Rock Garden

Gretchen, the president of the Ashland Garden Club, invited Deb to create a raised rock garden as a special demonstration event for members. Deb installed it yesterday at members' Hilary and Peter's place. This was attended by members and friends. Except for the focal point holly, most of the plants are succulents. Deb has experience with drought tolerant rock gardens, both at our home, and at one of the Ashland traffic islands (near Shaw's on 126), where she created another raised rock garden six foot across atop the existing concrete triangle last year.

Deb's creativity, experience, and perseverance were on display as she created the new garden in two hours plus. Some of the rocks were "native", having previously been residing across the street in the woods or in the backyard. The Ashland DPW supported this event by letting the homeowners collect rocks from the DPW junk piles. Under Deb's direction, observers stepped in to assist as the garden formed before our very eyes.

The rock garden was a complete success as you can see from the photos below. Audience members cheered and clapped at the finish.

Not to be forgotten, I want to also give a shout out to the host residents, Hilary and Peter, who were very accommodating.  Peter introduced many of us to Pimm's, a cordial drink served mixed with ginger ale, apparently often served at Ascot, or so we were told; delicious and refreshing on a warm summer day!

Preparation

Onlookers

Placing Rocks

Finding Humor

At Times, You Can Get Two Plants from One

Sharing a Lesson

Group Effort

Showing Where

Rock Please

Using Cocoa Husks to Support Plants in Pockets

A Welcome Visitor

Let's Discuss

Leaning In

Floating Signature

Into the Wild

Succulence

Succulents

Wet Rock

Rock on a Cliff

Abundance

Deb took this next photo on her cell phone after she decided to stop for the day. She thinks it will be completed after a layer of smaller rocks are added on top of the exposed dirt to help with erosion issues.

Complete Rock Garden

All photos (unless otherwise noted) © 2019, all rights reserved.  Contact philslens@gmail.com for licensing or to order prints.

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Half Moon Bay

Our final day of our recent visit to California included some sights in and around Half Moon Bay.

Here are photos taken just north of Half Moon Bay at Maverick's Beach, which is a destination for big-wave surfers. While we didn't see any surfers, likely due to the low tide, we enjoyed the rock formations and tide pools.

Tide's Out

Exploring Tide Pools

Oncoming Wave Crash

Slippery Rocks

Lines of Reflection

The remaining photos are taken at Half Moon Bay Beach.

Western Sun

Clouds Over Cliff

Moon Over Cliff

Sunset Bubbles

Muted Spray

Backlit Splash

Extra Big Splash

Last Minute Beach Walkers

Somersault Goodness

All photos © 2018, all rights reserved.  Contact philslens@gmail.com for licensing or to order prints.

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Pinnacles Visit

We visited Northern California to get a break from the New England winter weather. Not only was it considerably warmer than our home climate this time of year, we got to visit with my son and daughter-in-law as well; they live in San Francisco. In the first part of the trip, we stayed in Aptos at the northern edge of Monterey Bay, just south of Santa Cruz. We visited Pinnacles National Park on our first full day after arrival. I'm pretty sure I was there once before, but it was many decades ago. Other guests at the B&B where we were staying suggested we go to the east entrance, and we decided to follow their advice. Pinnacles has a west and an east side; there are no direct roads connecting the two sides.

After parking in the Bear Gulch parking lot, we hiked the Overlook Trail (yellow) and the Bear Gulch Cave Trail (green).

Our Pinnacles Hikes

While the Outlook Trail was pleasant, it wasn't as interesting as the hike up to the Bear Gulch Reservoir via the Bear Gulch Cave. There was a light rain shower twice during the Outlook Trail hike, but it didn't bother us too much.

We enjoyed the striking smooth red bark of some of the trees on the trails. After returning home, and doing a bit of googling, I've decided this is a Manzanita tree. I've seen them before when I lived in California, but had forgotten what a unique and colorful appearance they have.

Manzanita Tree

 View of some "pinnacle" formations towering over Bear Gulch.

Monoliths in the Distance

High Silhouette

The remaining photos are from the Bear Gulch Cave trail loop.

Rock Wall

Here's Deb demonstrating her massive strength to keep these rocks from colliding. This gap occurs right before the entrance to the cave.

Deb Keeps the Rocks from Colliding

The cave was quite a joy to climb through. It had steps inside, and one could stand up most of the way except in a few places. Parts of it were extremely dark; we had to use our cell phone flashlights to see where we were going. The next two cave pictures are of a particularly colorful section using two different aspect ratios. These were at ISO 5000 at 1/20 and 1/25 seconds respectively. I do not recall seeing the color on the rock with my eye. Nice that the camera reveals it.

Cave Color

Shining Through

After exiting the cave, we had an adventure figuring out which piles of rocks to crawl though to find the stunning Bear Gulch Reservoir.

Reservoir Peak

Boulders and Trees

Enjoying the High Res

Late Day Reservoir Blue

High Terrain

On the way back down, after the lovely reservoir visit, Deb used her great hiking boots with good grip to take a detour out onto a steep outcropping to see a magnificent view of the valley below. Here she is standing atop big rocks. Did I say these were BIG rocks?

Feeling Small

The Pinnacles terrain is unique and impressive!

Trailside View

All photos © 2018, all rights reserved.  Contact philslens@gmail.com for licensing or to order prints.

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