Tag Archives: Southern California

As The Crow Flies

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Family can show up in different species, too.

My crow family (I refer to them as my cousins) are getting ready for spring by building nests in the backyard trees in preparation for the next gen. They return to the same location every year.

Did you know that crows are among the smartest animals in the world? Their intelligence is similar to that of chimpanzees. A crow’s brain accounts for almost two percent of its body mass, similar to that of humans.

I talk to them all the time and it seems as if they accept me and don’t even blink an eye when we’re together in the garden, and have brought me many shiny gifts throughout the years.

This crow cousin was gathering twigs and grasses for her nest. If you look closely, you’ll see she likes pine needles, too.

Nest construction begins in early March and will continue through about June. It takes one to two weeks to finish a nest after which the female will lay a clutch of two to six eggs.

Crow nests are made mostly of pencil-width twigs. A new nest is usually about 1.5 feet across and 8-10 inches deep.  After the bulk of construction is complete, they’ll line the cup of the nest with soft materials like grass, tree bark, moss, flowers, paper, or fur. 

Both partners participate in nest construction. Helpers might aid to some degree but most of the work is left to the parents. https://corvidresearch.blog/

I help too, and gave them the fringe I cut off a pillow that I planned to recover in a different fabric.

It’s raining today, unexpectedly, because all that was forecasted was some light drizzle, and now everything is wet. I hope my crow cousin’s nest is somewhere warm and dry. I’m going to look for more nesting material they might like to use because it makes me happy to think I’m kinda sorta like THEIR family, too.

(All photo credit to Enchanted Seashells.)

Surveying a Joyful Garden

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“Beauty is everywhere a welcome guest.” – Goethe

Sometimes we don’t notice the beauty we’re surrounded with until we look with fresh eyes.

I was focused on a major cleanup project in the garden when I finally took a breath and looked up. It was only then that I noticed being surrounded with the joy of color. Everywhere I turned, I was greeted with the wonder of nature.

Blooming calendula…

Felicia amelloides variegata: ‘Variegated Marguerite Blue Daisy’…

“Let us come alive to the splendor that is all around us and see the beauty in ordinary things.” — Thomas Merton

 Yellow Marguerite Daisy…

…and prolific white daisy groundcover…

There’s so much to be grateful for!

Acacia in bloom…

“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.” — A.A. Milne

You’re totally right, Piglet!

All photo credit to Enchanted Seashells

Garden Visitor: Red-shouldered Hawk

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This Red-Shouldered Hawk is perched on a palm tree just over the fence in the open space.

I often see these majestic birds of prey soar high overhead or perch like this on tree branches. Its rising, whistled kee-rah is a distinctive sound. They hunt small mammals, amphibians, and reptiles.

I hope he’s looking for his next meal…he’s the very real definition of hawk-eye!

On a side note, could the sky BE any bluer? I think not.

(PS All photo credit to Enchanted Seashells)

What’s Growing in the Garden

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Mushrooms!

This is an indication of how much rain we’ve had in Southern California and just how soggy the garden is…and more rain is on the way.

Unidentified fungi appeared in the crevice of a split ficus trunk that was cut down a couple years ago because the roots were starting to come too close to the foundation.

I wanted to keep the stump instead of grinding it because I thought it was architecturally beautiful and now it’s decomposing exactly like I hoped it would.

These mushrooms are definitely not edible, right? They’re most likely poisonous and I’m certainly not going to find out one way or another. I’m not THAT curious or adventurous. Or dumb.

A day later, here’s how they morphed and darkened, plus it’s raining:

Fascinating!

I found a poem by Emily Dickinson about mushrooms…

The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants –
At Evening, it is not
At Morning, in a Truffled Hut
It stop opon a Spot

As if it tarried always
And yet it’s whole Career
Is shorter than a Snake’s Delay –
And fleeter than a Tare –

’Tis Vegetation’s Juggler –
The Germ of Alibi –
Doth like a Bubble antedate
And like a Bubble, hie –

I feel as if the Grass was pleased
To have it intermit –
This surreptitious Scion
Of Summer’s circumspect.

Had Nature any supple Face
Or could she one contemn –
Had Nature an Apostate –
That Mushroom – it is Him!

Vitamin Sea Therapy

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“The sea is a desert of waves, A wilderness of water.”
–Langston Hughes

There was a high surf advisory and I really wanted to see the big waves which were supposed to peak on Sunday, breaking 6-9 with 10-12 foot sets.

