The other bridge

When I was looking at the neighborhood garden in San Francisco, I took this picture of the Bay Bridge.

The Golden Gate Bridge gets most of the tourist attention in San Francisco, but the Bay Bridge looked pretty impressive to me from this vantage point.

Red Sox Sweep Yankees

Last week, I took this picture of a t-shirt in a Boston store. It turns out, it was a prediction of the Red Sox / Yankees series this weekend.

Go Sox!

North Beach Pizza

I found a great place for pizza in San Francisco. North Beach Pizza is on the corner of Union and Grant in the middle of North Beach. Even though it was hot outside, I ventured in and tried the pizza.

I picked out a personal sized pie and loaded it up with pepperoni, sausage, and mushrooms. The crust was crusty with just the right amount of chewiness. It was fantastic.

San Francisco Garden

I got on a plane yesterday and flew to San Francisco. When I left, it was cloudy and cool. The phrase "April showers brings May flowers" must have come from New England; we've had lots of rain and are waiting for our flowers.

Here in San Francisco, it is a different story. After work, I drove to a small neighborhood to see a garden.


I seemed like I had landed in an alternative universe. The sun was bright and hot, and the flowers were in full bloom. It was great to look around and think about summer.

Bulbs

The days are gradually getting warmer, and that means the early spring bulbs are coming to life. We have a rock wall along the front yard with daffodils.

And, in the perennial bed, there are some hyacinths that are starting to bloom!

Happy Easter

The sun was bright this morning - a perfect day for Easter.

We went to church in the morning and got ready for an Easter dinner at home. My wife's mother always made ham for Easter. And, we have followed that tradition.


I like scalloped potatoes with ham. It takes time to make them but nothing tastes better to me.

My wife was worried that they were too "cheesy". But, from my point of view, it is impossible to make scalloped potatoes "too cheesy".

There are rocks in New England

I decided a week or two ago that we should have a vegetable garden. I like the idea of growing fresh vegetables and some berries.

We picked out a place in back yard that would be good for a garden. Then, I got the kids out and started digging up the grass. After a few minutes, we ran into a pretty good sized rock and dug it out (see above).

After working some more, my shovel hit another rock - a bigger one.


The second rock was so heavy that we had to roll it. I explained to my kids that the rock walls in New England were built by farmers who dug up rocks and had to put them somewhere.

Then, my shovel hit another one. I tried to dig around it but couldn't. We decided to stop digging up sod and focus on digging out the big rock.

After some effort, we discovered that it is actually a granite slab similar to the ones used for our home's foundation (we have an old home). I think this slab is from the foundation of an old barn.

I guess I'll be asking some friends to come over to help me get it out of the ground.

Lemons

My lemon tree has survived another New England winter. I haven't paid much attention to it since it bloomed a couple of months ago.

I took a closer look and noticed that there are a few baby lemons and another set of blossoms. Maybe in June I'll be able to pick some ripe lemons.

Kimball's is open

April is here, and Kimball's is open again. Notice the combination of snow, flowers, and hearty New Englanders lined up for ice cream.

We stood in line and shivered. When you are cold and waiting in a slow moving line, you start to question the sanity of buying ice cream in April. But, my kids would not be deterred.

Here is a picture of my son's "kiddie size" cone.


While we were waiting in line, I got a good look at the hanging baskets. They made me want to plant flowers again.

Boston Marathon

I was in Boston this week for some meetings and walked by this corner. I couldn't help noticing the sign with the person sleeping. Then I looked over and saw an ad for the Boston Marathon.

I'm afraid I'm more likely to be the one asleep than the person running.