Scolded by a blackbird

Blackbird: "Where have you been?? You've been neglecting your blog again!"
madretz: "Yea, sorry about that. um...I've been...busy?"

Blackbird: "That's no excuse! Besides, you haven't been busy. Seriously. You have commitment issues."
madretz: "Commitment issues? No, if you saw how committed I am to all the silly Facebook games I play, you'd realize how committed I really am. I spend hours every day tending a farm, running a restaurant, interior designing two homes and managing an amusement park. I do not have commitment issues."

Blackbird: "Then you just need to be committed - you crazy addicted facebook junkie."
_

The Mission, Noe Valley and more

The Mission District has its gritty parts, so we've been told, but we've never really driven through the neighborhood so we decided to do a quick tour. We really didn't get into the heart of the neighborhood, stayed close to Mission Delores, the Castro and into Noe Valley.
And all of those areas certainly looked to be in our comfort zone of safety. Great public transportation with BART and MUNI closeby. The homes were beautiful, many historic Victorians, yards and streets well maintained. But by the time we got to the Mission District, it was really starting to rain so my photo ops were limited.Rainy view looking towards downtown from Twin Peaks.

There were several more neighborhoods we would have liked to explore but there's only so much we could do in one afternoon. But a few other neighborhoods that would be mighty fine to live in, that I didn't go into detail about because we've explored before are: the Marina, Cow Hollow, Western Addition, and the Richmond and sure why not put Pacific Heights on that list, too. In general, we would prefer to find a place in the north part of the city. As I keep looking at this cool map, I keep finding more neighborhoods that are nice. And lots of neighborhoods I've never heard of. Check here and here for a list of all or most of SF neighborhoods. Sorry folks, the Tenderloin is not on my list of most wanted.

While I'm doing this quick review, I have to thank Stacey for letting me know that Nob Hill (and Russian Hill) certainly does have apartments available with a reasonable budget! I checked craigslist and it's definitely do-able. See, this is why I needed to explore the area more and with your help, I'm learning that some neighborhoods are attainable and others aren't as scary as they are reputed to be.

Our only peek of sun all day, shining on Cow Hollow as it turned to dusk.

Great Blue Heron in Crissy Field.

Dusk-time views of the northern parts of the city. Domed building on the right above the pier is the Palace of Fine Arts on the eastern edge of the Presidio.

One last neighborhood in tomorrow's post.
_

Bird Bath

Jimmy captured this bird getting ready for a bath in the neighbor's yard.
_

backyard snapshots

Back in the Bay Area.
_

Nevermore

Raven in Yosemite.
_

It's gonna be a dry summer

The weekend before we went to San Diego, Jimmy and I went to the hideaway and explored the high country a bit. This is the Stanislaus River, up around 6000 feet elevation. Our hideaway is at 4500 feet.

This is a view of the Dardanelles from a remote road off of Highway 108.

A short hike in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness.


Funny looking snow plants native to North American western mountain ranges, called Sarcodes sanguinea.

Wildflower Indian Paintbrush.

In the right place at the right time

At the San Jose Rose Garden
_

Lovebirds

submitted to ShutterDay: Bird

_

Who's that knockin' on my dogwood?

When we got to the cabin Friday night, it was a crisp 50 degrees so no chances of snow. When we got there, I did a little dusting and found just one spider in the sink. There’s almost always a spider in the sink when we get there, no matter if we’ve only been away for a week or 3 months. Much scarier than the spider were the items in the fridge. The fridge that hasn’t been opened in 3 months. The fridge that had food left in it because we didn’t think we’d be away as long as we were. You see, if all is good with the universe and all the planets are aligned, we like to go up to the hideaway every weekend. Or at least 3 times a month. So I usually don’t worry too much about leaving food in the fridge. Now, I don’t leave prepared food, I’m not that naive. But I will leave milk, eggs and cheese. Well, they don’t last 3 months. So you can imagine how…pleasurable that task was to my olfactory senses. But when all those little duties were done, we settled in for a nice, quiet weekend.

Saturday we had to go into town. I keep the pantry fairly well stocked, but I needed those valuable perishables and Jimmy had to look for some sort of rock to fill a ditch we had to have dug for water drainage. We stopped at a favorite Mexican restaurant for fish tacos and crab enchiladas to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

Back at the hideaway, I snapped a few photos of our dogwood tree, catching the blossoms before they died.

I also snapped a few photos of my lilac bush before pruning the flowers to bring them in the house. My mom had a lilac bush in our yard in the desert so I always think of my mom whenever I smell lilac.

I donno what happened to Sunday. I went out a couple of times to take more pictures of the dogwood and this woodpecker. Then before I knew it, we were packing up and heading back home to the Bay Area. A great, but way too short weekend away.

Birds of San Ramon

Warmth. Yes, spring is here!
You can fly with all your friends.
After a small snack.


Solitary bird
Standing alone. Watching.
Will the others play?


Morning dove, you coo.
The cat chases you away.
But you are too fast.


I turned and saw you
Through my camera’s zoom. Click!
Caught you, mid jump!


Little orange bird
You look at me, curious.
Nope, I’m not a worm.


Blue
Jay
On guard.
Not playful
like the little birds.
He senses the trouble above.



Hovering, they see
Every detail from above
Birds of prey sense all.

-

Suburban wildlife

Yesterday it warmed up to nearly 60 degrees! A beautiful day.

The birds were out playing and sunning. I took the opportunity to play with my new lens that I got for Christmas. So happy with this result. The new lens zooms to 300mm and has image stabilization so I don't need a tripod to be able to get a clear, crisp shot of this little hummer up in the tree.
I expect the hummers weren't so happy seeing this guy invading their territory.
This little birdy hangs out in the wisteria brumble. Is it too soon to be nesting? I don't see a partner. I need to put out some water for her. Jimmy insists there's a lot of water out there for the little birdy to fly to, but I'd feel better if I had a little bird bath or something. Otherwise, why would she be hankering for sugar water?
I don't know anything about birds.