Image courtesy Sollerphoto (Flickr)

Normally I browse through our local offerings on the Freecycle mailing list just looking at what’s available (if you don’t know Freecycle, you need to learn right now.) Normally there’s things like extra mattresses, spare coffee tables, junk drawer contents and half-used bottles of baby formula offered for free. But in all my days on the listserv, I’ve never seen such a strange offer, and I’m passing the offer on because I silently hope someone can help.

We have a lovely, healthy about 30′ tall redwood tree in our parking strip. A very inappropriate place to have put this tree 15 or more years ago. It has lifted the bricks in the parking strip about a foot–maybe more–and is now lifting the sidewalk, about an inch so far.

It must go. It breaks my heart. I don’t want to cut it down. But clearly, we have to remove it before things get worse.

I know it is a very (very) long shot, but it’s worth a try. Someone with large property, a park, or a nursery might want to have a lovely, healthy, tall redwood badly enough to move it to wherever.

Just hoping.

Doris

If you’re interested in helping Doris find a new home for the redwood tree, please contact me and I will put you in touch.

Silicon Valley: A unique flower that blossomed in the pleasant climate of central California when local university graduates mixed with the fertile soil of entrepreneurship.

This past Saturday I was sitting among the earth boxes in the Google Garden thinking about the last two hours spent at the Doof-A-Palooza event, for DooF - A new TV Food Show For Kids. There had been garden and kitchen tours, outdoor cooking stations manned by Google chefs - nutritious foods to sample, and some offered cooking lessons for the kids. We saw baby goats, and a Beekeeper. Alan Henninger, the owner of Henninger Hill Apiary*, gave me his thoughts on why bees have been disappearing at such an alarming rate.

There were several contests, including a food-inspired spelling bee. And another contest in which a young lady, Sophia, was happy to have named a cheese correctly while blindfolded. Her dad is with Barefoot Coffee Roasters. Seems to be a good sense of smell in that family. I spoke with Derek Rupp (Google Executive Chef) about the importance of good nutrition for kids. He and his crew made a tasty, round ball version of power bars. I met Gus Walbolt, one of the team members behind the TV Series. I expressed my hope that the show would be on daily to help kids make the best food choices. — Thanks to Google, it was a good day for all.
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I’m not sure how popular Shoreline Park at Mountain View is, but I heard of it only recently. I had seen the exit on 101 earlier, but it didn’t really get my attention. This is another piece of land near the Bay, much like Sunnyvale Baylands, but even better.

Created after being a landfill area for dumping trash, it has possibly reached the other extreme of beauty. The main attraction is the artificial lake. Surrounding it are large areas carpetted with grass, interspersed with trails for walking and cycling. It’s summer now and you get a good place to chill out.
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Near SJC is a garden my children enjoyed when they were young. There is not one scary ride, not one swing or slide, yet it has what all kids seem to relish. The park has little winding paths on which to run, and the piece de resistance is a hill. A hill to climb up and to roll down. A hill that is positioned directly below the flightpath, making the San José Courtyard Garden a perfect spot to view arriving flights.

Recently I had a wonderful time at the Courtyard Garden with a picnic style lunch, which I purchased from the nearby MarketCenter on Coleman Ave., proving it is still a good place for “kids” of any age.

Courtyard Garden location W Taylor St. off of Coleman Ave. You’ll find a free parking lot at the South-East end of the garden on Seymour St.
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Want to go out and have fun with the familly on a sunny day? Just want to catch some fresh air on a lazy Sunday? How about breaking away from the maddening city life? Sunnyvale Baylands Park is a good option. Located just off Lawrence Expressway / Caribbean Drive, it is a fairly large park near the wetlands created off the Bay.

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My wife and I had never really seen San José till the last weekend. We had passed through Downtown several times, found a few things interesting but never stopped by. Last Saturday, we set out to change that. We lined up a few places to visit in and around Downtown, and planned our route.

The first stop was History San José. Gary had aroused our curiosity just a few days earlier. We drove to Kelley Park that houses ‘History’ and got lucky right away — parking was free. No idea why it was so, even though it was a sunny Saturday — no harm done to us. Firstly, I expected more of a museum; but this was in a park setting. There were houses and buildings moved in from elsewhere, similar to a place we had seen in Utah earlier. For us, the highlights of the place were the Light Tower (which was once upon a time used to illuminate the Downtown area), O’ Brien’s Cafe, the trolley ride and the school.

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The Japanese Friendship Garden located in Kelley Park is a great place to take an easy stroll, feed ducks and fish, and take in the beautiful surroundings.

The garden is modeled after Korakuen Garden in one of San Jose’s sister cities Okayama, Japan.

There are three ponds stocked with Koi fish that gets the most attention. Bring your quarters, as there are at least two fish food dispensers. It was fun watching the kids feeding the ducks and Koi.

From the entrance of the park you come upon the upper pond, going to your left there is a there is a beautiful, tranquil area. Unfortunately, it is next to Senter Road and passing trucks and buses soon disrupts your tranquility. The sounds of the road are soon replaced by the sound of the stream that connects to the lower elevation ponds. Nearby is a traditional Japanese teahouse, not open.

Along with the pathways, ponds, and streams there are fountains, a waterfall, rock settings, bridges, shrubs and various types of trees.

Not on par with the Hakone Gardens, I still highly recommend a visit to the Japanese Friendship Garden.

There are only benches, no picnic tables; however there are picnic tables outside the gardens, including tables “next door” at History San Jose.

The garden is open daily 10:00am to sundown. Admission is free. Parking is $6.00 weekends and most weekdays.

Location map here.
Parking info via Happy Hollow Park here (PDF).