Point Reyes Bird Observatory

Adiantum pedatum...Five-finger fern grotto

Mama and her fawn
I drank it all in. I let it permeate my soul.
The eucalyptus smell, the rush of the thick fog racing over the Marin headlands,
the Bolinas Lagoon, wild dill, Mt. Tam, the bridge.
My native land.
I miss it so.
And on the rare occasion that I revisit the place of my birth I feel so complete.
I feel so at home.
At ease.
Recharged.
Not so much the city itself, but getting there.
Crossing that grand structure of the Golden Gate.
The approach up the Waldo Grade.
I don't miss the pretense of Marin, just the rural landscape.
Muir Woods, although I've been there as tour guide a gazillion times in my youth, was a whole new experience with my daughter pushing me to tackle a tough trail that had a steep grade warning at its start. Way up on the mountain at a fork in the trail we paused. Hmmm. I wished I had studied the trail map more closely before we started out. And yet there were all the bars on my cell phone in that isolation. But no one would bother to answer at the ranger station to give us directions after many tries. So we waited and along came another hiking party and we asked and they confirmed the correct path to take to return down the mountain. And when we finished the loop and returned to the ranger station a couple of hours later only then did we see the cougar and coyote warning posters.
It was a day of wildlife.
River otter in the creek through Muir Woods, a Turkey Vulture perched, uncharacteristically, in a tree along with Ravens (surveying the fawn carcass), Crayfish in the creek too. Quail and many babies in Bolinas, deer and babies at the Point Reyes Bird Observatory,
and loads of sea birds at Stinson Beach.
That gut wrenching drive, on the edge of oblivion, to Muir Woods is not for the inexperienced driver. Or for those prone to car sickness as it snakes around every runnel of Mt. Tamalpais. I was glad that it was totally socked in with fog so I couldn't see the precipitous drop into the sea from that narrow road bed. But I knew it was there. I clutched that steering wheel tightly
and hoped that my rental car had good brakes.
And off in the far reaches of Point Reyes we arrived at the Bird Observatory. I had a sticker from the PRBO on my very first car many years ago and I wanted to get another on for my car at home. A badge of a serious birder. But not a soul was there at the visitor's center. It was fun to see all that was on display there, most notably the comparative bird skulls, and to see what they had caught in their mist nets that morning on the wall charts.
We hiked one of their trails and came upon a hidden grotto filled with five-finger ferns.
What a glorious haven of endemic species!
Oh to be able to afford to live in West Marin someday....
It is just heavenly.
More pictures later....

Bugadoodle

This is the first time I have ever painted with ink. Fun fun!!!

Doodling

I was messing around with my new stubby watercolor brush. Ohhhh, it's a nice brush!

Aim

There are plenty of tourists on the boat this time of year.
They aim their cameras in wild anticipation of place recording.
As I watch their invariable 90 degree aim
I tend to take an approach that captures
the hidden secrets of a place, oft overlooked.
Here, the patterns created by the trestle to the ferry landing
kept shifting, during my long wait for the boat, through the low slung morning light.

Dreaming

Every once in a while I love to try on fancy dresses just for the heck of it. This one was gorgeous! I'm so attracted to those krinkly fabrics. The color was more of an icy gray green than as photographed. It was a perfect color! Before that I sampled loads of different Chanel fragrances on cards before settling on my favorite, Bel Respiro, that will go on my all too over the top Christmas list (that I keep to myself, never to be requested from anyone). I was happy that the salesman sent me home with a tiny sample bottle so I could dream of myself strolling by the Italian Cypress in a balustraded villa garden on Lago Como. It's always nice to dream following having every inch examined for skin cancer. I'm good and I'm dreaming.
Today's summer tip:
Wear a hat. Keep the sun off.

Calyx

Catching a fleeting moment in the garden is exciting. As the poppy buds open with an instant pop (oh! now I know why they are called poppies!) the calyx is cast to the ground to form mulch. Yet occasionally they might catch just the right angle of an emergent petal and hang on momentarily. It's rare to see a nearly fully opened poppy with its calyx attached yet here are two right near each other in the early morning light.
I'm loving how the tomatoes, pumpkins and basil are taking off now that summer seems to have truly arrived. New tomato varieties: Julia and San Francisco Grape are among the tons of Sun Gold seedlings. I'm making a concerted effort this year to pinch out the side growth on the indeterminate tomatoes so they will, hopefully, be forced to produce fruit earlier this year, instead of waiting until the end of September for fruit to ripen. I'm hopeful for a good tomato year.

