Sunday Morning

Once the Sunday papers were as read as we cared to read them, showers were taken and exercises done, we decided (well, actually, I decided and John somewhat grudgingly dragged himself away from his garden) to go to the Sonoma Valley park which is always pretty in the spring. It also has a lower paved path which I took and an upper trail with a better chance of wildflowers as well as poison oak which John and Spike took. Feeling a bit stiff and creaky, I ambled along with my camera which has been out of use for so long that I've almost forgotten how to use it.

There were buttercups and fried egg flowers, lots of raucous acorn woodpeckers, horses and their riders and of course many dogs with their people. I deliberately didn't take my phone and thought maybe I could count my steps myself, but of course there were far too many distractions for that to be very successful. 

The light on the Matanzas Range ,which defines one side of the Sonoma Valley, was interesting, the clouds casting lots of shadows, the vineyards climbing the hillsides in some places and showing new green growth and the trees leafing out in their bright new foliage. John commented that there were a lot of cars coming the other way on the two lane highway and I started musing about how much it would spoil this beautiful valley if the powers-that-be decided to widen the road. I'm not too worried about it as the powers-that-be-don't even seem to be able to tie their own shoes. They have been widening Highway 101, the main North/South  road between San Francisco and Oregon in one two or three mile spot south of here for ten years and just proudly announced that they will be reopening the finished southbound direction soon so they can start on the northbound direction. It seems like an inexplicably long time....

Back home I started watching our resident squirrel navigate the squirrel baffle on the bird feeder to get to the birdseed. He was joined at one point by another squirrel, but promptly chased it away, so I guess she wasn't his partner. No sign of the turkeys this morning but we can hear them calling to each other. Most people call this a 'gobble' but I like to think of it as more of a 'chuckle'. A roe deer has been feasting on the new green grass,  just on the other side of our fence for quite awhile. The animals must be enjoying the tentative emergence of spring as much as we are....