Final Free Fall Concert

This Saturday, October 24, 2015, will be the last concert of the Music in the Park series in Dunne Park on Seventh Street in Downtown Hollister. The concert will run from 4 to 6 p.m. Bring your own blankets or low-back chairs, as well as snacks and drinks. No alcoholic beverages are allowed in the park.

Performing from 4 to 5 p.m.  will be Folklorico Juvenil de Lucy Rodriguez, a dance troupe composed of girls and boys, ages 3 to 15. The dance group performs traditional folkloric dances from Mexico.

Closing out the concert will be The Flashbacks, which will perform from 5 to 6 p.m. The local group, with its smooth voices, is popular for singing 1950s doo-wop songs.

Music in the Park is a monthly concert sponsored by Mr. O's Academy of the Arts, which began this past August. The free concert series will return in Spring 2016. Thanks, Mr. O!

A Happy Palm Tree

Isn't that a gorgeous palm tree? It's huge, too. Quite huge. The Husband and I came across it as we were walking through Briggs Alley the other day. I like how it happily waves over the fences.

See you tomorrow.

Floating Downward in Tres Pinos

"What's that noise?"

Last Sunday afternoon, the Husband and I looked upward for the source of the fluttering sound. We saw a bunch of solo and tandem skydivers floating towards their drop spot in the field across from the Immaculate Conception Church in Tres Pinos. 

I remember my own downward journey through the sky several years ago quite well, thank you very much. It was amazing way up there in the sky. Definitely, though, skydiving is not for everyone. But, if you're interested, Skydive Hollister is located at the Hollister Airport.

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!