Amaryllis

You're supposed to be ordering them now, planting in October for blooms at Christmas. But nobody told Shirley...or her amaryllis.

It's left over from a Christmas gift last year (you're welcome) and it did this all by itself. Check out John Scheepers for bulbs. And yes, Shirley, you have a green thumb.

The Herb Guy

I bought sage and basil, dill and parsley. Sorrel and lemon balm. Must remember to protect the lemon balm in the winter.

He is the Herb Guy at the Danville Farmer's market. He tells me the business was started by his kids who are now in college. He is an executive: I think nostalgia - and friendships - keep him coming back. I'm glad he's here.

You can check him out on his web site - www.wiersiggsrdenplants.com - or you can meet him in person at the Danville Farmer's Market on Saturday morning.

Gloryland

I have just finished the best book I have read in years. Gloryland by Shelton Johnson. Almost didn't buy it, he's a ranger in Yosemite and I thought it would be dry and preachy. Wrong!

This guy can write - do yourself a favor - run do not walk to your nearest bookstore, open it up and start reading. I promise you won't be able to put it down.

Pain, love and loss, redemption. Connections that transcend time and place. Opens the lines between this world and the ones behind and ahead. Love, indifference, beauty. The truths that are found only in silence and solitude. And in connectedness. And what this man can do with the English language is wrenching, uplifting, astonishing. Get This Book!!

It's a weird and wonderful place...

Helicopters chasing the moon over Glacier Point...

...clouds chasing each other across the sky.

It's a weird and wonderful place, Yosemite. 

Pent Up Posts

So this what happened to my poor peach tree...

I have not learned how to stick a photo in an iphone post. But I will.

It may be heaven, with fabulous scenery, but  Tuolumne has no wi-fi...

Communal dining. Communal bathrooms. And you know my idea of camping is a French restaurant with the windows open. Yet here I am.

No heat except for a wood stove that takes about two hours to heat up - it gets warm just as the sun heats up your cabin. No AC. You can see your breath in the morning before you rise, and without a warm fuzzy hat sleep is an iffy thing. 

Four lakes in four days...

This one is called Hidden Lake.

Michael and two friends joined us to hike up to Gaylor Lake. You start at almost 10,000 feet. Then you go up. Straight up. Gasping for air. But the wildflowers are stunning.

A small friend in the water at Hidden Lake...Danger Rave tells us he is an aquatic garter snake, and very shy.

One fantastic day of fishing after three days of thinking about taking up needlepoint and sacrificing flies to the trees. At Elizabeth Lake (close enough for a family walk and a picnic and oh so beautiful!) The water was so clear (and my glasses so polarized) I could see the fish swim by, see them think. See them lunge for my fly and then dance across the water on their tails as I pulled them in. And see them dart for the shadows as I let them go. Well, not all of them...

  A happy fisherman. 

Stickery socks.

Velvet black sky with stars so close they scrape the tree tops. Cool breezes making the trees talk. The sound of the river lulling you to sleep - the cold waking you. Sheets that side off the plastic mattress when you turn over. As close to heaven as I have been.

If you can’t be happy here perhaps you can’t be happy anywhere.

Disaster

This is why it's important
To thin peaches...


apparently I didn't thin enough. Lost the whole top of the tree. So sad. Will assess the damage come fall and try to make it right.

I'm dreaming...

I'm missing the beach...

the boats

romantic walks along the water...

and the style. looking good is so important - 

and they do it so well.