An attempt at hiking
I would like to claim that Robb and I start every Saturday at our local farmers' market, but sometimes we just don't get out the door in time. Today, however, we had our act together. Robb had made apple cranberry walnut muffins for breakfast. I slept late. Things were off to a good start.
I still haven't figured out the California growing season, so I'm often surprised by what's at the market. The onions didn't surprise me, but they certainly were pretty!
After a quick lunch, we decided to head out to Mount Diablo, enjoy the tail-end of the spring wildflowers, the glorious sunshine, and try our luck at finding some letterboxes. We saw a coyote as we were parking, which was pretty exciting. He was calmly surveying the parking lot, and then just disappeared when a noisy group of schoolkids came down the path. We also saw a few of my favorite birdies, the Stellar's jay and some California quails. The Stellar's jay is the Punk of the bird world. He wears an outrageous hairdo, and is a general bad-ass. Robb calls him my boyfriend.
What we quickly learned is that Robb is not up for this sort of hiking, yet. I don't think this really surprised either of us. After all, two months ago, all he could do in terms of outdoor walking was push his walker around on smooth sidewalks. Still, we had a beautiful drive up the mountain, and he says that he had a nice time hanging out in the woods while I hiked on ahead of him.
We talked about this at some length last night. Robb feels that until he is more able, I should not put all my outdoorsy activities on hold, nor should I feel guilty if I go hiking without him. I'm working on this. It still feels weird to do things like this, and not have Robb right by my side.
The spring wildflower season was just about over, but I was thrilled to see the extremely rare Mount Diablo Fairy Lantern. This plant is endemic to Mount Diablo; it doesn't grow anywhere else. I had never seen it before. What an honor to get to see this rare plant in bloom!
Also blooming were Mimulus, otherwise known as Sticky Monkey Flower.
The oddly named Blue Dicks.
Some rather tired-looking Star Lillies.
And also on view, my favorite....Rocks With Holes In Them! I believe that these caves were carved by the wind. (How about that California blue sky???)
Some of the caves interconnect, and I saw a number of people crawling around in them. Hopefully, Robb and I will be able to be among the rock-climbers in the not-too-distant future!
I still haven't figured out the California growing season, so I'm often surprised by what's at the market. The onions didn't surprise me, but they certainly were pretty!
After a quick lunch, we decided to head out to Mount Diablo, enjoy the tail-end of the spring wildflowers, the glorious sunshine, and try our luck at finding some letterboxes. We saw a coyote as we were parking, which was pretty exciting. He was calmly surveying the parking lot, and then just disappeared when a noisy group of schoolkids came down the path. We also saw a few of my favorite birdies, the Stellar's jay and some California quails. The Stellar's jay is the Punk of the bird world. He wears an outrageous hairdo, and is a general bad-ass. Robb calls him my boyfriend.
What we quickly learned is that Robb is not up for this sort of hiking, yet. I don't think this really surprised either of us. After all, two months ago, all he could do in terms of outdoor walking was push his walker around on smooth sidewalks. Still, we had a beautiful drive up the mountain, and he says that he had a nice time hanging out in the woods while I hiked on ahead of him.
We talked about this at some length last night. Robb feels that until he is more able, I should not put all my outdoorsy activities on hold, nor should I feel guilty if I go hiking without him. I'm working on this. It still feels weird to do things like this, and not have Robb right by my side.
The spring wildflower season was just about over, but I was thrilled to see the extremely rare Mount Diablo Fairy Lantern. This plant is endemic to Mount Diablo; it doesn't grow anywhere else. I had never seen it before. What an honor to get to see this rare plant in bloom!
Also blooming were Mimulus, otherwise known as Sticky Monkey Flower.
The oddly named Blue Dicks.
Some rather tired-looking Star Lillies.
And also on view, my favorite....Rocks With Holes In Them! I believe that these caves were carved by the wind. (How about that California blue sky???)
Some of the caves interconnect, and I saw a number of people crawling around in them. Hopefully, Robb and I will be able to be among the rock-climbers in the not-too-distant future!
Comments
xo, Isabel
~~Doublesaj & Old Blue~~
Your Servant,
OBJuan
Love those fairy lanterns! Saw some white ones in the Placerville area last year (had never seen them before), during one of the most abundant wildflower years I've seen.
This year will probably be right in there with all the rain we've had.
http://www.calflora.net/bloomingplants/fairylantern.html
Thought you might like to know that your pine cone is from a digger pine.
http://www.nearctica.com/trees/conifer/pinus/Psabin.htm
http://www.laspilitas.com/plants/518.htm
The trees are very gray and tend to be multi-trunked. The cones are large and unusual.
Happy Spring!
Kel
We miss you. How can we get together when you're out here? Is Derek coming?
big kisses
ter
I'll be arriving in Sacramento on 6/2, and will be flying (it's cheaper than driving with these gas prices!) to San Diego on that Monday but returning on Wednesday. I'll pick a day and drive out.
- Isabel