Saratoga Gardens

My faithful companion for three weeks.

Just some of the many lovely gardens that Sammy and I pass each morning on our Saratoga walk. They all have sprinklers or drip feed irrigation systems or they just would not grow.

Saratoga Houses

These are just a few of the local Saratoga houses Sammy and I pass on our morning walk. No two are the same and they are valued at between $3 and $4 Million. Most of the owners work for the Silicon Valley IT companies like Apple, Facebook, Google, PayPal and many more.

Most of the streets are cul de sacs and there is no street lighting and very few pavements. The roads are wide and very quiet except for the main through road and it is only busy at peak commuter times. Nearly all the gardens have irrigation systems and some of them have artificial grass. Most have cars in the drive with probably a quarter or more of them being Tesla’s. The nearest shops are about 2 miles away and there are no busses.

A visit to downtown Saratoga

My morning walk was quite early and I met many commuters on their way to work. Only half a mile of my morning walk is on a through road and 8 cars passed me of which 7 were Tesla’s plus many of the driveways had Tesla’s parked still.

On my return from the walk Fraser had his usual Thursday morning visit from his friend David who works at Apple as a programmer. His Porsche is 2 years old and was imported from Germany at a total cost of $230,000. It’s a different world out here.

At 11.00am the cleaners were due to start work in the house so we booked an Uber to downtown Saratoga to have Coffee and a Light lunch at Big Basin Cafe. 2 coffees and 2 sandwiches cost £25 but it was lovely sitting outside watching the world go by.

There were flowers everywhere 

The Main Street was very quiet, but it comes alive in the evening as there are loads of cafes and restaurants. We then visited a craft brewery to buy some beer for Fraser and Leslie and another Uber took us back home. Saratoga is such a beautiful small town with a wide Main Street and lots of places to sit out and watch the world go by. 

Out and About in Saratoga

We took a trip into Downtown Saratoga today as Leslie had a hairdressers appointment. We had coffee and Muffins in a nice pavement cafe.

Gaye with Leslie after her haircut 

Frasers House from Riverdale Court

This house on my morning walk has a Termite problem so the treatment is rather drastic and expensive. I walk past the house daily on my morning walk with Sammy.

To treat the problem it is covered with a marquee and then fumigated for a couple of days and this kills everything.

Sammy was pleased to see us on our return

Coffe and Muffins. I shouldn't be eating them but was unable to resist. Wont have another one as they were very expensive.

Saratoga main street

 

Week 8 in Isolation and an Explosive Situation in Saratoga

The week has certainly started with a bang as Fraser discovered this pair of Korean War Hand Grenades buried in his garden (Yard). He was digging channels for his new irrigation system when he found them. He called the local Sheriffs Office and within 30 minutes the Bomb Squad had arrived. Everybody in the area got a text message to stay indoors and they were eventually blown up on piece of waste ground.

Thomas, Eleanor, and Elliot thought it was all very exciting but I hate to think what would have happened if they had found the Grenades as they still had the pins in them and they could have been blown up. It will certainly be a story to tell their friends at school when they eventually go back.

As I still have a sore knee instead of walking I have been spending time on Langholm Moor. The weather has been beautiful and I have had spectacular displays from Male Hen Harriers.

A lovely Orchid on The Langholm Moor

Our garden is looking fairly good but badly needs some rain. Its not the greatest garden but it gives me pleasure keeping it fairly tidy and during this Lockdown Gaye and I have spent many hours in our summer house. Next week I plan to paint the inside of the fence.

Before Lockdown Tom and I used to meet for a glass of Malt Whisky every Thursday evening so we resurrected this on Thursday evening in our garden and at socially acceptable distance apart. It was a very large Isle of Jura and tasted excellent. Hopefully weather permitting this will be a regular Thursday evening event once again.

This week saw the launch of The Langholm Moor Community Buyout Project and it opened with an excellent donation of £100,000 from the John Muir Trust. The on line fund had raised a further £20,000 by Saturday. Photograph courtesy of John Wright. If anybody wishes to give a donation to this worthy cause please go to The Langholm Initiative website and follow the instructions. The website is https://www.langholminitiative.org.uk 

A Morning in Saratoga

A short drive from San Jose this morning took us to Saratoga and a nice little play park for the kids. We were joined by neighbour Kelly with William and Emily. Elliot just loved the swings.

Emily and Elliot. Thomas was too busy climbing to sit still for his photo to be taken.

Gaye and I left the families and headed for a walk along Saratoga Main Street. It is a lovely street with loads of nice shops and coffee shops. It was very quiet.

Very little traffic

I always wanted to bank at Wells Fargo

Nice bridge into the park

The river under the bridge has been almost dry for weeks but the rain of the last week has brought it back to life.