation Victory Became a Tipping Point for Environmental Policy Action” by Gerald Felix Warburg. Photo: University Press of Kansas In an alternate Marin County, on an alternate planet Earth, when you spend the day in Point Reyes, you take the Golden State Parkway up over Bolinas Ridge to the freeway interchange at Olema. Houses crowd the bluffs above Limantour Beach. There are golf courses, shopping centers and 66,000 residents.
Review: In-depth look at California's rising sea levels finds grim threats and glimmers of hope
“California Against the Sea” by Rosanna Xia. Photo: Heyday Press Stinson, Ocean and Santa Cruz, then down the coast to Zuma and Santa Monica: California’s beaches are iconic and idolized. When, at a crucial moment in Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” Ken shouts, “I’ll see you on the Malibu beach,” he was calling out not just to California but to the world. But what happens if, as the world warms and the Pacific Ocean rises, California’s coast and beaches drown?
Review: Gripping, well-researched dive into the ocean’s deepest waters
“The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean” by Susan Casey Photo: Doubleday As the June tragedy of the submersible craft Titan proved, the deep sea is both alluring and deadly: Titan’s voyage to the sunken ocean liner Titanic cost five adventurers their lives. Yet the undersea realm exerts a powerful fascination. For science journalist Susan Casey the deepest ocean “glittered in my imagination like a distant galaxy. … What kind of a place was it? What was it like to be there?
Magpies to honour past champion
June 14, 2023 By Peter Fish In 2022 Les Magrath and his wife from The Rock, a town in NSW, called into the Scottsdale Football Club hoping to view a photographic copy of Athol Webb, a two-time VFL premiership player and a former player at Scottsdale. Magrath and Webb are good friends. Unfortunately the club was not able to satisfy Les's wish as there was no existing photo of Webb.
Issue Party: Alta Journal 23 at Green Apple Books on the Park
Just like our home state, Alta Journal knows how to party. On Tuesday night, Green Apple Books on the Park hosted a celebration of Alta’s Issue 23. Alta fans closed out their Memorial Day weekend by gathering to enjoy readings by three magazine contributors and remarks by the night’s emcee, Alta editorial director Blaise Zerega.
Review: Women’s 1938 river expedition to map Grand Canyon flora a thrilling ride
“Brave the Wild River” by Melissa Sevigny. Photo: W.W. Norton & Co. On June 20, 1938, two women stood on the banks of Utah’s Green River. One was a 41-year-old University of Michigan botany professor named Elzada Clover. The other was her 24-year-old graduate student, Lois Jotter.
The Most Famous California Novel You’ve Never Heard Of
The Barbara Worth Country Club is a par-71, 6,500-yard golf course that spreads out on the fringes of Holtville, in California’s Imperial Valley. Like many desert golf courses, it has an apparitional quality: a square of deep green gleams against a surrounding landscape of ochers and grays. The fairways—“straight-up Bermuda grass,” explains course manager Steve Rogers—are pillared with palm trees. Ponds flank the greens, reflecting a powder-blue sky.
Review: John Muir and the friendship that saved Yosemite as a national park
“Guardians of the Valley: John Muir and the Friendship That Saved Yosemite,” by Dean King. Photo: Scribner You can think of John Muir as one of 19th century America’s most successful influencers. But instead of dominating TikTok, he shared his wilderness exploits in essays and books that begged Americans to preserve the natural wonders — Sierra peaks, redwood forests — he worshiped with religious ferocity. Muir didn’t get there on his own.
Muir Woods
Marin's First Movie Star: The Mt. Tamalpais Scenic Railway The Edison company filmed an early movie of the Crookedest Railroad in the World. Reservations Are Required For These Redwood Giants The National Park Service will implement a parking reservation system for Muir Woods as of 2018. Associate Editor Kasia Pawlowska has the details. Mount Tamalpais Hiking and History A symbol of our county, a recreation destination and much more — Mount Tamalpais has many sides.
Yosemite Travel
Yosemite Travel Yosemite Facelift 2022: Help Keep the National Park Pristine by Joining a Cleanup Event This Month For nearly 20 years, thousands of volunteers have been meeting in Yosemite National Park annually in September.