Fourth

Yipee!
I survived my first foot race...a one miler on the Fourth of July.
My daughter was my inspiration..."Little Miss Speedy" as her friends call her.
I was pretty nervous before race time.
I've only been running for the last month, I think, I can't keep track of anything anymore.
Could I make it up the hill of the first half of the race?
Could I run the whole way or would I woos out and walk like an old ninny?
I ran the whole way!
I kept pace with my friend, who has placed first in her age group year after year, but she accelerated at the top of the hill to twenty feet in front of me for the rest of the race.
I thought that I could catch her on the downhill but she was stride for stride even with my pace and I couldn't kick it into another gear like my daughter can.
My friend, who just two weeks ago, entered my same age bracket, I knew would knock me out of a possible ribbon placement. Do I have to be so competitive?
But I was the next runner in our age group behind her and came in fourth for my bracket.
I was excited and motivated to try harder next year.
The amazing thing is that I'm not sore today.
That makes me feel like I had a little mini victory of being healthy.
The best part of all
was being able to share an experience
like that with my daughter,
who came in second in her age group.

Berryliscious

(detail from Forest, exhibited in 2006)

Yesterday, in the heat of the afternoon, my girl put on my sun hat and marched out the door with a big basket for a big harvest. When she came back inside, maybe a half an hour later, her hands were stained red and the basket was full and she said, "is this enough for strawberry shortcake?", with a big grin on her face. After a hearty barbeque dinner I was too stuffed for shortcake so I suggested making strawberry sorbet instead, which was met with approval. In the dark, with all the windows open, the fans running, the ice cream maker churned away at the simple ingredients: the freshest strawberries, fresh lemon juice, sugar and water, with its droning hum. Nearly an hour later a concoction of the most intense essence of strawberry was enjoyed by all, instantly cooling us down and melting away the heat of the day. There is nothing in the world like home grown strawberries, warm from the sun, red through and through, and dripping with sweet juicy goodness. Ahhhh summer!

Bloomeriferous

I love it when a variety of plants, like ingredients of a recipe, come together perfectly for an instant. Gardens are so ephemeral, the Siberian iris seem to be gorgeous for one day a year, and if you don't bother to step outside at just the right moment you can miss their whole grand display. Today the Styrax japonica is at its peak of bloom. The fragrance is overwhelming. Peonies, Sisyrinchium, Tanacetum, Ceanothus, Alchemilla, Rosa, Digitalis, Campanula, and Physocarpus combine right now to make me swoon. Ahhh, June! Happy long days of summer!

Booties

A shower gift.
Cozy flannel interior
Recycled shirt toe + tongue

Roses in Our Garden

Not all of them are in bloom yet,
such as Ballerina (which keeps getting
pruned by the deer) and The Fairy.
The range of fragrance goes from no smell,
tea, spicy, musky,
delicious fall-into-the-shrub-rapture floral,
to a grandma's heavy perfume.
The native Nutka roses that I planted years ago
have colonized a huge area into
quite the thicket and wildlife habitat.
And the delicate Rosa glauca (front row right) have multiplied into
grand arching monsters that make it difficult
to penetrate while gardening.
They have grown taller than the deer can reach now.
They seed so easily that they border on
becoming an invasive weed, lovely weed however.

Moving Day

Back to Fort Ward State Park this morning and new treats while on my walk/run. Mt. Rainier was fully visible today in all its snow cone glory. Way up ahead on the South Beach Road I could see a baby deer, so I ran as quietly as I could, hidden behind thick shrubs, to get a closer look while he was occupied with his meal. As I approached I slowed to a quiet walk and then the doe appeared along with a second spotted fawn. I just burst out loud with, "ohhhh, you are sooooo cute!" My voice got very high on the emphasized cute. The threesome looked at me for a moment and slowly made their way up their narrow steep deer trail into the dense forest. When deer rub their antlers on the tree trunks in my garden, girdling the trees, I am less than happy about their presence. When they gobble up my budding roses and loads of other shrubs I again am not too pleased. But when I saw that little family I couldn't help but fall in love with those sweet cuties.
It's a big day out in bunny world in the back yard. The orphaned bunny that I found in our garden last December has graduated from his temporary quarters and moved into the recently vacated big hutch. There is so much more to see in his new home. His new location offers a wonderful view of the Tan, a doe, that will be a new source of desire. I think he looked a bit frightened at first in his new house, but he will eventually enjoy the view and the expansive quarters. It's supposed to get warm today and tomorrow so perfect timing to vacate the shed where it gets quite hot in the summer. Both of our bunnies love roses and the climbing Cecil Bruner is now supplying an ample source for their munching pleasure. Happy new home sweetie.