More rain is on the way, but the ocean was electric with healing energy. The beach was packed with surfers and onlookers. I took a lot of pics and sent them to the original Angel Boy to make him feel bad for missing out on a great surf sesh, ‘cos that’s the kind of mom I am, haha.

“I need the sea because it teaches me.”
–Pablo Neruda

“The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.”
–Vladimir Nabokov

“The sea cures all ailments of man.”
– Plato

“But the sea which no one tends is also a garden.”
–William Carlos Williams

“There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea,
whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath…”
–Herman Melville

“Protecting the ocean is not just about saving marine life; it’s about safeguarding our own future. Our fate is intimately connected to the health of the ocean.”
–Greta Thunberg

If Thoughts Were Clouds

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If thoughts were clouds…what would these say?

As I cleaned up the garden from leaves and branches and other debris, I looked up and snapped a photo of the very last of the clouds from that atmospheric rain event that brought us four+ inches of rain in a short period of time.

It’s warm and the sun is drying out the soggy earth.

Rise and Shine

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Even while it rains, my early morning view from an east-facing window was otherworldly and spectacular.

No filters or editing, just a landscape filled with rain, the break of day, and a sun who continues to rise and shine, no matter what.

There might be an inspirational message here about the indomitable will to survive in adversity or it’s simply a sunrise. Either way, it brings joy and gratitude on the first of February.

Blue Sky | White Clouds

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A hot blue day had budded into something.
I wasn’t ready. The white clouds rearing
Aside were dragging me in four directions.
I wasn’t ready.
I had no reverence.
I thought I could deny the consequence–
But it was too late for that. Sylvia Plath

Sunday sky. I looked up as jets flew by overhead, so I’m not sure what they are.

I wonder…

…if there’s a message in these clouds.

What do you think?

Rain, Rain, Go Away

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Did you hear about the unprecedented, record breaking rainfall we had in Southern California?

The area of Pt. Loma received nearly five inches of rain, half of its normal yearly amount. The last time San Diego received this much rain was ninety-six years ago. It rained 3.23 inches on April 5, 1926. The San Diego River is at the minor flood stage at 10.86 feet and still rising.

The news showed video after video of flooded homes and streets, people standing on top of their cars, and paddleboarders on the 78 freeway where the creek ran over the road and they had to close it down.

At Casa de Enchanted Seashells, a bit north of the city, we received about 3.5 inches of rain in four days, which was enough to turn parts of the backyard into a lake, but no water damage to the structure or foundation.

I was forced to brave the worst of the storm to get fresh gauze and compression pads (bad timing!) so I was actually driving around, but only locally.

It was pretty hard to see at times, and careless drivers were speeding, but I managed to hobble in and out with my wound care items and safely return home.

My curiosity almost got the better of my (not very) good sense and I was going to stop and take pictures of the flooded freeway from a vantage point on El Camino Real, but the windshield wipers were having a hard time keeping up with the heavy rain so I thought better of it, and drove back home.

It’s starting to dry out and warmer days are forecasted, but there might be another storm next week, so I hope everyone prepares for possible extreme sky water!

A Lagoon Swan and a History Lesson

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A few photos to memorialize January 2024.

This is my favorite, a swan pedal boat on Agua Hedionda Lagoon. It’s an activity high on the list when the Angels visit this summer. Doesn’t that look like a lot of fun?

Now I’m standing on a path with a view of the trestle bridge and a peek of a blue Pacific ocean. Do any locals know my specific location? I bet not, ‘cos it’s a secret.

After walking all the way around the lagoon, this is a look to the east and a very low tide…

If you block out the electrical poles and the road, it’s easy to transport yourself back in time to when this land was the home of the indigenous Kumeyaay Indian Nation.

This is where they lived, fished, gathered berries, wove baskets, and buried their families. They lived in small family groups which had to move frequently to find new sources of food and water. Each clan wintered in a sheltered valley and migrated into the mountains in the spring.

It’s sacred land and should stay that way in perpetuity.

Learn more here: https://www.kumeyaay.com/the-kumeyaay-millenium.html#:~:text=Kumeyaay%20fished%2C%20hunted%20deer%20and,created%20watersheds%20and%20stored%20groundwater.