Tag Archives: Willow Glen

January 24, 2013 · 4:05 pm

John’s New Job with EVault

This week, my husband John Plocher started his exciting new position as Principle Architect, Open Storage, at EVault, a wholly owned subsidiary of Seagate, the largest data storage company in the world. John now takes Caltrain’s Baby Bullet express train in the morning from San Jose to San Francisco – which gives him a walk and a train ride each day (both good things!). Unfortunately, at this time of year, he leaves for work in the dark and arrives home after dark. We are still getting used to the new schedule and hope that there will be some work from home days in the future.

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Tagged as John, San Francisco, San Jose, Willow Glen

January 2, 2013 · 12:43 pm

Salamanders big and small

In the garden disruptions associated with our porch construction, I have uncovered several nests of salamanders, under rocks and buried in the dirt. I have seen two salamander types in our back yard along the Guadalupe River in San Jose, California. From the pictures on the Californiaherps web page, they are:

Aneides lugubris, the Arboreal salamander, a species of climbing salamander native to California, where it is primarily associated with oak and sycamore woodlands, and thick chaparral. About 6″ long – Pictured above.
Batrachoseps attenuatus, California Slender Salamander, a lungless salamander found primarily in Northern California, one of a handful quasi-endemic amphibians in the state. About 4″ long. Pictured below.

The big one pictured above is guarding a nest of eggs. The two species live near each other but not together (the pictures here were taken of salamanders living under different rocks about a foot apart). I have seen as many as seven in one nest underground – large and small but all of one species. I once turned on the water hose and out shot a very surprised large salamander who had been hiding inside. They mostly hold still when uncovered but they can move fast. I try to leave them alone – only moving them to a safer spot if their current location is dangerous.

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Tagged as garden, House Work, San Jose, Willow Glen

December 26, 2012 · 11:56 am

New Home for Van Gilder Glass Panel

Last week, the Van Gilder stained glass panel was finally installed in the wall between our dining room and new porch. The large and elegant stained glass panel was created by Walter Somers Van Gilder for his home (1007 Circle Park Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee) about a hundred years ago. In July, it came home: re-leaded and refreshed by Vincent Taylor Architectural Art Glass. The picture below shows my son Paul D. Goodman, the great-great-grandson of Walter Van Gilder, helping to install the panel in our home in Willow Glen, California. We designed a window enclosure so that the panel could be removed for cleaning. Last night, I enjoyed sitting next to the panel as we celebrated Christmas dinner with family and friends. I think my great-grandfather would be happy to know that his creation continues to bring pleasure to his family.

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Tagged as House Work, Paul, San Jose, Willow Glen

December 22, 2012 · 11:58 pm

Merry Christmas

Best wishes to you and your family for a happy holiday season, from all of us here in the Silicon Valley!

Between trying to get the construction workers finished enough to be out of our house by Christmas, and all of the usual holiday preparations and activities, December 2012 has been particularly busy. There has finally been sufficient progress on the new porch to allow us to have family and guests in the house. The roof and final plastering were finished just before dinner yesterday – barely in time for us to go Christmas caroling on the cable car in San Francisco. Jessica and Matthew were able to get off from work to join us for Christmas – for which we are very joyful!

I went shopping in Chinatown with Sally and Lorene (our tradition for over twenty years). We were sad to see the closed up Sam Wo restaurant where we used to eat raw fish salad for lunch during our annual walking tour of Grant Street stores.
John and I were delighted to hear our young friends Max and Beth perform as part of the Cantabile Youth Singers at the ornate St. Joseph Basilica in San Jose.
My son Paul and I picked out and walked home a Christmas tree – which sat in a bucket of water on the driveway for two weeks until the contractors left and we could move all of the furniture back. Jessica and Matthew and Paul brought the tree inside and decorated it tonight. The decorations are eclectic but cheerful. I still need to put out the nativity figures John bought in Bethlehem.
My EfM class went to see the Bethlehem Christmas story re-enactment, and then went out to dinner together and exchanged gifts.
Last Sunday was the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church children’s pageant.
We have very much enjoyed Willow Glen’s enthusiastic Christmas light displays – which give every street its own twinkly charm as we go about our holiday business.
Today we went to the Dickens Fair at the Cow Palace in San Francisco to enjoy a Victorian Christmas, high tea, and last-minute shopping.
Tomorrow, John starts cooking for our Christmas feast on Tuesday!

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Tagged as Charles Dickens, Education for Ministry, Episcopal church, Jessica, John, Matthew, Paul, San Francisco, San Jose, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Willow Glen

December 14, 2012 · 11:21 pm

Stucco Done

Our new porch got its stucco wall covering yesterday – which will cure for several weeks before we can paint. A stucco finish has many layers, starting with paper, then wire, followed by a smooth base coat, lastly the textured final coat. The original wet grey color is turning pale as it dries. The winter’s damp weather here in Willow Glen will ensure a slow curing and harder result. The final work is also complete on our new brick paths (made of old bricks) – which look wonderful! Still to finish:

Stucco around the final window (the new smaller window was installed today – a surprise late addition because of mis-measurement on where the roof ties in)
Install ceramic roof tiles
Install electrical fixtures – inside and out
Paint inside and out
Decorative iron work
Tile floor

We should be all done by the end of January. Of course, I originally thought we would be done in September… silly me.

Bricklaying

This week, we are getting the bricks laid on top of some of our new concrete paths in our back garden. Jack and Rudy Batinich are the masonry contractors working on this project. The picture above is of Rudy’s work boots – showing the toes of a man who kneels a lot.

They started by sorting our collection of old bricks so that they knew what they had to work with. We probably need about 200 more old bricks than we have.
Next, we decided on design. The big area to be bricked will be running bond pattern with a border, and will connect with two walkways – one jack-on-jack (or stacked bond) and the other in basket weave classic brick pattern. We have about fifty irregular clinker or burnt bricks which will be in the border.

I think this is going to look good and be very functional.

Flat Nutcracker

Willow Glen gets into the winter holiday spirit with charming, funny, and bright house decorations. Some are more successful than others. The stores have different offerings each season. This year, icicle lights with blue-white flashing patterns – like creepy daggers hung along the roof line – are unfortunately popular. For several years, large blow-up characters have appeared front lawns. These Santas, bears, elves, and snowmen look good at night but very sad lying flat on the grass during the day. I commented on her deflated nutcracker when our neighbor was outside recently – she said it is fun to see him pop up, light up, and fling off the accumulated rain every night when he turns back on.

This is what happens when the blow-up nutcracker gets water inside…

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Tag Archives: Willow Glen

John’s New Job with EVault

Salamanders big and small

New Home for Van Gilder Glass Panel

Merry Christmas

Stucco Done

Bricklaying

Flat Nutcracker

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