Passages: April 2010

* Eyjafjallajokull * April Showers * Wild Flowers Sound of Bees Humming

Reports about the volcanic eruption from Eyjafjallajokull (pronounced EY-ya-fyat-lah-YOH-kuht -- try it) in Iceland continue to dominate the headlines. Misery for stranded travelers is not going to end any time soon. But an item in the Washington Post mentioned a happy woman who lives near London's Heathrow Airport.

"It's been wonderful," said Monica Robb, 80, who on Saturday afternoon was sitting in her back garden under a clear, blue sky, enjoying a lunch of toast and fruit. "I can hear the bees humming."

A Cool, Wet April for San Francisco Bay Area

Last weekend was wet and cold. This Sunday morning, the sun is out. Temperatures remain cold enough for sweaters in the evening. Showers in the forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday. The foothills look lush and green. Does not take long for them to turn into what some describe as California gold. Buckeyes have began to sprout. So, cool days notwithstanding signs of Spring are abundant.

Have come across more wild flowers down in the valley than at Russian Ridge up on Skyline. A mixed bag of photographs follow.

Pulgas Ridge, San Carlos, CA.

Mission Bells

California Lilac

Star Lily

Solomon's Seal

"Commonly found in central part of the eastern United States and the Ozarks." I have come across trillium sessile in Mid-Peninsula preserves, including Wunderlich and Coal Mine Creek.

Edgewood Park, San Carlos, CA.

Goldfields, Blue-eyed Grass, Owl's Clover

Tidy Tips

Owl's Clover

Larkspur

Easter Sunday. Stanford Dish, CA.

Hikers and cows

Buckeyes Sprouting

Hoover Tower and beyond

For my friends who love to tend to their gardens and walk in the woods:

It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! ~Mark Twain

Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night. ~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke

The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day.
~Robert Frost

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. ~Margaret Atwood