"Home is the place where, when you have to go there, They have to take you in" ... Robert Frost.  I read this poem, The Death of the Hired Man as a college freshman.  I had issues about home as I think many young people do when they are trying to snip the apron strings and figure out what independence means. We had had a hired man at one time when my extended family of grandmother, mom, dad, uncle, aunt, sister and two boy cousins and I lived on a farm.  He was there and then he wasn't.  Then he came back and the same thing happened.  We found him dead a few days after he returned.  So the poem resonated for me.  And so did the concept of home. Now I have a home of my own with my husband and our grown son who stops by now and then on his travels around the world.  His room is still his ... 10/28/2013

It's for the birds, not the squirrels!  Setting this bird feeder up several years ago started a running battle with the squirrels that inhabit the trees surrounding our property in the Menlo Oaks area of Menlo Park.  They hung from the tree branches, so I moved the post and trimmed the offending branches.  For a while that seemed to solve the problem.  Then the squirrels started shinnying up the metal pole.  I was amazed!  So off to Birders Garden in San Carlos for a solution.  I found the funnel-shaped thing for the pole. The squirrels were relentless!   Even the funnel-shaped thing didn't stop them.  One morning I looked out the window at the feeder hoping to watch some of the finches and other birds enjoying the seeds.  What I saw instead was a squirrel pushing the funnel thing up th... 04/04/2013

New listing with Carmel charm in Menlo Oaks.  Menlo Oaks, located in San Mateo County adjacent to Menlo Park and Atherton, has the suburban charm of winding roads, no sidewalks and many mature oak trees, redwoods, and fruit trees.  Many of those trees are protected by the county.   530 Menlo Oaks Drive is in a prime location.  It is at the heart of Menlo Oaks and as such is quiet and peaceful.  It has the unique quality of being close to activities, schools, commutes  --  the bus to Hillview Middle School is just four houses away.  Laurel Elementary is just a short walk away as is Encinal School.  Facebook is at the foot of Willow Road and Google is not much further.  Stanford University, Stanford Hospital, Stanford Shopping Center are near-by.  Palo Alto's University Ave. with its rest... 09/02/2012