Special Delivery from San Diego

[Management: on she goes... hopefully now she'll plow through until she catches up with herself]

♪♫ You started to believe, the things they say of you, you really do believe this talk of God is true...♪♫
Friday morning, bright and early, I picked up buddy Joann, up from San Diego for the weekend. Being the sneaky sort it was decided we would drive over to Livermore. On the drive down, it was raining, a perk for our drought ridden state, and a side effect of having Joann visiting (no, really, it rains whenever she comes up here without Gene).

♫ Listen Jesus I don't like what I see. All I ask is that you listen to me...♪♫
We took a leisurely route, by way of Twin Cities Road. On the country road over to the Consumnes Wildlife Refuge, Joann shouted, "JERKY!"

I pulled a U-turn and drove slowly, peering intently at the asphalt.

Joann - "What are you doing?"

Claire - "I'm looking for whatever died on the road... you know... the jerky..."

Joann - "Road kill? I'm talking about that Store back there, with the big sign, 'Jerky'!

Claire - 'Ooooo...."


No road kill here! Just my buddy Joann, and the butcher
♪♫Christ you know I love you, did you see I waved...!♪♫

Anyway! We picked up some lovely jerky at the little butcher's shop, then did a quick drive through the Consumnes reserve.


These were the only cranes we saw, the rest have flown north

The last field of wildflowers for this year - Wild Radish

♫Sleep and I shall soothe you, calm you and anoint you, for your hot forehead. And you know every thing's alright...♪

Our drive was over to Livermore for a "Surprise, It's Mom & Auntie Claire" visit with Joann's son Philip & his Krista. We didn't surprise them too much (no one's hair fell out) and we stayed in a nice hotel nearby. It was a great visit though. I haven't seen P&K since their wedding two years ago. And oh yes, their 'daughter', a pretty lab, whose name I seem incapable of memorising.

Some puppy loves a visit from her grandma!

Phil got to show off his AWESOME wood working projects. He is totally a craftsman now. Makes all sorts of beautiful furniture, like this half finished chair. He made Joann a beautiful Mission style cabinet.

Ta da! Phil's latest project-in-the-making - awesome!

It was great visiting with P&K - among their current 'projects' is fixing up a new room in their house as a NURSERY... hint, hint.

♪♫What's the buzz, tell me what's happening...what's the buzz, tell me what's happening, what's the buzz♪♫
The new occupant will be by, oh, about October I think. Congratulations you two!


Krista and Phil in their front yard

It was a nice visit. On Saturday we met P&K for breakfast, before heading back up to my place.

The rest of the weekend was spent yakking (no kidding) and driving through my favorite American River Parks and 'deer hunting' come sundown. On Saturday night we saw only 3 spindly deer, which Joann pointed out was probably because of the rain. She was right, because on Sunday night all the deer were making up for lost time; we saw some 20 plus deer! The seemed to want to take advantage of the cool, wet, grazing.

♫ Heysanna Hosanna, Sanna Sanna Hosanna, Heysanna Hosan-nah!...♪♫

Here's a quickie vid of a turkey that was up a tree gobbling. You can hear some park visitor egging the bird on to greater vocal triumph.

But let's not rush past Sunday too fast! Sunday morning Joann and I went to my local Catholic Church - Happily the fonts didn't burst into billowing plumes of hell-fire as I approached. *whistles innocently*

Sunday afternoon it was time for the big event which is what got Joann up here in the first place. We had tickets for Davis Musical Theater production of Jesus Christ Superstar. It was the two of us, and a friend of mine, Linda, a fellow docent at the State Indian Museum. The three of us totally enjoyed the production, which was unlike any other I've seen at the Hobbit Theater. The stage was all black with the musicians on stage, rather than under it (yes they're usually under the stage's floor grating). The setting was stark, so the magic of the production was greater than normal. All the parts were played well and the guy who played Jesus had a wonderful voice. Bravo DMTC!

If you haven't caught on by now, the only problem with JC Superstar was it gave me the worse case of ear worms ever - the tunes keep playing over and over again in my head.
♪♫...sleep and I shall soothe you, calm you and anoint you, myrrh for your hot forehead...♪♫
Oh dear. There it goes again.

