Gingko stink-o

When I worked at SJSU my walk to my office took me past a huge Gingko tree near the corner of 4th St and San Carlos, or more correctly a huge female Gingko tree. In the fall the rather rancid smell of the gingko fruit permeated the area. It is a rather foul smelling fruit, yet there were many folks there harvesting the ‘low lying fruit’ on a daily basis. A co-worker and I would banter around ideas to describe the odor; we finally got stuck between ’sour owl shit’ and ‘putrid cat vomit’.

I complained a few weeks ago that there was no feel of fall this year. Today I have to retract that comment. The wife and I headed out for a leisurely ride, first heading west into the Los Altos Hills then south to Saratoga and back. On our way to the Los Altos Hills we routed ourselves down Calderon in Mt. View and across El Camino Real (ECR) where the road becomes Phyllis. Between ECR and Barbara on Phyllis there are a number of Gingkos, all in various stages of becoming bright yellow. Most of these Gingkos are male, but a few are female so we got to experience the odor of the Gingko fruit. Very much a fall experience.

There was a bit of fall along much of the route. Along the creek in Stevens Canyon, the vines on Mt. Eden, along Hwy. 9 going back to Saratoga. It is good to have some autumnal experience, makes the now short days a bit more palatable.