A Feast for the Eyes

On our way down to the Santa Rosa Plateau on Sunday, we passed hills in the distance covered with poppies. So on Monday we decided to go on a poppy hunt to try to get up close to a beautiful patch somewhere. After a bit of searching, we were rewarded when we finally found a dirt road that followed the bottom of a hill covered with poppies, bluebells, and other wildflowers. It was a royal feast for our eyes and was overwhelmingly beautiful. Alyssa and Jonathan enjoyed climbing around in the sea of flowers.

God is an incredible Gardner! He must enjoy creating such beauty.

Gorgeous Santa Rosa Plateau

On Sunday we visited one of my favorite springtime spots here in Southern California - the Santa Rosa Plateau. It is now an ecological preserve, but the history of the place goes back a hundred years or more. The beauty is unbelievable! It reminds me of the few times I have had the priveledge of walking in the Alps - the high grassy meadows with scattered trees and rolling hills with snow-covered mountains in the distance. It's hard to believe there is actually a spot like it in Southern California, but here it is, green and unbelievably gorgeous this time of year with a wide array of wildflowers not seen too many other places. Here is a sampling of the beauty we encountered.

Pinks

Chocolate Lilies

Shooting Stars

Another fascinating thing about the plateau is the springtime vernal pools that dry completely by summer. But now the waters are teaming with small creatures including fairy shrimp, copepods, and planeria.

Spring Has Sprung!

Spring has sprung into full swing down here in Southern California. This post is in honor of Week 8 at Wildflower Morning's wildflower challenge.

Because we have had rain there are new wildflowers appearing every week. This past week, my two favorites started blooming - the California poppies, and the bluebells. Above us on the hills, large patches of purple appeared and I couldn't wait to go see them up close. This past weekend I had opportunity to do that. Here is what they looked like:Once up in the hills, we found lots of other wildflowers blooming, too. Below are forget-me-nots with chia. Second picture below is brodea I believe.

Here is a view of our house from a hill above us. We are so blessed to have space around us to roam while living in the midst of city. And it is especially nice right now because the hills are green and the temperatures are still too cool for rattle snakes to be out.

Wildflowers in Winter - Kid's Art Entry

Wildflower Morning is hosting her seventh week of her Wildflowers in Winter project. Week 7 is a children's wildflower art contest. Here is her website for more information. So, my daughter went out and found some California poppies blooming on our property and decided she wanted to paint them. Here they are:

California Poppies - painted by Alyssa (age 4) with finger paints

Here is where she picked them. They are so bright and cheery! I always love it when they cover the hills in cheery orange. God is a wonderful Gardener!

Special Day

I awoke early this morning for my time with God. I read a chapter of one of my favorite books about another morning when Jesus was on earth and sensed again my need of Him. As I finished reading, the sky blossomed with color. It is a special day. This is what I read:

"God takes men as they are, and educates them for His service, if they will yield themselves to Him. The Spirit of God, received into the soul, will quicken all its faculties. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the mind that is devoted unreservedly to God develops harmoniously, and is strengthened to comprehend and fulfill the requirements of God. The weak, vacillating character becomes changed to one of strength and steadfastness. Continual devotion establishes so close a relation between Jesus and His disciple that the Christian becomes like Him in mind and character. Through a connection with Christ he will have clearer and broader views. His discernment will be more penetrative, his judgment better balanced. He who longs to be of service to Christ is so quickened by the life-giving power of the Sun of Righteousness that he is enabled to bear much fruit to the glory of God." - from "The Call by the Sea," Desire of Ages by Ellen White

More Wildflowers

I think this year will be a good one for wildflowers here in Southern California because of all the rain we have had. Our little hill is coming alive with color. One part of our hill is filled with little white forget-me-nots and purple fillary. Here are a few pictures I took this afternoon (while wearing shorts because it was nearly 80 degrees!) Another part is covered with the yellow flowers that Alyssa brought in last week. I can't wait to explore the hills above our house to see what else is beginning to bloom. On our property alone I counted six different wildflowers that are blooming now.

Baby Octopus!

