Sunday Sunsets

This was taken in August of last year. Instead of looking in the direction of the sun, I was caught by the colors that the setting sun was imparting to the clouds, and its gilding of the land, trees and buildings.

Sometimes things are most beautiful when looked at from a perspective that differs from the norm.

Wordless Wednesday - Ruffles

Mountain Driftwood

This is a close-up photo of the blossoms of a Arctostaphylos pringlei, ssp. Durpacea, commonly called Manzanita here in California. The individual blossoms are tiny, only about a quarter of an inch long. I've always thought they look like little lampshades that faeries would use.  Or, maybe they turn them upside down and use them as cups...



They grow all over these mountains, from about the 4,800 foot level to around the 7,600 level in altitude. This sub-species, Durpacea, is only found in California. Manzanita means 'little apple' in Spanish. The blossoms form little red berries which, if you use your imagination, sort of look like little apples. The birds and the bears love them. All Manzanitas, also called Madrone, are members of the Heath family, which includes blueberries, huckleberries, cranberries and, most surprisingly, rhododendrons and azaleas!

The Yuhaviatam (people of the pines) used the berries to make a cider-like beverage. The Yuhaviatam are known now as the Serrano Indians, but that's the name the Spanish invaders gave them, not the name they chose for themselves. Unfortunately, the Yuhaviatam had no written language, so I don't know what they called the Manzanita.


Manzanitas can grow up to six feet tall. This picture doesn't do the beautiful reddish bark justice. The branches are prized for their twisting, curving shapes. However, it's illegal to cut them unless one has a permit from the Forestry Service, and even then there is a strict limit on how many can be harvested. When a Manzanita dies, over a period of years the wood is bleached to a silvery grey by the sun; then it's called 'Mountain Driftwood.'

White Headed Woodpecker

This is a White Headed Woodpecker. I'm not sure why they call them 'white headed' since they have two bright red dots on the back of their heads, which you can see in the second photo, but....

They have the most beautiful call. I can always tell when one is coming to the feeder because I hear their one-note, clear, bell-like call as they're flying through the woods to get to the feeder.

I'm so blessed to live in the middle of a forest, and I'm so glad I can provide food for all the different species of birds that live here, along with the squirrels, skunks, and raccoons. The bigger species that live here (bears, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, foxes) are a thrilling (and very rare) sight to see, but I draw the line at putting out food for them. I'd love to feed them, but I'm afraid they'd eat all the smaller animals, along with the feral cats I feed.

Sunday Sunsets

This was taken a couple of weeks ago, from a turnout by Lake Silverwood.  Lake Silverwood is the lowest elevation lake in the San Bernardino Mountain range, man-made like most of the others.  A 20 minute drive further down the 'back' side of the mountain will land you in Hesperia, a high desert town.

Oh, How Sweet.....

their little faces are.  The other end...not so much.  I've never been sprayed though, knock on wood.  These little guys are in front of my studio.  I was laying down on the path, trying to get a picture of the path lights without using my strobe.  I heard a little chirping, whirring noise to my left, and when I turned my head there they were!  The two in the foreground are babies and you can see the mother's tail in the upper left of the photo. 

Although people think I'm crazy, I adore skunks.  I vastly prefer them to the raccoons, which trash my garden on a regular basis.  The skunks never trash, they just dig gently around the plants in search of bugs to eat.  They never disturb the roots, they just dig out the nasty things that might be eating the roots.  I sort of think of them as my little garden helpers. 

And there is another bonus to having skunks around.  Put up a few signs that read 'warning: skunks in area' and you never have to worry about unwanted nocturnal human 'visitors' again! 

Good Things

I planted this pink dogwood about 7 or 8 years ago.  It bloomed the next spring, but the blooms weren't the pink that it had when I brought it home from the nursery; they were white.  After that, it never bloomed again.  It seemed healthy in every other way, putting out dark green leaves and gaining a little height every year.

I can't imagine why it took so long to bloom, or why it chose this Spring with its crazy weather and up and down temperatures.  Perhaps the crazy weather shocked it into blooming.  Or perhaps, as my husband says, it's the perfect tree for me because, like me, it has its own way of doing things and a big stubborn streak (I prefer to call it 'character,' thank you very much).

Whatever the reason, I'm so happy that it finally bloomed.  I guess that old saying is true (at least in this instance): All good things come to those who wait. 

Sunday Sunsets

Still Captivated

 I was fascinated with this Iris, the only one that I saw that had bifurcated the purple and the white/purple stripes on one petal.  

