WIND WOLVES PRESERVE SPRING NATURE FESTIVAL 2023

Yes, I visited Wind Wolves Preserve once again, as I have done frequently over the last several weeks.  Again, on this visit, new varieties of flowers were starting to bloom.

It’s always a good day at Wind Wolves Preserve.

This weekend (18-19 March 2023) is an especially good one to go visit.  It is the Preserve’s annual Spring Nature Festival.  I stick to the main drives and take photos from the car.  But you can browse the visitor center, learn from the rangers, take hikes, even camp—or better yet participate in various programs.  Go visit!

Here are my photos from my visit on Friday, 17 March. 

The fields are lush and green, populated with a growing array of wildflowers. 

The yellow Fiddleneck are still evident, but they are starting to wane a bit.

The Blue Dicks are still blooming as well.

I even enjoy the grasses!

Close to the road are some little pinkish purple flowers.  I think they are some sort of Wood Sorrel. They seem to just be starting to bloom.

These dainty yellow blossoms are showing up too, but I don’t know what they are. Any help would be appreciated.

The birds were pretty active—in the fields. A few stayed visible enough for photos.  The meadowlark with its yellow breast and delightful melody is one of my favorites. Even the scrawny teenagers learning to sing.

On the road toward a parking area for some hiking trails, the hills are now turning a bright yellow,

On one scenic tour years ago, the tour guide said with confidence that these yellow flowers are officially called, “Freeway Flowers!”  I have also heard them called Goldfields as well as the stuffy sounding Molonopia.

Grape Soda Lupines are some of my favorites!

Way out in a field, I thought I saw a different color—orange not golden yellow—and I finally spotted this one little glump of California Poppies. I bet there will be more on my next visit!

Definitely put a visit to the Wind Wolves Preserve on your list of things to do this spring–even this weekend!

You’ll enjoy it!

JUST DRIVING AROUND

Whenever it was raining when I was a kid—and I complained about getting wet—Dad would say, “Just run between the raindrops!”  That’s what I’ve been doing over the last several weeks as I ran errands. Running between downpours.  Still always looking for the beauty of Nature!

A few flowers are finally popping up around town.

Clouds are always fun to watch.

One day, a Clowder of Cats caught my eye.

This clowder of cats lives in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant. There seemed to be about 10 of them, but only a handful ventured out to explore. There is one big cardboard box in a field behind a fence that seems to be their home base.  I am hoping someone at the restaurant is taking care of these kitties, especially during these cold wet nights. They do not seem under fed—and are so cute!

“Cats come and go without ever leaving.” Martha Curtis

“Time spent with cats is never wasted.”  Sigmund Freud

“If cats could talk, they wouldn’t.”  Nan Porter

“In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have never forgotten this.” Terry Pratchet

This biggest one seems to be Mama.  She wandered by a few times, very slow and nonchalant.

This one was mostly staying behind the fence with several who never ventured out at all.

This little grey tabby was the most curious.

These two—Yin and Yang—were almost always together.

On another day, I took a Selfie, as I arrived for my tax preparation appointment. (I’m in the car!)

It was good news overall (getting back about $250, combining federal and state totals as well as tax prep fees).  I had to celebrate since Krispy Kreme was just a few blocks away. [Isn’t it against the law—or at least un-American—to not buy donuts if you drive right by a Krispy Kreme?]

The clouds that day were gorgeous, even when it rained off and on. 

When the sun did peek out, a full rainbow came into view.

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you have to deal with the rain.” attributed to Dolly Parton

“Rainbows have a way of making the world seem right.” Anthony T. Hincks

A friend (thanks BLR!) has a phone with fancy editing options—so she took the ugly buildings out of this photo. 

The day ended with the rainbow anchored right over my apartment complex.

“Maybe you should stop looking for the gold and just appreciate the rainbow.” Unknown.

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’S DAY!

Still Patiently Waiting for (More) Spring Wildflowers

California has been in a state of drought for years.  Therefore, the extensive storm fronts and atmospheric rivers that have bombarded the state lately with rain and snow and floods and mud slides have been mostly welcomed.  Collectively, the state is even hoping for a good wildflower season, maybe even a Super Bloom.  Some wildflowers have been spotted up and down the state, but nothing massive is in sight.  Yet.

“And sure enough, even waiting will end. . . if you can wait long enough.” William Faulkner

I’m getting so impatient.

