View from San Leandro a few miles south of Oakland. The Bay and S.F. are on the horizon.

I took a drive Fri. after work to see what the hills east of the Bay were all about. A small earthquake Fri. morning occurred in these hills except a litte more north. San Leandro seems pricey and many many homes have quite elaborate topiaries. The Bay is surrounded by hills. From them you see much of the Bay and its cities!

The 4.2-magnitude shake happened along the north-south Hayward fault at a pretty shallow depth, 3.6 miles deep compared to the more common 6 miles deep. Because of the small depth, it supposedly felt stronger.

The earthquake did not cause much damage. The worst was broken wine bottles. I mean who stacked boxes of wine in the middle of the store in an earthquake zone?? Besides the wine store, the morning news crews spent much of the time covering a cracked donut-shop window.

According to the news, they had to go to reserve power in Central. Whatever that means!!! According to standard procedure, the BART (bay area rapid transit) trains went to half-speed for a half hour to check for damage. Other than that, business as usual in the Bay Area!!

The Earthquake was 4:42AM. It woke me and most of Oakland up(I was annoyed more than freaked out!). It was a sharp jitter for maybe 15 seconds that is hard to describe. The earthquake wasn't felt much outside Oakland and nearby. Does that mean they everyone else has to go to school?? The news radio aired call-ins, and callers were saying it felt more violent than a 4.2, and another guy said he felt a before-shock (as apposed to aftershock).

After a normal day at the Oakland office, caught the red-eye home to Boston.

Topiary

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My previous post dated Friday was actually all about Thursday (posted late west coast time!!!)
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The Bay Area weather the last couple days has been cloudless and fog-free. And who would not take a day off to see Napa Valley and Golden Gate when there is no fog?? So I took off from work at noon for a little excursion....

On a recom-mendation from Dan’s friend who works at Merryvale Vineyard, I went to that very establishment and did some tasting in their fine cellar. Merryvale is in St. Helena, which has tons of wineries. It's about 1.5 hours from Oakland. The main road up the Napa valley (Rte 29) is just winery after winery!!! Dan’s friend had recommended a few besides Merryvale (Chateau Potelle and Duckhorn, to name a few) but alas I only had time for one winery. Dan is a guy from the Oakland office.

For the recommendation, I am grateful.

Somewhere between Napa and Sonoma

The Napa River and Sonoma rivers both empty into San Pablo Bay. I drove a loop north up the Napa valley, over vineyard-covered hills that divide the valleys, then down the Sonoma river. Then you come to San Rafael, a small city nestled in the hills north of San Francisco.

The Mission San Rafael Archangelo.

Jamba Juice, serving fresh fruit with blended with ice, with optional vitamins or energy supplements! Some with yogurt or sherbet.

Golden Gate, no less than fantastical.

Big ship off to China for another load of the best pet food ever?

At the Marin Headlands, you park literally at the edge of HUGE cliffs overlooking the bridge. You know the feeling when the car next to you backs up, it feels like you’re going forward? The story is, I had just pulled in to a stop log facing the cliff and the guy next to me started to back up. I FROZE and was all, how can I be going OVER the CLIFF!! After a very long second I figured it out. I did not need that worry because it is bad enough thinking that the Big One will hit San Francisco when I am stuck on the elevated freeway!!!



I drove inland into the Marin Headlands nature preserve and stumbled on something interesting. I never saw these buildings before today, but I had a dream about them a couple years ago. Same thing as with another stretch of road last year. I am beginning to think I lived in S.F. in a not so past life!! These buildings are in a remote part of the Marin Headlands preserve and probably an old institution or coast guard housing. Of all things, they are now an artists’ hostel! I took a look inside…. The resumes of the resident artists include art PHDs, and people who have exhibited around the world. I picked up grant application instructions anyway….

now that you've spent time
writing your first thoughts

let's divide up into small groups
of around fifty million

- a Sacramento poet

This evening (Tuesday) I returned to the foggy Bay Area after finishing my business in Marysville. In Marysville I talked with Larry, yet another local grower, for about an hour about various worldly topics. Larry grows walnuts of the Ashley, Frankette, and Serv varieties. He gave me some history of Marysville: his ranch is on an Indian burial mound, the area was settled by Swedes, and Marysville is named after a Mary Murphy Covillaud of the ill fated Donner party, and his barn was pushed to its current location by the big flood of '97.