Review: Book chronicles rise, fall of PG&E in an age of climate change
On Nov. 8, 2018, a fire sparked in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Butte County. Pushed by fierce winds, it kindled into the deadliest wildfire in California history. Over the next two weeks, the Camp Fire burned 153,336 acres, killed 85 people and destroyed much of the Butte County town of Paradise. How do you assign blame for a catastrophe? Blame local governments that permit development on fire-prone land. Blame drought that turns forests tinder dry. Blame climate change for the drought.
Accelerating rare disease diagnosis will have a lasting impact on the NHS
With the NHS marking its 74th anniversary this month and the UK government recently allocating £2 billion to further digitise the sector, it’s a time to celebrate progress, but more importantly, an opportunity to look forward to future innovation in our healthcare service. The NHS must be applauded for standing strong and adapting to the challenges the past few years have brought, yet we now need to start positioning ourselves to tackle deeper medical complexity.
Review: A sobering look from both sides at Northwest timber poaching
It’s a classic Northern California travel experience: the drive on Highway 101 north through Humboldt and Del Norte counties, coast redwood country. On either side of the highway, Sequoia sempervirens, tallest trees in the world, form curtains of deepest green. Then, inevitably, you stop at some rustic roadside shop that calls itself Bob’s Burls. You admire a redwood burl coffee table and wonder: Can we squeeze this into the back of the SUV?
Review: Sink your teeth into this fascinating, if worrying, tome on sharks
If there’s no such thing as bad PR, then sharks are riding high. You have ABC’s “Shark Tank,” Discovery’s Shark Week, and the deeply missed “Sharknado” and its sequels. (Did “The Last Sharknado” really have to be the last?) There’s the inescapable day care ditty “Baby Shark” — you know it, of course you do.
Life's a Journey: Escaping COVID Fatigue in Yosemite
Illustration by Chris Lyons I steered the car through Wawona Tunnel back into sunlight and the view that stops my heart every time: Yosemite Valley in all its granite-walled grandeur. Bridalveil Fall! El Capitan! Half Dome! Beneath them, the valley itself, its oaks and cottonwoods fired with the coppers and golds of the season. I parked, stepped out of the car and drank in the landscape the way a hiker swigs from a canteen after a long uphill climb.
Magpies hang on to win thriller
By Peter Fish, April 06, 2022 In front of a huge crowd and a sparkling, new electronic scoreboard, footy returned to Scottsdale, but it took until the final match before the Magpies could record a win - and what a game it was! In the senior match Scottsdale kicked with a strong breeze favouring the grandstand end, but while they booted four goals Rocherlea replied with three and took the honours in a combative opening term.
North Bay author John W. Reid describes how protecting megaforests is key to reducing climate change
John W. Reid, co-author of “Ever Green: Saving Big Forests to Save the Planet.” Photo: Jessica Reid John W. Reid had what he calls his “epiphany moment” sitting on a granite dome in the Upper Rio Negro in Brazil’s Amazon Basin. He had taken a break after 18 years of running his own environmental nonprofit to spend four months in South America. He remembers “looking out over the biggest blackwater river in the world.
Bridport wins cricket grand final
By Peter Fish, February 16, 2022 In an entertaining match on Friday evening played in front of an appreciative crowd Bridport proved too strong for the Branxholm Brewers in the grand final of the NECA T20 competition. Branxholm batting first managed 9/135 off their allotted 20 overs but the Port needed just 18 overs to reach the target and take home the spoils for 2021/22.
Review: In thriller 'Burn Coast,' mom-and-pop pot growers confront a toxic new reality
“Burn Coast” author Dale Maharidge Photo: Courtesy Unnamed Press The California drug trade has inspired potent books. Early in his career, T.C. Boyle scored with “Budding Prospects,” the picaresque tale of Northern California naifs turned wannabe cannabis kings. In surf-noir novels like “Savages,” Don Winslow supplies readers with THC-fueled crime sagas that reveal affluent Southern California as alluring, brutal and corrupt.
