Skip to main content

First days in Morgan Hill

This is an extract from some of the emails I have been sending friends since I arrived on the West Coast at the end of February.

Since we arrived in Morgan Hill, I have explored all the shops in the small high street- they are very eclectic shops; there is everything from a knitting shop, to jewelery, one of a kind clothing shops, nick-nac shops and a large independent book store (with an in-store book-club!) There are also several restaurants (fish, Mexican, Italian, BBQ, a breakfast bar, coffee shop and a couple of bars). There is also a small local newspaper which is published twice a week, and a regular Saturday farmers market, and a fish and meat store- all locally run. Obviously there are the chain stores, a Safeway supermarket, and even a new Trader Joes (yay!) but they are a little further away, but within a mile or two.

Just to help those of you who are not geographically inclined, Morgan Hill is about 20 miles south of San Jose, and 70 miles south of San Francisco. We are also about an hour from the coast, and the nearest big coastal town you may recognize is Santa Cruz.

One of the strangest things for me so far is the time difference between here and the East coast. The TV stations talk about 'this evening' at 6 pm their time, when is it still only mid afternoon here! Our favorite TV programs are on at different times too :-)

We are getting used to living in 705 sq feet- it is very easy to keep clean and tidy! We have everything we need and are trying hard not to buy anything that duplicates what we already have. We are pretty sure we'd like a smaller house here, but it is hard to find- they all seem to be bigger than we expected, but not cheaper unfortunately!

Pepper is very content to sleep outside on the enclosed patio in our apartment as the sun doesn't hit it until late afternoon. She is also less bothered when we leave her, and is back to eating normally. She does like to potter around the apartment complex which is landscaped beautifully, and has lots of grass and bushes to explore. A few nights go she could smell an opossum but could not see it, even though I could, as it was balanced frozen on top of a six foot high fence and we walked right past it!

Comments

Unknown said…
Greetings Morgan hillites

Well, I am deeply disappointed with the City Hall and the way they have installed a compressor on the City Hill Library and the neighborhood.

It is once in a life time. Please visit the library and stand outside of it. You would hear the compressor WHINNING and HUMMING in full spirit.

My question: Is this appropriate equipment, substandard equipment or broken equipment.

Please a residents voice your concern to the City hall. I dont see such a thing with any other Santa Clara Libraries, some bigger than MH library.

Please voice your concerns, we donot deserve this humming and whinning specially when everything is new.

Popular posts from this blog

Shrimp Artichoke Pizza With Cilantro Pesto

We are die hard home made pizza fans, and make one once a week- usually Friday or Sunday nights. They normally consist of a pizza base made in the bread machine, with toppings such us onions, peppers, mushrooms, and some kind of sausage with a good layer of fresh mozzarella. For a long time, Dick has tried to convince me that shrimp is good on a pizza, but I just didn't even like the sound of any kind of fish on pizza. If I've ever had shrimp on pizza it was a long time ago and they were small and hard after being baked. Yuk. However, last weekend we both ended up listening to a story on NPR about a winning pizza recipe in New York. It actually sounded good even to me, and tonight we made it, and it was lovely!

Big Move Narrowboat Adventures- Marina life

 The best parts about being in a static spot are the small facilities onsite. Toilets and a laundry make life just a little more simpler. We do have a very small washing machine onboard the boat but it drains the boat battery very quickly, and therefore, can only be used when the boat is actually moving and at the lowest temperature setting. The machines onsite were bigger and had more than one setting. A great opportunity to wash bedding and towels etc. I use a clothes horse to dry the clothes outside although they do have a dryer if necessary. I did hang out the clothes like the photo below one day and came home to find the whole lot in the marina water next to the boat! The washing before it all fell in after the wind blew it over. More excitement when a small boat had to be removed from the canal nearby. The owners had refused to register the boat and pay the CRT fees, and had deliberately holed it to partially sink it in a very awkward place. Some people are just idiots. ...

Travelling to Kauai

So this week, my blog entries will also be a diary of my holiday in Kauai, and a photo or two, although most of the photos will probably be on my Flickr page. We left home yesterday early from San Jose airport, which was not a pleasant experience- one word sums it up- queues! We only just made the plane and arrived at the airport over an hour and a half before the flight. The flight was on Hawaiian Air, and they too, are squeezing every penny they can, from having to pay to check any bags, to renting headsets and movie players on board. The flight was a long one; extra time for strong headwinds meant a 6 hour flight just to Honolulu. We did make the connection in time and the 30 minute flight to Kauai was so short it was laughable. It was also really windy in Kauai but it was warm and slightly humid with partly cloudy skies. Perfect. We arrived at the rental home a few hours before Joel and Stevie and found out very quickly why they love it so much here: and the view from the house was...