Ooooh, what a blue! 

Captivated

Yesterday a friend and I went to lunch at the Olive Garden, a restaurant down the hill.  We were late for lunch because I just had to stop and take pictures of these beautiful irises.  I think it's some sort of a tiny public garden, but I didn't take time to read the plaque.  Well ok, to be honest, I didn't even notice the plaque until I got home and uploaded my photos.  I was too captivated by the Irises!

                      
                           

Wordless Wednesday - Motion

Strange May

Yesterday, Sunday, the weather acted as it used to in May...in the 1950's, 60's and 70's.  We had several inches of 'corn snow' which is not a hard ice ball like hail, but a ball of solid, yet friable, snow, along with a humdinger of a thunderstorm that was centered right over us for over an hour. 

I had gone over to the Arrowhead Resort, which is a hotel with a nice restaurant and spa facilities, to have lunch with a friend at the restaurant, Bin 189.  It's a little expensive, but the food is wonderful and, hey, we all need a little treat now and then, right?  The photo above is a bit of Lake Arrowhead looking down from the hotel. 

This is a photo of the pool...the unheated pool.  We couldn't believe that people were swimming in it!   (This picture is blurry on purpose because it has people in it).  We also watched some teens jump into Lake Arrowhead, whose water is still COLD.  Those teens got out of the water so fast it was like watching a movie in fast-forward, lol.

The snow melted quickly and by today just a few patches were left here and there, like the ones on my studio porch (which still needs a winter cleanup), below. 

 

And there were a few patches left in my studio garden.  Odd to see snow on the ground and the Dogwood trees in blossom.   

Glynda, the good witch that guards my studio, is glad to see that the snow is almost gone.  I'm sure she knows, though, that the weatherman is predicting more snow for Wednesday and Thursday.  Strange May...

Sunday Sunsets

My Favorite Flower

The above picture is one of some of this year's lilac blooms.  We had a 'Dogwood Winter' a couple of weeks ago and it froze most of the blooms and the leaves on the lilacs.  A few, like the one above, were sheltered enough that some of their blooms managed to survive, but most had their buds and leaves killed by the unseasonable cold.  They'll put out new leaves but, sadly, no new flower buds. 

And tonight?  I just heard on the news that we are expecting snow flurries!

Here are some blooms of years past...

The photo above is of a pink lilac that the man at the nursery assured me would be hardy up here "because it's from Canada."  It was in bloom when I planted it, and made lots more blooms, but it didn't make it through the following winter.  I think that nursery man didn't know his lilacs (or knew a sucker when he saw one).

And wouldn't you know that the only lilac I've planted here would croak.  I'm going to have a look round and see where I can plant some more reliable ones.  My six year old great-great niece wants to plant them with me.  We'll do that either this spring or the next, now that she's old enough to really remember planting them.  And of course I'll take lots of pictures.



These lilacs below are really more the color of the buds when they're open, a gorgeous deep purple-maroon, but the camera didn't pick it up.  They're one of my favorites, and they have the strongest scent of any of the lilacs that I have.

The two pictures above are of hardy pink and white lilacs.  I don't know the species name.  I've asked some of the nursery people up here if they know, but they can only generalize at best.  

I don't really care about the proper names of them, I just want them to keep on growing and thriving and blooming for many years to come!

Some Friday Florals

I found this growing beside a stream near the UCLA Conference Center in Lake Arrowhead, but I have no idea what kind of flora it is.  Maybe some kind of berry bush?  

And this, below, is a Columbine that's growing in my back garden.

  

This is a Money Plant.  It grows wild all over up here in the spring.  This one is unusual because it is more of a red-violet color than the usual lavender or purple color.  And I have no idea why Blogger is making everything align exactly where I don't want it.  Maybe it's just having a case of Spring Fever! 

Sunday Sunsets

Taken in July of '07.

Pleasure and Drudgery

This past week has been a mix of pleasures and drudgery. Spring is so glorious up here, despite a hard freeze about a week or so ago that nipped the lilacs and dogwoods. It didn't harm my apple trees, thank goodness. But I noticed a disturbing thing while walking among them; no bees. Not a one. I'm hoping that they went back into hibernation and will be back out soon. I haven't found any little bee bodies, so I'm taking that as a good sign.

I've been out taking lots more photogaphs. The past winter was generous with snow and rain and the wildflowers are, for up here, very prolific this year. Not a lot of flowers yet at my altitude, but lower down the mountain they're all over. A few more days like today, warm and sunny, and they should pop out up here, too. Such a pleasure to be out in beautiful spring weather!

