Visitors 108
Modified 18-Feb-24
Created 17-Feb-24
55 photos
Peaceful showers, slanting winter sun, dramatic rainclouds, persistent rainbows: springtime is change. Walking from Escobar Gate to Corte Madera Creek, along the Ridge and down to the streamside, we cross a variety of ecosystems under changing skies.
“Look, another rainbow”, says LiPo. But is that a different rainbow, or the same one, the rainbow that has always been there, following each of us and the sunlight, ready to be made manifest by droplets in the air? However you view this, a rainbow appears now and then, dramatically from an approaching raincloud against a clear blue sky, then shyly hinting, low in a cloudy grey sky backdropping oaks in pale springtime sunlight.
My goal this morning was to experience blossoming Dirca in various habitats. So much for goals – each day has its own logic. We do see rare Dirca in a couple of contrasting locations, tender light-green leaves beginning to appear alongside profuse yellow blossoms. But the highlight of the day, beyond the dance of rainfall, sunlight, and rainbow, is a lone Coast Silk Tassel bush in full bloom, strings of flowers cascading from wet branches, waiting for pollinators and admirers. Oh, and a few Lowland Shooting Stars, bravely blossoming in the road, fragile, unprotected, resplendent. Bedecked in raindrops, welcoming the soft shower.
The soft shower! Silent, still, the world holds its breath. Darkness descends. Then the exhale: relaxing, a gentle rain envelopes us, raindrops’ patter blending into a hush. No rainclouds approach: all is still -- just the realization of what is to be. The saturated earth welcomes the warm raindrops, the liquid planet manifests. We stand, absorbing the moment. Showers taper off, magic lifts, and we are back to the hike.
A Red-tailed Hawk rides the rainbow, exulting in the sunlight between the rains. A Turkey Vulture cruises the breezes, relaxed yet alert for carrion. Corte Madera Creek overflows, releasing sediment, augmenting its delta.
BONUS: back home afterwards, an Earthstar has released spores to the moist wind.
“Look, another rainbow”, says LiPo. But is that a different rainbow, or the same one, the rainbow that has always been there, following each of us and the sunlight, ready to be made manifest by droplets in the air? However you view this, a rainbow appears now and then, dramatically from an approaching raincloud against a clear blue sky, then shyly hinting, low in a cloudy grey sky backdropping oaks in pale springtime sunlight.
My goal this morning was to experience blossoming Dirca in various habitats. So much for goals – each day has its own logic. We do see rare Dirca in a couple of contrasting locations, tender light-green leaves beginning to appear alongside profuse yellow blossoms. But the highlight of the day, beyond the dance of rainfall, sunlight, and rainbow, is a lone Coast Silk Tassel bush in full bloom, strings of flowers cascading from wet branches, waiting for pollinators and admirers. Oh, and a few Lowland Shooting Stars, bravely blossoming in the road, fragile, unprotected, resplendent. Bedecked in raindrops, welcoming the soft shower.
The soft shower! Silent, still, the world holds its breath. Darkness descends. Then the exhale: relaxing, a gentle rain envelopes us, raindrops’ patter blending into a hush. No rainclouds approach: all is still -- just the realization of what is to be. The saturated earth welcomes the warm raindrops, the liquid planet manifests. We stand, absorbing the moment. Showers taper off, magic lifts, and we are back to the hike.
A Red-tailed Hawk rides the rainbow, exulting in the sunlight between the rains. A Turkey Vulture cruises the breezes, relaxed yet alert for carrion. Corte Madera Creek overflows, releasing sediment, augmenting its delta.
BONUS: back home afterwards, an Earthstar has released spores to the moist wind.
Dan Quinn