San Jose

Everything here is tinder dry at the moment.  The conversation on the bus today was about how the conditions are the most worrying for some years, from a forest fire point of view.  I spent the rest of the journey trying to remember where all the fire hoses and extinguishers were on site and realised I need to take a walk around to refresh my memory.  Living in a wooden apartment in the middle of a forest is not the most reassuring place to be under such circumstances.  Being a bit bored on the bus, I started fantasising about having to crawl into a drainage channel and sit in the stream while flames played at each end.  I would end up being rescued by the fire brigade, and would wipe away a stripe of soot from my face as everyone applauded my bravery. 

In reality, I would more likely have to be scraped off the floor a blubbering wreck, as I am hopeless in an emergency.

The bus was taking me to San Jose.  I was going to cram in some more culture.  There were palm tree lined boulevards and some impressive buildings.  The Tech Museum was fun, I know a lot about the Monarch butterfly, migration habits thereof, which were played out on an absolutely massive, domed screen.  It has to be said there was something disconcerting about having a caterpillar the size of a tube train hovering over your head.

I also created a heart out of pretend pixels:

Someone had sculpted DNA from books:

The art gallery was also brilliant, with a fantastic exhibition of photography by Annie Leibovitz.  It was especially good for someone from another country, as it explored some American history, with things like Abraham Lincoln's gloves and Elvis' Harley motorbike.  Strangely, there were some photographs of the Isle of Wight - a counterpoint, I suppose, for the Niagara Falls.

A good day, and no smoke to be seen - phew!