While waiting, I have been visiting Wind Wolves Preserve, a great place only about a 45-minute drive from me.  My first visit this year was in late February.  While the hills were green, the grasses were not filled out yet, and the only color was a little yellow from a few early blossoms. Even without lots of color, it is always a great respite to be out there!

Since that first visit, I have been back on several days, noticing more and more color spreading across the fields.  Snow even became visible on the distant mountains.  Obviously, Spring is coming—and changes in the fields at Wind Wolves Preserve over a couple visits document its arrival. 

18 February 2023

“One of the most delightful things about a garden (or a preserve) is the anticipation it provides.”  W. E. John

“Adopt the pace of Nature. Her secret is patience.”  Emerson

“Only with winter-patience can we bring deep-desired, long-awaited Spring.” Anne Morrow Lindbergh

4 March 2023

“Patience is not simply the ability to wait—it’s how we behave while we’re waiting.” Joyce Meyer

“Spring is the time of year when it is summer in the sun and winter in the shade,” Charles Dickens

“There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of Nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”  Rachel Carson

9 March 2023 Driving to the Preserve

9 March 2023 At the Preserve

It was great to see the fiddleneck (yellow) and blue dick (I think) take over the fields. But on this most recent trip, some new flowers were bursting forth as well: Grape Soda Lupine, Douglass Milk Vetch, and one lone Red Clover bloom. I am eager to wander back to Wind Wolves Preserve in a few days!

“I have seen many storms in my life. Most storms have caught me by surprise, so I had to learn very quickly to look further and understand that I am not capable of controlling the weather, to exercise the art of patience and to respect the fury of Nature.”  Pablo Coehlo

“You can cut all the flowers, but you cannot keep spring from coming,”  Pablo Neruda

A LITTLE BIT OF SPRING

Last year, the Super Bloom was gorgeous, especially in areas such as the Carizzo Plain National Monument and the Anza Borrego Desert State Park.

This year, given the rains were not very extensive at the end of last year, Spring was a bit slow in coming to my area. But some color did pop up along various hills, roads and neighborhoods.

Here is some color from local neighborhoods:

I enjoyed a nice afternoon drive on Highway 138, heading out towards Arvin:

Late in March, I took a lovely drive through the Wind Wolves Preserve. The drive was as calm and peaceful as always, but the wildflowers were not fully evident.  The hills showed only a few splashes of yellow, but the grasses were green and graceful in the breeze.

I waved hello to a park ranger but saw very few other people out and about.  Still, I did have some company on this delightful little afternoon drive.

Fresno Blossom Trail (February 2018)

Anyone who lives in Central California can readily enjoy the fruit and nut orchards that are prevalent in the area.  Driving up and down the area along I-5 or Highway 99, the trees line the road.  Early each year, the white and pink colors seem to stretch for miles.  However, racing down the roadway makes it hard to stop and snap a photo or two.

This year in February 2018, I decided to seek out the Fresno Blossom Trail.  It is a marked route through Fresno County in and about various orchards on local roads, where it is much easier to stop and take a photo.  It would be ideal, if all the trees were in bloom at once.  But, of course, that is not the case.

During my afternoon drive, no orange blossoms were evident, but there was some fruit.

The nut orchards—white blossoms—were the most evident on the day I was out.

But the fruit orchards—pink blossoms—were getting started as well.

 

All in all, it was a productive and enjoyable afternoon!

BIG TREES & MORE: A Wonderful Drive

“These kings of the forest, the noblest of the mighty race, rightly belong to the world. . . we cannot escape the responsibility as their guardians.”  John Muir

“The groves were God’s first temples.”  William Cullen Bryant

“How dear the woods are!  You beautiful trees!  I love every one of you as a friend.”  Lucy Maud Montgomery

Sequoia National Park—the country’s second national park—was created by President Harrison in 1890.  Within a week, its size grew to incorporate the newly formed General Grant National Park.  The park’s goal—then and now—was to protect and showcase the Sequoias, those wondrous big trees the park was named for.  Sequoias, of course, are some of the largest and oldest trees in the world.  Redwoods are also evident in the park.

In 1903 the first paved road was completed, increasing access to the park’s wonderfully big trees, but the access was still rather limited.  Generals Highway opened in 1926, expanding visitation to the Giant Forest. This drive through the Giant Forest is one of my favorites—the grandeur and majesty of the trees is overwhelming.

In 1940, Kings Canyon National Park was created by President Roosevelt.  This new park is situated right next to Sequoia National Park.  Since World War II, the two parks have been jointly administered.  The two parks really do work together as one big protected area, encompassing 1,353 square miles.  The majority of this land (97%) is designated as wilderness.  Each year, almost two million people visit the trees and surrounding area.

