Spring Sneaking Into California (Magnolias, CA Haiku)

Magnolia in Bloom
Atherton Library

Spring Sneaking In On

Folks Round Silicon Valley

California!

Slow Travel: Stanford Succulent and Cactus Garden (Arizona Garden)

At this time of year there's quite a bit of fruiting and flowering going on among the cactus. My mother used to make cactus jelly when I was a kid living in rural Arizona, and it makes my mouth water seeing the nopales

Walk past the Stanford Family Mausoleum - A lovely spot - And head vaguely west to the cactus and succulent garden. http://bgm.stanford.edu/groups/grounds/special/arizona

The garden is not heavily visited - though it has a regular cadre of visiting walkers and dogs.

Nancy and the Mysterious Case of the Undefined Object

A few months back, I switched my mobile app development from the IOS environment (apple) to non-native JavaScript. I'm enjoying coding a great deal more than I was with IOS, but still.... debugging is hard.  

Oddly enough debugging is what I missed most when I was off pursuing teaching as my interim career. Missing the looking-for-clues part of programming is what I missed most about not coding.

So when my husband replied with his usual 'Oh, I'm sorry.' response to my description of my morning's work I explained to him. You never expect the detective to get it figure out on her first shot. If she did the book just couldn't go on for 250 pages!

Hiking Windy Hill - California Buckye In Bloom

California Buckeye is in business on Windy Hill * serving up fragrant blooms to hikers, native bees and butterflies, like the Pale Swallowtail butterfly. This shrubby tree, found over much of the Western United States, is a great wilderness plant counted on by many natives. Before European contact, it was also a food source for native peoples, following an extensive toxic leaching process.

It's not a good neighbor in the  suburbs, however,  since there it may come into contact with non-native bees. That's because it's pollen, though extremely appealing to the European immigrant bees, is toxic to them.

So . . . we love it, but we don't plant it.
*Windy Hill is close to - Silicon Valley, Within the San Francisco Bay Area , is  nearby the 280 freeway

On my Flower-Lovin' Hiker's Bookshelf

              

Old CA In Style - Flowers and Views at Windy Hill

Poppies and Yarrow in Bloom at Windy Hill

We've been hiking Windy Hill weekly, to help my husband get his legs ready for summer field work. 

That's just an excuse of course. 

Sure, the 7 mile loop from Portola Valley up to the top and back down is a great way to get in some hill climbing, but with wildflower season in full force here on the Peninsula, you're not hearing any complaints from local hikers, taking in the flores and colores. The vistas are fantastic as well. All along the way you're treated to sudden peaks at the top of the rounded hills, and excellent views of the San Franciso Bay below.

Less mobile folks can drive along Skyline Boulevard, and gain easy access to picnic tables at the top turn-around point. From there you can get some lovely vistas of the Pacific Ocean on one side of the road, and the Bay from the edge of the picnic area. You can also amble along a shortish side trail to the top of one of the rounded domes - perfect for flying a kite.  

And yes, you can take the pooch. Dogs are allowed on several Windy Hill trails. (If you start off in Portola Valley, check the dog signs carefully as there are multiple trail heads, some of which do not allow dogs).

BTW, Windy Hill is within athletic bike riding distance of Stanford University and Silicon Valley, though it's not a mountain bike area.

On my Flower-Lovin' Hiker's Bookshelf

              

March'ing Through the De Anza Flea Market - Bay Area Field Trip

Directions and More - De Anza Flea Market

Some Junk is Better

Than the Goop I Already Have.

Shall We Hunt For Fleas?

Windmills In My Head (San Francisco Bay Area Field Trip)

I  enjoyed an early moonrise over the Windmill Farm
 as I drove on Vasco Road, through the Altamont Pass
on my way home from  Susan's house.

Took a day off yesterday, to go see my buddy Susan. You remember Susan right? She's the sewing buddy who fitted my No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency shirt, and my CA Romance dress. Susan and her family have recently moved to Discovery Bay.  Her house there is huge, by my two bedroom cottage standards. Her bedroom is more like a studio, perfect for a sewist!

Though people do  commute into San Francisco and the Silicon Valley from Discovery Bay, it's a pretty long haul from the Penninsula. I spent about two hours driving each way, managing to miss the commute traffic, but getting lost twice.  Once I was through the congestion of I880, south of Berkley and Oakland, and transitioned onto I580, the landscape began to calm down.

Once off I580 onto Vasco Road, it was clear I was heading into land that has maintained it's agricultural roots. The area has still got plenty of working farms, farm stands and narrow two lane roads, and the Sacramento Delta is a hop skip and a jump away.

I'm not sure what the key crops are in the fields just beyond Susan's house, but it's pretty clear that energy is a year round, all-season product in the Altamont Pass Windmill Farm.

~ ~ ~

Web Resources

Field Trip: Bayside Sewing With Susan http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2014/05/field-trip-bayside-sewing-with-susan.html

My No 1 Ladies Detective Agency Shirt http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/03/no-1-ladys-detective-agency-shirt-b5526.html

CA Romance Dress

http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2013/06/sewing-up-california-romance-vogue-8810.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Bay,_California

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacramento–San_Joaquin_River_Delta

Altamont Pass http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Pass

Altamont Wind Farm Windmills are dangerous for local birdlife http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Altamont-Pass-turbines-kill-fewer-birds-4230640.php

Heart of Silicon Valley (Mountain View, Red Rock Cafe)

You can hear about the big names and hot companies in the Silicon Valley, but if you want to feel it happening, come by Castro Street in Mountain View.

Go on into the Red Rock Cafe and head up the narrow stairs to find people plugging away on their laptops, working and talking together. This is where they come to informal working groups, Meetups, like those for Android App and IOS (apple/Mac) developers. This is where it's actually going on. 

History is happening here.

Junípero Serra: The Mission Man

Junípero Serra was not exactly the good old buddy of California native people that he imagined himself to be. Were his missions indeed like old-time concentration camps for the enslaved native population who didn't manage to escape the rule of the Conquistidores? Likely many of the diseases that decimated local people spread from the missions.

This statue's up behind a roadside rest stop off Highway 280, one of two major arteries on the peninsula that runs between San Francisco and the Silicon Valley. That freeway still bears the name of this man, though many of us don't relish the connection.

What are your thoughts on the man with more than one mission? 

References: 1491 : new revelations of the Americas before Columbus / Charles C. Mann.

Finding History at MacWorld 2013 (San Francisco Field Trip)

MacWorld's not what it used to be. These days it's more like a recreation of the good old days in the 80's and 90's to remember when it showcased the marvelous new apple computer products we were all so hyped about. 

It's a short BART trip from my home in Silicon Valley up to the expo.  So I went, still hyped about my mac and all it's associated mobile devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod), and my work on IOS app development. I mostly saw business apps, some hardware and tons and tons of accessories - cleaner, cases and covers. This stuff I can buy on the web. I didn't find any of the educational apps I was interested in contrasting with my own work. The app display area ("Appalooza") had plenty of room to sit in comfort, as there were so few vendors. 

Upstairs I found some of the tech listen-in sessions that used to excite me, but I just couldn't get my enthusiasm up. So I went for a good long walk to enjoy a little more of the history of San Francisco.

Thanks for the memories.

It's all happening, it just isn't happening here anymore.