Surprise!

"Are you kidding me!?"  I think that's what this Acorn Woodpecker is thinking.  It was raining lightly last night when I went to bed.  When I got up this morning I had the same thought as the woodpecker.  Now? Snow and hail now?  Just when things are blooming, or starting to bloom?  Are you kidding me?

Thankfully, there was no wind so all the blossoms are still on the cherry and apple trees, but they look pretty limp.  It's supposed to get down to 17 F tonight though, so I'll just have to wait until tomorrow to see how they fare. 

I should have expected some sort of weather, since yesterday was what my dad used to call a "weather breeder."  Brilliant blue sky, crystal air, and windy.  I wasn't paying attention...

It was good to get more rain though!

Plenty

Yesterday was a gorgeous day, very windy, but gorgeous.  Overnight, it seems, the apple trees' blossoms burst open. 

My orchard is not tidy, nor do I prune the trees or thin out the growing apples just so I can have bigger apples, although I do rake under the trees every autumn before I put down mulch.  I just can't cut them, much the same as I cannot bring myself to pick flowers. 

I know it sounds silly, but I feel like I'm hurting them.  The trees like to grow this way, so why not let them be happy?  They certainly make me happy. When the apple trees absolutely have to be pruned for their health, I hire someone and hover over them to make sure they prune only what is necessary.  I'm always being told I could get a bigger crop and prettier apples if I used pesticides and pruned every winter.  Pesticides!?  Never.

I think the apples my trees give me are beautiful, small though they are.  Some are bug bitten...so what?  Bugs have to live too.  Some are oddly shaped, but they still taste just as sweet-tart, crisp and juicy as the perfectly formed ones.  I always have plenty to give family and friends, plenty for the deer, bears, skunks and raccoons, and plenty for myself and my husband. 

What more could one ask?

Sunday Sunlight

It rained last night - hooray!  The clouds were clearing, but everything was still bejeweled with precious rain drops.  Sun through cedar branches in wet air is always a good bet for rainbow sun rays...

Shakes and Sprinkles

The clouds are coming in, getting thicker, so I'm hoping we'll get more than just the few scattered sprinkles that we got today.  But, sprinkles are good too!

Caltech seismologists said there were two small foreshocks of the largest quake and there have been over 100 aftershocks, the largest one occurring today around 2:30.  It was a 4.1, but I wasn't sure until I turned on the news at 5 p.m. that what I had felt was actually another quake and not just my cats, who were thundering around the house at that time having simultaneous kitty fits.  Since the ones last night, we've felt nothing up here (until the tiny, brief trembling of the floor this afternoon).  My guess was right; it was felt over such a wide area of Southern California because it was so shallow, only one mile below the surface.  I've never understood how seismologists figure out what's a foreshock, an aftershock and the actual main earthquake.  It's not the magnitude of the quake, which would make sense to me, but some main quakes have been much smaller than the foreshocks and aftershocks. 

I feel so bad for the people of La Habra, which is the epicenter of the quakes.  Quite a few house were rendered uninhabitable by the quakes while other people are afraid to go back inside for fear of another aftershock.  I'm just so thankful that no one was hurt, even when a car was overturned by a rock slide that was caused by the largest quake. 

Hopefully, we're done with earthquakes for a while...

Earthquakes

Yes, plural.  We've had four earthquakes in the space of twenty-five minutes, the largest being 5.3 on the Richter Scale.  Here, the largest one felt like a giant stamped his foot, causing a big jolt, then it turned into a rolling, shaking motion for about 30 seconds which was accompanied by a rumbling sound.  It was felt over such a wide area of Southern California for a relatively mid-sized quake that I'm wondering if it wasn't a really shallow one; that is, one that's located relatively close to the surface of the earth instead of miles below.  Thank goodness, no reports of any one hurt, just a bit of damage to stuff being knocked off store shelves, etc.  All my stuff stayed put this time. 

Or, maybe that Acorn Woodpecker was just pecking a little too vigorously earlier! 

