The devastating wildfire that wiped-out 10% of the houses in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, over the last week, has been a powerful reminder that this spring has been relatively free of wildfires in California, despite starting the year in a state of severe drought. The moister than usual conditions along the Pacific's eastern shoreline caused by El Niño, have done much to refill many of the state's reservoirs. Some of the stricter mandates for water conservation are likely to be relaxed but in a state which has some huge population centers and vast areas of intensive, water-hungry agriculture there are still no excuses for wasteful uses of water.

As Randall and I have walked and (in my case) run around the attractive neighborhoods surrounding Martha's house, we have noticed that many front yards designs would have low irrigation needs. This is either because of deliberate xeriscaping, concreting-over for parking, or Japanese-style landscaping with small trees and shrubs surrounded by carefully placed or raked stones. Low, severely trimmed trees with leaves restricted to green balls at the end of horizontal branches seem to be particularly popular.

These styles likely reflect the Asian heritage of many of the residents of this part of Silicon Valley. The area's high degree of ethnic diversity appears to represent many people whose heritage is from the far side of the Pacific Ocean (particularly Indian, Japanese, and Southeast Asian) many of whom are employed in the hi-tech industries that are locally dominant. There are also plenty of people of Hispanic heritage working in the area but compared to the southeastern states we have seen are relatively few African-Americans.

With many office buildings in the area being owned by hi-tech or dot-com companies and with Apple's huge new headquarters being constructed just a mile or two away, it is not surprising that housing in the Cupertino and West San Jose area is much in demand and commanding high prices or rents. Traffic can also be problematic during rush-hours both on the surface roads around the office buildings and on the various Interstate highways that bring commuters in and out of San Francisco and connect with the east side of the Bay. The ubiquitous road-construction sites do not improve traffic flow but almost constant upgrades are needed to accommodate all of the new construction for businesses and houses. We have the luxury of being able to time our outings to avoid the worst of the traffic but it must become very frustrating for residents who work during typical business hours.

As we were in Florida, we have been very lucky about the time of year that we have been staying in Central California. The moister weather has sustained the green coloration of the grassy hillsides longer than usual and many yards are a blaze of flower colors including the most impressive displays of roses and poppies. While we often do stop to smell the roses, the scent of dense beds of jasmine wafts through almost every neighborhood to create an almost intoxicating combination of sunshine, showy flowers, and bright perfume.

A week after Martha's surgery, Randall and I left her one afternoon so that we could visit the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden. A proud winner of the “All-American Rose Selections” award of America's Best Rose Garden (year not specified), this garden particularly won my approval by having many large beds containing single varieties which created bold swaths of color around a large central fountain and pool. While there were peripheral beds in which several varieties were displayed together, the large areas of each color at this peak flowering time were much more visually dramatic than is typical of most rose gardens which strive for maximizing diversity.



Roses in the San Jose Rose Garden

With the state flower being the bright orange California poppy, it is not surprising that poppies are also popular. Nowhere was the diversity of poppy shapes, sizes, and colors better displayed than on parts of the Stanford University campus. Neither Randall nor I had visited Stanford before so Martha, who had completed her MBA there while working full-time, was happy to commentate for us when we drove around the campus one day. Built on land that was donated by the Stanford family in the late nineteenth century, this large, private, prestigious university has many attractive sandstone buildings. They are surrounded by savanna vegetation dominated by native California oaks, overlooking the town of Palo Alto and the southern end of San Francisco Bay.

We visited Stanford after leaving Martha's appointment with her surgeon in neighboring Menlo Park. The X-ray of her hip showed that the replacement ball-and-socket joint was integrating well into the bone tissues of her pelvis and femur, and the surgeon was very pleased with her progress. While the hip-movement and weight-lifting restrictions apply for another four weeks, he released her to drive when no longer taking narcotic pain-killers. Well, actually he said she could drive anytime that she was not made “loopy” by them, but Martha is waiting until she had stopped using them, which should not be long because she is now only taking them at night.

Martha is no longer using the walker and is coping very well with just a cane. Only when she is tired or distracted are there the slightest signs of her old limp. She is gradually increasing the amount that she walks each day (still mostly inside or on the footpaths around the neighboring townhouses) and although the physical therapist no longer visits, she maintains a regimen of stretches and exercises to strengthen the muscles around her hip. Thankfully, she no longer has to wear a compression stocking which, other than driving, was the last thing for which she was fully dependent upon us for help with pulling it on and off.

In addition to the Rose Garden trip, over the last couple of weeks Randall and I have met up with friends in Fremont (northeast of here) and San Francisco. We last saw Donna in 2013 when we were in Honolulu, but we learned on FaceBook that having helped as crew on a motor-vessel making the passage from Hawai'i to Seattle, she would be visiting her mother in Fremont for a few days. We joined her there for lunch and then walked around the Coyote Hills part of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. In addition to enjoying good views over the salt flats at the southern end of the Bay, we were treated to a close encounter with two Canada goslings and an opportunity to watch cliff swallows collect mud from the creek-bank with which they were building nests under the wooden bridges along the trail.



Donna photographing goslings at Coyote Hills

Our other expedition was to drive up the San Francisco Peninsula to Millbrae where we caught the BART train into the city. This plan avoided the need to hunt for a place to park in San Francisco and we arrived early enough to wander around the Embarcadero (ferry terminal area) before meeting with Doria. It had only been a few weeks since we bid farewell to Doria, as she departed Gainesville for a new job in Washington DC, but while she was working for a few days in the San Francisco office, it was great to see her again and to learn about her new job and apartment (both good).



Sculpture and lights on San Francisco’s Embarcadero with the illuminated Bay Bridge beyond

Assuming all goes well with Martha's reintroduction to driving, Randall and I will be setting-off again on our “It's Good to be Alive Tour” in about 10 days' time. First we will meet with Jan and Michael during their annual wine-tasting pilgrimage to Napa Valley. Then we will take Martha with us to visit their cousin who lives in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, just south of Sacramento. Then around the 25th of May, Randall and I will head north to start our circuit of family and friends in the Pacific Northwest. Let the endless springtime continue!