I've also forced myself to spend time (every second seemed like an hour) backing up files on my computer, weeding out unwanted photographs to free up space on my hard drive, and prepping canvases. Ugh...I detest doing stuff like that! Pure drudgery. But, at least it's done with for a while and that is such a good feeling!

Sunday Sunsets

Taken April 1, 2007.

Mrs. and Mr. Mallard

I've been seeing this female Mallard for about a week now, floating around on the creek.  Yesterday she was joined by a male.

I just hope they're not planning on having a family on the banks of this stretch of the creek.  There are so many Raccoons and feral cats around I don't think any duck babies would have a chance of making it.   Hopefully they'll move on soon.

Into the Quiet

I've been out rambling the past few days, driving and hiking all over these mountains, seeing what Spring has to offer and taking photographs. Rambling with my dogs, with no set destination in mind, is my favorite thing to do. In the Spring and Autumn, everything else comes second.

But rambling is made all the sweeter because I know I have the quiet haven of my cottage to come back to. I'm so grateful for the space and quiet I have, because space and quiet are very much in short supply in Southern California, even in the mountains.

I can hear, quite clearly, the voice of the creek because I have all of the windows open. (Well, this time of year I can hear it even with the windows closed, swollen as it is with snow melt). Even though it's after 8 p.m. it is 51 degrees F outside! That's pretty warm for an early May evening, but the cats begged me to make a fire in at least one of the fireplaces, so I made one in the living room, which necessitated opening the windows. The warmth from the fire is tempered by a breeze dancing her way through my cottage every now and then, bringing with her a gift of cool air scented with damp earth, water, the sharp resin of pine and the sweetness of apple blossom.

Going into the quiet, being so still that sometimes I feel I've almost disappeared into it...that's another favorite thing of mine.

Sunday Sunsets

I have a gazillion photos of sunsets, so I thought I'd start posting one every Sunday. 

Spring is still being very moody, warm one day, freezing temperatures and snow the next.  Spring has always been capricious, but this one has been more than that, it has been absolutely crazy.   So I've been kept busy covering cold tender plants, then uncovering them, then covering them again, and so on...

Weather is crazy, the animals are behaving badly and people are acting like they're insane.  (More about insane people in a later post).

I think the line from Bob Dylan's 'Things Have Changed' sums it up perfectly: "People are crazy and times are strange."

The Vagaries of Spring

It felt more like Summer than Spring here today; our temperature high was 70 degrees F!  Definitely not normal for late April.  

I was so tempted to pick up some annuals and plant them, but I managed to resist.  I remembered when, three years ago, I spent nearly $100.00 on annuals that I bought in a moment of madness in early April while visiting a nursery down the hill (6,000 feet lower in elevation and 30 degrees F warmer) with my sister.  Two weeks later they all died when the temperature dropped to 25 degrees F.  Sadder but wiser, now I wait.  

Before Global Warming really kicked in, I always waited until May 30th to plant anything.  The seasonal changes were more reliable than they are now and anyone who had lived here for a while knew that to plant before May 30th was just asking for disaster.  Now, I plant during mid-May and hope for the best.  And if I've guessed wrong and Nature plays her tricks, I watch enviously while the gardens of the gardeners who planted in April (and got lucky) bloom way ahead of mine.  Oh, well.

 I did pot up some pansies today that I bought down the hill last week and 'hardened off' by putting them outside for the warmest hours of the day, then bringing them inside for the night. 

Now the temperature has dropped to a chilly 39 degrees F and a cold little wind has picked up, so I've made a fire in the living room fireplace, and I'm going to have a mug of hot tea along with the peanut butter cookies I just baked.  The cats are asleep in front of the fire but the dogs are waiting not-so-patiently for the cookies they know I'll share with them. I just wish my Great Dane wouldn't drool...

In Praise of Eccentricity

While out driving around with a friend, I passed this sign. I thought it was charmingly eccentric, my friend didn't care for it. (Not the sign itself. She just doesn't like any sort of yard decoration).

I've always been drawn to eccentric people. I find them, usually, more interesting than people who are strictly conventional. But that is not to say that I don't know or like any interesting, conventional people, I do.

Most of the women in my family, and extended family, could be called 'eccentric' and they would take it as a compliment. I think it takes a certain amount of courage to be eccentric, especially if you're a woman, even in current times. Of course, in times not too far past, it was risky, even life-threatening, for either gender to be anything other than exactly like their neighbors. I'm so glad I don't live in times like those; I'm not sure I would have survived!