Larry was the first grower I met that mentioned the British Museum. One might ask how many California farmers visit the British Museum?? He and his wife spent two days at the museum. He said he felt a connection to his ancestry which I quite admired. I described to him the darkwood library in Trinity College in Dublin. I described my experience as an awesome connection in a cultural sense, just standing there knowing that Joyce and Yeats and other greats walked those halls!

I explaned my mediterranean ancestry and that I felt this part of California seems mediterranean partly because of the arid climate. However, I see no olive trees round here. Larry then pointed out that there ARE in fact local olive groves, to the north in Chico and in the hills to the east. I told him there might not be a great need for him to go to Greece because as mom and I discovered, so many ancient Greek artifacts were taken to the British Museum! Larry was all haha and went on to mention that olive growers and cheese makers are setting up shop in northern CA these days to complement the wine industry. Soon it was 3PM time for me to move on.

I am staying at the Berkeley Marina Doubletree thru Friday. All sorts of amenities and nice-looking restaurant right on the foggy Bay with a walkway along a marina.

Two academics are conversing here in the lounge and one of them wants to make a germanium nanoparticle. I don't think that is a small flower either!



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La Bamba, in San PABLO just north of S.F. I went for the Guanaco Plate for $10.95. It is Salvadoran. It was a big plate with Tamal (cornmeal, green beans, and chicken served in parchment), pupusa (flatbread patty filled with chicken and cheese), fried plantain, and some sides.



<-------
W Gallery, Sacramento. There is apparently a big art scene in Sacramento, and seems a notably sized poetry scene. From the local listings, there seems to be as much to do culturally, as Boston! (wish I could say the same about Hartford!)




Yoga studio midtown Sac.
Liking the backwards e

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Long line at Crepeville, Saturday morning in midtown Sacramento. The midtown area is full of bistros and cafes in little courtyards. Friday evening, I met with Rob, his fiance Shaina, and his friend Ajay from college for sushi at Dragonfly, then we hit a small bar whos name I forget. .

Saturday evening, I went to the "Second Saturday" art fair. A dozen or more posh galleries in midtown had receptions from 6 to 10PM with free wine & cheese (except a chicano exhibit which had a nice Mexican spread) The small galleries were crowded such that it was easy for me to find the galleries because of the crowds outside the doors. In fact the ten or so galleries I hit were as bustling as the MFA on a Saturday! And I thought the art was very good, mostly contemporary portraits and scenery. Most around $500 - $6500. One gallery had several paintings even in the men's and women's rooms. Another gallery was in a minivan and inside the minivan was a mini-gallery, with mini paintings and framed in mini frames. The minivan interior was very chic with white walls and gray carpet. One person could poke their head in at a time. The Posada gallery, the one with the Mexican food, had a series of very expressive Chicano portraits by two painters of the last name Montoya.



Crepeville, Aioli, boutiques




Flamingos at the Sacramento zoo, Saturday afternoon....


Lemur at Sacramento Zoo. The Eyes.


Entry way to our office in the Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova. Kind of a Kendall Square feel to it. Sadly I am working here today!!



The signs and freeways have a broken-in, loved feel to them....

Yeah it’s been a few days since my last blog entry. My project is going well but there is much work to go. My days have been filled with downing hotel cereal & bacon, appointments with the growers just south of Marysville, Mexican dinners, Jamba Juice fruit smoothies, and work on my other projects!