It's a Brand New Day

My morning walk today was a delightful change from the usual. I had read recently that to be successful in maintaining an exercise regimen you should mix it up, and not do the same thing day after day. Well, I have been on pretty much the same path for many months, but today, today was a whole different critter entirely.
After dropping my daughter off at her new summer engagement I drove a short way to Fort Ward Park. Instantly there was a difference from my usual routine in that where I walked, for the most part, no cars could speed past me (I'm always hopeful the usual speeders are not distracted on their cell phone or whatever and mow me down). Just the sound of birds, barking seals, and the wake of the passing ferry braking onto the shoreline.
I signed up for a short run coming up in July with my daughter, my first race ever, and I thought I better get some substantive running time in. Through the woods, along the shore, past lovely old bungalows with views of Mount Rainier I had to stop for a few minutes to soak in the dramatic view. Just as I rounded the bend at my favorite part of the island where narrow South Beach Road is braced against the tides just above the edge of the sound I saw the distinguished massive figure of a mature bald eagle, which was being harassed by a seagull. He was sitting on the remains of an ancient pier surveying the tidal flats for yummies. His sturdy bright yellow legs and rapier talons were impressive with their telling strength. Just to my right, weaving its way through the blackberry bramble, was the flash of a goldfinch. I haven't seen a goldfinch in many years here. What a treat. And then, it was just this opera unfolding in front of me, a seagull with a clam in its beak flying at full speed dropped its booty onto the beach boulders. Success, he broke open the shell and ate the meat with ease. The seals were barking all the while off on the channel marker. The saturated smell of the lowish tide and the muskiness of the tall grasses in full efflorescence, still ladened with morning dew, added another dimension to the rich sensory experience. Mt. Rainier was only visible on its lower flanks as the top was enclosed in clouds. The ferries passed each other in front of me as they made their way through the narrow channel. I turned around with renewed enthusiasm and ran all the way back through the park to my car, a feat not easily achieved by this old body.
I'll be back tomorrow.
And on the cancer research front, great breaking news for those that were loosing hope, new findings from the Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center has successfully beat metastasized melanoma into remission: http://www.fhcrc.org/about/ne/news/2008/06/18/T_cells.html

Have a good day!

Ripped Apart

My lovely Cercidiphyllum japonicum developed two leaders, probably after a storm that broke the initial leader, and has now ruptured right down the middle of its trunk. I know this state is an accident just waiting to happen. One big gust and one or the other halves is likely to fracture from the trunk and come crashing down on my five foot tall lilies below or worse on a passerby. I know I have to euthenize this tree but just like our old bunny that I had to put down last week this tree tears at a piece of me with its charm, grace and the years of nurturing. I bought it as a six inch tall sapling from the arboretum plant sale twelve years ago and now it is a thirty foot beauty. The lithe arc of its branches, the perfect cordate leaves, the mahogany colored emergent leaves, the perfect dappled light cast through its canopy, the butterscotch fragrance of the cadmium yellow autumn leaves, the all-at-once leaf drop...it's just such a gorgeous tree!

In some ways, not nearly so graceful, I feel like this tree. Fractured as my children don't need to rely on me any longer, fractured in my physical state (although in better repair than previously), fractured in despair about my ailing sister, fractured from the loss of a long held pet.

When I pointed out the structural problem of the Katsura Tree to my daughter she asked if we could plant another one in the same spot that is exactly the same size. That would cost a fortune to plant a fully grown tree. Fortunately, since I love this species dearly, I have bought many saplings through the years and have a younger smaller Katura that I can transplant to this spot once the big one comes down, although I'll have to wait until it goes dormant in the winter for a successful operation. I'm hoping there are additional pieces of my life that can also be transplanted to fill the voids. What shape they will take time will only know.

finished

I finished the cap for my sister this afternoon under an outburst of sunshine. Perhaps prophetic. The dreary weather has dragged on for so very long here and just as I finished knitting the long awaited sun finally appeared.

The garden, other than the tomatoes and cukes, has not minded the cool temps. It has prolonged bloom times for the briefly blooming ones like Siberian iris and peonies.
Here is a sampling of bloomers today: