A Gift From Spring

We've had wonderful soft Spring rain off and on for the past two days. The temperatures have been a little cooler than what is normal for May. I wish this would become the new normal for all of California; cooler and wetter instead of hotter and drier. By the time I've gotten through 5 or 6 months of no rain I feel as though I'm just a hair's breadth away from insanity.

To me, it was an amazing gift to be able to go outside and breathe in great lungfuls of wet, cool air that intensifies the scent of the pines, cedars, lilacs and apple blossoms. It was also nice to come back into my cottage to a little fire crackling on the hearth and a hot cup of tea.

Oh, how I wish this weather would stay!

A Spring Walk, Part Two

The photo above is of a California Quail, the official state bird. This one is a male. I catch glimpses of them quite often. However, they are extremely shy, which is why it's so difficult to get a good picture of one. This one isn't a good one either, but it's the first one I've gotten of the crest being held aloft.

I'm not sure what type of butterfly this is, but she stayed still just long enough for me to snap a picture and then, no doubt having important business elsewhere, away she went!

This lizard looks like he is bedecked with iridescent jewels, and very graciously agreed to pose for a photo.

This current Mrs. Coyote (she has had many ancestors during the years I have lived here) is about 7 years old. She has a den further up the hillside behind me.  I saw her coming down, so I moved a good distance away (thank goodness I have a fantastic zoom lens!) so she would feel comfortable passing by on her way to the creek. I also don't want her to become used to being in close contact with humans. That would get her killed.  In years past I've caught glimpses of her with her pups. I don't leave food out for the Coyotes normally, but when we've had a very hard winter I have occasionally left several pounds of raw steaks near their den. I figure maybe by doing that I'm saving the life of some of the feral cats that I feed.

A Spring Walk, Part One

On my walk yesterday I saw lots of Baby Blue Eyes, huge patches of them. However, a picture of a huge patch washes the flowers out to white. Does anyone know why they're called Baby Blue Eyes? I've always wondered. The flowers are small, only about the size of a man's thumbnail.

Baby Oak tree leaves were springing out all over, giving the oak trees a reddish haze around them. These are California White Oaks. The Ponderosa Pines are making new cones. They're so strange looking! More Lunaria all over the place. I just love it. Wild Columbine (sorry, this is a terrible picture; I had seen an animal friend in the distance and I wanted to get out of her way. I'll post the animal friends I met along the way tomorrow). Wild Sweet Pea. The scent of this is heavenly, much more intense than the hybridized varieties. Lots of California Wild Lilac (Caenothus) both white and lavender blue. It doesn't smell like lilacs at all, but has a very faint, sweet scent. White Caenothus above, blue below.

Lots of apple blossoms on the trees close to my studio and cottage. AND... this year there are lots of bees! Last year there were hardly any. I'm always so glad to see bees, even if nary a one would pose for a photo. It was warm yesterday! The dogs were fine, they'd had drinks of cool, clear creek water along the way, but I was looking forward to a glass of iced tea when we got home. (The upper part of my studio door. The writing on the tin flower holder reads 'Fleurs' which is French for 'flowers' but it has always looked like 'Heurs' to me...which is I don't know what!).

While I was Busy...

The hillside grasses are greening up, although if we don't get some rain soon they'll go right back to being a silvery beige.

Lunaria, also known as Money Plant, Silver Dollar Plant and Moonwort, is blooming everywhere...

My daffodils popped up, here and lots of other places in my garden, and I nearly missed seeing the blooms.

All through the woods the Sierra Pink Currant bushes are loaded with blossoms, which means plenty of berries for the birds and chipmunks come Autumn...

A patch of dandelions emerged by my studio door. They're one of my favorite flowers. I don't care if other people call them weeds, they're just so cheerful...

A few of the violets that I transplanted from my mother's yard in 1989 are blooming. They're very late this year, but then I suppose it's because the snow just wouldn't melt. There are still a few patches in the shady part of the forest.

And the path along the ridge top beckons for me to come and walk it. So I'm going to call the dogs, and off we'll go!

