The Ghouls are Back!

It's that time of year again...Halloween! The goblins, ghouls and ghosts - along with other familiar colorful faces and characters - are back in my San Ramon neighborhood...

So....slow down...

Park your car...

...and check out the front yard

of San Ramon's favorite haunted house...

Do you recognize any of these visitors? Too bad that it's the last year of this fabulous annual display!

Have a fun and safe Halloween!

UC Santa Cruz

It's college application season in our household, so yesterday we took Z to UCSC for Preview Day, where we participated in an information session followed up by a 90-minute walking tour of the campus. UCSC is not your "traditional" college campus. It is nestled in the redwoods above the picturesque seaside town of Santa Cruz and consists of ten residential colleges which form clusters across the 2000 acre campus. It is truly a spectacular and unique setting. During the tour we saw classrooms, lecture halls, dorm rooms, eateries, student art, sports facilities, trees and more trees, and numerous buildings which make up the individual colleges...oh yeah, and I can't forget the stunning ocean views...

The tours begins...

So what did Z think? Not his cup of tea...where does he have his heart set on going? A place polar opposite to UCSC: Arizona State!

Autumn Scenes around San Ramon

The other day I went out to shoot some photos around the neighborhood that capture the flavors of autumn - pumpkins, colorful leaves, clear blue skies, and homecoming - all signs that autumn is here. Come take a look...

I started out at Forest Home Farms

to check out the annual pumpkin patch...

Then I walked down the road to the David Glass House

and along the way, found the path littered with pretty leaves...

The recently refurbished David Glass house

looked spectacular against the bright blue skies...

Then as I headed to my next stop,

I looked up to admire the trees and found these lovely ornamental leaves...

The ground was blanketed with pretty leaves too...

My next stop was Summit View Trails where the views were enhanced

by the final stalks of flowering lavender...

And there were lots of fallen leaves on the ground too

in various shapes and colors...

Then in the afternoon the Homecoming Parade passed right

by my street - another autumn tradition put on by our local high school students...

A lone leaf soaking up the afternoon sun graces my sidewalk...

Have you checked out the autumn scenes in your neighborhood lately?