Monday, February 2, 2026 (Imbolc, Groundhog’s Day); from Jinny in San Diego, CA to Sally in Taneytown, MD
Dear Sal,
Happy Groundhog Day! We had this year’s Village “Groundhog Gala Brunch” a few days early, last Friday morning. I enjoyed it a lot. Good food, good company, good entertainment. As part of the program, I presented a synopsis of a 1916 episode of extreme weather in San Diego. Earlier in the winter, I’d come across a book at the downtown library describing the disastrous 1916 flooding in San Diego County, and the possible role of “rain wizard” Charles Mallory Hatfield in helping precipitate it. At our gala, I displayed a couple of copies of the book and shared excerpts with Village attendees. A slightly abbreviated version: after the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in San Diego was a big success, city officials planned a second season for summer 2016. Concerned about possible water shortages, they hired Hatfield to create enough rain to fill the new Lake Morena reservoir, hoping it would then provide enough irrigation water to keep the exposition site welcomingly green throughout 1916’s exposition.
Hatfield and an apprentice started work at the beginning of the year in a remote area near the reservoir, constructing several wooden towers, then placing trays filled with a secret formula of chemicals on platforms on the towers. The theory was that fumes from the chemicals would waft aloft and coax moisture from the clouds. In mid-January, a couple of weeks after Hatfield had started working, parts of the county began to see heavier and heavier rains. Some locations got as much as 30 inches that month; resulting floods washed out several dams and caused nearly 3 million dollars worth of damage (in 1916 dollars). Hatfield was never paid for his efforts (nor were he or the city sued for flood damages).
We also played a couple of rounds of “groundhog bingo” with other Villagers, adapting clues from a matrix Jim had found online. Over the weekend, we entertained some of the neighbors with Groundhog lore (and ate up some of the leftovers). Cool, pleasant weather for the entire week.
As we get more thoroughly “planted” in this part of San Diego, I’m gradually finding more ways to contribute that nourish me as well. One involves local transportation: about a year ago, I bought an electric-assist cargo tricycle, after checking to make sure that it was narrow enough (just) to fit into one of our storage sheds for shelter and security. Supposedly the trike can go up to 30 miles on a full charge, though I’ve never let it get below half charged so far. Riding my trike helps keep me healthier—the “assist” is just that: I still have to peddle as I would on a non-electric bike, but the motor kicks in and provides some additional “oomph” on uphill climbs. The trike’s main use so far is hauling me and assorted garden seeds, plants, and tools between home and the giving garden. Since the route from here to the garden is mostly uphill, the assist feature helps a lot. The return trip back down can be a real thrill! Do you remember sledding or biking down Lawyers Hill? Some of the same elation, even at my “advanced” age. The savings on gas add up, too, little by little. I’ve logged about 300 miles since I bought it. Our neighborhood has good bike lanes on most of its major streets, so I’m pretty safe riding. I have a good helmet, a day-glo vest, and bike lights front and back.
In addition to my triking/gardening combination, I’ve experimented intermittently with volunteering at several local food pantries—one run by our church, a couple of others to provide no-cost staples and fresh produce to tenants in a nearby military housing complex.
My third, intermittent be-a-good-neighbor venture has been periodically attending immigration hearings at the federal courthouse in downtown San Diego. My friend Jean alerted me to an interfaith training for volunteers to witness and/or accompany those coming to federal court for required immigration hearings. After I’d been trained, I told Jean about a good alternative to driving downtown to the courthouse: rapid bus. By now, I’d used the bus system enough to realize we could take an express bus from a stop about a mile from home, avoiding both the expense and hassle of downtown parking. Once or twice a month, Jean and I have ridden the bus together to the stop nearest the courthouse and joined other volunteers for a shift. It can be discouraging work—too often the immigrants, many of whom have been in the U.S. for a generation or more and have U.S. citizen children, are detained or deported. We’ve been trained not to protest or try to intervene, but just to provide a supportive presence. It gives me a somewhat different perspective than what I hear or read on the news.
I was especially troubled by the attempted deportation of a fellow UU who’d been in this country since his teens. When he was about three years old, parts of his family escaped from war-torn southeast Asia. He doesn’t remember anything about having lived there. His family spent nearly a decade in regional refugee camps before they were admitted to the U.S. Now in his 50’s, he’s employed full time and also helps care for a couple of older members of his family. Immigration officials, it seems, have been combing through more and more records to meet deportation quotas. They noticed a long-ago gang-related felony conviction on his record from when he was a teenager. They tried to use that as justification for booting him out. He had long since completed his prison and parole time. He was no longer in any sense a danger to the community. It took extensive interventions by our minister, lots of letters and appeals from fellow congregants, and an official pardon to halt his deportation proceedings. Most immigrants do not have that kind of support network.
It seems to me that it’s well past time for us to figure out a workable compromise on immigration that, while reducing the U.S. presence of truly “bad elements,” provides various avenues for those who have been here for the longest and/or contributed the most to stay and eventually to become citizens.
But enough ranting. Hope you’re looking forward to spring. Please take care. Lots of virtual hugs!
Love, Jin
