Garden of Ridván

The painting found a home in New Zealand!

SPRING RAIN IN SEATTLE

It has been raining a lot in the Northwest this year.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER

I spied a Yellow-rumped Warbler at the suet this morning.  I haven't seen one since last May.

(Photo credit:  Jim Williams)

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN

EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN

I want to scream, but who'd listen?  

Ornamental Cherry

The Ornamental Cherry is putting on a show this year.

ONLY A HOBO

NO LEFT TURN!

1969

One of my duties as a minimum-wage laborer in the maintenance department at the Highlands Inn in the Carmel Highlands in 1969 was to weekly drive a battered 1953 Chevrolet dump truck full of garbage--most of which I  loaded-- to the landfill in Marina, and then drive to the Betty Green Stables at Asilomar for a truckload of manure, 100% of which I loaded by hand with a scoop.  The owner of the Inn, Mr. Ramsey, was a Scotsman who couldn't pass up a truckload of free fertilizer each week, and Betty was happy to have a kid haul it away.

 I crawled up Carmel Hill from the south in compound low with a load of trash and rotting garbage, returning four or five hours later with a hot load of fresh manure.  What a job! I was a kid earning a living driving a '53 Chevy dump truck around the Monterey Peninsula with a box lunch from the kitchen at the Highlands Inn!

After the adventure of dumping my load of trash and garbage in the Marina landfill, I'd drive through Monterey, then take the PG cutoff to Asilomar.  There was a roadside pullover that had a great view, and that's where I'd eat my lunch.  The approach was a little dicey to say the least,  as it was a blind curve just past the summit. Once, I damn near caused a head on collision because of my youthful stupidity, and the next week, a 'NO LEFT TURN' sign was posted.  I take full credit, or blame.

Google Streetview screenshots. It looks much today just as it did then, save for the pines obscuring the view from the pull-out.

Here are a couple of Google Earth screenshots of the pullout and the view I had while eating my box lunch.

The Del Monte Forest

 On a clear day, I could see Santa Cruz across Monterey Bay.  The words NO...LEFT... TURN are visible on the pavement--a testament to my idiocy.

It was a dumb idea

One of my boys once left me this note...