California....pared AND diced.....

[catfish]

California....pared AND diced.....

Yes. The good memories of home...
The black cherry orchards along the El Camino...and the apricot peach and
pear trees by the thousand right behind my old high school....Jumping over
the fence to eat the perfectly ripe golden fruit....[all gone now...buried
under housing]
The warm summer days...walking along the creeks fishing for
trout....exploring all the little pools for interesting creatures.....and
neat looking perfectly smooth stones....rounded by the waters.....[now all
the creeks have been cemented for 'flood control']
I remember the huge fields that used to be along the SP tracks...days spent
wandering among the fallow grass....watching all the life spring
out...rabbits and black birds...we'd go shooting tin cans with our .22's...[that's
all gone now too....lost under 'high-tech' development']
I remember the wonderful little sailing harbor we used to have in Palo Alto
at the foot of the Embarcadero....actually a historically significant old
harbor....It was so much fun learning to sail.....gaining a deep
appreciation for where man fits in the natural environment....what the wind
would let you do in a small sailboat...and what you simply could not
do....The days spent sailing alone in the huge south bay....alone in that
little El Toro.....[That harbor is long gone now....shut down by the sierra
club, the league of women voters and the city of Palo Alto...because somehow
the scouts who used to have their boats there were deemed a 'Para-military
fascist organization'] Hiking up cow hill......was another good
memory....watching the sunlight filter through the bay trees...the live
oaks...and tall grass....The best time to see wild life though was during a
rain.....the rain would keep your noise and scent down and so you stood a
better chance of seeing something neat...as I almost always did.....like a
family of red foxes....or the mountain lions......one time very
close....less than ten yards....That vixen moving her den was perhaps the
neatest thing I've ever seen...her fur all matted from the rains...the kits
she carried in her mouth....passively dangling....I froze and stood
motionless for almost an hour before she noticed me....and off she
went....[those old trails are all closed now.....too many drunk and violent
"stanford" kids littering and making a mess of it all. Too many people
started to go up there so the university had to strictly regulate it
all....fence it all off...post lard-ass security guards.....but boy they got
some WAY cool 'art' up there now...on the hillside...and the paved jogging
paths are too cute!!!] Yup.....California memories....

[isabel]

The place I grew up in has no more pastures. Use to be there would be a house then a pasture and no sidewalks. Kids riding their horses down the street.

Now that is all gone. Gosh, I'm getting old.

Izzy

[catfish]

Originally Posted by isabel

The place I grew up in has no more pastures. Use to be there would be a house then a pasture and no sidewalks. Kids riding their horses down the street.

Now that is all gone. Gosh, I'm getting old.

Izzy

I wont say we are getting old, It's just everything is going down the toilet all around us..