On the spot reporting part of DJ morning

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Linda Hubbard

It’s been long time since the Dawn Jogger did the Big Dish loop, parking at the Piers Lane entrance, so that’s what she decided to do this morning (promising to walk the downhill parts). Little did she know she’d stumble on a story and get to flex her on-the-spot reporting muscles. Someone had set fire to  the Piers Lane bridge. All the details on InMenlo…

Posted in Dawn jogging | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Warning, rock pile ahead

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Linda Hubbard

OK, so there’s not a lot of photo possibilities on the usual neighborhood/creek run. The occasional amusing dog. Or spectacular rose or other flower. Today it was a traffic cone in front of one of the rock pile structures along the creek path. It shows she was out there…

Posted in Dawn jogging | Leave a comment

Reinstating Monday morning Dish run

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Linda Hubbard

The Dawn Jogger has been limiting her hill work, even though those routes are what she likes most. But with the cranky knee much less cranky, she’s decided to reinstate the early Monday morning Dish runs. Today in addition to the grounds keepers, three rabbits joined her on the golf course. Did they, too, know that tee times are later on Mondays?

The weather forecasters predicted cooler than average temps early in the week due to the heavy fog bank on the coast. In was much in evidence on the western hills. As for the photo, she liked the various “speed lines” and the texture. And the gold against the blue…

Posted in Dawn jogging | Tagged | Leave a comment

Return to another old favorite – “short Portola”

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Linda Hubbard

When the DJs and Cassie wanted a short but good workout hike, they’d head out to Portola Valley and the trails maintained by that town. About half allow dogs, so they’d stick to those on their outings. Late this morning the female DJ did a slightly different loop, incorporating some of the “no dog trails.” Like yesterday, the coastal fog kept the morning great for walking, although it matters less as the PV trails have lots of shade. Like she’s seen elsewhere, there was still a lot of greenery due to the June rains. As she headed back down hill after the good climb up, she spotted a particularly artistic oak. Like many things, it was prettier in person…

Posted in Dawn jogging | Tagged | Leave a comment

Coastal air conditioning makes for a good Arastradero walk

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Linda Hubbard

The Dawn Jogger realized it’s been quite a while that she’d been out to the Arastradero open space, long the Friday morning jog of choice for her, the male DJ and Cassie in her old life. It’s an area that can get toasty in the summer, but this morning the Peninsula natural air conditioning was in full force. A thick bank of fog hugged the Western hills, obscuring landmarks like Windy Hill. So her almost five-mile loop walk was warm but comfortable. Not completely surprising given the abundance of June rain was the the tinge of green in the fields. Not to mention some late blooming spring wildflowers…

Posted in Dawn jogging | Tagged | Leave a comment

Dish kind of morning

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Linda Hubbard

For the first time in months, the Dawn Jogger has run every day this week. No walk breaks. No cranky knee pain. So she thought it time for a further test by jogging the Dish. On the way up she spotted a new forest of planted oaks, providing a good geometric foreground to the Dish itself. Being cautious, she walked rather than jogged the steeper down hill parts, which is what she thinks aggravates the knee. So far, so good…

Posted in Dawn jogging | Tagged | Leave a comment

Sometimes size is larger in person

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Linda Hubbard

The photo the Dawn Jogger took this morning of Stanford’s new performing arts center doesn’t do adequate justice. It is so more massive in person. Located adjacent to Frost Amphitheater, when the scaffolding was first erected, it first looked like a space ship had landed. Now it just seems to grow larger by the week, but not only in its footprint. It appears to expand beyond it like it’s eating up the land. Or at least that’s the DJ’s observation…

Posted in Dawn jogging | Leave a comment

Tepid TPing job

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Linda Hubbard

The Dawn Jogger recalls that doing a good job TPing someone’s house meant lots of rolls strung as high as possible in trees, both for its artistic effect and to make it all the more difficult to clean up. Guess today’s teens don’t have that same “rule.” On her early morning jog around Menlo Park, she came upon a rather tepid TP job near the San Mateo Drive bike bridge where the toilet paper had been neatly draped on a hedge. That it went around the corner was a nice touch…

Posted in Dawn jogging | Leave a comment

There’s Grace on parade on the 4th of July

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Linda Hubbard

The city of Menlo Park has a very family-friendly 4th of July parade. Where in past years there’s been the occasional school band, old fire engine and vintage car, this year it really was only kids on decorated bikes and their doting parents. Or in this case, their doting grandparent. The Dawn Jogger is not sure if Grace actually knew she was parading, or merely caught in a crowd of similar aged kids. But she figured out the drill enough to insist on not turning around until it ended. The good news is that everyone gets in the spirit of the day. Friend Scott captured some great Independence Day faces. And by the way, Miss Grace insists on the sunglasses…

Posted in Grace, Other life | Leave a comment

A bit of Grace yields big sunflowers

Posted on July 3, 2011 by Linda Hubbard

On Easter, Grace planted sunflower seeds in one of the raised bed’s in the garden that “Grandpa Chrissy” constructed for their joint use, christened Grace’s Garden. What goes through a 3 1/2 year olds mind when she sees a successful result, the Dawn Jogger is not certain. After picking her up across the Bay and stopping at the Menlo farmer’s market, they came home and went to the garden to see what had changed in the last week (trying out a sun hat in the process). The most visible was a sunflower just starting to bloom. Others are waiting to explode, and with this heat, more may do so my tomorrow. Late afternoon activities include filling a wading pool with water. And a visit from Lily the dog…

Posted in Grace, Grace's garden | Tagged , | Leave a comment