Rockin' and rollin' on a Friday night in So Cal...do we know how to have a good time or what? :D 

Updated at 10:20 - we've now had a total of seven earthquakes.  This makes me nervous, although I know it's not unusual.  Several years ago Palm Springs was having around thirty earthquakes a day, but they were very small in magnitude, under 2.0.  And, now Dr. Lucile Jones, with the USGS, is saying that we could have a much larger earthquake within a few hours or days.  I'm going to go 'round the house and check to make sure that the earthquake wax, a very sticky substance that's great for holding objects on shelves and pictures on walls during an earthquake, is still sticky enough to do a good job.  Especially that large painting over the bed.

Earthquakes, fires, floods, mudslides, tsunamis...if anyone ever discovers the original Native American name for California I bet the meaning of the name will be,  Don't Live Here!

Rain, Wonderful Rain

Thank you for all of your good rain wishes; they worked!  Please, don't stop wishing for rain for California yet, though...

I spent the day in my studio, listening and watching the rain.  If you look closely when you enlarge the photo, you'll be able to see a few streaks of rain and drops on the cherry blooms and leaves.  It was raining hard when I took this from inside my studio, but, try as I might, my camera just wouldn't capture the rain properly.

 It rained all last night and we had terrible howling winds (gusts of 90 mph) but today the winds went away to make mischief somewhere else and the rain stopped blowing sideways.  Listening to it last night I was sure all the cherry blossoms would be gone today, but they're still here (knock on wood, as my mom used to say).  They weren't even harmed by the hail and sleet.  Neither were the emerging Pacific dogwood flowers:

I love how they emerge a bright, lime green; it's like they're shouting, "Yay!  Spring is here and so are we!"  They slowly, as they become bigger, turn a light cream color.

I spent most of the day alternately enjoying the sight of rain, the sound of rain singing along with the crackling of the fire and cleaning my studio (which I didn't enjoy so much, but it really needed it).  I finally hooked up my pretty, antique-style phone which is a land-line phone.  I previously had a portable phone, but I got tired of it not working every time the power went out.  My cell phone is useless up at the studio; well, cell phones are useless in a lot of areas up here in the mountains. 

Now I'm going to sit by the fire and listen to the rain and drink a cup of tea...come have a cup with me!

A Quote for Monday

"Of all the means of expression, photography is the only one that fixes forever the precise and transitory instant.  We photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and, when they have vanished, there is no contrivance which can make them come back again."
~ Henri Cartier-Bresson 

Sunday Sunlight

Some of the cherry blossoms have opened, while others still look like little oval pearls.  And, cross your fingers!  We're supposed to get a bit of rain on Wednesday!  Not more than half an inch, not a drought buster by any means, but still...every precious drop of water counts!

Wednesday's Winding Road

Spring is here, but in a very odd way.  The same varieties of trees, right next to each other...one will be putting out new little leaves, another tree will have larger leaves, and some won't have any at all.  Very strange. The cherry trees are starting to blossom, but my apple trees don't have any blossoms at all.  I'm afraid they might not blossom this year, and that would mean no apple harvest this fall.  The seven inches of rain we got at the end of last month was great, but we haven't had any rain since then.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed though, because our rainy season extends through May.  Well, it used to...I'm hoping it still does, but, these days, who knows?

I noticed some tiny little flower buds on the lilacs and dogwoods, so I'm hoping for rain but no hard freezes.  I was afraid we'd have no lilac and dogwood blooms this year, but maybe we'll get a few thanks to that rain in February.  And, a few is better than none!

Some cherry blossoms that will probably be open by tomorrow:

Mr. Murphy O'Mally Says...

"I want you to know that today is also the feast day of St. Gertrude of Nivelles.  She is much more important to me, as she is the Patron Saint of gardeners, travelers and cats.  Most importantly, cats!  She has long been overshadowed by St. Patrick, an ok guy as far as saints go, I guess, but he's the Patron Saint of Ireland, not cats.  Us cats need all the help we can get, plus some of us travel around a lot. And, most of us are gardeners, even though a lot of humans don't seem to understand that we're fertilizing the garden when we...well, you know.  HeyYou (that's what I named the lady who feeds me) gives me fresh salmon on this day...near as I can tell, most humans just drink a lot of green beer and eat some kind of funny-smelling meat that they call 'corned beef.'  Yuck.  So...I wish you a happy St. Gertrude of Nivelles Day...celebrate it by helping out a cat near you! 

