Uncategorized

The other day I came to a horrible realization that I, a person who felt young (and even more importantly, felt I looked young), was actually, in fact a person approaching middle age. Well, maybe “approaching” is the wrong word. Oh what the heck, I may as well put it out there. I am middle-aged. And it’s scary. I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.First, there’s gravity. One day, you put on a pair of shorts or a swimsuit and you realize that many of your original parts are not in their original places. They are … lower. And not as firm. And very jiggly. And it’s not the ’70s TV show kind of jiggly either. It’s a jiggly that only happens when things fall down and can’t get back up.If all those jiggly bits aren’t bad enough, there’s gray hair. I swear to you, one day you have fresh highlights and a good push up bra and all’s right with the world. The next day, you wake up looking like a before photo in a Grecian Formula ad. Why does gray hair do that? And how does it do that? And why on earth can’t I cover this stuff up? I have tried and tried and it still comes back.And it’s not just gray hair that happens overnight. If eyes are the windows to my soul, then my soul is telling me I’m old and I can’t read any fine print. Suddenly, I’m squinting as hard as I can to read the expiration date on my yogurt and it’s still blurry as heck. And I can’t hold it far away either because apparently I have freakishly short Tyrannosaurus Rex arms. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself.Of course, there was an easy fix for my eye issues. I just adjusted the fonts on all my electronics and ignored any and all expiration dates on yogurt. That completely solved the problem for about 15 minutes, until I had to read the menu at a restaurant. Clearly I had no choice but to wear reading glasses.I’m telling you, the day I bought my first readers was a horrible day. My parents wear readers. My 95-year old grandmother wears readers. Obviously I am too young for readers. But sadly, there I was in Target, trying on the various strengths and testing them by reading the fine print on the nearby allergy medicines—something I haven’t been able to read since 2010.Yeah, I might have been avoiding this middle-aged thing.But I’m not going to feel bad about it. I mean, a week or so ago I went to dinner with friends. And every single one of us needed readers to see the menu. Of course I had forgotten mine. So we played musical readers for a while until everyone selected their dinner.And that’s when I realized something even more horrifying. Not only am I gray and jiggly and unable to see print smaller than 72 point, I am also forgetting things.Curse you, middle age.

The key to any home loan approval is documentation. And the amount of paperwork asked for by lenders these days has never been higher. Tax returns, bank statements, paystubs and 401k statements are just the beginning.

The Fall Passport event is a perfect weekend for any wine lover. For a flat price, wine tasters receive a passport booklet which allows them one visit per winery over the three-day weekend.

My next door neighbor walked out to her backyard one day and noticed a little green plant that was growing out of the rain gutter above her bedroom window. Upon closer inspection, what she actually had was a small tomato plant. “A gutter tomato!” she joked, as she and her son transplanted it into a large pot.After tending to this and several other tomato plants, she started to get quite a harvest, which she very generously shared with me.And what does one do when they have an abundance of tomatoes that they need to use up? One makes salsa. Or at least one should, because it is so easy to make and so unbelievably delicious when fresh.

I can feel hints of autumn seeping through the last days of summer. We will have more warm weather, but there is a chill in the morning air, and August took a big bite out our long sunlit days.If you are an immigrant from the northeastern hardwood forests, you will understandably scoff at the notion of fall color in California. In all but a few places, our fall foliage is a timid version of eastern forest fireworks. It is a subtle beauty, but beauty nonetheless.Surely, our local wineries have the best fall color in the area.  But if you prefer to explore the back roads and the trails, look for sycamore, big leaf maple, white alder, and Fremont cottonwood. These trees prefer a home along streams, often interspersed among conifers and other evergreens. So, we rarely see them in pure stands. Instead, they scatter flashes of yellow here and there amidst the still-green creekside forests.The sycamore trees in Coe Park's Hunting Hollow seem to have a knack for autumn elegance. Perhaps it is the wisps of lichen dangling from the branches or the way streaks of sunshine backlight the leaves against a shaded background. They seem to have a special glow. Just steps into the hollow, look for one trailside monarch that steals the show. As if thumbing its nose at the law of gravity, a massive trunk rises six feet before making a ninety degree turn from vertical to horizontal. What keeps this tubby trunk from falling? It brings to mind an Olympic gymnast holding the iron cross on the rings—continuously. The strain must be excruciating.I have three favorite spots along the Coyote Creek bike path between Morgan Hill and San Jose where I can step into the riparian forest and forget that Highway 101 is just steps away. Sycamores and cottonwoods light up the trail near the bridge just a short walk from the trail's bottom end in northwest Morgan Hill. A rarely visited spot is at the end of Burnett Avenue beyond Sobrato High School. Farther north, park in the lot just beyond Metcalf Road and walk back toward Coyote Ranch. From each of these spots, you can step into a dome of color.Above the creeks and cascades at Uvas Canyon County Park, the autumn color of bigleaf maples and sycamores light up an otherwise dark and shaded forest. Even along the road to the park, maples and white alders decorate Uvas Creek in a way that invariably pulls me to the side of the road and out of the car.Like the road to Uvas Canyon County Park, Hecker Pass Highway climbs the same Santa Cruz Mountains through stands of bigleaf maple that make simply getting to Mount Madonna County Park a great fall experience. Once you reach the park, look for more color on the Blackhawk Trail.Let your New England refugee friends brag about the fall colors they left behind. Winter is next, and they never brag about that.

Many cool season vegetables can be planted in our South County gardens in the fall. During our winters, nature helps with the watering, and there are fewer weeds and pests. Cool season vegetables include broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, chard, kale and beets. The UCCE Master Gardeners have Fall Garden Markets scheduled in Gilroy and Morgan Hill, with varieties especially well-suited to the southern end of the county.

The primary way lenders establish the value of a home, either for a purchase transaction or a refinance, is through a Residential Appraisal Report.

Normand Latourelle and Cavalia have brought his $30 million stunning production Odysseo to San Jose. For those who said last year that San Francisco that it was too long a drive to see a spectacular piece of theater, I suggest you run, don’t walk, for an unforgettable event that is now in your own backyard.

Revered in the wine world, Josh Jensen is the winemaker at Calera Wine. He’s graced the cover of Wine Spectator and Jensen’s pinot noirs are known the world over.So it was during their recent Summer Social & Sliders event that I made my pinot pilgrimage to Calera, to sip and savor wine made from grapevines grown in limestone soil at the site of a former limekiln. Arriving at the winery I was immediately awed by the views provided by the majestic Diablo Mountains.My tasting started inside the cool barrel room with a glass of 2014 Central Coast Chardonnay ($20), awarded “Best Value!” by Wine & Spirits Magazine. Next up was a “spunky and fun” 2015 Pinot Noir Rose—just right for summertime picnics.Although 19 different pinot noirs, all estate grown and from different vineyard blocks, are available for purchase, for the day’s event we were treated to a vertical tasting of pinots from the Jensen Mt. Harlan block: two library and one 2012 release.The pinots were poured next to the outside tent filled with gourmet sliders. Surprisingly, the 2005 Pinot Noir ($94) is still a fabulous wine, showing rich and complex layers of ripe raspberry and Bing cherry. The 2009 Pinot Noir ($104) is silky with sweet spice topping the dense raspberry and cherry cola flavors. Layers of sweet raspberry jam and tart rhubarb give way to leathery notes on the finish of the 2012 Pinot Noir ($92).Taking in the views, I savored the tasty bites and sipped these extraordinary wines.

There are two loan programs, both backed by government agencies, that are sorely underutilized by their constituency.