 Hello, and welcome. I am so glad you're here today. My name is Maricela, and I'm a librarian at the San Francisco Public Library. Before I introduce our wonderful presenters for today's program, Smory Storytime, I want to thank you all for coming. I would also like to take a moment to acknowledge that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramatish Ohlone, who are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Peninsula, and continue to live, work, and play here today. As the indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance to their traditions, the Ramatish Ohlone have never ceded, lost, nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all people who reside in their traditional territory. We wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors, elders, and relatives of the Ramatish Ohlone community by affirming their sovereign rights as First Peoples. Summer Stride is the library's annual summer learning program, and this year we are so excited to bring you a variety of online programs for the whole family to enjoy. Check out the chat for more information on this award-winning summer learning program. And this program would not be possible without the friends of the San Francisco Public Library, who make today's programs and all other library programs possible. We thank them for their support. Today is the first weekly Nature Boost series for Summer Stride. Nature Boost is a collaboration between the parks and the library. We are so honored to work with the National Park Service, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, and the Presidio Trust to make Nature Boost not only happen in the summer, but all year round. We encourage you all to enjoy special park-inspired programming at home and also to get out and explore a park near you. Please let us know in the chat what is your favorite park. We have a wonderful pair of storytellers with us today from one of our favorite organizations, the National Park Service. The Golden Gate National Recreation Area includes your national park sites, including Alcatraz, Ocean Beach, Marin Headlands, Meere Woods, Four Point, and the Presidio. Today, our rangers are from the Presidio, and if you have questions, put those questions in the chat because we will make sure that we share those questions with our presenters. Now, I am delighted to introduce you both to both Ranger Fátima Colindres and Ranger María José Alcántara. Ranger Fátima Colindres says that her love of the park started in high school and that she believes that everyone should be able to connect to their parks. You may have met Ranger Fátima and may not have even known it, as she will often be in character as Juana Briones during park programs. Juana Briones allows visitors an opportunity to meet her as the early pioneering curandera, the founding mother of San Francisco, who lived in the 1800s. Ranger María José Alcántara started her career in the parks during the IL program, which is for teens, and she loves loved being in the parks and bringing visitors to the park so much that she made it her career. You may have met Maria José during ranger programs in libraries or even in your very own home during virtual campfire programs over the past year. Together, they have delighted audiences of all ages in the parks and in our libraries. I am elated that they are both here today to bring us stories of creation from long ago with a character that we might know well, el coyote. So perk up those ears like coyotes and listen close to the stories of Ranger Fátima and Ranger María José. Hi, I am Ranger María José Alcántara. Thank you so much, Maricela, for welcoming us to another year of summer stride. It's one of our favorite partnerships and we're so excited to be with you all. I hope everyone can enjoy a virtual campfire. As I am coming to you live from my home, I am still teleworking and coming to you from my virtual campfire. So you can see I have my pretend tent and pretend campfire behind me, which is also my stuffed campfire that I have with us today. But we are pretending to be in our park sites today and we're going to be imagining ourselves around a campfire in our park sites. And I'm so excited to share this campfire program with my very best friend, Ranger Fátima. Hi, Fátima. Hello, everybody. I am so happy to be here too. I am coming to you from the Presidio of San Francisco, actually from my house in the Presidio of San Francisco. And I'm excited to share my favorite coyote stories with you today, not just local coyote stories from this part of our land here in the Presidio, but also coyote stories from Tío Coyote, from when I was a child growing up in El Salvador. So let's get started. Let's get started. Awesome. So I see that we have a coyote in this photo behind us here on our virtual screen. So I love seeing coyotes. It's one of my favorite animals. That's why I have my pretend coyote with me. I also have a stuffed coyote that I love to cuddle with. But Fátima, tell us why the coyote is one of the most important animals here in the Bay Area and to the cultures that have lived here for thousands and thousands of years. Okay. Well, if you don't know yet, a long time ago, in the time before time, they say that coyote, the great coyote, it was asked by the grandfather above, the great creator of all great things, to help him in his creation. And so coyote, of course, said yes. So coyote's task was to create everything that you see in the sky, everything that you find in the land, and yes, everything that you find in the waters. Now, coyote had a little bit of help, though, because not only did coyote create all that surrounds us, all the plants, all the animals, but also the Olone people. And to create the Olone