Above: View of San Martin from SelfSustainableNurse's kitchen. It's not easy to piece together a panoramic view like that from multiple photos-- I'm sure there has to be an easier way to do it than how I did it.
I plan to spend my last hours in the Bay in San Martin. I've roamed the Bay, from San Martin to San Anselmo (given a few more days I would have extended my range South to Monterey, possibly even to Big Sur, and to Point Reyes in the North). The two ends of the Bay are my favorite-- the coast of Monterey bay and Point Reyes National Seashore. Two of my favorite places on this planet. (My other two being the forest in central North Carolina where I grew up and Maayan Tsvi in Northern Israel, overlooking the Mediterranean ocean). And of course I love San Jose, the perfect mid-point, in particular the trails and hills of Almaden Quicksilver.
I made SelfSustainableNurse and her husband laugh a good deal on my visit. I wasn't even trying to be funny. I was just studying. Part of what I have to learn for my 'Veterinarians and Society' course, which specializes in ethics this block/semester, are the different breeds of horses, cows, sheep, goats and pigs (do not ask what this has to do with ethics-- I've long since stopped trying to make sense of my courses and accepted that they are beyond ecclectic in the mix of material covered). I've always found horse breeds especially difficult to distinguish, even way back in tech school. While looking over Arabians, I asked SelfSustainableNurse if she'd ever owned an Arabian. She and her husband just about fell off their chairs in the kitchen laughing. When she regained her breath she explained that both her horse, Percy, and her husband's horse, Phoenix, are Arabians. So yes, two of the horses that I looked at all winter and spring are Arabians. Oops. SelfSustainableNurse loves Arabians because she says they have such distinct individual personalities. But she admits that they are easily spooked/very reactive, which is why I am wary of them.
Next, I was looking out the back kitchen window and saw the new, registered Nigerian Dwarf goat that SelfSustainableNurse recently purchased. I commented, "There's your new ram!" To which she replied, laughing, "You mean buck!" Right. I do remember memorizing that, as well as other livestock terms. Obviously it didn't stick.
One thing I love about San Martin-- the cowboys. There are lots of people out on horseback. SelfSustainableNurse distinguishes between the real cowboys and the macho Mexicans on stallions foolishly showing off just to be cool. She assured me that the photo below was of a real cowboy.
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