Bumper Crop!

That lovely smudge of Wildflowers in the foothills

So, was innocently crossing my current home state with a friend, Ila, and we made a sharp eastward turn just north of the 'Grapevine' which is a mountain you need to cross over if headed for southern California. Instead of the grapevine we drove through the tiny town of Arvin. Just as we headed out of town, I spotted a smudge of color in the distant foothills. What the... could those be..? WILDFLOWERS! WHOOO HOOOO!

White Popcorn flowers, blue Lupins and a hearty dose of golden Fiddleneck

I was so excited at the sight of the billowing pools of flowers I was an embarrassment to myself, sputtering, "Wow! Holy Crap! Oh my god! I can't believe it!" over and over until really, someone ought to have slapped me. Really though, how could I face that kind of display and not do my best to verbalize my joy?

Pastel Pastures

On arriving at the base of the foothills, at the start of the wildflowers, we were not alone. There were cars on the byway, and people climbed out of their cars, cameras in hand, ready to commemorate the day and get their flower fix. A few families had picnic  blankets on good spots to the outside of the pasture fencing so they didn't harm any of the wildflowers. What a nice view to enjoy while downing a family meal.

A little more lupins here, only a splash of Fiddleneck

Some areas had blotches of pinkish-purple  made up of yet-another of my claimed 'favorites', Owl Clover. Maybe that's because it seems to include two of my joys - birds and wildflowers. Is it possible to count a dozen varieties among one's flower favorites or is that cheating?

The pinkish/purple hues are the Owl Clover as shown close-up in the photo below

 pinkish purple Owl's Clover

This was the best show of wildflowers I've seen since 2009. I don't know if this is a great year for the Arvin region, or if it gets this kind of display most years. I'm hoping this is a preview of things to come in Bear Valley which is closer to my neck of the woods, north of Clear Lake County. I can't wait to go wildflower exploring in the coming few months.

The Blue Dicks are Up!

First Blue Dicks/Cluster Lillies of the year

Aw, come on - would you have bothered to look if I wrote, "The Cluster Lillies are Up?" that flower goes by both names. It's spring and the vernal pools are beginning to bloom. So far this year doesn't have the punch of 2009, but there are still a lot of wildflowers out, waiting for their due in admiration.

I went for a drive today, stopping by Mather Field to see if there were any particularly large spreads of flowers, but the pickings are beautiful as usual, but sparse. I'm sure the flowers were annoyed that I didn't even bother to take a good camera with me, and just used my iPhone for pix.

Meadow Foam, sparsely scattered at Mather

Love the pink centers of a Meadow Foam flower

See? Sparse sprinkling of those lovely little Frying Pan Poppies

After Mather Field, I headed over to Meiss Road. There the wildflowers were a bit more profuse. There were spots adrift with white Popcorn flowers, Frying Pan Poppies, Tidy Tips and Meadow Gold.

The birding on Meiss Road was so-so, but I did enjoy watching a Ferruginous Hawk sailing on the up drafts and I found a nice big flock of the somewhat rare, Tri-colored Blackbirds. I'm sure I saw them all because I didn't take my big lens camera with me. Oh well!

Frying Pan Poppies

small patch of Meadow Gold

The pale yellow patches are Tidy Tips

Fiddleneck

I also took a drive down Michigan Bar Road, but didn't get any pix of the lush showing of blue lupin and California Poppies on the drive in; that's another day.

Shameless Lamb Snuggling

Barbara with an armful fluff-itude

This all went down when Barbara and Claudette drove up from Monterey for a meet up at Barbara's ever generous Aunt Judy's. I met them there and we four had a two day gab and fressen fest. An extra treat - after Judy's marvelous homemade soup, we  piled into Barb's Tahoe for a trip to Robin's Meridian Ranch in Vacaville. The lambing season is on and we needed a lamb-fix.

I know, it's so undignified, but when you have a fluffy, wiggly, adorable, day, or even hours old lambykins in your arms, what's a woman to do? You have to SNUGGLE that little sucker for all you are worth. You just can't help yourself.

Claudette gives into the lamb cuddling - Ummmm.... lamby wool - heaven!

Snoggle, Snoggle, Snoggle...

I didn't even fight the urge - Oh yeah, wiff that bay-bay with deh fluff-butt!

 Yes. Shameless. Uncalled for. Innocent lambs being sniffed, cuddled and whifted for all they are worth. There ought to be a law.

Oh, baby lamby, come to Mama!

After visiting the lambs and their Mamas, we went back to Robin's studio for a chat. We also got to rummage about Robin's studio, which not only hosts her classes on fiber weaving, spinning and such, but has all the fiber related goodies you can imagine. Claudette treated herself to a beautiful emerald green chenille scarf.

Here is all the video I shot of the lambs and their Mamas, pretty much uncut and unedited. Enjoy.