Duh, Winning!

The Fishbowl, West Cliff Drive. 

Not even Mr. Sheen has a life as grand as this.  This is our week of waiting, and the weather is just glorious.  I was able to get out early the past few mornings to enjoy the sunrise and a paddle in the ocean.  Sure, there were a few waves, and some surfing involved, but it has really been just about the beautiful mornings.  Today is hot in Santa Cruz.  At least hot for Santa Cruz, with a toasty 87F at the downtown farmers's market (more on the market below) at 3PM.  I imagine that is about the peak of it with our usual afternoon cooling beginning soon, and cooler days ahead.  Tomorrow should still be almost as warm as today, and nothing is too dismal looking in the week ahead.

Thursday is still grand.  Friday morning, we again have a chance for some fog.  It will be more likely in the city and Half Moon Bay, with a chance down here in Santa Cruz.  It should burn relatively early, and doubt we will see more than a few patches, and nothing much reaching over the mountains.  Perhaps some lingering around the low areas near the bay.  We also see some actual sporadic clouds forming late Thursday from the storm system hitting to our north.  On the coast, this pattern should return to mostly sunny by Sunday morning and into next week.  Sunday still looks like the cool day, with air filtering in starting Friday.  There is a very slight of showers in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Sierra, and from Mendocino north.  The shower threat lingers through Tuesday in the Sierra.  A rebound is expected starting Monday, with more warm days through at least mid week.  After that we will need to watch how the next short wave sets up to our north.  We need to understand that we still have a chance for rain this season.

Did I mention the Bloom! Forget Me Nots in Big Basin.

There has not been much of an overnight freeze the past few nights around Tahoe, leaving the snow a little sticky and slushy.  There is an inversion set up around 7000 feet, so the base areas are getting a slightly better freeze, as well as the higher elevations above 9000 feet.  So if you are thinking about getting out and doing some touring, try the mid to low elevations very early (around day break) or go for some of the higher peaks in the eastern Sierra.  The volcanos, Shasta and Lassen, are also looking very good, but have some longer approaches due to snow covered roads.  Squaw is turning the bull wheels daily, and Alpine is on the weekends, so there is still plenty of lift served.  Mammoth will continue to spin until the Forth of July.  Kirkwood will reopen for Memorial Day, and expects to allow skiing and hiking on the Forth again this year.  It has been a solid season.

But let us discuss a bit more of this spring.  The mid week Santa Cruz market is going off.  Some of the new additions this week are hothoused tomatoes and the season's first peaches.  We have not yet taste tested the tomatoes, but the peach was surprisingly sweet for so early in the year.  We were shocked to find some California apples that were pulled out of cold storage and still had a crisp tart of fall.  As a side note, New Leaf Market on the west side also has some amazing Fujis as of late.  Other spring notables that have been around recently are peas and zucchini.  And I am sure I have talked about the strawberries.  Well, they are certainly hitting their stride right now and are super sweet.  As much as I hate the term "Nature's candy," they are Nature's candy.  Asparagus is still around, and if you like that grassy treat, get them while they are still around.  Once it is gone, it is gone.  And there is really no point in eating asparagus unless it is freshly cut within a few days.  That is like eating a Maine lobster somewhere other than Maine. The silly thing people do.

Even the sand dunes at Moss Landing have spectacular flowers.

My fava bean harvest started a few days ago.  We have picked about 12 pods so far.  No all that much, but the plants are full of beans with just a few weeks to go.  I would say this was a successful endeavor.  I will need to go back and check my records for the exact timing, but we planted in the late fall.  The hardest part will be shucking these things, but luckily I have guest coming into town who are perfect for that job.  Back in the fall, I soaked a bunch of beans in cool water for 24 hours, then planted them about 1" deep and a few inches apart.  My rows I think were a bit close at about eight inches - I could have used a foot or more of space.  Sure, I watered the plot a bit in the beginning to get the seeds to germinate, but once winter turned on in November, I never bothered watering until mid January.  Even then, they did not get too much water.  I did need to create some supports for them, but honestly, my tomato cages would have been fine.  Recently, I started in with the water again, mostly because it has been so warm and dry.  But all in all, they did not require too much care.  I even ignored an aphid infestation at one point.  When I went to deal with it a week later, the lady bugs and other carnivore bugs had already taken care of it for me.  Simple as Fava.

Sun, sun, sun.  Today was winning.  Tomorrow, not as much.  Some fog and clouds for Friday and the weekend.  Coolest on Sunday.  Say, about 65 degrees.  Warmer again next week.  Glorious.