people, his helper was Little Hummingbird. They say that Little Hummingbird came to help the great coyote and she gave birth to the first Olone people. And for that reason, my Olone friends have told me that if I ever see a coyote or a hummingbird, I should feel so blessed because I will have good luck for the rest of my day. So keep your eyes open out there when you're visiting your national parks or when you're out in your neighborhood because you just might see a beautiful little hummingbird. So say hi to the mother of all the Olone people. Say hi to the creator of all great things if you get to see a coyote in your community. Well, that's just one story about the great creator of all great things. Are there other stories Maria will say that you want to share with us today? Yes, thank you for sharing that creation story. And you see, I have my coyote and my hummingbird with me today. But I actually don't live in San Francisco. I live further out in the Bay Area. And up until last week, I thought I didn't have coyotes here in my neighborhood in Solano County. But believe it or not, I saw one last Friday right here in my neighborhood. So I must have good luck now. But I always see hummingbirds in my backyards. I'm so lucky. But you know, I love the different types of plants that grow here in our communities all over the Bay Area. We have different plants that have grown here for thousands and thousands of years. And one of my favorite plants has an amazing story. And we're looking at it now on our screen here, our virtual screen. You can see a small little shrub on a hillside in the Marin Headlands and behind it the grandiose Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco and the foggy background. But you see the little plant that we see on our screen. It was the saddest, saddest plant in the whole, like, world. Oh, she was so sad she would cry all day. And she would cry all night. Because nobody wanted to be her friend. For you see, in this picture, we don't see any friends roaming around her because, see, she was missing a few things. A lot of times people think that plants are so beautiful and so amazing when they have awesome flowers, colorful colors and maybe different textures. Oh, but this one was just a sad little bush and she would cry all the time. However, this plant cried and cried until one day that a very special visitor came to visit her. And this special visitor was none other than the most special one of all, Coyote. So when Coyote went up to this beautiful plant, in their opinion, saw that the plant was crying, Coyote said, Hello, beautiful one. Where are you crying? It was like, if I, if that was that plant, it was like if I were to see my favorite author or my favorite ranger or my favorite celebrity, immediately the plant wiped their tears and they said, Oh Coyote, thank you for visiting me. See, I've been crying all this time because nobody wants to be my friend. And you're the first person who's come and spoken to me. So thank you. So oh my goodness, they immediately became best friends. They talked all day. She was so happy. It was as if she never shed a tear in her life. Oh, they were such good friends by the end of the day. And just as we see our friends, and if we see our friends nowadays, I'm so excited to give them a high five or give them a hug once again. So Coyote kind of did the same thing. So when he was getting ready to go, he went up to this plant and he brushed himself against this plant. And he walked on by and said goodbye plant. Have a great day. Oh, she was so happy. But when he brushed himself against her, he left behind a special gift. Now I want you to think about if you were Coyote, you were to brush yourself against this scraggly looking plant with just a few leaves on it. What would happen? What kind of special gift would Coyote have left behind to a plant like this? Hmm, let's think about it for a few seconds. If you're thinking, hmm, maybe he left behind a special gift of, I don't know, Fatima, what do you think? What could he be left behind? What, what about flowers? Do you think that Coyote left flowers? Well, he didn't leave behind any flowers, actually. What about friendship? Friendship, she was lonely. Definitely left his friendship with this special plant forever. But it was something physical that he left behind. So if we can see my virtual and my real stuffed Coyote here, can you remind me? What were the clues that you gave us again? What did Coyote do? Coyote brushed himself against the plant. So I don't know about you, but if you brush your hair like I do, oh, sometimes I have hair left over. So what could he have left behind? MJ, was it a puff of fur? Exactly. He brushed himself against the plant and he left behind a puff of his fur on this plant. And remember Coyote was a very special creature, the creator of all great things in many different cultures, our indigenous cultures. So, oh, for the very first time, oh, this plant was so excited that they received this fur from Coyote. They had the magical power to finally grow flowers for the very first time and not just any flowers. Oh, no. This is the same plant completely covered in flowers that we see on our virtual screen here. This is the same plant growing at Chrissy Field and we can still see it today because this plant grows amazing flowers that look just like Coyote's fur. So they had the special power to grow flowers for the very first time. And I don't know about you, but usually we see flowers growing around the springtime, some even during summertime. A lot of flowers have been blooming all over the Bay Area nowadays, a lot of California poppies. But this plant right here, they don't have any flowers yet because they only grow flowers