Day 46 of our Captivity: Delicious duck

Not much to report today, other than we just finished consuming delicious duck, aka "Duck with Twenty Cloves of Garlic" out of the Julia Child Menu cookbook.  I had ordered a duck to show up with our vegetable box; this recipe is one that I've used for dinner parties in the past.  Special occasion food on a weeknight.  The kid waxed ecstatic about the good smells in the kitchen all afternoon, we all enjoyed the duck with homemade sourdough for dinner, and I enjoyed finishing up my wine after dinner while logged in on a Zoom call with people I sing with.  Plus now I have extra duck stock and rendered duck fat to take advantage of over the next couple of weeks :)

Day 45 of our captivity: Metric century

Chad and I got out for a delightful bike ride this afternoon across to the hills east of San Jose and then down to Morgan Hill and back.  It was a total of about 65 miles — or just over 100 km, making it a metric century.  It is good to be finally getting back into shape.
The best part:  apparently we looked pathetic enough  on returning home that it only took a minor hint to incite the kid into making delicious chocolate chip cookies!

Day 44 of our captivity: More pictures from yesterday

Here are a few more pictures from yesterday’s excursion, in no particular order:

The ubiquitous California poppy, here set off against purple vetch.

Owl’s clover

View from the top, looking out toward the ocean, which is hidden under a fog bank.

View on the way back down, looking down towards the hangars at Moffett.

Another view on the was down, looking East.  You can see the large quarry that is largely invisible from any other angle, and if you look closely in the background to the left of it, you can pick out the absolutely gigantic circular new Apple building (zoom in and look at the end of the prominent squiggly road).

Zoomed in so you can see the Apple building better.

A wild iris in a shady spot on the way down.  Given that it was almost 90 out, I enjoyed the brief patches of shade!

Day 43 of our captivity: April’s notion complete

Near the beginning of the month when I started hiking more, but didn’t really want to be driving unnecessarily, I had a notion.  Notions are dangerous, particularly when one has pent-up urges to plan adventures.  In this case, I realized when looking at a map that the top of Black Mountain is just about exactly 10 miles from our house.  And there was a reasonably direct route that didn’t seem like it would be too horrible on foot.  4 miles over to Rancho, then 6 miles through the park and up to the top.

On foot.  20 miles round trip.  Naturally, working up to this became the month’s oddball goal.  You may have noticed some walks of escalating length; those were preparation.

I set out this morning with the intention of doing a 16 mile loop, the next step in the progression, but it was so nice out that the call of the peak was inescapable.  So I did the whole out-and back to the summit.  Normally, it would have never occurred to me to walk to the summit from home.  Times now are decidedly not normal.

More pictures tomorrow, probably, while I contemplate what the next notion will be, as it was announced today that the local shelter-in-place has been extended through the end of May...

Day 42 of our captivity: Hardware store

It was gorgeous out this weekend, which meant that there were likely too many people out recreating in all the usual places...so we stayed home, aside from walks around the neighborhood and trips to Lowes to pick up supplies.  First, some soil was needed to plant the little tomato plants that we got from a neighbor.  I got those in the ground yesterday, though still have some other plants to put in the front.  Today, music distracted me while Chad was out in the yard welding; he eventually made it out to the store to get more welding wire after using up what he had.  Skill building at this point, maybe pictures of creations later.

Day 40 of our captivity: Another small victory

Not much to report for the day other than it was 86 degrees this afternoon and very pleasant on the patio.  My minor victory of the day:  Upon hearing Chad remark "I should read Boccaccio's Decameron and wonder if it is on Project Gutenberg",  I was able to respond "We own a paper copy" and promptly pull it off the shelf for him.  My propensity for odd acquisitions at used bookstores pays off...

Day 39 of our captivity: Masks

I forgot yesterday — sorry.  Chad and I went for a bike ride.  It’s 75 and sunny.  And it was pizza night.

Today’s amusement was noting that the friendly neighborhood yarn-bomber has made tiny masks for the bird statues near the bike bridge over by the high school.

Notice that even the hawk in the background has one.

If that isn’t enough to amuse you, ponder this tiny shrine I ran across in someone’s yard on the way home.

Or just enjoy our pathetic feline trying to be an intrepid hunter.

Day 37 of our captivity: Seasons

So we’ve all noticed that it is currently hard to keep track of days lately, but it occurred to me this morning that, looking around our yard, it may be confusing to figure out not just what day it is, but also what *season*.

Is is late winter?  There are ripe lemons on the tree.

Or maybe early spring, as evidenced by the tulip.

 Spring also seems likely given the rogue Easter egg in the neighborhood.  Come to think of it, maybe that lemon above was actually as Easter egg.

 Nascent grapes indicate early summer,

but a ripe strawberry suggests midsummer,

as do the bountiful roses.

But wait — the pumpkin is fall!

 And the poinsettia? Well, right back to winter.  I’m so confused.

The only thing one can do is declare “Cake Season”.  Chocolate solves everything.

Day 36 of our captivity: Bobber

Mom forgot the blog post today. Here are some pictures of the cat in compensation.