Allow me to share another gardening photo tour adventure with you ... Villa Montalvo Arboretum is about 5 minutes away from Hakone Gardens in Saratoga. As you head up the 9 toward Skyline Drive, in fact, you'll see it first and then 5 minutes later after passing through Saratoga, you'll find Hakone Gardens. Villa Montalvo was the home of a Spaniard named Ordonez De Maltalvo and he built into his estate buildings to house artists who would live and study there. The main Villa had rooms dedicated to them where they could work. Today, Villa Montalvo remains dedicated to artists and there is an Artist Residency on the estate where artists live and study. There is also a theatre and the last time I was at Villa Montalvo, I attended a concert by Boney James and Rick Braun, Jazz Saxophonist and Trumpet players respectively and they moved the whole crowd. There are expansive gardens and up behind the villa, Santa Clara's Montalvo Country Park is laced with trails that thread in many directions up the slopes of the mountain. It's a great place to go both to see some very large scale gardens, an Art Museum, live performances and just to go hiking around. Let's take a tour of Villa Montalvo and then some ... Parking down by the Artist's Residency, the journey begins on trails ... One of the resident artists apparently was quibbling with an idea and chopped up a wooden block trying to brainstorm it and give it form. Having left it lie, I have made it part of my art ... Thick Forest and the Gushing Sounds of a Creek ... Acacia? Wattle? Does anybody know what this tree is? The Villa ... These Olive Trees are attempting their own artistic expression ... Back to Egypt ... Then Rome? I find art in a wood pile and Montalvo's Junk Storage ... And a resident artist makes art out of folded newspapers ... Not as classy as the bridges in Japanese Gardens ... What is it? Is it something like the Blair Witch mystery? The Montalvo Witch? If your lost on a trail and you see this, you must be safe ... And if there isn't a Montalvo Witch, where do these steps lead? And here's the theatre ... Receding Rectangles ... The Montalvo Art Museum featuring Iraqi artists from the 1940s, 50s and 60s ... As part of the Iraqi art exhibit, Villa Montalvo brought an Iraqi Taxi Cab Driver's home from Iraq and reconstructed on the estate ... And that satallite disk is connected to this ... Elves! and they're up to no good ... Drops of a strange red fluid rise from the cauldron ... And we are finally near the end of our journey ... The elves have cast their spell and we are teleported to another location ... Suddenly, my camera is powerless to take in the sweeping vista... We are in a land of giants ... Examples of Redwood Burls ... The biggest ... Measuring time by tree rings ... The Automobile Tree. There's a picture in the visitor's center showing Ford Model T Truck backed up into that crack ... It's difficult to photograph such large plants with a digital camera, especially in a crowded grove of such trees. Big Basin is a wonderful park and some of it's hiking trails go all the way down to the sea, in particular, the skyline to the sea trail. These trails end at Waddell Creek Beach in an area of the park called Rancho Del Oso. Oso BTW is Spanish for Bear, thank you. If you hike down, it's best to have someone drive down and meet you. Else you have to hike uphill on the return trip. Waddell Creek Beach and Looking back toward Big Basin ... It used to be that folks would either surf or windsurf. But now look what they are doing at Waddell Beach ... The Sun is starting to go down and it's getting misty. This is Pigeon Point Lighthouse ... May good spirits light your way on your gardening adventures. I was going to find a seafood restaurant, but settled for something in a nice neighborhood, Willow Glen, a quiet little part of San Jose ... This place serves only personal size pizzas and they are wonderful. Soft bread-like crusts with excellent ingredients! Parking down by the Artist's Residency, the journey begins on trails ... One of the resident artists apparently was quibbling with an idea and chopped up a wooden block trying to brainstorm it and give it form. Having left it lie, I have made it part of my art ... Thick Forest and the Gushing Sounds of a Creek ... Acacia? Wattle? Does anybody know what this tree is? The Villa ... These Olive Trees are attempting their own artistic expression ... Back to Egypt ... Then Rome? I find art in a wood pile and Montalvo's Junk Storage ... And a resident artist makes art out of folded newspapers ... Not as classy as the bridges in Japanese Gardens ... What is it? Is it something like the Blair Witch mystery? The Montalvo Witch? If your lost on a trail and you see this, you must be safe ... And if there isn't a Montalvo Witch, where do these steps lead? And here's the theatre ... Receding Rectangles ... The Montalvo Art Museum featuring Iraqi artists from the 1940s, 50s and 60s ... As part of the Iraqi art exhibit, Villa Montalvo brought an Iraqi Taxi Cab Driver's home from Iraq and reconstructed on the estate ... And that satallite disk is connected to this ... Elves! and they're up to no good ... Drops of a strange red fluid rise from the cauldron ... And we are finally near the end of our journey ... The elves have cast their spell and we are teleported to another location ... Suddenly, my camera is powerless to take in the sweeping vista... We are in a land of giants ... Examples of Redwood Burls ... The biggest ... Measuring time by tree rings ... The Automobile Tree. There's a picture in the visitor's center showing Ford Model T Truck backed up into that crack ... It's difficult to photograph such large plants with a digital camera, especially in a crowded grove of such trees. Big Basin is a wonderful park and some of it's hiking trails go all the way down to the sea, in particular, the skyline to the sea trail. These trails end at Waddell Creek Beach in an area of the park called Rancho Del Oso. Oso BTW is Spanish for Bear, thank you. If you hike down, it's best to have someone drive down and meet you. Else you have to hike uphill on the return trip. Waddell Creek Beach and Looking back toward Big Basin ... It used to be that folks would either surf or windsurf. But now look what they are doing at Waddell Beach ... The Sun is starting to go down and it's getting misty. This is Pigeon Point Lighthouse ... May good spirits light your way on your gardening adventures. I was going to find a seafood restaurant, but settled for something in a nice neighborhood, Willow Glen, a quiet little part of San Jose ... This place serves only personal size pizzas and they are wonderful. Soft bread-like crusts with excellent ingredients!