Binns returns to Magpie nest
By Peter Fish, October 27, 2021 Mikayla Binns, one of northern Tasmania's best female players is returning home to take on the role of coach of Scottsdale Football Club's senior women's team. Binns (26) comes to the job after coaching Launceston to this year's NTFAW premiership, and in 2020 she was a member of Launceston's statewide premiership team. She will replace Cabel Hall, who led the club's entry into women's football from 2017. Hall coached the team to premierships in 2017 and 2020.
Local players feature in Team of the Year
By Peter Fish, October 06, 2021 The NTFA has announced its 2021 Women’s Team of the Year, and six of those selected have strong links to the Scottsdale Football Club. Alex Hall was named captain of the team and her Magpie team mate Maggie Cuthbertson was also selected in the team. Hall won Scottsdale’s best and fairest award this year with Cuthbertson runner-up. Both players were ranked in the top 10 in the association best and fairest award won by Georgia Nicholas from Old Scotch.
Review: Oakland author reports on how humans and nature interact, sometimes violently
Author Mary Roach Photo: Jen Siska Mary Roach is the Deborah Vance of science writing. As played by Jean Smart in the HBO series “Hacks,” Vance is the raucous, sequin-suited Las Vegas comic who’s made a career mining laughs out of cheating husbands, sleazy boyfriends and botched plastic surgery. And Roach? She’s built her impressive literary presence in part by mining laughs out of topics that fascinate us but also make us squirm.
Review: In 'Paradise,' a tour de force story of wildfire and a terrifying look at what lies ahead
Butte County sheriff’s deputies try to direct panicked drivers fleeing the onrushing Camp Fire along Pentz Road in Paradise on Nov. 8, 2018. With few escape routes out of the small rural community, many drivers would become stuck in traffic jams and have to abandon their vehicles to the fire. Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle 2018 In California, bucolic place names come cheap. But — I speak from personal experience here — Paradise was the real deal.
Fire Safety
Fire Safety How to Protect Your Home from Wildfires: Home Hardening, Retrofits and Getting Wildfire Ready Protecting your home from wildfires not only defends your personal property from destruction — it can also help preserve the beauty of our county.
Tom Stienstra shares favorite spots in ‘52 Weekend Adventures' just in time for summer fun
Tom Stienstra at Mitchell Peak in the High Sierra, one of the recommendations from his newest book, “52 Weekend Adventures in Northern California.” Photo: Moon Travel If you’ve ever hiked, camped, backpacked, fished or in any way outdoor-recreated in Northern California, it’s almost guaranteed you’ve garnered guidance from Tom Stienstra.
Magpies mauled by Tigers
By Peter Fish, MAY 26, 2021 Scottsdale had a significant reality check after ladder leader Longford made light of a trip over the Sideling to win the match by 70 points. The Magpies went into the match with coach Ethan Petterwood and ruckman Brad Tuffin back in the starting 18, but nothing went to plan. Longford has been the pacesetter in the NTFA all season, and on Saturday night it was obvious why. The Tigers were superior in every aspect of the match.
Green Apple Books co-owner immersed himself in British book until it was published in U.S.
Pete Mulvihill and Bonnie Tsui in Tomales Bay. Photo: Craig Popelars It’s 5,300 miles from San Francisco’s South End Rowing Club to Suffolk, England.
Magpies ‘choke’ at Bridgenorth
By Peter Fish, MAY 12, 2021 Scottsdale was in a comfortable position at Bridgenorth on Saturday, four goals up at three quarter time and kicking to the favoured end. But that comfort zone was a false dawn, as the home team coached by former Magpie Philip Lethborg showed they were made of stern stuff. Bridgenorth booted five unanswered goals as the Magpies capitulated. Not for the first time this season they endured a quarter where they were totally outplayed.
Magpies win a thriller
By Peter Fish, MAY 05, 2021 Since 2014 when South Launceston re-entered the NTFA, Scottsdale has only beaten them once. But on a balmy Saturday night at home under lights, the Magpies pinched, by a point, a game that had seemed lost against a team that had seemed superior. The match was not a high scoring encounter, and the biggest margin was at quarter time after Scottsdale had booted the first three goals of the game.