during the time that Coyote came to visit her. And when might that be during the time of year? It's not during the springtime when everyone else is showing off their flowers. It's not during the summertime when one of my favorite pink flowers grow in August near my birthday. But what other seasons might there be? When did Coyote come visit this plant? It might have been too cold in winter. So what's left? Is it the fall? Exactly. So Coyote actually came to visit this plant during the fall season. So that's exactly what we see. And sometimes depending on how the climate is, we see this plant completely covered in her Coyote fur licking flowers during the months of maybe September if it's early, but definitely in October and November. So we see this plant completely covered and we can go and brush our hand against this plant and tell them how beautiful they are. But you know, they also gave another very special talent or very special gift that day when Coyote came to visit them. More than the friendship, they also had the very special ability to serve as medicine for the Indigenous people and for all people. But what kind of medicine do you think this plant may have provided? It's a very beautiful plant now, but I don't know. How could I use this plant or how could you use this plant Fatima? Do you know the medicinal quality of this plant? Oh my goodness, MJ, this is like the most amazing plant in the whole wide world. I love it so much because I suffer from pain in my joints. Like sometimes my wrist gets swollen, sometimes my knee gets swollen. And so if I would have been living in the time before time, back in the time when only Olona people lived in this land, and I needed medicine for my aching joints to make the pain and the swelling go away, this would have been my medicine. What Olona people have done for thousands and thousands of years is that they take the branches from this plant and they heat them over the campfire to release the oils from the leaves and the branches of this plant. And then they take those oils and they rub it on their aching joints to make the pain and the swelling go down and go away. So this is the most wonderful plant because it would be my medicine since I suffer from aching joints. Wow, that is so awesome. That's so cool that this plant has those magical medicinal qualities to it. And yeah, my family can definitely use some of that because my parents have arthritis and they would love to learn more about this plant. And yeah, thank you for that. But let's see, I know I talked about this plant, but I think I forgot to mention what the name of this plant is, but I want you to guess what the name of this plant is because I haven't revealed it, at least I don't think I revealed it, but it's two clues again. It's what our main character who came to visit this plant name is and it's also what they did after their beautiful conversation. So what is the two word name of this plant? Our main special character who came to visit them and also what he did on his way out. Two guesses. We're going to give you three seconds to guess it. We can guess it in three, two, one. And if you guessed Coyote Brush, then you're right. Coyote Brush is the name of this plant because that's exactly what Coyote did. And now you know how this plant got their name. And how it got its flowers. And how it got its flowers and why it looks so much like Coyotes for the first time I saw this plant. I was like, whoa, it's so fluffy. Like what got on this plant? And Ranger Fatima told me, whoa, you know, and then I heard this amazing story from Ranger Fatima. And that's how I learned how this plant came to be and how they got flowers. So I would have just thought that a bunch of cotton or something fell on this plant somehow. We can always use our imagination when we see these plants. And I also saw that someone asked us in our YouTube chat and you can always ask us some questions in the YouTube chat. Someone asked, can we see flowers in the parks now and in the summer? Definitely. There's many different kinds of flowers that bloom all throughout the park. And you can always check out our website and find our brochures and our web pages also that tell you all the wild flowers of Golden Gate. So you can see what kind of flowers are in bloom right now. But you know, Maria Jose, your stories have inspired me to share my favorite story from El Salvador. So I would love to hear it. If you love Coyote's stories, if you love bunny rabbits, and if you love watermelon, this is the story for you. Here it goes. I love all three. I'm excited. All right, here we go everybody. If you've never heard this story, prepare to be amazed. I learned this story when I was a little girl growing up in El Salvador. I may have been somewhere between the age of four and six. So if you asked me who wrote this story, where it comes from, I don't know. The only thing I know is that I learned it when I was a little girl in El Salvador. So in El Salvador, we think of the animals as family members, especially before the Europeans came to this land. So our indigenous ancestors, when they saw animals, they saw them as part of the family because one of those animals could be your nahuatl is what they call them. So your other soulmates. And so Coyote, rabbit, all the animals, birds, everybody was respected back in the time before time in El Salvador. And so we know Coyote as tío Coyote, uncle Coyote. And we know rabbit as tío Conejo, uncle rabbit. Okay. And so I'll be using those words tío, which means uncle in Spanish, and Conejo, which means rabbit, and Coyote, which is Coyote in Spanish. I'll be using those those words through my story. All right. So that's what it means. Here it goes. In the time before