The Road Home

Old fencing on the back roads of Mendicino

Just when you think the wildflowers have all passed you by, accidentally you happen upon a quiet little hillside between coastal Mendocino and Ukiah. There is a splash of colors on the grasses and  butterflies dart about. Eureka! There's a touch of  'Spring time' left in them thar hills.

Along the road from Fort Bragg through to Ukiah, we passed through the adorably tiny town of Comptche and the Montgomery Woods State Reserve. Sometime later we drove past some red flowers and I pulled to the side of the road to examine them. At first I thought the red flowers were  California Fuchia but on closer scrutiny they looked different. Now, I've looked them up they are actually delphiniums, or more commonly called Lark Spurs. 

Bright Red Larkspurs aka Canyon Delphiniums

There were lots of wildflowers shining on the shady hillside. Barbara and I excitedly scoured the hillside to see what grew. Some flowers were there but in small numbers.

Cute little Baby Blue-eyes were scattered sparingly

 One spot had strange looking flowers called Elegant Clarkia that look like someone shredded them with a cheese grater. Strange

Elegant Clarkia or 'Red Ribbons' looking more purplish in the shade of trees

There were Chinese Houses scattered around too. Never saw them before this year, now they seem to be everywhere.

Chinese Houses

We weren't the only ones interested in the local blooms of course. There were butterflies visiting flowers too.  I seldom see different types of butterflies, in one spot any more so it was a treat seeing so many kinds. There were Duskywings which are to date, the biggest Skipper butterflies I've ever seen.

A Duskywing Skipper feeding on the Blue Dicks.

A whitish, Western Swallowtail sipping vetch nectar

I don't recall I've ever seen one of these gigantic California Sisters butterflies before

 The Yellow Lupines were far deeper buttery yellow than the pale yellow lupines we found in Lake County. Barbara started calling them Butter Cookies because they look like rows of cookies... maybe we were just ready for a snack?

Yellow Lupines

Eventually we headed on for Ukiah in the east, with intent to get home. I figured if we made it sometime prior to midnight it would be a miracle. But we had to stop again to admire a bumper crop of native succulents, called Canyon Dudleya, Canyon Liveforever or Rock Lettuce. Love those names. Barbara had a Klepto-botanist thought, and what do you know? A couple of teeny rooted Rock Lettuce jumped off the cliff, crawled into the back of my car and followed us home. Honestly. The little buggers hitch hiked a ride!

The biggest bunch of Rock Lettuce on the slope

Around Fort Bragg

Tiny patch of the b'jillion acre Mendocino Botanical Gardens

It's been a relaxing week in Fort Bragg. didn't do as much local exploring as I expected. Jo, Barbara and I visited the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens - or to be more precise - the gift & garden shop at the gardens. Barb bought a few plants but I decided not to bring any home, where they'd only be fated for death in my Gulag Garden.  Here are some fortunate plants I didn't buy.

Fancy Geranium

And a few fishies whom were also spared my interest

Most of the time we spent lolling around Jo's home. I mentioned her late husband Sean's artistic talents in my last blog post. I recall seeing his work at their previous home in Monterey County more than a decade ago. I went nuts over Sean's stuff back then and still feel the same draw to them now.
Here are some of Sean's hangings.
 

This hanging features Scarlet Macaw tail feathers

This is AWESOME!

Amusingly enough, Jo was never too thrilled with Sean's hangings. I never asked her, but I think she didn't appreciate the work's ability to gather dust, cobwebs and feature bones, odds and ends. As for myself though, I guess I've got enough boondock appreciation in me to think it's all pret-ty cool.

I spent a fair amount of time birding in the laziest possible manner - sitting near the picture windows in the livingroom, watching Ospreys and flocks of Violet-green & Cliff Swallows float by. A Great Blue Heron and Mallards used the pond.

A natural little pond just across from the house

Most evenings a ghostly white Barn Owl swept through the meadow, hunting mice. I bet her bird 'yard list' is well over 100 species (comparatively, mine is around 40).

I did drag myself away from the window one afternoon, driving myself down to Mendocino.

View of the sea from the little village shops

View along the shop fronts

Had fun walking around window shopping. Didn't buy much, thank heavens, just a book, California Foraging, which of course, I need like a hole in my head. Really, I already have lots of books on edible wild plants. But this one actually tells when to forage for each plant, what parts of plants are edible and how to prepare them, and even better, how to ensure a better yield for the wild plants in future seasons. Way cool.





Oh, and I bought this HUMONGOUS smoky quartz crystal, from Nepal. Coincidentally, later in the day I heard about the horrible earthquake in Nepal.



One other thing is Barbara and I visited Jo at her work place at KUNK FM Fort Bragg, a radio station. She got a job there a while back and really enjoys working there and learning all about how radio stations operate. Myself, of course, I just LOVE the station's name: The Skunk FM. It was awesome visiting her there.

Jo learned the ropes at the Skunk FM

By the way, The Skunk FM was instrumental in Jo getting her new doggie, Finn. He was featured at the station in their ongoing association with the local Humane Society.

Fynn, enjoying his new home

Lovely, lovely visit with Jo. Wish we could stay and visit with Jo and Fynn all summer.

Up to Fort Bragg

Rows of Oaks on rolling hills

I'm on a little sojourn with my friend Barbara. We drove north to Fort Bragg. Instead of  my usual route north on Highway 5 from Sacramento - a boring-as-hell stretch of freeway - got to Woodland, there picking up Highway 16. That highway rambles through a v. scenic route along the agricultural Capay Valley. 


Stopping to stretch our legs, we stopped to stare at the Capay hillsides. Barbara and her Boxer doggie Chori took a little stroll.

 

A Capay hillside lined with pale yellow Lupines

Yellowy Lupines

Hidden in the lupines were a few purple lupines I've seen in flower guides, but haven't previously found. I thought they might just be imaginary.

Not in any focus, but Eureka: Chinese Houses!

Along the way we stopped so Barb could take a phone call. I took the dog for another walk. I found a wonderful Mulberry tree, chock full of ripe black juicy mulberries. Um.... I ate them right off the tree, but didn't take any pictures and more's the pity.

All in all, I now have a new scenic route to Highway 20, that leads to Highway 101, and bonus: Bear Valley Road, a well known wildflower haven.

Cattle corral on first mile of Bear Valley Road

Chori ran up and down Bear Valley Road

After viewing what wildflowers were left in the pastures a mile in, we got on Highway 20 headed west & north. A few hours later, we arrived at Jo's house by Fort Bragg. Jo is doing well, which is saying a lot as her husband Sean passed on last year. HUGE void left when that guy left. He was so cool - a long time Ranger in state parks and in my opinion he was quite the artist, but more on that later.

Jo in her front garden

To fill up a teeny bit of her aching heart, Jo adopted a little shaggy white poodle mix, she calls 'Finn'. Mr. Finn is a cutie pie and reigning indoor wee-wee king, but hey, we can't all be Lassie. When introduced to Chori, it was touch and go if the 2 dogs would get on, as Boxers aren't called boxers for nothing. Chori bats at her playmates with her paws and it can freak a small dog out. Miraculously, happily the two soon played like long time friends as the 'humans' in resident chatted until the proverbial cows came home.


We are visiting with Jo for about a week. We'll continue talking 'til we're hoarse, and we will also visit the town of Fort Bragg and it's attractions (actually that'd be the Botanical Garden's gift shop) and maybe the nearby hippy town of Mendocino, all to the south. Suspect I'll be staring out the window doing lots of casual birding in Jo's garden and in the nearby pond.

Senioras Jo and Barbara enjoying Italian food at Fort Bragg's Cucina Veron