Review: As quarantines lift, Lyanda Lynn Haupt wants you to live 'Rooted'
“Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit” by Lyanda Lynn Haupt Photo: Little, Brown Spark With books, timing counts. Naturalist Lyanda Lynn Haupt wrote much of “Rooted,” her newest work, “under quarantine during a global pandemic.” Now “Rooted” arrives in bookstores in an altered era. Quarantines are lifting; we’re lining up for shots and jabs.
Magpies win opener in style
By Peter Fish, April 14, 2021 Scottsdale began its 2021 season with a promising seven goal victory over 2019 premiers Hillwood in cool and blustery conditions. Coach Ethan Petterwood was understandably pleased with the outcome, but warned his players that they still had plenty of work to do. “It was great that we had such a good win but at the same time we know there are aspects of our game where we have to get better,” he said. The Magpies fielded 10 new players and were slow to get into stride.
Magpies lose two stalwarts
By Peter Fish March 24, 2021 The Scottsdale Football Club held a well-attended reunion for past players, officials and supporters on Saturday but those in attendance were saddened to hear of the deaths of two former players – Billy Burns and Arthur Dilworth. Arthur Dilworth, born in 1932, began playing for the club in the 1950s, and represented the club for more than 12 years finishing up in Bob Wilson’s 1969 team, just a year before Burns arrived.
Take Your Next Wine Tasting Trip Through Santa Barbara's Wine Region: Here's What's New in the Santa Ynez Valley
It’s the wine lovers’ happy dilemma. Now, at last, after a whole pandemic-plagued year where wine touring seemed as out-of-reach as a flight to Mars, spending a weekend wine tasting actually seems possible again. People are getting vaccinated; purple tier counties are turning red and red ones turning orange. Suddenly it seems realistic to think about spending a whole weekend sampling syrahs and sauvignon blancs, with a memorable meal or two thrown in. But where to go? That’s the dilemma part.
us travel
A look at a less crowded, relaxed, welcoming spot to go wine tasting.
Santa Ynez Valley
A look at a less crowded, relaxed, welcoming spot to go wine tasting.
Sacramento's Kate Washington reflects on husband's lymphoma recovery in 'Already Toast'
Kate Washington, author of “Already Toast: Caregiving and Burnout in America.” Photo: Beacon Press “We were in a good stretch,” Sacramento author Kate Washington says of the life she and her husband, Brad Buchanan, had built for themselves and their two daughters — before Brad’s rare, aggressive lymphoma nearly took that life away.
With 'Vera,' Carol Edgarian transports readers to a darker age of San Francisco
Author Carol Edgarian began writing her new novel, “Vera” — set in 1906 quake-ravaged San Francisco — six years ago. That’s long before her adopted city was brought to a near-standstill by COVID-19.
Magpies to host four night games
By Peter Fish February 24, 2021 Scottsdale has had its first win for the season with its request for early season roster matches to be played under lights, supported by the NTFA. The club’s first four home matches on April 10, May 1, May 15 and May 22 will all be played at night. In past years the club’s application for night games had to be agreed to by the visiting team, and not all NTFA clubs were happy to cooperate.
Review: In 'Heroes,' two amnesiac superhumans go from bank-robbing to world-saving
“We Could Be Heroes,” by Mike Chen Photo: Mira Books Superheroes — they’re just like us! They have their weak spots. Sure, Jamie Sorenson may possess a super alter ego, the Mind Robber, who can plumb people’s deepest memories and stun them senseless. But he feels guilty for deploying these talents to rob banks. Meanwhile, Zoe Wong is the crime-fighting Throwing Star, able to sidewalk-slam evildoers with one flick of her wrist.
10 North American Homes That Are Fabulously on the Water
Did Sleepless in Seattle stir romantic thoughts about living in a floating house like the one Tom Hanks shares with his lovable matchmaking son? It was my first introduction to the on-the-water lifestyle, and the idea has fascinated me ever since. Whether it’s a float house like the one Hanks’ character lives in, a houseboat, a converted barge or a trawler, the thought of watching from the sofa as the wildlife swims or flies by, water just beneath my feet, is dreamy.
Yosemite Lodging
Yosemite Lodging Yosemite During Covid-19: Your Own Private Half Dome We hadn’t been inside the park 10 minutes when Yosemite gave us a sign of how magical our Covid-19 visit was going to be.
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