time, it's they say that tío Conejo and tío Coyote were best friends. I mean, they were best friends. They did everything together. If one of them decided, you know what, today would be a good day to go fishing. Well, they did that together. Or maybe one of them would say, oh, you know, we haven't been hiking for a while. I think today's a good day for a hike. So of course, because they were best friends, they did that together. Tío Coyote, tío Conejo always hanged out together, did everything together. And most importantly, they would love to eat their favorite fruit in the whole wide world together. And you may have guessed it already, their favorite food or their favorite fruit in the whole wide world is watermelon, just like mine. I love watermelon. And so did they. And uncle Coyote loved it so much that uncle Coyote had his own very own watermelon garden or watermelon patch. And it was just not just any watermelon garden. Oh no, it was a prize winning watermelon garden. I mean, every year, he would win prizes for these delicious, just juicy and sweet watermelons. Well, how did this happen? Well, uncle Coyote was a great farmer. And he would go talk to his watermelons every single day. He would talk to them, he would say, oh my goodness, you're growing so beautiful. Oh, you're doing so great. And not only that, then after talking to them and telling them how wonderful they were, Tío Coyote would measure the watermelons and then he would weigh the watermelons to make sure that they were growing just right. Well, one day, uncle Rabbit came to visit and he's like, Tío Coyote, I'm ready for some watermelon. Can we can we cut open a watermelon? And uncle Coyote said, no, no, no, they're not ready yet. They're not ready yet, not yet. Uncle Rabbit was a little frustrated. This is not what he wanted to hear. He wanted a watermelon so bad because uncle Rabbit's favorite fruit in the whole white world was watermelon. So, since he couldn't get a watermelon from uncle Coyote, you know what that little rabbit did? He waited till the nighttime and then he snuck into Tío Coyote's watermelon garden. He just hopped in and found the watermelon and there he started talking to the watermelons too. He's like, oh, you look so good. I think you're ready now. And then he looked at another one. Oh, but you, you look even better. And oh my goodness, I think you're definitely ready now. And then he looked over to the other side and then he saw the biggest watermelon of all. And he hopped over to that watermelon and he said, oh, let me hold you a little bit. And he picked up that watermelon in his arms. He's like, oh, yes, you are definitely ready now. And you know what that little rabbit did? He took a stick and he opened the little hole in the little belly button of the watermelon where you know where the watermelon is connected to the vine. Well, he made a little hole right there and then he took that stick and he went and he made a watermelon slushie right there and then and you know what he did next, right? He went, delicious. He drank that watermelon all up. Now he had a problem. What am I going to do? He starts talking about, oh no, tomorrow, Uncle Coyote, he's going to find out I ate the watermelon. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. And then his tummy went, well, don't you worry. Uncle Rabbit came up with the best plan of all. And the very next day, I'm not going to tell you his plan right now. I'm going to tell you that plan at the end of this story. But the very next day, the plan works so well that when Uncle Coyote came to check his watermelons, every single watermelon was just right. Yep, every single one. He weighed them, he talked to them, he measured them and no sign that anyone had been in his watermelon garden. Well, since the plan worked so well, the very next night, Uncle Rabbit went and snuck into that garden again and did the very same thing. He did that night after night after night until the day came when Uncle Coyote noticed that his watermelons weren't growing anymore. And so he said, hmm, maybe it's time to cut open a watermelon. So he called his best friend over to the house and he was like, tío conejo, tío conejo, come on over. It's time to open the first watermelon of the season. But Uncle Rabbit was like, yeah, no, I don't want any watermelon. That is so last season. Yeah, I think I'm going to go fishing. What? Uncle Coyote couldn't believe his ears. Uncle Rabbit had never said no to watermelon and he had never planned to go fishing by himself. What was happening here? Hmm, that is so strange, Uncle Coyote said, but okay, more for me. And so Uncle Coyote took the biggest watermelon and he got the knife and he started to cut that watermelon open, open. And the watermelon went when it opened up and Uncle Coyote looked inside that watermelon and all he could say was, I'll get you for this. Now let me take you back to what happened that first night when Uncle Rabbit was in that watermelon garden. So you remember Uncle Rabbit was hopping around. He's like, what am I going to do? Uncle Coyote is going to find out tomorrow that I ate his watermelon. And then his tummy went chur, chur, chur, chur, chur. Well, what that meant is that Uncle Rabbit, because he ate that watermelon so fast, now he had to go to the bathroom and he had to go number two and he didn't know what to do. And so then he grabbed the empty watermelon and he went to and filled up that watermelon. Mm hmm. He sure did. Yep, you must be thinking to yourself, yuck. But he filled up that watermelon and the watermelon did not weigh different at all compared to all the other watermelons. So Uncle Coyote had no idea that Rabbit had come into his garden the night before. And so the rabbit