Red

Spring Blooms Day 3.

Pink and White

Spring Blooms Day 2.

Spring Blooms

My morning walk today was a burst of color, so I've decided to do a series of blooms this week. For lack of a better idea, I'll post them in the order in which I found them.

Wilkie Bridge

This pedestrian/bike bridge from Wilkie Way to Miller Avenue connects Palo Alto and Mountain View and is listed on Google's "secret" bike passageways page. I've been on many of these little paths, but clearly I have a lot more to explore!

Dinosaur

I don't know what this is about, but when I saw this dinosaur on a fence while bike riding by, it made me smile.

Tree Face

I wish the two signs weren't also attached to this tree, because I think the face is very cute.

Live

I noticed about a week ago that the first photo I'd seen taped to a light post on Louis Road was no longer there. On my Saturday morning walk last weekend, I came upon another photo on Ross Road. I'm very curious about these. Are there more around town? Why are both dated 1/3/15? How long have they been up? I may never know, but they feel like little treasures when I find them.

Half Moon Bay

Over the weekend, we finally made it to Half Moon Bay. I took this in the late afternoon, while thoroughly enjoying the sun's interaction with the clouds.

Construction Update

Over the weekend I passed by the house I posted at the end of February and they have added the second story, which was one of the issues the neighbors didn't like when the plans were under review. I can see why they fought it; the house dwarfs both houses on either side.

Giant Antenna #2

This is the second of the giant antennas I regularly pass by. I think it's even more spectacular because you can see it from ground up. It towers over the enormous house.

Wishes Tree

After the most recent Palo Alto high schooler took his life last week, a few local moms got together to decorate two trees on Bryant Street with wishes. A simple goal -- to let the local kids know they are loved and valued -- led to a lovely display of heart-shaped notes. I happened to be riding by when they were putting it up on Sunday, and I went back on Thursday to take a few pictures.

Capitol Rotunda

On Wednesday I visited the Capitol building in Sacramento for the first time. Here's a shot of the beautiful Rotunda.

Cupcake Down!

This display at a local cupcake shop has a bit of problem. For some reason, my younger son and I thought this was hysterical.

Butter

Wow! Twenty dollar butter! I've seen everything now.

Mossy

Everything was pretty green at Windy Hill a couple of weeks ago, and this tree near the beginning of the hike was striking for its mossy growth.

Self-Driving Car

A regular site around Mountain View and Palo Alto -- the Google self-driving car. When I took this photo, there was one in back of me too.

California Poppies

It's that time of year again ... the poppies are popping up all over town! They are so bright and beautiful, I didn't even have to do any color correction on this photo.

Little Bridge

I came upon this little bridge while I was on a bike path just off of Stanford Avenue on the way to the Dish Loop trail. It's much more pleasant riding on the path than on the street with all the cars!

Yahoo!

I came upon one of the ubiquitous tech buses taking a mid-day siesta on a side street the other day. It'll be interesting to see how the negotiations play out between the drivers and the companies, especially with regard to the dreaded split shift.

Front Yard Treehouse

This tree house is well-concealed in an enormous front yard tree, so much so that I walked past it countless times before noticing it.

Tiny Street Sweeper

The other day, I passed by the smallest street sweeper I've ever seen. It was actually cute, which isn't an adjective I'd use for regular-sized street sweepers.

Bike Parking

This delightful scene is repeated at all of the public schools in Palo Alto. I was a little early on this day; it's usually even fuller and it's just one of several bike parking areas at this school.

Newt

On last week's Windy Hill hike, we saw newts, five of them by my count. Our guide said they're poisonous, and someone on one of her hikes had gotten sick from touching one a while back. I looked up some information on them when I decided to use this image, and I think this is a red-bellied newt, one of the Pacific newts. These guys are really not to be touched! Not only do they carry bacteria which can cause stomach problems, all of the Pacific newts also secrete a neurotoxin, which apparently causes respiratory paralysis. Yikes!

Arastradero Preserve

The December rains have turned everything green.

Dish Loop Tree

About a third of the way into my hike of the Dish Loop, I came upon this awesome tree. The fallen branches, the way the Bay is framed behind it, and Stanford's Hoover Tower peeking out on the left side made me stop and take a long look.

Robots

Seen in Mountain View Wednesday, this "Autonomous Neighborhood Crime Watch" robot is, according to the engineer who popped out of the building to say hi to us, a better-than-human security guard. It records and scans data and can figure out when something is out of the ordinary. The freaky future is now.

Sunrise in Greenmeadow

A couple of trees in Greenmeadow Community Park catching the early sunlight.

Windy Hill

I took this Monday at the top of Windy Hill Open Space Preserve in Portola Valley. It was a long hike and a little chilly (and windy!) in this spot, but the view was spectacular.

Silver Lining

The silver lining to having to drive to the top floor of the packed parking garage the other night (and eek out the very last available spot) was this gorgeous sky.

Rainbow

There was a spectacularly huge and bright full rainbow Saturday afternoon. It was actually a double rainbow but my camera barely picked up the one on the outside. It took a panoramic shot to get it all in.

"Arch-Cradle"

"Arch-Cradle" by Michael Szabo, located in Mitchell Park in Palo Alto.