Birdhouse Display

This photo was taken on the night of Lights On Parade. I can't remember where, other than it was on San Benito Street. A cute display, don't you think?

If you're in the mood for some Jingle Bells as performed by Glenn Miller, click here.  If you're not in the mood for reading (though I don't see why not), just scroll on down to the bottom.

Community Garden

 

Did you know that there's a community garden up on Vista Park Hill in downtown Hollister?

The gardening plots are free and open to all. Bidding for plots usually takes place in January. Contact the Hollister City Hall for information. For more about the community garden, check out these two news articles that were written a few years ago.

• Vista Park Hill Offers Residents the Chance to Pick a Garden Plot, Hollister Free Lance
• Earthly Delight: A Community Garden, Gilroy Dispatch

"Prosperity Grows Here"

I came across this video a few months ago at the Web site called San Benito Now. I think it is part of the local government's efforts to bring companies into the county. What do you think? Will it do the job?

Eat Locally: Best of Times Cafe

The Best of Times Cafe is on the east side of San Benito Street, between 6th and 7th Streets. It opened in 1996 as the Hard Times Cafe. The owner changed it in 1999 because a chili restaurant franchise on the east coast has a trademark on the name. Want to know more? Read "It's the Best of Times for the former Hard Times Cafe", by Kollin Kosmicki in The Weekend Pinnacle Online.

The cafe recently received second place in the Best Diner category of The 2010 Pinnacle Awards. For customer reviews, check out Yelp.  I'm not a minestrone fan, but at Best of Times Cafe, I'll order it!.

Vegetable Fields

San Juan Valley, a few miles northeast of the mission city.

My dad was an irrigator for various farmers in San Benito County for almost 30 years. When I was a child, my dad and the fields were my babysitters. I loved going with him every day to the best play grounds around. I still have a thing for fields.