ate all the other watermelons the same way every single night. So now when Theo Coyote opened up that watermelon, you know exactly what he found. He did not find yummy delicious watermelon in there. No, no, no, he found a whole bunch of little black things. Mm hmm. Well, if you've ever wondered why there's little black things in your watermelon sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes now you know how they got there. And now you know why Uncle Coyote and Uncle Rabbit, Theo Conejo are no longer best friends. And that's why if you ever see a Coyote running after a rabbit, that's because even to this day, Uncle Coyote is still trying to catch that rabbit for what he did so long ago when he ruined his prize winning watermelon garden. Mm hmm. Coloring colorado este cuento se ha acabado. So I hope that this story explained to you what those little black things are in your watermelon. But I've heard that nowadays you can buy watermelons that don't have any black things. So enjoy, continue enjoying your watermelon just as much as I do, whether they find little black things or not. But at least not able to avoid them. What did you say? What else? I thought those were just seeds inside a watermelon. You know, that's what they tell us they are. But now you know better. Oh my gosh. But don't eat them. I always thought if I swallowed watermelon seeds, I would grow a watermelon inside my belly. But now I know where they really come from. And I'm terrified. But I still love eating watermelon anyway. I guess that's proceed less watermelons. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Oh, Fatima, I love watermelon too. And I love this photo that we put together with this imaginary watermelon and rabbit next to this real picture of a coyote over by the Golden Gate Bridge. And I'm wondering, do watermelons even grow here in the Bay? Thank you for asking. You know, they do actually, and they did for a while because I read in my research, you know, Mari, I'll say I'm always reading books. I love to read books. And so in my readings, I found out that our Mission Dolores, back when Mission Dolores was a place where Native Americans or Lorne people were made to live there and work there. One of the plants or one of the fruits that they were allowed to grow during their free time at Mission Dolores were watermelons. So that reminds me of a silly song. Maybe you can help me sing it, Maria Jose. It's called Down by the Bay. Oh, yeah. I love singing and I love that song. So I will definitely join you in this. Are we going to do this repeat after me style? Yeah, let's do that. So I'll start it off and then you repeat after me. All right. For those of you at home, you can sing along with me. All right, everybody. So let's get started. Down by the Bay. Down by the Bay. Where the watermelons grow. Where the watermelons grow. Back to my home. Back to my home. I dare not go. I dare not go. For if I do. For if I do. My mother will say. My mother will say. Did you ever see a whale with a polka knot tail? Down by the Bay. Did you ever see a whale with a polka dot tail? Down by the Bay. Down by the Bay. Down by the Bay. Where the watermelons grow. Where the watermelons grow. Back to my home. Back to my home. I dare not go. I dare not go. For if I do. For if I do. My mother will say. My mother will say. Did you ever see a bee with a summer knee? Down by the Bay. Did you ever see a bee with a summer knee? Down by the Bay. Down by the Bay. Where the watermelons grow. Back to my home. I dare not go. For if I do. My mother will say. Did you ever see a pig dancing the jig? Down by the Bay. Did you ever see a pig dancing the jig? Down by the Bay. Good job MJ. I love that song and that's an easy song to sing because I didn't even know you were going to add more words. I only saw some words on the screen and it was easy to sing with you so thank you but oh my goodness I love singing songs. I love singing songs around a campfire. It just reminds me of one of my favorite campgrounds in the park. Oh my goodness and I love that we're having this virtual campfire here today and if we can go to the next slide please I would love to show you my favorite campground in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Among many others well actually I have many favorites because the one that we're seeing in our photo here is actually Rob Hill Campground and it's in the Presidio because of course we are Presidio Rangers but across the Golden Gate Bridge we have even awesomer campgrounds like Kirby Cove, Hawke, Hawke Camp I think it's called Hey Press by Centennial. I'm already forgetting the names. I used to be the campground manager that's so embarrassing but we're imagining ourselves at Rob Hill Campground under the Cypress Trees and it's a windy blustery day and maybe the fog is starting to roll in as we can kind of see in the background of this photo and Rob Hill Campground gets really really cold in the afternoon so if we're imagining ourselves at Rob Hill I'm probably shivering and I'm trying to get as close as possible to Fatima or to our campfire in a safe distance but I love to sing this other song so since we're in a singing mood I want to sing this song with you all and I want to tell you a little bit about how I learned this song so if you can go to the next slide please. This song is called General Frederick Funston so General Frederick Funston as the name says he was a real army general in the Presidio and if we go back into San Francisco's history the date is 1906 and there was a big earthquake and a big fire that ensued and was taking over the whole city and General Frederick Funston he took his soldiers up to Rob Hill because it was the highest point in the Presidio so that