I feel lucky that these two national parks—Kings Canyon National Park and Sequoia National Park—are basically in my backyard.  They are situated only about 120 miles away via a fun twisty-turny-steep road, so it takes about four hours to get to one of the various entry points.  My most recent visit was a few weeks ago, specifically to look for some early fall colors.  That trip was a success, but—regardless of the fall colors—the drive through the parks is always stupendous.

A Quick Glimpse into Kings Canyon National Park

Hume Lake

A Short Terrific Drive through Sequoia National Park

Fallen Tunnel Tree

Some Short Drives through the Trees

If you have not visited these parks—or any of the other Redwood Parks in California—do so.  As John Muir says, “The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.”  Trust me, you will be impressed.

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“Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience.  Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.”  Hal Borland

“But there is one tree that for the footer of the mountain trails is voiceless; it speaks, no doubt, but it speaks only to the austere mountain heads, to the mindful wind and the watching stars.  It speaks as men speak to one another and are not heard by the little ants crawling over their boots.  This is the Big Tree, the Sequoia.”  Mary Austin

“When you enter a grove peopled with ancient trees, higher than the ordinary, and shutting out the sky with their thickly inter-twined branches, do not the stately shadows of the wood, the stillness of the place, and the awful gloom of this doomed cavern then strike you with the presence of a deity?”  Seneca

“The tree is more than first a seed, then a stem, then a living trunk, and then dead timber.  The tree is a slow enduring force straining to win the sky.”  Antoine de Saint Exupery

“It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air, that emanation from the old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.”  Robert Louis Stevenson

“For in the nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.”  Martin Luther

“There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it.”  Minnie Aumonier

“I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they live than other things do.”  Willa Cather

“If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer.  But it he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.”  Henry David Thoreau

“You can live for years next door to a big pine tree, honored to have so venerable a neighbor, even when it sheds needles all over your flowers or wakes you, dropping big cones onto your deck in the still of the night.”  Denise Levertov

“I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech-tree, or a yellow birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines.”  Henry David Thoreau

“Old growth forests are not a renewable resource.”  Anonymous

 

“Today I have grown taller from walking with the trees.”  Karle Wilson Butler

“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”  John Muir

“A nation that destroys its souls destroys itself.  Forests are the wings of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.”  Franklin Delano Roosevelt

“Fancy cutting down all these beautiful trees. . .  to make pulp for these bloody newspapers, and calling it civilization.”  Winston Churchill

“It’s impossible to walk in the woods and be in a bad mood at the same time.”  Anonymous

Looking for Fall Colors

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.”  John Burroughs

“If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere.”  Vincent Van Gogh

I love hitting the road this time of year! 

Yosemite 2016

One of my favorite places to watch the fall color transformation is Yosemite National Park.  This year, however, I decided I would visit Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, figuring they would have some yellows and reds hidden away among the big trees and raging river.  I traveled in late October, but the weather—even at the higher elevations of these two parks—was in the 90s.

I did find some color, hidden along the roads and out in the fields.  The colors were a bit muted, but they were there.

It was clear the transformation from green to golds and yellows and oranges and reds was just starting.  Some trees even had leaves that were green and yellow and dried-up brown all on the same branch.

Although the fall colors were not overwhelming like is often shown in photos from Maine or Vermont, I loved being out in nature here in California, finding the start of autumn.  These colorful leaves suggest that even in this year of high temperatures, terrible violence and tragedies, and raging wildfires, Nature is still moving forward.  Change is coming—as it does every year.  Fall. Winter. Spring.  We can only hope that 2018 will be a bit better, in every way.

I always look for beauty in the changes in Nature.  Maybe later this month I will head to the Eastern Sierras to see what fall transformation is going on there.  Even if I do not find extensive fall colors, being out in Nature is so rejuvenating.

