Wordless Wednesday 07-18-18

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Before the rain 12-05-09 Posted 12-17-09

These three pictures were taken on December 5th as I was driving on Hwy 152 west from I-5 toward San Juan Bautista. I do love these bleached hillsides so common in this area at the end of the dry season. I had not seen any rain the entire trip to Portland and back this far. But later in the weekend the rains came and I raced the storm south on Monday to get over the mountains before I was caught in snow.

Almost like sand dunes the way the hills interlock and curve. The firebreaks are carved by graders and other equipment along the tops of the ridges to stop wildfires from going over the top and down the other side. If you click on the picture it will enlarge and you can see that this is old cattle country by the horizontal ridges created by years of cows finding the easiest way to the other side.

On the left in the distance you can see a double fire break and in the foreground on the right a clump of brush and live oak that has survived fires in the past. Sometimes I can imagine these barren looking hills as the flanks of giant lions resting in the sun. Shades of "Out of Africa".

09-14-09 Drive home from San Juan Bautista. 11-02-09

Since October 15th I have been posting pictures from PIQF '09. Now it is time to continue with my life - such as it is.

When I visit Mary and Joe in San Juan Bautista I always try to coax Bud "the sweet cat" into my bed - after more than 30 years I still miss having a furry little sleeping pal. Bud will have no part of it - he doesn't even really like to be petted. Corky is not cuddly and will only stay on my bed for an hour or so - and NEVER on his parent's bed. In this picture Bud has usurped the large round bed of Sassy, the Sussex Spaniel who sleeps in his crate in the master bedroom.

So, I sleep alone in a single bed in "the little girl's room", right next to the window where I can open my eyes and see the dawn reflections. Or the brilliant stars at night. I sleep in this room because it has no carpet and the lovely guest room does. My allergies can really get me down at times, so best avoid those that I can avoid. This picture proves that I have seen the dawn twice in one month - extraordinary!

Along the east side of Hwy 152 there is pasture for these Belted Galloway cattle, commonly referred to as "Belties". The breed originated in Scotland and has been in this country for at least several hundred years. I have only seen them the last few years - the first time I thought they were bandaged around their middle. Belly button surgery??

Curving up to the Pacheco Pass there is a large swath of burned trees, grass and fence posts from a fire that burned here at the end of August. These are live oaks which should be all green, but now they show the fire damage very clearly. The grassy hills are starting to green from the rain that fell on the previous Tuesday.

Over the pass and headed down to the Central Valley there was still water on the road from earlier showers. The wet pavement shines between the yellow line and the grass, but this was all I saw of rain that day. Notice again how the grass is thicker right along the edge of the pavement - it is the rain runoff that is soaked up running off the road, while the area further away does not receive much of anything until the serious rains begin.

I made my usual stop in Santa Nella for a latte at Starbuck's then swung onto I-5 for the four to five hours to Placentia. Not much traffic and I managed to get through Pasadena before the commute traffic slowed everyone to a crawl. That was two weeks ago today.

Driving home from SJB 03-12-09

How many pictures are too many for one blog post? I have usually made eight my limit, a number chosen arbitrarily, but today I have nine and thought about posting even more. These were all taken on Sunday when I was driving from San Juan Bautista, CA., to Placentia, CA. It is usually a drive of 5-1/2 to 6 hours, but I stopped so often and spent so much time taking pictures that it took me about 9 hours! It was a lovely day and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I hope you enjoy these pictures.

I have always observed that yellow is the most common color for wild flowers, but some years ago I read an article that said that purple was most common. They may have been talking about the entire world, which I have not seen, so maybe they are right. But I mostly see yellow when I am traveling across the USA. This is a mimosa tree in bloom quite close to SJB. They were blooming all over, but I found it hard to be the right distance away to take a picture, either too close or too far, as is this one.
In the flat valley the fog hung in pads like a layer of batting stretched between ground and sky. And higher up there was a dense layer of fog that blocked the sunlight. But it soon dissipated and was completely gone when I got over the mountains and into the great central valley.


Before I started uphill I passed quite a few cherry orchards which were just starting to blossom. Many fruit trees are cut flat on the top to facilitate picking and I am told they do the trimming with a huge horizontally mounted round blade, just like an old fashioned buzz saw. Hwy 156 joins Hwy 152 at the bottom of the hills.

The highway (152) goes over Pacheco Pass and starts descending in a wide loop around San Luis Reservoir, a man made depository for water to feed the miles of crops in the central valley. It is still very low, despite the more plentiful rains we have had this winter. You can see the distance between the water surface and the high water mark shown by the green grass above and the dirt below.

This picture is even more dramatic in showing how much the lake has receded in recent years. Click on the photos for enlargement.

I stopped at my usual Starbucks in Santa Nella, CA., which has a motel with a tall tower - it has been a landmark along I-5 almost since the highway was opened in the 1970s. I turned south onto I-5 and soon was driving through miles and miles of almond orchards in bloom - when I cracked the window I could smell the fragrance - and I had to stop. So, I took one of the infrequently traveled exits and drove on a rough road to an orchard in full blossom. After parking and getting out my camera I walked through the white-with-a-blush bowers, sniffing the air and listening to the millions of honey bees. Considering the crisis in the bee industry lately it was an absolutely marvelous sound.

How many trillions of petals must there be to cover the trees and the ground - like a light snow fall.

The sky was very clear and blue which makes the blossoms look so white.

The heart of each flower is bright pink with yellow stamens and the petals are a lovely shape.

I was following bees thither and yon trying to catch one collecting pollen and finally took this image. Click to enlarge and you can see the pollen on the bee's body.

You are getting off easy! I took more than 50 pictures in the orchard, then deleted all the really lousy ones and still have 36 left to sort through again. It is sometimes hard to decide which image is the best between several similar shots. But I do love the digital camera for the ease of taking two or three times the number of images I would have taken with a film camera and then sorting out only the very best to keep.

More trip tomorrow. But not so many images - I think.