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Tonight another fire, this one smaller but more local, darkened the skies over the western part of the Santa Clara Valley with smoke. At about 3pm, a grass fire broke out close to the onramp from San Tomas Expressway in Campbell onto Highway 17 southbound toward Los Gatos and Santa Cruz. By 4:30 or so, when I drove through, the plume of smoke rising was quite substantial. And by evening, the air was positively eerie in Los Gatos with strange tints coloring the sky and the landscape.
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The late afternoon and early evening sky was a taupe color in places. Light coming in through the windows of our home was tinted a tungsten type of hue. This photo taken by Clair Handy from Bacigalupi Drive in Los Gatos (in Belwood of Los Gatos).
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Another neighborhood view in Belwood.
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View from the Handy Family backyard in Los Gatos - the wind made the smoke-filled areas very distinct from the cleaner sections of sky.
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A (non-enhanced) view of nearby palm trees. The whole sky was just creepy looking.All of these pictures are unedited except for cropping, of course.
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My sister, Barb, is visiting for a few days and she commented that the sky reminded of of when Mt St. Helen's blew in 1980. I was not around for that, but heard plenty about it from my many friends in Washington and Oregon. I don't think it was quite so dark, but it was certainly odd looking tonight.
Mary Pope-Handy
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This is a photo of the hills over Los Gatos at about 5:45pm this evening. The smoke is from the "Martin Fire" (so named for Martin Road, close to the fire), which began a little before 3pm near Bonny Doon.
Currently, it's burned through about 300 acres and caused 1400 people to evacuate, but because of the hot, dry weather and winds, it could easy grow to 1000 or 2000 acres.
Firefighters do not yet know what caused this fire.
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Los Gatos is "Tree City USA" for 29 years in a row! A celebration at Daves Avenue School yesterday included talks by local officials and by students and, of course, the planting of some new trees. (Photos courtesy of Jim Handy.)
Shovels ready for work.
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The site was prepared ahead of time
A tractor does the heavy lifting with two young trees to be planted at Daves Avenue School.
Three trees were planted in all.
An assembly of students gathered to hear talks by officials and classmates.
Los Gatos Mayor Barbara Spector addressed the crowd.
Adults did the first round of planting
And most importantly, the students helped to plant too.
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Yesterday I saw this beautiful lavender colored vine, wisteria, adorning an old home near St. Mary's Church in downtown Los Gatos (Almond Grove District area). The photo was taken with my Treo, so the quality is not great, but you get the feeling: perfect blue skies, vibrant colors, classic old Craftsman style home. A perfect spring day in Los Gatos.
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Yesterday my family and I hiked through Belgatos Park in Los Gatos and the weather was so amazingly clear that I wish I had brought my "real camera". But I did have my Treo along, and it can take photographs, so I snapped a few.
This is a view of downtown San Jose through some oak trees on one of the crests in the park. All of Silicon Valley can be seen - and more! In fact, we could make out San Francisco in the distance (not shown). It truly was picture perfect. Enjoy, and Happy New Year!
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My better half, Jim Handy, took these photos for my Live in Los Gatos blog today. He is a volunteer parks commissioner and was on the parks float today in the chilly weather. Enjoy!
A scene just before the parade started - this shot taken on N. Santa Cruz Avenue near Saratoga-Los Gatos Road.
Getting ready in the Almond Grove District of Los Gatos for the annual holiday parade.
This is NOT the Stanford Band, which often shows up at the Los Gatos Christmas (or holiday) parade.
One parade participant, seen above on the right, was a goat in a Christmas hat! Welcome to Los Gatos!
Jim Handy took this photo from the Parks Commission Float as it rode down North Santa Cruz Avenue in downtown Los Gatos. Nice view of the crowd and the Santa Cruz Mountains up ahead.
Kermit and Donald made a special appearance too! This photo taken on Main Street near University Avenue.
Who doesn't love a pony for the holidays?
Another adorable pony...
It was a chilly day, but a good one, for the Los Gatos holiday parade!
If you'd like to see even more photos, please visit the Los Gatos Observer article on this same great event.
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It's ironic (and annoying) that a few nights ago, we had a "spare the air night" and were asked to not burn wood in our fireplaces on a cold and gloomy night. But within 48 hours, the California Department of Forestry was doing a little burning of its own - 1400 acres on Mount Hamilton.
Controlled burns are intended to reduce fire risk and provide some other benefits. (It is supposedly good for the habitat of the area, but I have a feeling that more than a few animals lost their lives in this burn.) But why do it now, when the rainy season is just around the corner?
I don't know the answer to that. I do know that it's a 3 day burn. The air is bad. I can't believe that this is allowed when a fireplace isn't. It's unfathomable to me that the air now isn't far worse than earlier in the week. Will they burn again tomorrow? It appears so.
NBC 11 has a nice slideshow with better pics than my Treo could capture. Enjoy.
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Live in Los Gatos:
A blog about Los Gatos real estate, homes, houses, condos, townhomes, housing market, neightborhoods, history, events, businesses, parks, schools, photos, issues, and lifestyle.
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