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“Look deep into the eyes of nature and everything will make sense.”  Albert Einstein

“I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving he can outwit nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.”  E. B. White

“Nature and Books belong to the eyes that see them.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”  Lao Tzu

“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature.  It will never fail you.”  Claude Monet

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.”  John Muir

“We do not see nature with our eyes, but with our understandings and our hearts.”  William Hazlitt

“Adopt the pace of nature:  her secret is patience.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Let us permit nature to have her own way.  She understands her business better than we do.”  Michel de Montaigne

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite along with the heavens, nature and God.  Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.  As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be.  And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.”  Anne Frank

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.  There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”  Rachel Carson

“Now I see the secret of making the best person, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.”  Walt Whitman

NATIONAL CAMERA DAY

“The camera basically is a license to explore.”  Jerry N. Uelsmann

Today is National Camera Day.  Being a Nature Photographer, cameras are obviously a big part of my life.  I received my first camera when I was about 7 or 8, a little Brownie Box Camera.  I mainly photographed family, places of interest, vacations.  But eventually I ventured into taking photos of the glory and wonder of nature and found my favored activity.  My focus was always on nature, rarely snapping a self-portrait when I was out and about with my camera. But I did take a few, sort of.

Today, there are lots of ways I could celebrate National Camera Day.  It is always a delight to capture nature up close and personal.  But I have recently shared some favorite nature photos, so a repeat did not seem necessary.  Certainly, the history of the camera from the original camera obscura to the wonder of digital cameras available today is intriguing—but not very personal.

Instead, I decided I would celebrate today by remembering the times my dad and I spent together taking nature photos.  After all, he got me started enjoying photography as much as I do.

One of Dad’s Nature Photos

 

Dad—Raymond Francis Ross—would have been 97 this year, but he died in 2014.  He always enjoyed photography and was the official family photographer.  He even was a professional photographer as his second job, taking photos for weddings as well as for high school yearbooks and church directories. The backdrop he had set up in the garage helped him record family photos over the years, even self-portraits of him and mom.  Eventually, he sold nature photo greeting cards in the local senior center.

Over the years, Dad and I took many trips together to take nature photos.  When Mom came with us, she was incredibly patient as we stopped again and again and again to snap a photo or waited just a bit longer for a bird or butterfly to cooperate.  Together the three of us watched whales in Ventura, looked for birds at the Salton Sea and enjoyed afternoons at places like the Arboretum, Descanso Gardens, and various zoos.

The memories of me and Dad and photography always make me smile.  No matter where we wandered, Dad and I lamented that the hike in as well as the hike out were both uphill!  Some trips—usually birthday adventures—took us out for long weekends to places like Monterey, Yosemite, and Mono Lake. We ate a group lunch under the shade of a small grove of redwoods as part of a Monterey Bay Aquarium Trip, and we wandered the dunes near Mono Lake in the dark after giving up on waiting for the moonrise.  Part of the fun of the trips was waiting afterwards to get the photos developed and then deciding which ones were keepers.  (Dad never shifted to a digital camera.) We could always count on each other to be interested in looking over our many—hundreds?—of photos from any given trip!

At the Salton Sea

At the California Poppy Preserve

Many of my photos of Dad are from these various nature trips we took together.  He always seemed happy and at ease with his camera.

Dad’s Photos from Mono Lake

Anytime I wander out on a new nature adventure, I figure Dad is with me in spirit.  And he must be taking photos in heaven as well.  And there, birds and animals and butterflies must be cooperative models.  Right?

How are you celebrating National Camera Day? 

 

 

SOME QUOTES ABOUT CAMERAS

“A camera teaches you to see without a camera.”  Dorothea Lange

“The camera makes everyone a tourist in other people’s reality, and eventually in one’s own.”  Susan Sontag

“The most powerful weapon in the world, as far as I’m concerned, is the camera.”  Paul Watson

“I tried to keep both arts alive, but the camera won.  I found that while the camera does not express the soul, perhaps a photograph can!”   Ansel Adams

“There is only you and your camera.  The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are.”  Ernst Haas

“Saturate yourself with your subject and the camera will all but take you by the hand.”  Margaret Bourke-White

“I can zero in on subtle things because I’m holding the camera.”  Patrice Leconte

“When I have a camera in my hand, I know no fear.”  Alfred Eisendtaedt

“The camera makes you forget you’re there.  It’s not like you are hiding but you forget, you are just looking so much.”  Annie Leibovitz

“One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you’d be stricken blind.”  Dorothea Lange

“For me, the camera is a sketch book, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity.”  Henri Cartier-Bresson

“The simple act of having a camera, not a cell phone, but a camera-camera, there’s a kind of a heightened perceptional awareness that occurs.  Like, I could walk from here to the highway in two minutes, but if I had a camera, that walk could take me two hours.”   Jerry N. Uelsmann

“When you are younger, the camera is like a friend and you can go places and feel like you’re with someone, like you have a companion.”   Annie Leibovitz

NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY DAY

“To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles.”  Mary Davis

Who knew?  June 15 has been designated by the North American Nature Photography Association as NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY DAY since 2009.  Did you know?  I didn’t.  Fortunately, even in my ignorance, I have been celebrating this holiday extensively throughout any given year anyway.

