Berkeley’s temperate weather makes it a hot spot for yard sales. You can spot old skis and slightly broken blenders on many Saturday or Sunday city streets.

Back in the day, the classified adds in your local news papers used to be the easiest way to find yard sales, but today craigslist.com is your best source for searching them out. You will find them under the names: yard sale, garage sale, block sale,or estate sale, however they’re all basically the same. I am writing this on a Saturday in February and I have located 15 yard/garage sales going on in Berkeley at this moment.

To be honest I rarely plan out yard sale shopping trips, I prefer to stop at sales spur-of-the-moment when I drive past a sign on a telephone pole or when I just happen to come across a sale while walking my standard poodle with a sport cut, Ruben.

Both buying and selling in yard sales is fun. My neighbor is a fanatic yard seller, and she organizes a multi-household block sale on my street at least once a year. It is totally satisfying to clean out the basement or garage and get rid of a bunch of stuff you couldn’t live without, that you forgot you had. Most of this stuff will end up at Goodwill anyway so why not kick back with some lemonade and liquify a few tangible assets in the process.

A couple of my favorite yard sale buys over the years are an old oak chair and six large  vintage geometric paintings from the 1970s, for which I have no place to hang. I love the paintings but my 17 and 20 year old daughters refused to put them in their rooms, describing them as an unsettling combination of colors and shapes (Ain’t that the 70s though!).

In the meantime, We have decided to have a virtual yard sale on greetingsfromberkeley.com since it is so easy install an on-line store on a WordPress site using widgets like Edwid, I though it would be fun to sell a couple of things that have some connection to our blog. We’ve decided to start with a few of Teal’s knit dogs and those vintage 1970’s paintings I just told you about.

A note about the “Yard Sale” e-commerce widget:

I looked at a couple of options for adding a store to greetingfromberkeley.com and decided that because Edwid is hosted elsewhere and has top notch security it is the best option for a site like ours. Also and very important, it is free for up to 10 items. I probably won’t be going over the free level for the time being,  but please check back from time to time because we will be changing the items in our yard sale as we publish new posts.

Summer’s here, and many places that means it’s time to emerge from inside and finally enjoy the sunshine and good weather. Here in Berkeley, however, we’re lucky enough to have beautiful days sprinkled throughout the year – it could be 50 degrees in August and 70 in January (and often is). However, in the spirit of summer, here are 5 parks in Berkeley worth visiting on those sunny, balmy days.

1. Tilden Park

Berkeley sits on the edge of Tilden Park, an East Bay regional park, comprised of wooded or partially-wooded hills separating the coastal and inland areas. It’s a lovely place for a hike or bike ride, with almost 40 miles of trails. Or, if hiking isn’t your cup of tea but you still want to enjoy the beauty of nature and breath in the relaxing smell of eucalyptus trees covering the park, there are a plethora of other attractions to take part in. Activities include golfing, fishing, camping, equestrian camping, visiting the Botanic Garden, and swimming in Lake Anza. If you’re looking for kid-oriented activities, check out the Little Farm, Merry-Go-Round (this site is decorated for Christmas, and is a must-see for December visitors), and the Steam Train.

Directions

2. Berkeley Marina

On the western boarder of Berkeley, opposite Tilden Park, is the Berkeley Marina and waterfront. Visitors can stay onshore and enjoy a direct view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco skyline, or can take to the bay with classes and clinics from Cal Adventures. The Marina also features an off-leash area for dogs, the Berkeley Yacht Club, and Adventure Playground: a hands-on building and playing experience for kids.

Directions

3. Ohlone Greenway & Park

The Ohlone Greenway is any green space that pops up along the East Bay bicycle and pedestrian path. Ohlone Park is made up of a four-block stretch of the Greenway, spanning from North Berkeley Bart station at Sacramento St and Delaware to Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Hearst. This long, skinny park includes a baseball field, a soccer field, basketball courts, jungle gym equipment, a dog park, and multipurpose grassy areas. On any given afternoon, you can see little league games, amateur tightrope walkers, Frisbee throwers, pick-up basketball games, and children playing on the large spider web-style climbing structure.

Directions

4. Berkeley Rose Garden and Corodnices Park

The Berkeley Rose Garden is perched on a terraced hill, creating a cascade of roses down the slope when the flowers are in full bloom. It is a popular site for weddings, prom pictures, and local gardeners who volunteer to prune the roses. Just across from the garden is Corodnices Park (pronounced cord-uh-nee-sees by the locals). The park begins as a large expanse of grass and transitions to a wooded area with park benches and grills, perfect for birthday barbeques. There is traditional play equipment, but the park is most famous for its large concrete slide. To the dread of many parents and the delight of their children, kids of all ages can be seen careening down the slide on squares of cardboard (so they don’t shred their pants). It should be mentioned that in all my years frequenting this park, I have never seen anyone injured on this slide.

Directions

5. Indian Rock

For a spectacular view of the entire San Francisco bay, head up to Indian rock. This park includes a grassy area for lounging, picnicking, or hosting potlucks and a giant rock across the street. For the view, one must make his or her way up to the top of the rock. This can be done by nimbly scaling one of the sets of steps carved into the rock or, for the more adventurous and athletically inclined, by attempting to climb up the side. Personally, I do not recommend the latter option; the view is not worth a broken neck, though it is spectacular.

Directions

Now that summer is here and the weather is getting warmer (at least in most of the country) the People of Berkeley are heading outside to enjoy the long, balmy days. With baseball season in full swing, it’s the perfect time to head to your team’s stadium to catch a game (puns intended). Here in Berkeley, we are lucky to be just a stone’s throw from two teams worth following: the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants.

The Oakland Athletics:

As of June 2014, the Oakland A’s are leading with the most wins of any team in both the American league and the National league. They obviously aren’t struggling for wins, and yet low attendance and dilapidated stands makes watching a game at the Coliseum feel like rooting for the underdog – which is practically an American pastime in itself. Oakland’s weather is always a couple of degrees warmer than Berkeley’s, and sometimes there is nothing better than a sunny day game at the Oakland Coliseum with a beer and some garlic fries. Bonus: the home team just might win.

San Francisco Giants:

There are many reasons to see a game at the Giant’s stadium, AT&T Park: the quirky, character-filled team, easy access by Muni, cheap nosebleed and standing tickets. But one of the best reasons to visit the stadium is the stadium itself. AT&T Park is the most beautiful stadium in baseball. The park sits on the water, with a phenomenal view of the San Francisco bay. There are fun traditions like the splash count (the number of balls that have gone into the bay) and the crowd singing Journey’s Lights at the 8^th inning stretch. I recommend going to a night game sitting behind home plate (even if it is in the cheap seats). It gets a little chilly, but you can watch the sun set over the bay without it glaring in your eyes.

Find tickets at www.stubhub.com