Sow There!

My mom has said that when she was growing up with three siblings, the family always had foster children in the house. My mother assumed that it was because my grandmother had been without a home as a child and wanted to give back to other children who were in the same situation.
When we were growing up, we always had sort of an open door policy for holidays, especially Thanksgiving.
Even if guests couldn’t come for the whole meal, often there would be family friends who would stop by later in the evening for pie.
Periodically there were people we knew who did not have a place to go on the holiday. This might be a traveler from a different country, or someone who had relatives in a different part of the United States but could not afford to travel.
One year, when I was in my early 20s, I met a guy through a mutual friend. He was from England and was a “traveler.” He had long, straight black hair and wore a black leather biker jacket. For some reason, I found out that he was hoping to travel down to the Bay Area but had no car. I was going down for the holiday and offered to give him a lift.
He couldn’t hook up with his friends on Thanksgiving, so naturally I invited him to join my family.
My family was completely unfazed that I would invite someone to Thanksgiving, even someone with a British accent and long, rock-star hair.
He was incredibly charming and a welcome addition to our family gathering.
He ended up befriending my cousin Rannvi, who attended college in Santa Cruz, and he decided to spend a few days with her near the coast before continuing his journey to visit his other friends.
My cousin remained friends with him over the years and occasionally he’ll drop her a post card.
Hosting visitors didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary to me. In fact, it was just a staple of growing up.
My grandmother traveled throughout the world after she became a teacher and had the summer months off. She would meet people on her adventures and often some of them would come to California and stay with her.
Invariably, a bunch of us would go to San Francisco, a must-see destination for someone visiting from Poland, Italy or France. Those were some of the most fun adventures, because we would see the familiar San Francisco sites we had seen many times, but view it through the eyes of our guests.

Oddball fall
This is a very strange year for the fall garden. We’re not the only ones confused with the peculiar weather.
UC Davis Farm Adviser Joe Connell said flower bulbs that normally bloom in spring, such as daffodils, have already begun to grow, with stalks above the surface of the soil.
Because of the warm fall, the trees are taking longer to lose their leaves.
I’ve already reported on the big clump of irises that have bloomed twice so far this season.
Joe said many people have said their roses have pushed out an extra cycle of blooms this year. He’s personally also still been harvesting tomatoes from his plants.
But even though there hasn’t been substantial rain for about a month, Joe said there shouldn’t be a great need for supplemental watering.
Most plants are going dormant right now, vastly decreasing their need for water.
He recommended some extra watering for evergreen trees such as large redwoods that won’t shed their leaves during the cold months.
Also, extra water care should be given to any plants recently added to the garden, such as plants for fall and winter color.