Lazy as Elk

[Management: the charade continues]

We made it back from Crescent City on Monday. The trip back was via the Avenue of the Giants. We had unusually good luck in finding Roosevelt elk at nearly every possible venue where they are found. From Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park to a marsh estuary where a herd grazed knee deep in the water - unfortunately I took no shots of the latter.

Elk enjoying the good life in the great meadow at Prairie Creek Redwoods
Elk cow enjoying a nice butt-licking at a small campground near Orick
Barbara decided to spend a few more days at my place. I dragged her out with me to see the local Vernal Pools - you tired of hearing about those yet? The season is almost over, so bear with me. The giant gold spreads of poppies are already gone, but this late season display is still pretty amazing to me. Barbara was just as surprised as I was that I should live so close to such a thing while not even knowing it existed.

Barbara enjoying the view at Pioneer Park, Fair Oaks
Pioneer Park

At Mather field, a vernal pool trails off into the distance

Aren't these Horned Dowiningia flowers pretty? They're eensie; no bigger across than your pinky nail.

Whatever pollenates these eensie flowers must be equally eensie

Oh well, it was lovely having company for so long, now I'm all alone.... until tomorrow morning!

Lolling in Crescent City

[Management regrets the time warping rouse continues.]

Oooo how I love visiting the redwoods - I think those trees are to me the epitome of what a forest should be - green and overflowing with interesting flora and fauna.


Look Up!
Inez and Barbara, who shows off a heart shaped river rock

As a treat for us, Inez hosted us on Friday, driving us up hill and over dale in her pet car, 'Ivy'. That meant I didn't have to drive and Barbara and I could shout, 'STOP THE CAR!' as we saw some lovely sight we wanted to stare at or photograph.

Barb & Inez together is like Olympic level talk-a-thon. I sat lolling in the back of the car, diving in and out of their conversation as I felt inclined. I photographed loads of flowers with interesting names like Snow Queens, Red Fringe Cups, Vanilla Leaf, Western Lily of the Valley and on and on, one brilliant blossom after another.

White Trillium
I had thought the Trilliums, which happily balance their flowers atop 3-leaves, were several different species, but they start out white, like the flower above & aging, they fade into shades of lavender and then finally turn a deep wine color, like the beautiful flower below.

White Trillium turn to Cabernet Trillium before bowing out
How strange that so far this spring I seem to only have eyes for wildflowers. I could bore you with shot after shot of various well-petaled specimens, but I'm keeping it to a few here. The flowers were sometimes ensy weensie, like these Milk Maids, that Inez identified for me.

Milk Maids, mysteriously also known as 'Toothwort'
The largest of the flowers I found were the humongous yellow Skunk Cabbage. You should be able to guess how these w these fragrant giants got their name. Inez says she loves the scent, which can at times can fill the air under the redwoods. For myself, on this day at least, I couldn't smell a thing.

The flowers of the Skunk Cabbage are like Calla Lilies gone wild
Oh! Here's a droopy, white flower that I would love to find in my garden.

Fairy Lanterns, AKA Fairy Bells
We didn't spend all our time in the Redwoods. Barbara and I spent one afternoon checking out the views from the coast. From this overlook on a clear day all of Crescent City rides the horizon.
Barb checking out scenery details
On our last full day in Crescent City, Inez volunteered to take me out to the tide pools on Sunday morning. I was really in slub mode by then, and might have stayed in bed, but then, how often does a land locked lass get a chance to walk on the beach? I was glad I went, because once there - Auntie Barbara skipped the adventure all together - I had a great time. Inez and I no sooner rambled down the cliffs onto the sand than a surf-hunting Osprey twirled though the air overhead, looking for its breakfast.

I took an Osprey circling above my head as a good omen

One amazing thing about the walk was that I was able to get a better look at the 'saddleback' rocks just off shore in the distance. I thought they were empty, but closer examination showed they were literally covered with nesting Common Murres, Cormorants and other seabirds.

The tide pools to the foreground, Saddleback Rock in the distance
Inez enjoying Sunday Morning in the beachy church of her choice
A rather cute, fairy-pink anemone
A pile of high & dry Black Turban snails
Tomorrow, Barb and I have to head back to civilization - I think I'm bummed.