Month: June 2011

California Dreaming

Driving from Washington to California in late Spring is marked by a remarkable change in “seasons” the further south you travel. The dominant flower in the Humboldt District of Northern California during our trip was the native rhododendrons, huge tree-like plants of purple and pink,

Pink Rhodies

a typical Spring flower in the Pacific Northwest.

We didn’t have to drive much further, though, before we started seeing the California State Flower,

California Poppies

brilliant orange poppies, a flower that begins blooming in early Summer and lasts most of the Summer where I live.

Pink Rose

When we finally reached Mary’s house in Santa Rosa, though, the dominant flower was the beautiful

roses, seldom seen before July here in the Pacific Northwest, already past their prime.

Like a Rolling Stone

Despite all indications to the contrary, I have not, yet, come to an untimely demise as those on Facebook are aware. I’ve just returned from a trip to Santa Rosa to attend Leslie’s family get together.

Unfortunately, I was seldom around a WIFI connection, so I didn’t get a chance to update my site at all. I got a few pictures, but nothing special, unfortunately. Not a single new bird, though I really didn’t spend much time birding except in Mary’s backyard.

We got back late Monday night and I’m leaving early tomorrow morning for 10 days in Montana, I barely had time to unpack and fix up the car for a week of car-camping. I did manage to finish the calendar for the Tahoma Audubon society, though, so I feel good about that.

The trip to Montana is a Birding Trip so hopefully I’ll come back with some great shots. But I doubt I’ll be a WIFI collection the entire time I’m out. Check back the last week in June and hopefully I’ll have some great shots.

I’m hoping to stay in touch with Facebook buddies through my iPhone, with a new version of Scrabble recently installed. Hopefully AT&T will have some hotspots on the way.

UPDATE. Well, that didn’t go as planned. My trip partner and I got as far as Snoqualmie Pass and mutually decided that we really didn’t want to spend the next ten days together, at least not if I was taking my dog with me, which I thought I’d made clear when we started planning the trip. I’d have gone on alone if I’d made the plans, but since she had made them I decided to delay the trip to the Fall when I could better plan where to go.

Rhododendron Garden

I’m frantically trying to finish up some yard work and get my car ready for my upcoming trip to Montana before we head to Santa Rosa for Mary’s birthday-party-get-together, but it’s sunny and warm and I didn’t want to take a chance of entirely missing this year’s rhododendron display at the Pt Defiance Rhododendron Gardens so I took a couple hours out of my day to visit.

I wasn’t disappointed. Some of the late Rhodies haven’t started to bloom, but some of the early ones are already shedding blossoms and if it reaches 80 degrees this weekend as predicted, they’ll be through by the end of the weekend.

I’ve taken so many pictures there it’s getting harder and harder to top previous shots, but I liked both this Rhodie and the photo,

Pink and White Rhododendron

and this shot of the azaleas they’ve begun to add to the garden in the last few years.

Pink Azalea

I’m not sure that the rhodies in the park are as beautiful as many in my neighborhood, or even the ones in my front yard, but there’s something special about seeing them in a natural habitat, at least the natural habitat for Pacific Northwest species.

The old-growth forest provides a very special frame that can never be matched by virtual, digital frames.

The Wild Side

As much as I like Margaret and Cory’s garden plants, I enjoy the wildlife even more.

They share their property with native plants like this native Rose, one of my favorite flowers and the first I’ve seen in full bloom this year.

Wild Rose

While I was talking to Grandpa Bob about his large, hand-turned garden, I kept seeing a flock of birds flying back and forth from the nearby trees to the tops of firs. Since the sun was behind them, it took me awhile to realize it was a flock of Cedar Waxwings feeding on the holly berries,

Cedar Waxwing

another first for this year.

P.S. Thought you’d be excited to know that I got two yards of bark dust on the front garden today — two trips in my little Tacoma pickup. Luckily it’s not nearly as heavy as the yard of “potting soil” that I spread in the raised beds earlier. Real Life is so darn boring, it’s no wonder so many of my long-time blogging friends have stopped blogging.