they could look out to the city of San Francisco before there were Cypress and Monterey Cypress Trees and Monterey Pines and eucalyptus trees because all those trees were new to the area they weren't so tall we can actually see around San Francisco so they went up to Rob Hill and saw where they can go and fight these fires so this song it goes just like that so we're gonna do some moving with it if you can stand up you can stand up with me if not you can do it from your chair as well you can use your arms to do these motions but this song it goes like this we're gonna pretend we are those soldiers we're gonna go attention we're gonna stand or sit at attention with our heads raised high and this song goes General Frederick Funston he had 1000 men he marched them up Rob Hill one day when we march up we're gonna do our arms up if you can you can raise your knees up as well and march them down again and we're gonna squat down hopefully you can see what i'm doing here and when you're up you're up we're bringing it up again and when you're down you're down we're going down again and when you're only halfway up we're gonna keep it low halfway there your knee they're up nor down so if you have high energy and if you can do it and your knees allow you to you can jump up and you can try to touch the ground as well we'll see if I can do that but let's try this song together so attention we're gonna march soldiers left left left right left general Frederick Funston he had 1000 men he marched them up Rob Hill one day they marched them down again and when you're up you're up and when you're down you're down and when you're only halfway up your knee they're up nor down all right I wish I could see all of you trying that with me I can only see Ranger Fatima trying it out with me right now but let's try that once again let's see if we can try that a little bit faster now so attention and march left left left right left general Frederick Funston he had 1000 men he marched them up Rob Hill one day and march them down again and when you're up you're up and when you're down you're down and when you're only halfway up your knee they're up nor down whoa if it was a foggy day at Rob Hill I would be getting warmer now but oh too fast my heart is racing let's take it slow and slow all right attention left left left right left we go general Frederick Funston he had 1000 men but he marched them up Rob Hill one day and marched them down again and when you're up you're up and when you're down you're down and when you're only halfway up your knee they're up nor down whoo I love singing those songs I love singing at Rob Hill and all over the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and I welcome you to go out and explore your parks I welcome you to remember these songs and remember that these parks are your parks and you can go and explore them and enjoy them because you belong in the parks and the parks belong to you so thank you for sharing this virtual campfire with us I think we may have lost my video but wow that was awesome MJ thank you so much for leading us in that song and wow I hope that everybody's having as much as fun as we are today I'm sure they are I think they are probably catching their breath after the after the general song I know I am thank you so much for sharing those koyote stories and also those songs if our audience has questions don't feel shy put those in the chat so that we can get to those questions right now with Ranger Fatima and Ranger Maria Jose and while we're waiting for those questions to come in I know we might have some young listeners in the audience and I can't help but ask are those stories true well I have to say that yes to the people who have shared these stories with us these stories are very true for example the creation story I shared with you this is an Olone creation story and to the Olone people this is a true story and hummingbird and koyote are very important animals in their stories and in their community and so whenever so for me they're real now because now I know that koyote and hummingbird will give me good luck whenever I see them so I feel protected when I see those two animals in the park and they're beautiful animals when we get to see them out even sometimes you know not in the park we might see them as Maria Jose mentioned sometimes within our even our own neighborhoods I and and I think the and also just for any of the young listeners out there just again the watermelons are totally cool to eat they're yummy and delicious but it's a fun story you know just remember those stories and you can tell your friends at at next time you see them about about the watermelon story that you heard today at Samori story time I'd love to ask you all what's it like when you share stories at the parks because we might have families who may only know you on screen right now and we want them to go out eventually when it's when we return back to safe being able to safely have programs what is it like oh I love doing programs also at the libraries the libraries it was a lot of fun during summer stride going to every single library branch so if you are like me that you're born and raised in San Francisco or maybe you live in San Francisco now or maybe San Francisco still new to you I definitely welcome you to go and explore where those different library branches are you can get to know every single neighborhood and find the different things that make them unique so I loved going to the different library branches to get to meet new librarians get to meet new families and that was a big highlight for me going to the library branches and telling these stories and getting to to get loud and wacky at a library because normally we're very quiet at