Raindrops

 

Last Sunday night we had some rain again. As I wrote before, California had an extremely wet and also chilly winter, but it had been a week or so since the last rain before that Sunday. It was a much lighter and steady rain than what we had experienced before. Hopefully it wasn't the last rain of the season. When I went in the garden on Monday morning, I was delighted by the raindrops on the plants. Everything looked so fresh and it smelled so good as well. 

In the picture above you can see the raindrops on the new leaves of the photinia. This was a beautiful tree when we bought this house, but then it started to die off and I couldn't figure out why. Now, only this one new branch is alive, the rest of the tree is dead. We cut back some parts of it because of fire hazard, but we left a good part standing. This is the base of my main bird feeding station and I can tell you that it is very well visited by our feathered friends. I can see it while I sit at my worktable and sometimes I get very distracted by it while I should actually prepare my classes or grade homework.

There are new leaves on my rose as well and the raindrops circle it like a little crown. Fitting for the "queen of flowers", even though roses aren't exactly favorites of mine. I like them, especially when they have a lovely scent, but there are other flowers that I like way more.

Tulips, for example, but you already know that. 

I also love freesias, mainly for their sweet fragrance. My friend Kris gave me a bag of freesia bulbs as a house warming present 11 years ago, and they have been doing reliably well every spring. Some of them I cut and bring in the house so that the living/dining room smells so nicely. Friends of us came for dinner last Saturday and brought me flowers from their garden, and I simply put the freesias in there as well for the three primary colors.

Water on the sedum "Autumn Joy" are fat big drops, so different from all the other ones. Sometimes you can see reflections in them, but of course not in this photo.

Look who's here!

The Hooded Orioles arrived at the end of March. One morning I stepped out and heard the familiar chatter - these are very talkative birds. I saw the male at the hummingbird/oriole feeder and immediately brought the grape jelly out. A couple days later his mate turned up as well. Later in the summer they will bring their offspring as well. That's when I have to constantly refill the jelly bowl. Other birds like the jelly as well - I've seen the Northern Mockingbird going for it as well as the Oak Titmouse; I also saw the squirrel with a red sticky mouth...

What about dandelions? I don't pull them since they are one of the first flowers in the spring for the pollinators. Since I don't have a lawn, I don't mind dandelions. 

The raindrops look very pretty on the Desert or Globe Mallow. I was a bit surprised to see it flowering so early. Last year the blooms appeared much later.

Of course Clematis is a stunner, with or without raindrops. These two are always early and often crank out a second blooming period later in the year.

I shouldn't forget "Roger's Red", a native California wild grape that grows abundantly and turns to a stunning red in the fall - hence the name. The birds love to seek shelter there in the summer.

So what is missing? Of course, it's the food part for Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date. Here I cooked a Chinese cuisine inspired dish with baked tofu, broccoli, red pepper and udon. I don't usually use a recipe for these kinds of dishes, but just remember what I ate when I lived in Taiwan and try to make something similar with different ingredients. As you can see, my wok is well used.

The Beautiful Sound of Rain

 

Raindrops on the smoketree...

Yesterday we received a Red Flag warning - this is the most severe warning when weather conditions are such that a wildfire can easily start. In this case, the most concern was the expected dry lightning  (that ignited the massive LNU lightning fire last year) that combined with gusty winds and our bone dry conditions could wreak havoc. Once again we were packing our bags and put the grab-and-go boxes close to the garage. By now we are so well organized that we just grab our stuff and put it in place where we can easily carry it to our car.

... on the French lilac...

The thunder and lightning started late in the evening and we watched it with worry. We were watching a German crime series when the Geek suddenly asked "is that rain I'm hearing?"

It was.

Beautiful, calming rain. 

And then it stopped.

... on the African Daisy...

Even though it rained only a few minutes, hardly to get the ground wet, it filled us with hope. Hope that this time we will be spared from evacuating, that the thunderstorm will pass by without causing any damage. Our hope was unreasonable because that tiny amount of rain would not be able to stop any sparks, but hope is a weird thing.

... on the Petchoa...

Eventually we went to bed, while outside there was still some lightning, but not so much thunder.

A couple hours later it was raining harder.

Oh that beautiful sound of rain!

... on the Calibrachoa...

This stronger shower didn't last for long either, but it sure did more than just wetting the ground a bit.

This morning, when I went out into the garden under still gray skies I saw the remains of the nightly rain everywhere.

The abalone shells that I scattered throughout the garden had changed their color to pretty shades of pink. It always happens when they get wet.

The lone pomegranate on my tree was shining with droplets - I planted this tree only last year (one day before the lockdown) and I'm grateful that it already bears fruit, even if it is only one.

Look at the clematis - this one had me worried throughout the summer. It was blooming so prettily in late spring, but then the leaves started to turn brown and the plant didn't look well at all. Just a few days ago I cut it back drastically - and this is the result. I'm not complaining.