Thanks for all your hard work Karen! Can't wait to read it in its entirety. Jodi-

I'm so proud of him for quitting smoking, Charlee. Now we need to work on you! When I quit, I just quit cold-turkey. Now there are so many aids on the market, you should be able to quit fairly easily once you make up your mind. Good luck with the drug companies. 5-10% sounds fabulous! I'm so glad to see you posting! We've missed you around here. And good luck with the dog. We got really lucky, a friend of ours just BEGGED to have the stray that found us and now she's happily living with him and his other dog and everyone is extremely happy. Especially me and my dogs! lolol 5 big dogs in this little house was just insane. Fortunately, we'd only had her for 5 days when he approached us wanting her. I hadn't gotten TOO attached yet, so it was do-able. She was a sweet girl, though, except for her propensity to fight for food and attention. There were a lot of flashing teeth for a while.

I just finished reading a story his wife wrote in Guideposts and that she and caregivers did try to keep him home but doctor said was really surprised keeping him home as she does, they go through terrible stages, like she child proof cupboards and he could break them with man strength and he would eat anything from soap,etc. She took Glen and went looking and found this wonderful place but I can imagine the huge cost that comes with being at places like that and its freedom they have, they don't lock them up at all and Glen sang them a song she was told and stood up and then went to couch and lay down and took a nap, they found they are actually better with freedom. That is interesting hearing that as what do they do, lock them up in lock down wards. And Glen is very happy there and she would still tend to all his needs daily, bathing, feeding, etc. and saw to whatever needed to be done. And when Glen was first diagnosed the family traveled together as their three kids one is a great drummer and the daughter went and played with her dad and then the third another boy joined them too, they were all there. The wife moved her and Glen to Nashville where the kids would play and tons of friends and family there and she wondered if she made the right decision of moving him from their home they had. She truly loved him and that is so great in hearing especially with all of that kind of life and being put out there. He was a drinker but gave that up and hadn't drank she said for long time and then she was smelling it on his breath, turned out he was so stressed out and that is why she traveled with him and went everywhere with him on the road. She said he would follow her like a puppy and she said one day it got to her but its because they are scared and need you. She seemed to do the right thing and finding the right place too but at same time I know it would cost beyond what most people couldn't afford, too bad that its not balanced those things and all can get wonderful care and stay in wonderful places like those with lots of money. kathy