And if you're wondering how I found out about all this...well, really.  What do you humans think we're doing when we're around you?  We're listening, learning and, mostly, laughing." 

Dictated by Mr. Murphy O'Mally, dutifully transcribed by HeyYou.

What a Relief!

We got great news about my sister's cancer-related lumpectomy.  The cancer was entirely contained within the lump and hadn't spread!  Her doctors wanted her to have several radiation treatments, to be as safe as possible, but she said she'd think about it.  I know what that means.  But, it's her body, her decision.  She'll be going in for check-ups periodically, so I know they'll be watching out for anything that looks suspicious.  Also, I returned her car keys to her, so she's not mad at me anymore...well, not so much, ha ha.  Yay, yippee, yahoo for everything!  If I sound giddy, I am...or just plain silly from relief about all the good news concerning my precious big sister.

I got more good news in the form of raindrops a few days ago.  Seven inches!  No where near what forecasters had predicted, and not even a drop in the bucket as far as the drought goes, but the trees and plants look very grateful and refreshed, so I'm happy. 

 
Cherry trees are blooming down in Lake Arrowhead, where I treated myself to a day spent with friends last Thursday.  We went to the spa, got our hair done, had lunch and did some shopping.  I found something I think several little girls (make that princesses) who have birthdays coming up will like:

 

 

I'll be sure and tuck a generous amount of spending money inside so their moms won't be mad at me for the "spend it all" part. 

After I got home, I think that everything (or the release from all that stress) caught up with me.  I got a terrible migraine and stayed in bed for the next three days.  Well, as "in bed" as it gets with me...animals in the house and outside still need to be fed, no matter how I feel. I'm feeling much better now.  I'll go round tomorrow to catch up on blogs...

Waiting for Rain

Wednesday's Winding Road

Only, this time, it's part of a path that winds around Lake Arrowhead.  This was taken in May of 2010. 

Sunday Sunlight

I think this little guy (or girl) thought he was hiding from me.  I know I was having trouble believing I was actually looking at a robin...in February!  Usually they don't show up until April.  I even saw a hummingbird the day before yesterday!  I rushed to put out fresh nectar, but the hummingbird hasn't been back. 

I've been out getting the garden ready because it's been so warm; that's another thing I usually don't do until around the middle or end of April.  I'm not taking the pine needle mulch off the hydrangeas just yet, though, because the nighttime temperatures are still below freezing.  But, our high today was a crazy 60 degrees F. 

No wonder the birds are confused.

Happy Valentine's Day From a Book Addict

I took this photo of a redbud tree ( cultivar Forest Pansy)  last May, and I have been waiting since then for Valentine's Day so I could post it and wish everyone a happy Valentine's Day with red, heart-shaped leaves. 

Yes...I know.  But, I'm a sucker for things like this in nature. 

My Valentine's Day present was a replacement Kindle from Amazon at no charge because I hadn't had the old one for a year before it croaked.  Yippee!  The reason I bought a Kindle in the first place was so that I could (hopefully) find all of my favorite books and have them stored on Kindle in case we have to evacuate for a forest fire.  I don't have room in my car for my books and my animals, and when it comes to that kind of choice the books are going to lose.  Any thing is going to lose, even treasured photos.

BUT...did I get rid of my favorite, and even second favorite, books once I had them on Kindle?  No.  I couldn't bear to part with them.  There's just something magical about holding a book, the scent of a book, and when I open it up (if I've read it before) I can see my favorite characters coming out to greet me.  If I'm reading a book for the first time and it turns out to be a favorite, then I've just made a whole bunch of new friends.  The downside of making these new friends with a Kindle is that I then want to have the actual book so I can add it to my shelves (and shelves, and shelves, and shelves...well, you get the idea) of books.

If it weren't for the threat of wildfires up here I don't think I ever would have bought a Kindle.  But, it's so wonderful to be able to have the best of both worlds! 

A Thrift Store Find...and Drat!

I found this cute little teapot at a thrift shop up here.  I don't think it's antique, or even vintage, but it just spoke to me...really.  It said, "Take me home, I'll brighten up your mantle."  So I did.

