Creekside

No better time than now


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Mountain View CalTrain Station in the Time of the Corona Virus

In This blog post is a journal of the parking lot at the CalTrain station in Mountain View, CA. I run past it every week day. The parking lot is for commuters who are mainly going north to San Francisco. It is usually filled to overflow, with commuters also parking on all of the nearby city streets. In early March I noticed the lot was thinning out a bit. On March 6th I started taking occasional photos of the parking lot. On March 16th, the SF Bay area stay-at-home was announced. As the world was on virtual lock-down, spring marched on, oblivious to the crisis all around us. I started to take a few shots of blooms and buds to add to this journal to convey the sometimes surreal world of destruction and sheer beauty living side-by-side. This is my photo journal of the Corona Virus.

Iris on a cloudy day
Train pulls away.
Exactly no one got off or on.
April 9, 2 cars
April 8, 1 car
New normal?
April 7, 2 cars
April 7
Tulips to follow – will post

Despite the rain, there was good activity at the Market. The foot traffic is very low compared to a normal Sunday. Part of what I think is going on is that many households are sending just 1 or 2 people to the Market. You can see this in the video. Often the trip to the Farmers’ Market is a multi-generational family outing, with grandparents, parents, and children. So, the sales may still be decent despite the lower foot traffic. From what I can tell from the outside, 90% of the vendors are showing up.

I shop at this market every Sunday. Sadly, I have not entered the market for four weeks. As I am in a risk group, I am consolidating all of my shopping to one weekly trip to Ava’s Downtown Market on Castro Street in MB. They have 7:30 to 9 AM hours for 65 and over, pregnant mothers, and immune-supressed people. I go at that time. They have plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, though I prefer the FM.

The Farmers’ Market also has food which some people rely on. Two vendors of fresh eggs. Goats milk. Honey. Homemade kimchi. Fresh chicken and other meats. Fresh fish. Of course, many beautiful bakeries. Organic fruit and vegetables. Some people with restricted diets depend on specific vendors at the Farmers’ Market. I look forward to the Sunday when I can return to the Farmers’ Market.

Sunday, April 5, Parking for Mountain View Farmers’ Market
Rainy day. Still, the lot is little fuller than last week. About 90% full.
April 3, 2020 – Rainy afternoon
April 3, 4 cars, Friday
April 2
Blooming Tree with Japanese Lanterns
April 2, 2 cars
April 1
April 1, 4 cars
March 31
March 31, 3 cars
March 30, Early Dogwood
March 30, 3 cars
March 27, 3 cars
March 26, 2 cars
March 25, 2 cars
I don’t think that it will get lower than 2 cars. Both of these cars are there everyday.
March 24, 4 cars
March 23, 6 cars
March 22, Farmer’s Market – Appeared to be 50% of normal traffic, but perhaps because families just sent one person. A woman was passed out on the pavement at the entrance. Mountain View Fire Department arrived.
March 22, Farmer’s Market Parking Lot – about 80% full
March 22, Shoreline
March 19, 6 cars

March 20, 9 cars
March 17, 6 cars
3/12/2020: Less than one-third full. Normally parking overflows to the nearby streets. Also…fog
3/6/2020: Mountain View CalTrain station. Always lighter on Friday but not like this.


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Local Peet’s Coffee

Open for pickup. To make sure that no one lingers, all tables and chairs stacked in a corner.

4/2/2020: I don’t know which day it occurred on but this Peet’s is closed for the duration. There is another up the street which is open for limited hours. I ordered beans online which will be shipped to me. The economy gets tougher everyday.