Musings

Found mention of this sizable spring down a Not-Too-Long path, and decided to route ourselves by the trailhead.

After parking, we tested the temps. Hot. Humid. But, we said, if we go slowly….

Not far from the lot, we discovered that this was the Poison Trail. We found vigorous growth of PI and PO—I saw both—framing our route, which was not brushed out widely, and which meant we risked being brushed. Wisely, despite the H&H, we both wore long pants, which offered some protection.

The trail, despite repeated assertions otherwise, went not quite to the spring, instead ending at the river below the spring, from which the spring-mouth could not be seen. I made the final scramble very carefully, as the mossy rocks were Very Slippery.

The sunshine caught the green-blue water as it surged forth from the Underworld, and I swear even the cicadas quieted.

I found a flat rock just a centimeter higher than the water level and washed my pressure points and brought down my core body temp a bit. Witnessed by a little unpruned crop of watercress.

Time to walk out, uphill mostly, past the slippery rocks and PI/PO beds.

We found another great dusk sky, which even my iPhone could capture.

For the second evening running, I thought the dark, dark blue above looked like a velvet skyway.

Posted at 10:22 PM | 1 Comment »

Sometimes, and thankfully only SOMEtimes, things take WAY longer than you expect…to get taken care of, finished, completed—done, in the parlance.

And that’s basically okay in the greater scheme of things, it just forces one to adjust going forward.

Which, perhaps in paradox, can offer an unexpected, happy opportunity.

As today played out, we found a stunning sunset…we might otherwise have missed.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Unplanned timeshift

Sometimes the distribution of species across the landscape is a great clue to previous human occupation, because people move plants around, to have preferred species nearby. For food, medicine, aesthetics. Sometimes yucca is one of those human-distributed species.

I also spotted a volunteer tomato plant among some bricks paving a verge…. See…out of place.

Posted at 8:51 PM | Comments Off on Leaves as bayonets

I got out the camping gear, and did a first look-through to see if The Pile had what it was supposed to in it. Yup. Tent. Ground tarp. Cooking boxes (2). Sleeping bags are elsewhere.

Now to micro check all miscellany and find the sleeping pads. Latter are pretty important!

Posted at 8:06 PM | Comments Off on A bit rusty

Just to change it up, this low-light photo is from sunset/dusk.

Posted at 10:33 PM | Comments Off on Skyline

Dinner menu by special request: bison burgers on these buns. Tossed salad. (Simple.)

Yum.

Posted at 8:19 PM | Comments Off on Medium rare

Strange weather is not rubbish weather. More or less.

Over in the Colonial baseland (aka the UK), the term “rubbish weather” means it’s rainy or otherwise unpleasant out.

Today, the weather’s been several versions of strange. Maybe not just rainy, but…? Anyway, not quite rubbish. (If I understand the modifier correctly.)

First, I noticed when I was out in the sticky humid at 7am, I felt a breeze. Very strange. Not unexpected many places, but unusual here to have a breeze….

Through the afternoon, mostly quiet (ish), but these waves of rain kept visiting…. Even now! (This photo is from the maybe 4pm wave…. Can you see the slanty rain?)

Just wanna say, the flowers persevere….

Gonna miss Jon. Figure no matter where the wind blows, The Election will hinge on The Swing Vote, and I don’t see that going for The Donald. We shall see….

Posted at 10:11 PM | Comments Off on Strange, not rubbish

Been getting out there in the coolest pre-dawn hours, ’cause even then it’s still almost too sticky to be traipsing around for 7 or 8K steps.

Time to rest these Keen-feet.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on A-resting feet

Out (pant pant) on a side street I haven’t been down in a while, and, whoops!, geeze!, it’s blue-tarp construction-time! And on next-door houses!

I wonder if the guys on the work-crews know each other?

Or did the homeowners create a two-fer package, with their jobs underway simultaneously using the same contractor (and crews) in exchange for a price break?

As to fleurs, the azaleas are back in bloom, the repeat cycle we’ve noticed through the summers…, but this is a camellia…oh, so delightfully scented…mmmmm.

Posted at 9:53 PM | 1 Comment »

Are these pickets meant to be anthropomorphic? Or is it me?

Squash blossoms…. Of the milpa plants—maize, beans and squash—I have long felt that maize and beans are…obvious, complacent plants, while squash is the one with pizzazz. Yeah, another projection….

Posted at 10:21 PM | Comments Off on I think too much