When I got home, I made a cup of tea and sat down with my Kindle to read.  DRAT!  It refused to function.  I went to Amazon.com and did all the things the help section said to do, but no luck.  I haven't even had the thing eight months (it is the Kindle Fire HD).  So, I called Amazon and, bless them, they said they would have a new one delivered to me by Thursday, no charge to me since it wasn't even a year old.  I sure hope so.  I was right in the middle of a really good book. 

Thank goodness I couldn't bring myself to get rid of my real books (well, not many of them, anyway).  I just don't feel right if I don't have a book to read!

A Quote for Monday

"The hunter seldom realizes when he is the one being hunted.  He walks in the woods, rifle in hand, eyes alert for his quarry's prints on snow-dusted ground.  He searches for spoor or sits perched in his tree blind, waiting for the bear to lumber into view.  It never occurs to him that his prey might be watching him, biding its time until he makes a mistake." 

Tess Gerritsen, from her book "The Silent Girl" 

This is not my photo, sadly.  There are no grizzly bears left in California to photograph because they were hunted to extinction by 1922.  Ironic, tragic and stupid, since a grizzly first appeared on the California state flag in 1846 and was signed into law as the official state flag in 1911.

Sunday Sunset

Taken in late summer of 2008.

Some is Better Than None

(This photo is a close-up of water in the creek in January, 2011).   We received  a tiny smidgen of rain early today that turned into a tiny dusting of snow this evening.  As my Scots friend, Kathy, says, "Some is better than none."  Too true! 

But, right now, more would sure be better.  I'm hoping for a "Miracle March" like we had some years ago.  We received over twelve feet of snow from just one storm!

Wednesday's Winding Road

I took this last May.  I had stopped my car, gotten out and taken the photo, when a darling yellow lab came galloping up to me.  I put the camera in the car as he joyfully leaped up on me and washed my face.  I was hugging and petting him when his owner came rushing out of a nearby house.  She was yelling, "Stay still and he won't bite you!"  Huh?  Then she noticed that I was hugging him and he was licking me.  She was astounded.  I was astounded that she thought he would bite me...I've never met a lab that wasn't a sweetheart.  We talked awhile and she told me she had just adopted him a few weeks ago to be a watchdog.  I had no doubt he would be a good watchdog, but I gave her my phone number and asked her to call me if he didn't turn out to be the kind of dog she thought he would be. 

The following week she did call me, but it was to tell me she had fallen in love with Sandy and didn't care that he wasn't the killer guard dog the people she adopted him from had told her he was.  She said he was great at "woofing" and that, plus his adorable personality, made it impossible for her to part with him.  I was so glad, but a little sad, just a little, because I had fallen in love with Sandy, too, and was sort of hoping he would get to come be a part of our "fur family." 

I just wish I had remembered to take a picture of Sandy!

Unfamiliar Weather

We got a tiny bit of rain last night, then a light dusting of snow.  I think these two Steller Jays haven't seen snow in so long they've forgotten what it is!  The tiny bit of rain and snow aren't anywhere near what we need to get out of this terrible drought, but maybe it's a start...I'm crossing my fingers.

Sunday Sunlight

Cherry blossoms - taken in May of 2012.  I'm endlessly fascinated by light and shadow...

Grow Your Blog Party 2014

Hi, I'm Victoria.  If you're already a friend, whether by following, adding me to your list of blogs on your sidebar, or commenting, I'm very grateful for your friendship!  If you're a new friend, welcome to my blog!  I'm a painter (mostly portraits) and a photographer, both rather solitary occupations.  Blogging gives me another outlet for my creativity and, more importantly, lets me connect with people from all over the world.  I'm constantly inspired, uplifted and amazed every day by fellow bloggers. 

I love animals and nature, so I feel very blessed to live where I do, high up in a beautiful mountain forest in California.  When I'm not taking care of my family (human and four footed ones), or painting in my studio, or out hiking around these mountains taking photos, I love to read, bake, watch favorite movies, garden, teach my grandchildren and nieces about the forest and the animals that live in it, tell them stories about faeries and teach them about our heritage: Native American and Northern Italian on my side, Canadian, English and Irish on their grandfather/uncle's side. If they're interested, I love to teach them how to draw, paint and take photographs.

Thanks for visiting!  To see the list of other party participants, click here.  Vicki, thank you so much for hosting and organizing this party!