Raincheck

Though Memorial Day weekend has passed and we're counting the days 'til summer, gentle spring rains continue to coax seasonal wildflowers. During chance encounters along the trails of my morning hikes, they appear like fleeting celebrities who smile for one quick photo before they quickly disappear, promising to return for next year's performance.




If anybody who knows the real names of these pinkish - lavender and / or the yellow flax - like flowers, I'd appreciate your assistance with my plant ID's! Thanks!

Layer, Illustration Friday

"Man - despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many accomplishments - owes his existence to a six inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains." ~Author Unknown

Much of the country would be grateful for a string of warm sunny days such as those we've enjoyed recently in southern California. Besides providing the obvious distractions, the sameness can get a little too predictable. A recent trip through the desert between cloudbursts, as the spring wildflowers awaken provided just enough visual stimulation to shake the mental cobwebs loose. Beneath layers of sleeping brain cells which sometimes seem to occupy areas of space as vast and arid as the desert, small seeds of ideas wait to be unearthed, even sporadically and unexpected.