I am deeply grateful for the rain that has turned the severity of this Red Flag warning around. While this was only a drop in the ocean and will change absolutely nothing of our severe drought and the danger of wildfires, it brought relief in an anxiety filled night. That was all we needed for that moment.

An Image and Its Story - February 2019

The shortest month of the year, still, I shot a good amount of photos in relation to the length of the month. The photo that made the cut for February isn't my best or even favorite image, but it summarizes the month perfectly.

Usually I'm more than grateful when it rains because I know that it fills up our reservoirs and gets us safely through the year water wise. But this month just was a bit too much. The "last drop" (pun intended) was the past week's deluge that caused havoc in so many communities along the river. It is still raining (after a two day break) and the forecast promises more rain is on the way.

I'm done with it. Too much of even a good thing is just that - too much.

Still - I feel guilty writing these words since it's not been that long ago that we were in a terrible drought and were waiting for rain that didn't come. It feels wrong not to be thankful, but it is very difficult to feel gratitude when you see the severe damage this flood has caused for so many people. The thankfulness carries a bitter tone with it, but I hope in the end it will survive all the bitterness.

Along Wet And Muddy Trails

We are very lucky to have the laguna close by, right between Santa Rosa and Sebastopol. During the recent heavy rains it was prone to flood all the land next to it - and it did. However, with some drier days following the water receded quickly.

When we took a walk in the laguna last weekend we still met pretty wet and muddy trails with some rather large puddles that weren't always easy to navigate. But they displayed some beautiful reflections and were very welcome for this photographer's eye.

The water must have been about six feet high in places judging from the debris that we saw in the bushes and shrubs. Colorful plastic doggie bags hanging from twigs and branches were signs of how high the water used to be. It was quite impressive (the doggie bags not so much).

Sitting high up in some trees I finally saw what I was missing at the lake the day before: black-crowned night herons. They had chosen just a few trees where they were perching in little groups. We counted 22 of them that day, and I'm sure we missed some. I was so happy to see them.

We also saw quite a lot of hawks this afternoon, sitting in bare trees and circling over the area.

I will leave you with a few more shots of our beautiful laguna.

I Hadn't Seen The Sun In Three Days

As some of you might have heard, we had some heavy rain in Northern California (and it's raining again!). While the rain has been more than welcome, the flooding that came with it in some areas was not. All the places at and near the river were flooded and many people had to evacuate from their homes. Anything that was close to water became very very wet - whether it was the vicinity of the laguna or "my" lake.

The lake - it's a regional park - was actually closed because the paths, trails, picnic grounds and parking lots were completely flooded. The rangers were traveling in canoes to evaluate the damage.

When the rain stopped the big clean-up started, and last Saturday the park was reopened.

It was a brilliant sunny albeit chilly day, and since we had been indoors all week long because of the foul weather we happily laced up our hiking boots and took a walk around the lake.

We were surprised how well the clean-up was done. All the paved trails were open and you couldn't really tell that just a few days before they had been covered in water and mud. The restrooms were still closed and so were my favorite dirt trails, and as soon as you left the paved path everything became pretty muddy. Our boots were caked with mud soon, but just being outside felt so good that we didn't mind.

The turtles were happy about the drier weather as well. They hung out on some of the logs in the water, leisurely soaking up the sun.

However, there weren't almost no birds. Usually there are lots of Canada geese, ducks and the occasional swan, but there wasn't a single one. I was wondering where they had gone. The herons and egrets were hiding as well, with the exception of this beautiful guy - but he was the only one.

We had a few more "water encounters" that long weekend of which I will tell you later.

Rain Jewels

Starting last Thursday and ending on Monday we got a good amount of rain - something we needed, but it's still not clear whether this has broken our four-year drought or not. Somehow I think it takes a lot more than just one wet winter to end a severe drought.

Anyway, it was lovely to go to bed to the sound of rain and to wake up to the tapping of rain. It's not something we hear too often in this corner of the world (this is not Scotland after all). When it happens it's music in my ears.

When there was a break in the rain I ventured outside in the garden with my phone - I didn't even grab my DLSR because I thought the break might only be a short one (it was).

I love raindrops on flowers. It's nature's way of displaying its very own jewels - and boy, is it stunningly beautiful jewelry. Best of all, it's free!

On a grey day the colors just pop so much more than on a bright sunny day. The contrast between the colors and the dark background is higher and very clear.

Don't you just love how the drops cling to the petals? I wish I had a really good macro lens to capture just the drops - I'm sure there would be so much more to see.

The rain stopped on Monday, and today I was able to work in the garden again. After all the rain the plants are exploding which means a lot of work for me. Fortunately I love gardening, and seeing how well everything is doing right now is all I need!