It optimistically will be cooler this weekend. If it still isn’t cool enough then head on over to Santa Cruz, where it will be a bit cooler than here. The weather forecasters have San Jose in the upper 80’s and Santa Cruz in the low 80’s this weekend.

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk will be having its 101st Season Kick Off this weekend. Saturday and Sunday from noon there will be champion high divers descending from an 80-foot tower and performances by the Amazing Chinese Acrobats, shows alternate every hour.

In addition, this weekend is the River Arts Festival presented by the Santa Cruz Education Foundation. The River Arts Festival is a fundraiser to celebrate and support art in the area’s local public schools. Schools and environmental groups are represented at information booths.

Artists will give insight into various artistic processes including Glass Blowing, Metal Working, Painting, Ceramics and more.

The Festival will feature Sand Painting, Sun Prints, and more for children and adults, lead by professional artists; musical performances; strolling troubadours; food court.

On Sunday 11:00 am the Festival will include the first Santa Cruz Kinetic Sculpture Race. Artists build sculptures on wheels to be raced that are pushed, pulled or pedaled by the artist.

River Arts Festival
San Lorenzo Park, Santa Cruz

Saturday and Sunday, May 17 - 18
11:00 am - 5:00 pm

What better way to spend a sunny afternoon than watching a bazillion rubber duckies race towards the finish line? Adopt a duck (or two or three) and maybe your duck will win you some fab prizes. All proceeds go to benefit the Tri-Cities community and is organized by the Kiwanis Club of Fremont.

What? 14th Annual Ducks For Bucks Benefit Race
Where? Boat Ramp at Fremont’s Lake Elizabeth/Central Park
When? Race begins at 1PM Saturday, April 26th 2008

Visit the Ducks 4 Bucks website to adopt your duck and to find out more information.

KaBOOM! a national nonprofit organization that envisions a great place to play within walking distance of every child in America, has named San Jose as one of the most playful cities in America. KaBOOM! put out a list of 31 cities and towns that make a strong commitment to playgrounds.

San Jose has 168 play spaces (playgrounds, skateparks, youth sports fields, or any other structure providing play opportunities for children). San Jose’s playgrounds now meet safety and equipment condition requirements, and a spending priority is focused on updating playgrounds/spaces using modern building materials (rubber surfaces, mulch) and newer equipment. In addition, there is money set aside to build 16 new playgrounds in the next year.

Dogs, what do they want? They just wanna get out of the house and have some fun.  

To spend some quality time with your dog(s), while helping to benefit animal oriented charities, pack up the pups and join in the fun at the annual “Bark in the Park”.  

There will be dogs in costume, dogs doing silly tricks, and educational activities too. Best of all, who wouldn’t want to see the winner of the Pet - Owner Look Alike Contest?

Bark in the Park 2007
What a Dog Wants!

Saturday, September 15, 2007
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
William Street Park
Corner of William and S. Sixteenth Streets
Downtown San Jose, San Jose, California

Admission free - $5 donation per dog is encouraged.

Please call the YELPline (408) 793-5125 for information.

All pets must be on a leash.

Metroblogging San José would like to thank Judy Conner for alerting us to this event.

To the world, California is more known for Hollywood and Silicon Valley. However, when you come here, you hear of “redwoods”. You might drop in at Muir Woods on your sight-seeing trip to San Francisco or you might go as far as Mendocino. But how about checking them out next door? Getting to the redwood trees at the Big Basin Redwoods State Park is less than an hour’s drive from the South Bay.

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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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Finally a project timeline (released today) has been set for the creation of a master plan for the Martial Cottle Park. It has been several years since we here in the South San Jose area were last updated about the future of the giant parcel of land once owned by Mr. Walter Cottle Lester. Over the next several months the California Department of Parks and Recreation along with the County of Santa Clara Parks and Recreation Department will have their hands full with meetings, hearings, fact finding missions, and lots of paperwork as they put together this master plan.

When it’s all said and done we should see a clear picture of what the park will look like. Walter Cottle Lester’s vision was to have a park that would pay tribute to the history of farming in the Santa Clara Valley. Along with walking trails, picnic areas, gardens, small agricultural museum and more this could become one of South San Jose’s premier attractions. You can even see a man-made lake sketched-in on the artist rendering….wow!

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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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Back in the day KLIV (Beach Boys, Beatles, Rolling Stones and Motown) was a popular radio station with most of my high school friends, but I preferred the sounds on KDIA and KSOL.

Where else were the DJs as cool as the music — DJ Sly Stone  would sing along with the last few grooves of a record — With Sly, KSOL 1450 AM became the ‘Soul Over The City- K-SOUL’

Eventually Sly was able to record his own music. With the hit single, “Everyday People” ‘Sly & The Family Stone’ was at the top of the charts.

Sly Stone is back! with the “Back In The Day” Summerfest 2007
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