There’s a pretty good variety of wildflowers here in Sonoma County, but they don’t seem to be found in profusion like in the Sierra, so I have photographed individuals instead. The California Native Plant Society is very active here, so I joined and hope to go on their outings.

Aerial dogfights kept us entertained at lunchtime out in the patio today, three red shouldered hawks against about 4 ravens, diving and twisting like war movie fighters. It was all too quick for photography, as dozens of smaller birds fled the trees in front of us. Eventually one of the hawks stopped in an oak tree in our back yard. ...

Hi all. I haven’t found much wildlife here in Sonoma county, so here’s what i did today on Saint Patrick’s Day, It’s sheepdog trials, outside of Santa Rosa on a beautiful ranch, one judge from Scotland, the other Ireland.

Hi all, greetings from the Valley of the Moon. Lots of good hiking and hiking companions here, but so far nothing worthy of photographing. Today we hike from Forestville to the tiny town of Graton (rhymes with satan), and had a lunch stop in the patio of a shop with a sign saying “Funeraria.” They make funeral urns and get ...

Big changes in store for Pat and me. We accepted an offer for our North Fork house, and found a house in the Valley of the Moon (between Sonoma and Santa Rosa) that we would like to buy. It’s in an “active adult retirement community” with fitness gyms, pools, library, hiking and photography clubs, and much more. The scenery is ...

A few days ago I posted some roadside color taken on the drive to the Valley, where I walked to Mirror Lake and explored the Valley a little. It was a misty day and unusually quiet and empty of people (like it used to be when I came in the fifties.)

This morning at dawn, out of our North Fork window I saw two turkey duels going on, no doubt determining pecking order, i.e. who gets the babes and who chooses roosting spots at night. I grabbed my camera and shot pics for almost an hour before going back to my cold scrambled eggs and toast. the loser of the contest ...

It was a great hike up into the Kuna Crest, one of our favorite places, yesterday, temperature in the mid 30’s as we started out on the Mono Pass trail. I’m posting more people pics than usual just to give you an idea of what it was like.

The fall colors on the east side were a little spotty this week, although still beautiful. We visited Twin Lakes, Virginia Lakes, the June Lakes Loop, Convict Canyon, McGee Creek Canyon, Lundy Canyon and Rock Creek Canyon, taking short hikes on all but Convict Canyon. Not very many reds yet, mostly green changing to yellow, and in some places the ...

We’re just in from 3 nights on the June Lake Loop, looking for fall color. On the first night, Monday, we ate dinner on the deck of the Tioga Lodge on the shores (almost) of Mono Lake. I took these moonrise pics at 7:30 right from our table. Excellent food there, too.