What can I say…

I love the voluptuousness of these flowers…the color, the huge thick stalks and nearly succulent leaves. And did I mention the color? Here are just some of the photos I took at Mom’s retirement community:

Happy Mother’s Day to one and all. I guess it’s appropriate to show the area where mom lives as today’s post. If you haven’t been to visit in a day or two, scroll down below this post…lots of new photos over the past few days!

Mom never had a high-paying job, but she sure invested wisely and well (and owning a home in California as real estate skyrocketed, several times, helped). So, she lives in an upscale retirement community / enclave in Marin County (north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco is on the south end). The grounds are beautifully landscaped, and there are some wonderful typically Californian vistas.

This first view is a favorite with the residents…one of the few remaining farms in the increasingly wealthy county (where a two-bedroom, one-bath fixer-upper tiny house on postage size lot goes for WELL over $300,000—insane!). In addition to the cattle, I saw an egret (but the photo wasn’t so great–too far away) and swear I heard a peacock over by the barn buildings. Since it was May, the hills were in a rare state: green. Usually the wild grasses turn golden brown, with the dark Coast live oak trees, scrub, and screaming blue skies.

There are several water features on the property. These two photos are of the same one. Given the usual danger of drought there (it rains October to April, usually, then nothing for months), I’m sure the water is recycled / runs in a loop. The sound masks the noise of Highway 101, which is nearby (well, within earshot).

Another spot which I hadn’t seen before is tucked behind the swimming pool. This pond is surrounded by thick stands of Birds of Paradise, a profusion of nasturtiums (which are one of my favorite flowers), and various other flora. I think I took about thirty photos just of the Birds of Paradise, but that will be a separate posting!

This final photo is, to me, quintessential California hillside…the tangle of branches, the waving grass and blue sky:

Note: A brief interlude in the California photos for a “Mother’s Day” report from the mid-coast of Maine!
Today at Aldemere Farm, in neighboring Rockport, Maine, it was “Meet the Calves” day, which I’m pretty sure (as a newbie to the area) happens on Mother’s Day weekend every year. The Belted Galloways are a rare breed of cattle. Ironically, there was a farm with these “oreo cookie” cows on San Juan Island, Wash, where we used to live, and now here they are again.

I just love their curly fur, and will use some of today’s photos as “reference shots” for the cow that will be in the manger in the Tableau quilt. The calf in the photo above is only 3 weeks old, and was 50 pounds at birth (ouch!), and was happy for his mommy to groom him. If you click on the link above, you’ll see the trees in autumn…yes, it really is that gorgeous!

There are also sheep and goats as part of the 4-H projects for the kids here, and every spring at maple sugaring time offers 3-6th graders a chance to participate in the “sap to syrup” program, literally going from harvesting the sap to coming home with their “made it myself” maple syrup. Wish I were in 5th grade! The farm used to be a real working farm, and is now part of the widespread network of nature conservancy in Maine…lots and lots and lots of areas are now protected from developement—yeah! Here, Eli is feeding one of the lambies:

The setting is idyllic. In winter, folks are allowed to cross-country ski or snowshoe in the pastures where the cows aren’t. This first photo is looking East toward Penobscot Bay–if you look carefully between the trees, the horizon between darker blue in the bay, the lighter blue sky is a tad below halfway down the photo:

This photo is of one of the barns…LOVE the rhythm and repetition in the lines of the barn.

Moving west across the road from the front side of the farm house (the barns and such are out back–on the sunrise side of the house), you look across the near pasture to the large pond and (if you have really good eyes) you might be able to make out the new YMCA building on the far side of the pond.

This tree is right by the same pasture…what a fantastic branch! And as you can tell, spring has finally come to the north country!

Note—I’ve got LOTS of posts this week, so scroll down… there may be more than one that is new to you! Cheers, Sarah. Now, on to this entry:

While visiting my mom in Marin County (on the north end of the Golden Gate bridge, facing the bay, San Francisco and the Pacific), California, I took walks around the carefully manicured grounds of her retirement community. I love pattern and repetition and line, and I love pictures that make you stop to wonder what it was that was photographed. Not all these photos fit that bill, but there is (I hope) a certain cohesiveness to the images.

The first photo is, obviously, a close-up of ivy on a wall….love the interplay of line, light, shadow and shape.

This second photo is of what we called (when I was a kid) “rattlesnake grass”, so named for the pod at the end that looks like a rattler’s rattle. I had forgotten about this grass, which grows wild just about everywhere.

On the way up a small path to a bench and overlook, a tree had been cut down, leaving these wonderful lines:

And then, the ever-popular sworl/close up of a plant from above (there will be more of these in “Artichokes,” a posting to come later this week). Not sure what succulent this is, but love the radiating lines.

Finally, undulating foam (hmmm…..looks kinda gunky, but the lines were cool) in the duck pond. I liked the curve of the shore embracing the curves and sworls in the foam, the vertical lines in the grass, the light and reflections on the water:

Note—I’ve got LOTS of posts this week, so scroll down… there may be more than one that is new to you! Cheers, Sarah. Now, on to this entry:

So, how many tries does it take to get one half-way decent photo of the kids in the gift shirts from relatives in your family? In our house, the answer is waaaaaayyyy too many. Aunt Joyce and Mom (aka Nana) both sent the boys shirts from California. First, the cool dude shirts by Quiksilver (a surf / skateboard company the boys love, and which has really nice, soft cloth in their clothes…so soft that even hubby the staid was interested in a sweatshirt!):

Now…here’s what it was like getting to that photo (after Eli karate stomped on Joshua’s instep):

On to round two, Aunt Joyce scores yet again in the “COOL” category, and has upheld the honorable tradition of the coolest gifts from anyone ever:

And, on the way to that photo:

Sigh. Boys. It’s that defective Y chromosome. Somewhere along the way, the “X” chromosome lost a leg, it became a “Y”, and all the good, sensible reasonable stuff fell off with the missing leg. Hey….that theory works for me and I’m sticking to it. I married a human with one (of the Y’s). I gave birth to two. I love them all. But they are …well….. carriers of the Y chromosome. I need say no more (grin!).