A couple hours ago I arrived back in civilization, our Sacramento office. The office moved from Zinfandel Drive, to a funky new building on Gold Center Boulevard. Look for a photograph in a future post. The Zinfandel office was kind of a dark maze of hallways, but this Gold Center one is more open and communal so I much prefer this work environment because I can actually see people and chat with them.

Sacramento has a monthly arts fair called Second Saturday, which happens to be this Saturday. I am not sure exactly what that is but there are many galleries listed in Sacramento News & Review, which is like the Boston Phoenix. I will probably just stick around here this weekend and see the art. Tonight I meet of with Rob and his fiancé and another friend for an outdoor concert in Mid-town and probably go out after.

The weather here is cool by local standards… it’s been in the 80’s. Last year this time it was like 99. It was cloudy earlier this week which almost never happens.

This California artist has a Daily Painting blog: http://craigstephens.blogspot.com
I don’t have time to look because I need to book a hotel but help yourself to that blog and let me know how it is!

July 10

Mr. Dang, a local landowner and financial advisor, lived up to his name today when he failed to show up for our appointment.

Not to start off negatively but it turns out the California prune crop is not going to be so good this year. That is because according to James, one of the farmers I am dealing with, it was too warm out last March, and March is when the buds form. And the buds have a big affect (compared to other fruits) on the success of the crop. So the prunes might be too small. If the prunes do get big enough, the harvest will be around Aug 10-20.

The peach harvest is just starting. Sarv, another of the farmers I am dealing with, gave me several peaches from his orchard in Sutter County (just over the river) and they were the best ever. There is even a Marysville peach festival in 2 weeks. The walnut harvest is November. Persimmons are harvested in october. What are those anyway, students at Simmons??? Steve, yet another farmer (I am talking to many farmers), is gradually switching from growing walnuts to growing persimmons because, he indicated, persimmon growing is more enjoyable to him.

Today at lunch I looked at some model houses at a new subdivision called Orchard Estates just outside Marysville. The subdivisions are popping up everywhere around here, and who would not want to see what the jillion new homes under construction are all about? They are open concept houses with 9-10 foot high ceilings. There are three types of cookie-cutter houses at Orchard Estates and they are named after fruits grown in the area: fuji, pippin, I forget what else. You can get a Pippin, 1600 SF in the low 3's. So naturally I asked Christine, the sales agent, why did they not name one model the Prune? Since prunes are grown more than anything around here?? Houses for the older folk? Christine was all haha and thought maybe for the over-55 community but such a concept probably wouldn't fly with marketing. Then somehow out of that came a lively discussion of how the meat sauce at the Dancing Tomato has no meat in it. Then back to work, with her farewell sales pitch that I should have a look at some of the other subdivisions like Hunter's Creek.

Garrett and Ron from GEI are here from our various CA offices, working on the engineering field studies for same levee project as I am working on. I saw them but for a brief moment in our temporary field office. Because then I had to see Clark at the county office before he took off for the rest of the week. It was good to see Clark and catch up since last year. But I did not see Gary or Lynndie because Gary was out having a baby and Lynndie moved to the building department.

This coming weekend is kind of a blank canvas.... I am thinking a bout hitting Napa Valley!!

July 9

Hi! I arrived safe. Carole, Alberto, and the Oakland people are well. Good flight.... saw from the air, the Nevada wild fires at night, that have been in the news. One of them looked like a giant bright - orange glowing horseshoe.

The "award winning service" on Jet Blue includes a bag of nut and snack bag of doritos. With no meal however during this 6.5 hr ride. Does Jet Blue really mean that they win awards like the kind I have received (and probably Angela too) whenever we cut someone off on Storrow Drive?!

No matter about the food because the Almighty himself was on my flight! Well at least, a tall skinny guy with long blond hair and long beard that looked like our savior was right there around seat 13B. That did not not hurt for our safe passage.

On to Maaaaarysville for the afternoon to meet with some farmers and with Bob who is a land acquision agent. Nice cloudy cool here in the Bay Area.