The Great Smoke Out 2015

Looking Out Over South Lake Monday August 24, 2015

For the first time ever, we had to abandon a reconnaissance trip to the Eastern Sierra due to fire…Fire and smoke cover the Sierra this August, but it was the Rough Fire in Sequoia National Fire that got the best of us.
Here is what the area looked like last year…

This year…

As of  August 29th, the fire is 25% contained. 

Click here for current information

Serenity Now..Ojai California

Remember the Jerry Seinfeld episode with George's father wanting…"Serenity now!". Well I think we found a little of it in Ojai this June...Wanting to explore more of California, Dave and I picked on Ojai as our anniversary destination. I had relatives who lived there back in the 1960's and wanted to see what had changed and what had stayed the same. So, we found a beautiful cottage by a river and surrounded by the 40 acre Taft garden as our home for a week. Here goes a look at the beautiful gardens we got to walk in everyday of our stay..it's a long drive into the property but once there, you feel a total sense of peace…hopefully El Nino will fill the river up again….

My favorite succulent blossom

Leukadrendron, a native of Australia

Bottle Trees from Australia

Pathway lined with trees and succulents

Evening shot of palms

Squirrels busy as work putting acorns in these trees!

huge trumpet vine blossom

Art gallery item in downtown Ojai

Ojai Farmers' Market on Saturday…wonderful small town atmosphere

A day in Ventura

 Our anniversary cards and bouquet.

The famous downtown arcade

Local pottery maker has designed these gorgeous tiles all around town…
you can visit their workshop and purchase tiles

To see photos of the cottage, click the link below

River Cliff Bungalow

Back Yard Buddies

Is it the drought or just great luck? 

We have new buddies in the back yard.

Can you spot them?

My Grand Backyard

" Dorothy, we're not in Kansas anymore."

But these photos of my latest hike will make you believe this is indeed Kansas. Instead, it is my grand backyard...a hiking trail just 2 miles from my house, the Callippe Preserve Hiking Trail.

This spring has brought rain at just the right time to create these beautiful

golden colored, head high grasses carpeting the hills around Pleasanton.

The yellow flowers are everywhere this year!

Now you can see Callippe Preserve Golf Course in the background. 

It is a tough but beautiful course far from the madding crowds and city traffic.

Running Wild

Yesterday I headed out for a hike,
camera in hand,
…look what I ran into...

From Pleasanton, I headed over to Holdener Park in Livermore…

babies seem to be in bloom.

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Baby Llama

Fun!

The Tree of Life

Happy Easter!

I'm sharing a photo of the "tree of life" I

made -- this winter I found tiger wood branches that I secured into a vintage Christmas tree stand. I started making tons of butterflies and attached them to the branches.  Later on I decided to surrounded the stand with a hat box that I covered in spring like fabric. I filled the hat box with paper flowers I have made over the past months.

The tree is "planted" in our family room and we get to see it everyday…the tree of life.

My Tree of Life

This is an echo of the butterflies on our wall.

May God bless you richly with the wonders of His Life and Love

planted deep in your heart.

"Wow &Thank You!"

It's Spring.
Maybe not on the calendar, but written on my heart and
splayed across the landscape, it reads New Life everywhere.

Now a hike in the hills draws up the delicate fragrances of
tender green grasses mingled with bay leaves.

Maidenhair ferns drip down the sides of stoney walls
and Miner's Lettuce leaves fill in all the empty spaces in between.

Perky pink and white shooting star flowers stand next to sun brightened johnny jump up blossoms, interrupting the constant green carpet that seems to go on forever. 

The call to passers by is "Stop, sit, look and wonder".
It's Spring.
New life is everywhere
Blatant,
Fresh,
Unadultered,
What else can I say, but "Wow & Thank you!"