What can you expect, weatherwise, for Los Gatos in the fall?  It varies but generally is dry and fairly warm during the days.  Mornings can be chilly but it heats up fairly quickly.  This last week was perhaps a bit unusual, but I'll share with you a bit about the weather here over the last seven days.

This last week, though, we caught the tail end of an Asian hurricane and we got drenched and pelted with strong winds.  After three drought years, no one is complaining: we needed the rain.

The storm caused damage to trees all over and created power outages for many.  Our block in Belwood was mixed - half the homes were out of power for about 48 hours. We were lucky and had power. As usual, though, after a very heavy rain, we had Comcast problems.  Our internet flickered off and on for a couple of days (a challenge for Jim and me since we both work from home and rely heavily on the web).

The temps rose in the days following the storm.  It's not completely abnormal to have an 80 degree day in October, but it is unusual to have a summer like temp with east-coast like humidity. The ground was saturated and as it evaporated, we had several muggy days. 

We got back to the daily walk with Bella through the neighborhood and to Belgatos Park and that's when we learned that so many neighbors were without electricity.  We saw a few trees that were getting extra supports (or should have, as they were now listing badly) but others which seemed just fine.

Many of the smaller plants and bushes fared much better than the larger trees had. To see the blooms along Westhill Drive, you'd never know that a massive storm had passed just 48 hours earlier.

Mike's prickley pear looked just great.

Everyone's got power again and aside from a few downed limbs, the neighborhood is looking back to normal. As usual for fall, Los Gatos is full of people who are jogging, riding bikes, pushing strollers, walking dogs, or just getting out.  Today was into the 70s - a very normal fall temp - and except for a few clouds that have been coming and going, it's again looking like autumn as usual.

Westhill Drive was cordoned off for a block party, too.

This is not surprising: our mild weather makes doing things outdoors be the norm throughout most of the fall.   We enjoy an average of 300 sunny days per year in Silicon Valley, with mild weather being the hallmark.  Rain normally comes from about December until March or April, but even then it's not usually so bad unless we have a once-in-a-decade El Nino year.   Word has it that we might be in for that this year, which would certain end, officially, the drought.  It's supposed to rain again tomorrow.  No one likes water rationing, so we will view it as a gift!

If you live in or visit Los Gatos and enjoy hiking, biking, horseback riding, jogging, soccer (and other sports requiring playing fields) or other outdoor activities, you'll want to know about a Town of Los Gatos document,  "Parks, Open Space, and Trails Inventory".  It's a 70 page pdf with beautiful maps and photos of Los Gatos which you can download from the town's site.

The morning the skies were perfectly clear and void of clouds over Silicon Valley with one notable exception: just over the town of Los Gatos, a patch of low fog was clinging to the hills, nestled into the smaller valleys and cascading like a waterfall through the pass.

My husband, Jim Handy, snagged this photo from Communications Hill in San Jose at about 7:45am today.  This was a great pic but the sky was very white, so I added some pale blue to the sky (using Picasa and the graduated tint function).  Although the pic below is doctored, it gives a better "feel" for what we saw in Santa Clara County today.

The St. Mary's Country Fair in downtown Los Gatos is off to a fantastic start!  Last night the place was hopping to the tunes of the Joe Sharino Band. Tonight it's the Cheeseballs. Come on back!

Today started off a little cool and slow but picked up by 11 or 11:30 or so. The wind died down and it got to be very comfortable, and folks from all over town were there.

The burrito booth ended up being over-staffed, so I was reassigned to work the skee ball booth from 10am to 1pm today. It was a great spot with a clear view of the stage and I saw loads of people I knew there, including Steve Rice, who's running for town council.

What's really neat about working a game booth, though, is being able to interact with kids. One young family came through and their daughter was just too adorable to not photograph (with their permission). I played with the image because unfortunately the toddler's face was shadowed and the groovy sunglasses she's wearing don't show up too well. I think my favorite of the four is the third one in from the left as it's really focused on her.

The Country Fair continues tonight and tomorrow. A petting zoo and pony rides are available again tomorrow from 11am - 3pm.  Enjoy!

Outings in Los Gatos are often scenic and sometimes surprising.

Quito Road, which meanders alongside the winding San Tomas Aquino creek and separates Los Gatos from Saratoga, has loads of odd signs reminiscent of the one here, but this isn't a sign from Quito Road.

Have you seen this one? Know where it is?

It's on the Los Gatos Creek Trail at Vasona Lake County Park near the dam. It's aimed at folks on bikes and probably rollerblades too, rather than inautomobiles.

Today, enjoy a break from words and take in some pleasant photos of lovely Los Gatos.

My family and I live in the east Los Gatos neighborhood called Belwood of Los Gatos, and the nearby park is Belgatos Park. We tend to visit it several times a week and spend a lot of time there. I confess, this isn't my first post about the park, but it is my first using video. (Recently I got a flip video so am learning how to work this new medium.)

This park is unique for a Town of Los Gatos park in many regards. First, it is one of the only parks in town which can accomodate horses, joggers and mountain bikers. (Joggers and mountain bikers, don't zone out! Horses may have gone before you.) Second, in addition to the niceties of a larger park, which include several grassy meadows, a playground, and a restroom, there are a myriad of trails that interconnect with Belgatos. If you are so inclined, you can spend hours chasing down the paths that wind through the Sierra Azule foothills.  Finally, it is one of the only town parks which, with a little effort on the visitor's part, can provide stunning valley views.

With that introduction, I'll share with you some video clips I took recently. It's now the end of summer and Silicon Valley is dry and so are our parks. Below the video clip I will include other pics, from other seasons, of our beautiful Belgatos Park in Los Gatos.

Here's a link to a prior post about Belgatos Park in this Live in Los Gatos blog: A Hike and a Photo Tour Through Belgatos Park.

And here's a slideshow of Belgatos Park done through Real Estate Shows. I took the photos of Belgatos Park in spring, so it's all very, very green and lush.