I love Arastradero Preserve in Palo Alto, but normally we keep our hikes close to home, especially if we have others joining us. But this week, Neil was at a camp at Stanford, so I figured I’d go on a hike with Kelly while I was there, and invite others willing to make the drive [...]
Kelly’s been eager to visit Oakland’s Fairyland, which I agreed would be a wonderful place to her. On Wednesday, I took here there, since I was already almost halfway there, having dropped Neil off at Stanford for his Maya camp. Fairyland is all I could want; and it makes me miss the old Happy Hollow [...]
Last week, Neil went to a full-day camp on the Stanford campus to learn how to do 3D modelling in Maya. He enjoyed the camp, but the week turned out to be an adventure not only about that, but beyond that as well. For one thing, Neil’s friend Bill Gosper lives near Stanford, and he [...]
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, [...]
Kelly likes to watch a TV station called Sprout, and told me there was a contest to meet “Chica” in Philadelphia. It required downloading and coloring a paper “Mr. Mailman” and being photographed with him in various places, a la a travelling gnome or Flat Stanley. So Kelly and Neil took Mr. Mailman out for [...]
One of my homeschooler groups organized beach days, but so far, most of the people involved have wussed out on going to the beach unless it’s truly hot. But this Tuesday, I was going to go to the beach, rain or shine, with or without anyone else. So we ended up being the only people [...]
Last Saturday, I went to one of the state parks that’s been threatened (whether genuinely or in the latest round of stupid politician kabuki theatre) with closure, Henry Coe Park. I’d wanted to hike up to Frog Lake for years: it’s a popular fishing hole, according to lore, especially since it’s the lake closest to [...]
I was pleasantly surprised to find out, on a recent trip to the farmer’s market downtown, that one of the little theatres was going to be putting on A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s been fun to insert Shakespeare plays into our history education, but the result has been hit or miss. The 1953 movie version [...]
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 [...]