It is easy to take nature photographs.  One way to take nature photos is to go to incredible places—like Yosemite National Park or Monument Valley—and snap away at all you see.  However, you do not have to go anywhere special to enjoy Nature and capture its essence on film.  You can find the beauty, wonder and solace of Nature just about anywhere. Just take the time to notice what is around you.

Some of my favorite subjects are birds and trees and flowers. 

If you want to celebrate Nature Photography Day, just grab a camera and head outside. You can sit quietly for a bit in a garden, wander the sidewalks in your neighborhood or take a drive along a country road, even a highway once you are out of the city.  See what nature speaks to you.  Then capture the interaction by clicking the shutter.

Beware: Capturing the beauty and wonder of Nature in a photo can be habit-forming.

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QUOTES ABOUT NATURE

“We do not see Nature with our eyes, but with our understandings and our heart.”  William Hazlitt

“Adopt the pace of Nature; her secret is patience.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Sometimes I arrive just when God’s ready to have someone click the shutter.”   Ansel Adams

“Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”  Kurt Vonnegut

“If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere.”  Vincent Van Gogh

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.”  John Muir

“Nature, Time and Patience are the three great physicians.”  H. G. Bohn

“Some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat.”   Laura Ingalls Wilder

“At some point in life, the world’s beauty becomes enough.”   Toni Morrison

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.”   John Burroughs

“Once destroyed, Nature’s beauty cannot be repurchased at any price.”  Ansel Adams

“There’s something of the marvelous in all things nature.”  Aristole

“A morning glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.”   Walt Whitman

“Look deep into Nature, and then you will understand everything better.”   Albert Einstein

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”   Lao Tzu

“Just feel the magic in the air and the power in the breeze.  Feel the energy of the plants, the bushes, and the trees.  Let yourself be surrounded by nature at its best.  Calm yourself, focus, and let magic do the rest.”   Sally Walker

SEARCHING FOR SPRING, PART 11: Descanso Gardens

“Try to pause each day and take a walk to view nature.”   Lailah Gitty Akita

From An Earlier Visit

Dad’s Photo of Mom by the Lilacs

Descanso Gardens is a wonderful public garden, located in La Canada Flintridge, California.  It covers 150 acres and offers a wide variety of flowers and trees, several nature trails, and even some lakes and ponds that offer bird-watching opportunities.

This delightful place is not far from where I grew up—and only a couple hours from where I now live.  We did not visit here much when I was a kid, but I have fond memories of visiting with my parents when I was an adult.  Dad and I took photographs while Mom enjoyed the flowers, especially the lilacs.  The garden offers great displays of some of my favorite flowers, including lilacs, camellias and tulips.

Dad Capturing a Good Shot

My recent visit was in early June, so my favorite flowers were not in bloom.  But there was lots to appreciate as I wandered the grounds.  Birds, butterflies, squirrels and even a lizard were enjoying the garden as well, but most refused to pose for photographs.

Now that I have my little travel scooter, I will be able to visit Descanso Gardens much more often, seeing what every season has to offer.  If you have not visited, add this garden to your to-do list.  You will love it!

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QUOTES ABOUT GARDENS

“A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in—what more could he ask?  A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.”   Victor Hugo

“The many great gardens of the world, of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and architecture, all make the point as clear as possible:  The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden.”  Thomas More

“A garden isn’t meant to be useful. It’s for joy.”  Rumer Godden

“When you increase the number of gardens, you increase the number of heavens too!”  Mehmet Murat ildan

“Love without happiness is like a garden without flowers.  I don’t believe in it.”  Marty Rubin

“Gardens and chocolate both have mystical qualities.”   Edward Flaherty

“Gardens are poems where you stroll with your hands in your pockets.”   Pierre Albert-Birot

“The best place to seek God is in a garden.  You can dig for him there.”  George Bernard Shaw

“Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it.”   Rumi

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”   Cicero

 “Give me odorous at sunrise, a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed.”  Walt Whitman

 “The man who has planted a garden feels that he has done something for the good of the world.”  Vita Sackville-West

“I was just sittin’ here enjoyin’ the company. Plants got a lot to say, if you take the time to listen.”  Eeyore