a library so I love singing our silly songs and telling our stories at library branches but yeah what about the park Fatima I know you have a long long time of doing programs in the parks I mean I do too but you have more than I do so for me when you know hopefully soon we'll be able to be together again in your national parks but in the past how I have enjoyed telling stories is on my hikes so if you ever come on on a hike with me in your national park you will always have some stories about either the plants that we're seeing or the animals that we're seeing along the trail and then the other way that I've shared stories is at the Rock Hill campground you know so whenever people came out there to do their little camping trips within their community groups I would come out and do some storytelling for them at night other ways that we've done is for special events and so hopefully next year we'll be able to commemorate the grand opening of Tunnel Tops because at Tunnel Tops there's going to be a new campfire circle that's going to be added to that cool place and so I will definitely be telling stories around that campfire so I'm looking forward to the Tunnel Tops coming next spring hopefully next spring I think we all are so right now I know that we can go enjoy our parks with our families and they are open for people to come out and visit but maybe by you know by the time we have our the the Tunnel Top opening we'll be able to enjoy some program some programs there in person and and get to see Ranger Maria Jose and Ranger Fatima as she mentions around that beautiful campfire that is being being included in the design yeah and then the other thing I wanted to mention is you know if you don't have your own stories the way I do like I have a whole bunch of stories in my head but if you love to read stories to your to your family to your children but you don't have them in your head the way I do we also have story walks which is a collaboration with the public library and so there's story walks in different parts of the park so come and enjoy the different story walks that you can find here in your park here in the Presidio there's one over by Mountain Lake which is one of my favorite sites you know so come and read the the book because a story walk is basically a book on trail heads along the trail that you can find the different pages and it's like a scavenger hunt and reading a book all at the same time and taking a hike so you can come and do that with your family right now thank you for mentioning the story walks because if you are curious to learn more about those there is a link in the chat right now that you can follow to learn more about the story walks so Ranger Maria Jose and Ranger Fatima I want to give you a moment um this has been such a wonderful and special start to our nature boost series for summer stride but before we sign off I want to give you a moment to and anything you'd like to say to our community that is tuning in today well I would like to invite you all to come out to your national parks have a fun safe moment out in nature for me nature is very healing and so just to be able to go walk on the beach or walk on a trail look at some flowers is it's just like healing for me and so I invite you all to come and find health and wellness in the outdoors just like I do in your national parks and you know before you come out always check the website to make sure that places are open or that there's bathrooms for you available things like that you know but always prepare prepare before you come out bring your healthy snacks with you bring layers wear layers because here in the Presidio for example it may be hot in the mission district but here in the Presidio it's cold and windy and foggy so make sure you come prepared for the weather change but just come and enjoy your national park yes and even if if maybe transportation is is a little tricky for you right now or just going for a short outing in your neighborhood you never know what you might find and you might even find a coyote or hummingbird but if you're more comfortable at home or maybe you're unable to go in enjoy your outdoors you can still enjoy our virtual offering so we will be having our weekly summer stride nature boost here online but we also have other digital content that you can enjoy from home if you're unable to leave your home for different reasons or if you're not comfortable going outside yet but oh one day hopefully we all will and I hope you all take care of yourselves and always stay safe and please check out our website for more exciting activities and more exciting virtual offerings and how to prepare to go to your national park site so our park website is www.nps.gov slash goga so that's nps for national park service dot gov for government and goga is our abbreviation for golden gate well thank you both and you your stories were so much fun we look forward to having more nature boosts like you said maria jose every week fridays at 11 in fact if you all enjoyed learning about this coyote stories this week next week join us for present day real life coyotes in san francisco we have a presentation called co-existent with coyotes in the presidio and we are looking forward to learning more about this wondrous animal in our in our bay area area and and so we we are welcome you to come back and to and in to co-existing with coyotes co-existing with coyotes in the presidio well that's all for today take care everybody and we look forward to seeing you next time online at these programs or visit our sfpl to go sites and come and check out a book and visit us um at the sites and look at www.sfpl.org to learn about libraries that are opening near you goodbye everybody thank you all