An Umbrella Day!

It has been raining steadily since very early this morning. What a welcome surprise, huh? 

Weather reports say that showers will continue through the day and possibly into the evening. We may also get some thunderstorm, too. 

Weather reports show clear days for the rest of the week. So, enjoy the rainy day.

Standing Guard. . .Kind Of.

What's with all these tree photos, you ask?

Beats me. I'm simply walking along and bam! A tree shows its uniqueness to me. And, we have quite an amazing lot in and around Hollister, thank goodness.

This tree—some kind of conifer, which I want to say is a Monterey Cypress—hangs out in front of the San Benito County Tax Collector's Office on Fifth Street.

Delicious and Cool Stuff in Tres Pinos

I took this photo yesterday afternoon when the Husband and I went to pick up BBQ plates at the annual fundraiser that the Immaculate Conception parish in Tres Pinos held.

Talk about yummylicious! It was the parish's 77th year, I believe. And, the cooks, chefs, bakers, and assistants certainly gave the touch of love to their barbecue chicken, pasta (rigatoni with marinara sauce), wedge of lettuce with Thousand Islands dressing, garlic bread, and a piece of pie. My lunch came with a slice of cherry pie, the Husband's, apple pie, and the Mama's, apricot pie.

If you haven't gone to this fundraiser yet, try it next year. If you're from out of county, you can tie it in with some other splendid activity, such as skydiving, hiking at the Pinnacles, wandering around San Juan Bautista, checking out the Swank Farms corn maze, doing the wine trail, or simply pedaling or driving the back roads on a Sunday autumnal day. The last three years, this BBQ fundraiser took place the day after the San Benito Olive Festival. Hint, hint.

Speaking of Fall, notice the sprouts of green on the top of the hill on the right. Cool, huh?  These hills are across from the Immaculate Conception Church.  The photo was enhanced with Photoshop art filters, in case you're wondering.

See you tomorrow. Maybe with photos from the San Benito Olive Festival.

See Dar Tree?

Okay, a bad pun. Seriously, have you ever noticed this very, very tall and beautiful cedar tree on Fifth Street?

Bertha Briggs (as in the Bertha Briggs Memorial Youth Center on Memorial Drive) planted the tree as a sapling in her front yard in the 1900s.  Sharlene of the San Benito County Historical Society said Mrs. Briggs brought the cedar sapling back from a trip to Lake Tahoe.

A Hollister native, Mrs. Briggs lived from April 3, 1874 to August 13, 1962. Her parents were Hollister pioneers William and Delia Johnson. Mrs. Briggs was known for her many wonderful community deeds, including donating generously to Hazel Hawkins Hospital and organizing the Girl Scouts and Women's Club in Hollister. You can read a bit more about Mrs. Bertha Briggs in the book Hollister by Joseph M. McMahon and Peter Sonne.

This is a Western Red Cedar tree, which is indigenous to Western North America. Experts say that this species can live over a thousand years old. Mrs. Briggs' tree is a baby. Wowza!

The Three R's

Recycle, repurpose, and reuse. This bicycle planter that the Husband and I saw on our walk in Downtown Hollister fits the bill. Trés cute, don't you think?

Some Three R's Resources 

• Recology San Benito County: Recycling
• Freecycle–Hollister Group
• DIY: Upcycle, Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse (on Pininterest)
• 30 Creative Ways to Repurpose and Reuse Old Stuff

Every Bit of Rain Helps

It rained, I was told. It was short but a very heavy pour.

I may not have heard or seen it, but I saw signs of rain on the flowers and on the cement and ground in our backyard this morning.  And, the clouds  almost looked like they were asking, "So, how'd you like that rain?"

I liked it a lot, thank you very much.

Beautiful Clouds

Yesterday afternoon the clouds were very impressive and much expressive in the brilliant blue sky. They gave us quite a show.  This view is of the hill above Enterprise Road.

To see more cloud photos from yesterday, check out my "Clouds over Hollister" album at the Take 25 to Hollister Facebook page. You won't need to log on or even have an account to see it. 

Until tomorrow. 

Rain Delivered!

These grey clouds yesterday afternoon multiplied and intensified to give us rain last night! Whooo-hooo! 

It rained through the night. Yaaay!

We even had some rain this morning. Who knows, we may have more today. Hurrah!

A Tree for a Tree

Lately, I've noticed the demise of long-time trees around town. That tree stump, for example, was on San Benito Street last week.  Neighbors on my street pulled out several handsome Italian cypress more than 20 years old because their roots were starting to disrupt the neighbors' water lines. The other day, I saw trees laying on their side in an orchard and wondered if the owners took them out because they couldn't water them.

Hopefully, the trees will be replaced with other types of trees or some kind of plant life that are drought resistant. We need plant life for the simple reason that they produce the oxygen we breathe.

A Few Rock Faces of the Pinnacles

See the faces in these rocks at the Pinnacles National Park. Happenstance of nature or did some people of long ago start carving the faces?  Interesting ponder, no?

Have a great Sunday. See you tomorrow.

Looking Upward on East Street

We've had some beautiful skies this summer. Hoping for r-a-i-n.

Beautiful Countryside

On Southside Road, near Enterprise Road, someone recently planted several Italian cypress trees. That's going to be an even more amazing scene when they get bigger.

Trees of San Juan Bautista

How does that poem by Joyce Kilmer start?

"I think I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree."

San Juan Bautista has many lovely trees of all sorts up and down its sweet, quaint streets.

To read the rest of Joyce Kilmer's poem about trees, please click here.

Flowers, Everywhere

Roses, roses, and all sorts of flowers are every where in San Juan Bautista. In personal gardens. On restaurant patios. At the mission and parks. On sidewalks. Everywhere. And, oh so beautiful.

Looking Upward on Enterprise Road

It was a beautiful blue sky earlier this morning. Now, it feels like the fog is coming back in. Unless. Perhaps. Maybe. Gathering rain clouds. We can hope.

I'm participating in Our World Tuesday. Click here to see what's going on in other parts of the world today.

See Da Tree?

Isn't this very, very tall and huge cedar tree on Fifth Street gorgeous? Just think of all the Hollister history it has lived through so far.

Dark Clouds, But No Rain

We've been having strange weather. High temperatures with humidity, which you'd think would break into rain. Nope.  Dark clouds passing through, which, again, you'd think would result in rain. Ha!

We can only hope that some of this weather may give us a surprise summer rain.

Swelling in Hot Weather

Monday afternoon got outrageously h-o-t! in Hollister—103 degrees! That's very unusual for us. Fortunately, the temps went down 10 degrees within the hour when the winds picked up. Also strange in my book.

I'm participating in Nature Footstep's Digital Art Meme today. Click here to check out contributions by other participants.

By the way, here's my original photo:

Mustard in June

I hadn't been down Enterprise Road for awhile so I was surprised to see so much yellow. I don't think of orchards carpeted with yellow mustard in June. That's more of a Spring thing after a good rain.

Here's the photo before I played around with it in Photoshop.

I'm participating in Nature Footstep's Digital Art Meme today. To check out other participants or to take part, please click here.

Thistles of Santa Ana Valley

Here's another view from my wandering the other day through Santa Ana Valley. Yes, it's a photo that I cropped and enhanced then dipped into the artistic features of Photoshop.