Wordless Wednesday - Strength

Goodbye for Now, Precious Opie Furgus

Opie Furgus Fuzzytoes, Chieftain of the Fuzzytoes Clan, adopted me when he was about 6 months old. I say 'adopted me' because he wouldn't let anyone but me get close to him for all of his life. It took a couple of weeks for him to decide that I would be a good human mom, but once he made up his mind that was that. He was never far from my side,

or lap, although he insisted on having control of the remote! Maybe it's a guy thing...I always felt guilty when I was working in my studio because Opie would set at the far end of the kitty play yard, where he could just barely glimpse me in the studio, and yell at me. Every time I looked up, there he would be. If I had the windows open I could hear him quite clearly. He would do this until I opened the door. Then he would race at top speed through the play yard and cottage so he could meet me as I came through the cottage's back door, scold me for being gone, then leap up onto my shoulders and purr in my ear.

Opie Furgus never cared much for having his picture taken and would usually give me 'the look' as I approached him with my camera.

Or he would close his eyes as I was snapping the first one, and then he would quickly get up and walk away. I don't have as many photos of him as I would like because I hated to bother him, but sometimes I just couldn't resist.I think Christmas was his favorite time of year. He loved to hide under the tree and dart out at me and the other cats and dogs as we walked by. This is my favorite picture of Opie Furgus...waiting patiently to leap out and latch onto my ankle.

Goodbye for Now, Precious Betsy

Our darling Betsy - she loved to talk and wasn't the least bit hesitant about dispensing advice. No matter the subject, Betsy was sure to have something to say about it.

She adored her brother George and he adored her right back.

Betsy loved Christmas and was always eager to lend a 'helping' paw. Of course, her idea of 'helping' didn't always match ours!

Her favorite window perch to watch the birds from was the third floor guest room. They would have long conversations, and I have a feeling it's a good thing that I couldn't decipher what they were saying to each other. I'm pretty sure it wasn't polite...

She loved to play with her favorite catnip sockie, tossing it into the air and rolling around with it. The sockie was the one toy she wouldn't share with George. Betsy was a treasure, perfect to me in every way but one: she always had to have the last word!

Wordless Wednesday - The Sentinel

Opie and Betsy

Opie Furgus 9-4-97 -- 4-12-11

Betsy Ross 7-4-01 -- 4-14-11

Last week was horrible. Opie passed away on Tuesday, Betsy on Thursday. Both passed away peacefully at the vet's office, with their dad and myself holding them as their souls stepped from this world into the next.

I will give them each a post of their own later, its too hard to write about this now.

Wordless Wednesday - Rushing

Sunday Sunsets

Wordless Wednesday - Melting

The Owl That Ate the Butterfly

Do you see it? I took this picture back in July of 2008 because I saw the butterfly...but I didn't see the owl shape of the sky until I was going through my pictures today! Geez. And I thought I was soooo observant. Better re-think that... And, on a side note, Blogger is behaving badly...again. It won't let me put my book list in order, but just runs everything together. Grrrrr.

Winter-Spring-Winter

I took this photo up at the top of the ridge last April 8th. It looks the same today, just add about another foot of snow on top of what's there and take away the pretty sunset light since it's cloudy today.

I'm so thankful that we're getting snow and rain, but I just wish the heavy snow had come in January and February like it's supposed to do! But, if that picture from last April is any indication...well, I'd better not anticipate seeing any spring flowers until May.

Oh well. I'm going to change my blog header to something spring-like even though it still looks like the depths of winter here.

Spring? Really?

This little Lesser Goldfinch has such a questioning look on her face. I'm sure she must be wondering what happened to Spring.

This kind of weather isn't unusual for us here in the San Bernardino Mountain range, but the amount of snow that we got is rather unusual this late in the season. A little over two and a half feet of heavy, wet snow caused power lines all over the mountains to fail and closed the schools.

We're supposed to get more snow tomorrow and Friday. I just hope we don't have any more power outages. And it would be great if the snow would turn into lovely spring rain.

Faeries Friday - Bellalucia

(photo taken last summer)

This is Bellalucia. I think, perhaps, she is in charge of the faeries book club. I don't think it's because she has her own reading light. I mean, everyone knows that faeries can see pretty well in the dark.

I'm guessing she might be in charge because this is where I usually find most of my misplaced (maybe 'borrowed' might be a better word) books, placed just so across her lap. The faeries are careful with my books; they never leave them out in bad weather.

Last summer the book that was borrowed the most was 'The Wind in the Willows' by Kenneth Grahame. I think the faeries were reading it to the skunks and raccoons. Can't you just see it...Bellalucia, who quits pretending that she's a statue when no humans are about, surrounded by an attentive circle of raccoons and skunks sitting quietly on their haunches, paws folded properly in front of their tummies, little faces filled with wonder as they listened to tales of animals from a faraway land?