These old license plates are displayed outside an antique store in downtown Lafayette on Mt. Diablo Blvd.
These old license plates are displayed outside an antique store in downtown Lafayette on Mt. Diablo Blvd.
Spotted at Civic Park in Walnut Creek. When I hear the Mister Softee jingle screeching from the ice cream truck while watching my kids play at the park I have fond memories of chasing after that truck on hot summer days with the neighborhood kids while growing up on the east coast. My kids don’t have that same Pavlovian response that I had which I suppose is a good thing, although I kind of feel they’re missing out on something. Come to think of it, I don’t notice kids playing outdoors on their own these days where I live anyway. Must be due to all those organized sports etc. Too bad.
Strolling through downtown Walnut Creek you’d be hard pressed not to pass by a sidewalk or “sandwich board” sign outside stores. They’re everywhere. I’ve become so used to them I figured they were a normal part of suburban downtowns. That is until I spoke with someone recently who mentioned they were surprised at all the sidewalk signs in the area. It looks like it’s become a mandatory part of doing business for many stores to encourage people to stop by.
So for today’s question of the day, what do you think of the sidewalk sandwich signs in downtown? Is it too crowded? Too commercial? Or maybe you haven’t even noticed them much.
Spotted on the Lamorinda trail in Lafayette. The sign says, “New Chicks Eggs Coming Soon”. You can read more about the backyard chicken boom from Walnut Creek magazine here.
One of the kiosks at the Liberty Bell Plaza in downtown Walnut Creek sells Folkmanis puppets (from Emeryville), and now there is a DIY puppet show stage and the Folkmanis kiosk will lend puppets so children can put on their own puppet show.
From the Liberty Bell Popup Plaza website:
Did you know that EVERY weekend in March, Popup Plaza is hosting DIY puppet shows? There’s a custom built stage available for kids (and adults) of all ages. Just stop by the Folkmanis Puppets popup and ask them about it. Folkmanis has puppets that they’ll lend you to put on your own show. What a great way to keep the kids entertained and take a break in the plaza!
Some things in life are taken for granted. Summertime. Hot weather. Children smiling. Picking blackberries before school lets out for summer. That is until one day when the Los Perales school administration decides that the blackberry bushes enjoyed by kids and parents for years are considered a “hazard” and *poof* all of sudden they are gone. Apparently, despite the fact that they were behind a fence as you can see in the photo above, they had reached a size which necessitated their removal. I wonder how many injuries or complaints Los Perales received that caused them to take action. Or maybe the occasional trimming was too bothersome or expensive so they razed them instead. (Even non-thorny bushes were cut down).
Sorry children of Los Perales, as you walk home from school in a couple of months there will be no blackberry pickings for you. I know you learned a bit about nature and where food comes from and such, but you’re going to have to look elsewhere from now on. Some things in life are taken for granted.
Last week a Walnut Creek resident won a $33 million lotto jackpot after spending $5 on lottery tickets at the Heather Farm Shell Station in Walnut Creek. The Contra Costa Times reports that a man who was recently laid off and his wife who is a hair-dresser held the winning ticket and the woman is planning on going back to work while the man plans to start his own business.
Before taxes the lump-sum amount ends up being about $23 million, so after taxes let’s say $12 million. What would you do with that kind of money? Is it better to just not play the lottery and save the money one would spend on tickets? Considering the problems many people have after big winnings the safest thing to do is to pretend like nothing happened although that has to be hard to do.
The Civic Park playground is a great place to bring your kids to play and right next to it is the parking lot. As you can see it’s labeled “small vehicle only” but has anyone actually not parked there due to the size of their car? I doubt it, and that’s kind of silly to have that label anyway. I have a small car and even I can barely fit in. Don’t you think it should be repainted and made larger so all cars can fit comfortably with the loss of one or two spaces?
