From Way Back in April

A committee of citizens in Lake County came up with  "The Quilt Trail", which features paintings based on traditional quilt designs. These are posted on buildings throughout the county. This poppy format design hangs on a barn on a Kelseyville black angus ranch.

 Sunlight streaked Big Valley and foothills on the far shore of Clear Lake.

 At the foot of the Mayacamas Range, a creek is at unseasonably low flow after four record breaking dry months.

 American Robin killed by a car.

 Piebald Western Gray Squirrel died inside a woodduck box of unexplained causes.

 Acorn woodpecker killed by a car.

 Mount Konocti in cool weather.

 Callery pear trees bloomed on Main Street in Kelseyville.

 I looked West from the oak zone toward the cottonwoods along the creek.

 Briefly, a peony had its season.

 In their quest for wild onions, fungi, and other foods, feral pigs furrowed large tracts of rangeland at the foot of the Mayacamas Mountains.

 California poppies bloomed in the meadow.

 A rainbow appeared West of the Mayacamas Range in late afternoon.

 California Thrasher stayed close by the new window, fascinated by his reflection.

 Wild turkeys strutted near Gold Dust Road.

 Twigs cast shadows on a galvanized metal wall.

Trees Do It

These signs are posted at the former home of ceramic artist, Beatrice Wood, and her friend, Krishnamurti in Ojai, Ventura County. The Ojai Valley shares some soulful characteristics with Lake County in that both places lie just outside the mainstream of 21st Century commerce. Ojai's relation to the Los Angeles Basin might be thought of as similar to Lake County's relation to the San Francisco Bay Area. Mountainous terrain allows both areas to stand somewhat apart. Rangelands, chaparral, groves of valley oaks, and hot summers typify both regions.

Back in Lake County we ate cherries from the tree before the birds did.

                                                
 A cottonwood leaf in the creek bottom.

Kelsey Creek cut a swathe out of the West bank this winter, felling a cottonwood.

   The newly cut bank reveals layers of sediment and bisected gopher tunnels.

 By the third week of June, this section of Kelsey Creek was bone dry and
 hopping with miniscule toadlets (Western toads) and froglets (Pacific tree frogs).

The remains of a culvert sagged in the creek bottom.

                                                  
Farm workers' latrine on the creek bed.

 A large mass of house flies hatched one day.

                                              
I looked out from under the fig tree bower.

                                                    
 A gopher pushed up fresh spoils.

  The last rose of June.

                                                                      
 Milkweed.

  I saw tiny nests of mud dauber wasps in the creek bank.

                                                                
Oak leaf hydraenga.

  Mother/father oak.

 Oaks making their own microclimate, exploited by man.

   A madrone putting on growth.

                                                          
Oleanders of pink and red.

                                                  
Cones of Digger and Sugar Pines.

                                                      
June rain drops touched down.

                                                        
Rusted bike seat in creek bed.

                                                    
Seedlings of crooked neck squash.

                                                        
Valley oaks doing their thing.

                                          
The feather might be that of a pied guinea fowl.