Fence & Lilies
Originally uploaded by cheryldoran-girard
Red-tailed hawks floated gracefully over the broad greening hills as I drove north on Highway 1 towards Fort Ross. Their rufous and white colored underwing feathers warm against a faintly blue sky. Sounds of the Fort Ross' bell, running water and surf surge greet me as I exit the car on the westernmost side of the Fort Ross complex and senses are assaulted by the enticing salty tang of the ocean that dissipates quickly in the cool, foggy air.
This impromptu trip to Fort Ross is spent in the meadow adjacent to the Call House and on a bluff above the Pacific.
Behind a low lichen-covered picket fence is an overgrown meadow where yellow wildflowers abound. The riot of color is softened by weathered grey picnic tables scattered amid the ocean of waving yellow blossoms. It is the meadow, the flowers, me and my lens for a good two hours. Clumps of creamy fat lilies rising out of deep green foliage their yellow stamens pushing out like the tongue of a small child taunting an older sibling. A majestic eucalyptus with shaggy blossoms hanging from its lower branches holds court in the back corner of the meadow. Fallen logs lie amid the yellow profusion.
Following the sounds of deep grunts and a higher-pitched bawling, I make my way toward the edge of the bluff. Below lazing on a rock are a mother harbor seal and her pup. She is a lovely pale gray and the smallish pup has far darker fur. I guess my movement along the edge of the bluff alerts the mother and she squalls somewhat more loudly while lifting her short doglike face upward. I'm surprised she is so obviously at rest on the rock when there are a number of folks fishing from the rocks in close proximity.
Making my way across the bluff to shoot a large clump of lilies against a fence, a soft slithering noise at my feet causes a quick look down to find an almost pencil-thin garter snake sliding quickly away in the underbrush. Its distinct black and white striped body moving sinuously sideways. The low-growing under brush gives no sense of the snake's length and I wonder how big these reptiles become.
My final shots are of the oddly developing pinecones and flowers amid the evergreen branches. This spur-of-the-moment field trip didn't include packing the usual bag of reference materials, journals and watercolors.
The day begins to grow colder as I rest on a carved bench at the top of the bluff to merely drink in the wondrous sense of be able to be out and about at the end of a long, cold and wet winter.
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