I regularly go hiking, and it was already clear at the beginning of the year that we were in for a long drought. We had only a few sprinklings of rain during a season which typically includes several storms, and it rarely if ever rains during the summer. By the time June rolled around, the…
Category: Environmentalist Ramblings
Farewell My Old Friend the Racing Bike
In 1985, the bicycle I’d used to commute to and from school was stolen off a Greyhound bus and my mother and I went to the local bike shop to get me a new one. The bicycle which caught my eye and my heart was a KHS racing bike with a light aluminum frame, 12…
Bring Your Own Bag Law Freak Out
As a businessperson, my relationship to the City of San Jose in which we have our offices is best described as contentious. It started when my husband moved his office to San Jose and paid the business license tax. Rather than welcoming a business to the city, the revenue department immediately assumed we’d been here…
Bondage Tomatoes
This is my third year gardening, and my initial amusement that the tomatoes are knaves and the pumpkins are kings still stands. I’ve also improved tremendously, which I can only attribute to the blessings of my neighbor “Demeter.” In fact, my pumpkins were so tremendous last year that they were the terror of the neighborhood,…
A Visit to Star Route Farms
Paul and Mary are visiting. Before they came, they told Peter Paul had reconnected with one of his college track team buddies who happened to own an organic farm in Marin, and that they planned to take a day to visit him. I turned it into a field trip for Charybdis and Scylla. Farms are…
Escape to Sunshine Gulch
Several years ago, our neighbors Dave and B.J. sold their house and traded it for 40 undeveloped acres separated from the Bay Area proper by a mountain range or two. I rarely see them, but this week Charybdis and Scylla was on break, and I wanted a break away from the urban hustle and bustle,…
The New California Academy of Sciences
When my fellow homeschooler Kay invited us to ride along with her on a trip to visit the new California Academy of Sciences yesterday, I jumped at the chance. For years now, peering out from the De Young Museum’s observation tower, we’ve watched it being constructed, and it looked awesome. A huge science museum with…
So Much Fun in Downtown San Jose
I do go on and on about how jazzed we are to have our offices downtown now. We end up seeing a lot more of downtown San Jose, and there’s always more fun to be had. The weekend before, we’d gone downtown to see the fireworks and thanks to our office building, were able to…
Serving Demeter
My Greek neighbor Marcella is a veritable goddess of the garden. Anything she plants takes root and thrives, even in placements my gardening guides and nursery advisors admonish against. In her garden, tomatoes grow in the shade, flowers bloom while all crowded into a corner together, and her trees continue to regrow and fruit no…
My Neighborhood’s Memorial Day Parade
I think this was the fourth year my neighborhood has had a Memorial Day parade/festival, and the first that Neil hasn’t been in it. There’s a lot of things I love about my neighborhood, but I really love having a parade right in it. This year, it was the highlight of our Memorial Day weekend,…