Jackie's Blog

I still get amazed at the new things we find around where we live. Today we took a very short trip to Chictactac-Adams Heritage County Park and then took a very short walk around the site. "The park features the beautiful Uvas Creek and a wealth of cultural artifacts including bedrock mortars and petroglyphs left by the Ohlone Indians. The park includes a self-guided interpretive walk and an interpretive shelter focusing on Ohlone Indian culture and the Adams schoolhouse which was sited on this property from the 1850s until 1956".

Today we (Mary and I) tackled some gardening. We replaced the flowers in the pots in the front of the house and then put down some netting over the wood chips to discourage next doors cats from pooping on our yard. Then we planted a new hibiscus on the back yard.. Far too much weeding, planting (more seeds) and tidying up later, me and my aching back hung up the tools..

Memorial Day weekend is Mushroom Mardi Gras in Morgan Hill, and this year was the 30th anniversary of the event. Carl and Tracy, and Joe and Jill joined us on Saturday to wander around. It is largely an event to "raise funds for educational scholarships, which are granted annually and provides an opportunity for many local non-profit organizations, clubs and schools to create awareness of their cause". There are lots of people selling products, food, games and rides. For us it is just an opportunity to catch up with friends and support (by eating and drinking a glass of wine or two) some local causes.

We (as in Mary and I) continue to be obsessed by the birds who are continuously at our bird feeder... and the one flower that we still can't identify.. it doesn't flower for more than a few hours, then becomes a head of seeds.

That's how I feel. I have been taking some of my photos, but I have simply not had time to post them. And I feel guilty. I shouldn't. It is a self imposed task. No-one is making me do this but I am cross at myself. I have taken my 365 photos, it is the others that I have been not so good at. Anyway, enough of that. Sunday we went for a long drive but it was so warm we didn't get out of the car- it was much cooler when it was moving. In the end I took some photos of an old chinese box that I have at home. It could be a tea caddy, but I'm not sure what it is. These two were the best- two parts of a whole. Monday- my ceiling rainbow.. Wednesday- I went for a swim in the pool that is part of the gym in the office block across the road from us. It was lovely swimming outside again..

Today was our first wine pick up as members of the Sycamore Creek wine club. I love going to small local family wineries. They invited memebrs to an early evening wine tasting of our pick-up. 2008 Naked Chardonnay... and yes it was as good as the 2007. Fabulous. The new Cabernet Sauvignon was lovely too. Good wine club!

Everyone was tired on the bus on the way home; a very quiet bus. A few people reading books and newspapers but most of us almost asleep. The bus was pretty full and it was the first evening commute bus, so I was not the only one looking forward to getting home. However there is one lady who is a court reporter who was determined to finish up her work on the bus, and so she set up her gear and typed away..

Today was the San Francisco Bay Area 'Bike to Work Day' . Although I don't have to ride far to the bus stop where store my bike and catch the Express bus into San Jose, it was still nice to feel part of a good thing. We all got a goody bag at the 'Energizer Station' and then boarded trains and buses to get us at least a part of the way to work.. These guys caught the same bus as me:

Dick is not fond of having is photo taken, and neither is his mum. However, sometimes I can be sneaky.. This is what is known as a normal Mary activity.. :-) Reading a book- true crime! I am also teaching her the basics of word processing and she is doing really well..

Why oh why do I have another post about wine? It's only Monday night, so it is not like I needed a glass of wine. Mary, my-mother-in-law says she is "not" a wine drinker. However we discovered yesterday that she happens to like a glass of 2007 Solis Vino Roseo di Sangiovese. So tonight we gave her another glass to finish the bottle, and we had to join her. It's not like we don't have enough wine at home.....

Today is Mother's Day in the States (as opposed to 'Mothering Sunday", which is celebrated on the third Sunday in March in the UK). For the first time ever, one of our mothers, Dick's mum Mary, was here in the States for what we call 'American Mother's Day'. As she is a history buff, I thought that a trip to the San Juan Bautista Mission might be a nice idea. It turned out to be a really interesting small mission building with a beautiful drought tolerant garden. I have never seen so many tall cacti in one place. After the mission we headed to Moss Landing and sat and ate a picnic on the beach watching riders on horses, and even a low flying old plane.

I'm so glad the Farmer's markets are back. I always go to the one in San Jose on a Friday lunchtime, but it is more to buy lunch and see what is in season. I actually buy fruit, bread and sometimes some other veg at the Morgan Hill market on Saturday. Today was the first day of the Morgan Hill market and it was packed! Not only were our old favorite stalls there but a few more new ones, and there were so many people it was almost too crowded. It was really good to see how many people were buying fresh local produce. Everything sold there comes from within a fifty mile radius, which is a lot closer than most food comes! This time we bought flowers, which Mary busily arranged whilst at the table in the garden.. and a bunch of BIG sweet onions.. Then I finally saw one of the flowers had bloomed that I'd been waiting to open. Still no idea what it is!

I have taken my photos every day but I did not get a chance to post them. Wednesday, I was in my garden again, discovering what is opening.. I still don't know what everything is! Thursday is CSA day.. and when I picked my veggies up, I took some pictures.. Thursday, my mother-in-law, Mary arrived for a visit. She spent Friday bird watching and when I came home from work, we both set about on the hunt to find out what a particular blue bird was...

On March 20th, I took a photo of some homes that had a builder had started a week before. My, how time flies.. I wonder how long they will take to sell?

Monday and life is back to normal routines. Up at 5:30 am (felt like 2:30- I was still on Hawaii time). A full days work and back to pilates class at the gym..

Oh the joys of coming home from a holiday- unpacking, washing, shopping, and chaos- in our house anyway! It is also a 3 hour time change, so we are slightly askew in our waking, eating and sleeping times. Tomorrow is going to be hard.. It's amazing what changes in just a week- the lawn grows several inches taller. Why is it mainly the weeds? Must have rained whilst we were away. But what also grew was my tomatillo plant- it is probably a third taller than when we left and now the tomatillos themselves are appearing...

Our last full day was packed! We started by going to Kilauea Lighthouse which also turns out to be a bird sanctuary and National Wildlife Refuge. The sun came out and the views were as usual, wonderful. There were also lots of seagull type birds nesting there called "Red-Footed Booby's" or 'A in Hawaiian. Of course this ended up being the joke of the day- the boys kept looking for "Booby's" :-) We also learned about Joel and Stevie's silly holiday tradition of "losing credibility" by leaping simultaneously and taking a photo mid-air in a beautiful place or a place where one would not normally do so! Hence, it had to be done here... Then we moved on to lunch, our first "plate" lunch, consisting if Kalua pork (shredded pork cooked for a long time), white rice and macaroni salad. I know that sounds strange but it is apparently a traditional lunch! Then we experienced another first- a full service petrol station! Sit in your car and b...