This afternoon we again visited the tidepools, anxious to see what has become of "our" octopus. While my friend watched our little ones on the beach, I went out, broke open a mussel and dangled it in front of the opening where she has lived. Nothing. I kept trying for several minutes. Still nothing. Then a tiny little tentacal reached out cautiously from under the rock. It was only about four or five inches long and as big around as a piece of white string. The hermit crabs were pulling on each end of the mussle piece, but I helped them let go so the tiny octopus could get it. It slowly reached another tentacle out over the edge of an empty mussle shell I had put the meat in. It grabbed it and slowly drew it back in. I think it was trying hard not to be noticed. It was so tiny, the suction cups looked like tiny little hairs. Here you can see two tentacles, one reaching over the shell and taking the piece of orange mussel. I didn't see the original adult at all, but I think this small one was too big to have just hatched. In any case, I'm glad someone else is moving in.

Then I took my turn watching the kids while my friend went to have a look. She didn't see the baby one. The piece I had given it probably was all it could eat for a while. But she did see an adult octopus in the second location we had seen back at Christmas time - only about two feet away from where I saw the baby one. Perhaps that is why the little one was trying so hard not to be seen!

Wildflowers in Bloom!

Alyssa came into the house this afternoon holding something behind her back and told me to close my eyes.

When I opened them she was holding out a boquet of little wild flowers she had picked and brought in.

We put them in a vase where everyone can enjoy them.

Now we have oodles of them blooming all over our property. They are such a rich yellow-orange color with little orange throats. I'm not sure what they are. I feel lucky I get to decorate my house with real wildflowers in winter! (For more Wildflowers in Winter, visit Elizabeth Joy's blog)

Wildflowers in Winter - Part 2

My friend at Wildflower Morning has a new challenge for the week in her "Wildflowers in Winter" post. This time we are to post images of flowers in winter. I live in one of the few places where we actually have flowers in winter. I took my camera out yesterday afternoon and captured a few images of wildflowers growing on our property.

All the wildflowers (aka weeds when they are in my garden, but allowed to grow freely elsewhere on our five acres) I could find currently blooming were yellow which makes the cloudy, rainy days especially brighter. I have also included two images of flowers in my garden that are still blooming even at this time of year. The white flowers (2nd picture below) are Argyranthemum "Neptune." The pink flowers are Argyranthemum frutescens "Pink Elf." The yellow is Euryops, and the blue is Felicia amelloides "Blue Marguerite."Many of my flowers lie dormant at the moment, but promises of good things to come are visible. The wintering leaves of my lobelia, "Cardinal Flower" are one example.

Planting Fruit Trees

Today we started planting our orchard. We have the holes for the trees and trenches for irrigation dug, and most of our 19 fruit trees purchased. Now we have to lay the irrigation lines and plant the trees. I am looking forward to having fruit on my own trees to pick when they are ripe instead of getting green-picked fruit at the grocery store. There's nothing like freshly picked, tree-ripened fruit. Yum!

Rainbows

One of the advantages of living on a hill where we do is that we frequently see rainbows when it rains. This afternoon as the sun shone through the clouds, we saw a beautiful, complete rainbow that was even double on one end. I couldn't get the whole rainbow in the picture, but this is what one end looked like.

Tidepool Update

The ultra-low tides will soon be gone during daytime hours until late fall and winter. So we have to try to get in as many visits as possible before they are gone. Over the weekend, we had opportunity to visit again.

We found our octopus again, although this time she was very shy and reluctant to show herself and not very hungry. Perhaps she had already been fed before we got there, or perhaps she is guarding some eggs back in her lair. We suspect the second octopus we saw last time was there to breed. If indeed that is the case, she may well have some eggs, and unfortunately it also means that her days are numbered. Octopuses only breed once in their lifetime, and once the eggs hatch (about two months later), the female dies. While guarding her eggs, they typically don't eat very much, if at all. Their lifespan is only around two years or less. We'll have to wait and see what happens.

We did find two sea hares.

We also found another sea slug (navanax inermis) like the little one we found last time.

We found a shell that a lobster molted. It was amazing to see how wonderfully designed a lobster's exoskeleton is! It's perfectly designed with tiny little hairs along the joints to keep sand and other debris out so the joints move smoothly. It's also amazing how the lobster can pull itself out of the old skin without hurting itself.