It was a big day at The Holler!
The hummers wanted their portraits taken.
First, there was lots of primping,
and fluffing.
A hummer’s feathers need to look their very best,
for such an auspicious occasion.
After their photo shoot, they got back to their favorite activity,
eating!
Cheers to you from The Holler Hummers~
The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway has the world’s largest rotating tram cars.
The two and a half mile trip up the mountain from the desert floor takes ten minutes.
It brings you from a desert floor elevation of 479 feet to 8, 516 feet. That’s a big climb in ten minutes!
The ride up moves through five different life zones, from the Sonoran Desert floor to the Arctic/Alpine Zone, where the highest peak, Mt. San Jacinto, is 10, 834 feet.
You leave the stark, baking desert, and hike in the mountains where the temperatures are 30 degrees cooler than below.
During our trip, a summer storm was moving in, causing it to rain on the mountain, and dropping the temperatures even more.
By the time we returned to the desert, we could watch the rain clouds move in over the mountains accompanied by lots of thunder. This is a rare summer occurrence and one I have never seen before. Despite the rain, the temperature remained a steady 112 degrees fahrenheit, and the drops evaporated quickly after contact with the superheated desert.
After the passage of the brief storm, the light was lovely.
Cheers to you from the scorching, but beautiful, summer desert~
And not a drop to drink. I can relate to The Ancient Mariner.
The Holler flooded with nice cold drinking water while we were away visiting the baby grand-twins. A faulty refrigerator filter was the culprit. There are 84 industrial fans and scores of dehumidifiers running our electrical bill through the roof. We do, thankfully, have insurance.
The damage is legion,
causing me to dream at night of waves,
and sea creatures.
When the dream waves became violent,
and the creatures creepy,
I knew it was time for a change of scenery. (We are thankful for family members willing to stay and monitor The Holler).
So now we are in the desert, where the temperatures are hovering around 105F which is cool for summer in the desert and thunderstorms are in the forecast. I love the desert in the summer, and in all the years I have been coming here, I have never seen a summer desert thunderstorm. The clouds are forming and I can’t wait! So, bring on the water….
Cheers to you from the soon to be sodden desert~
In 1860 a stagecoach pass was hacked through the California wilderness over the mountainous San Marcos Pass to connect Mission Santa Barbara to The Santa Ynez Rancho.
A rest stop was built along the stage coach route high up on The San Marcos Pass, next to a naturally running cold mountain spring.
This stage-stop was, and is still called, Cold Spring Tavern.
Back in the day the tavern served hot meals and alcohol.
It still serves both today, and the experience of eating here is one we return to enjoy whenever we pass by this area.
There was a bunkhouse,
a small store, a stable, and several small homesteads, forming a town called Gopherville, which is now a ghost town.
The town even had a jail which could hold up to eleven (crowded) souls…. rowdy cowboys and such, who likely drank too much whiskey…..
Cheers to you from Cold Springs Tavern & the still wild west~
The flower is
the stem’s cry of beauty
to the universe.
-Vassilis Comporozos
Thimbleberry flower, Washington State.
These pink and red poppies
were also found bursting in bloom in Washington state.
We can’t grow peonies at The Holler, but I buy them in season,
to display in bouquets.
Holler white rose.
Holler sweet peas.
We had loads of blooms this year due to the wonderful rain.
Rhododendron Washington State.
Cheers to you from summer’s smiling flowers~
(These herons were photographed in South America and South Africa).
“So heavy
is the long-necked, long-bodied heron,
always it is a surprise
when her smoke-colored wings
open
and she turns
from the thick water,
from the black sticks
of the summer pond,
and slowly
rises into the air
and is gone.
Then, not for the first or the last time,
I take the deep breath
of happiness, and I think
how unlikely it is
that death is a hole in the ground,
how improbable
that ascension is not possible,
though everything seems so inert, so nailed
back into itself–
the muskrat and his lumpy lodge,
the turtle,
the fallen gate.
And especially it is wonderful
that the summers are long
and the ponds so dark and so many,
and therefore it isn’t a miracle
but the common thing,
this decision,
this trailing of the long legs in the water,
this opening up of the heavy body
into a new life: see how the sudden
gray-blue sheets of her wings
strive toward the wind; see how the clasp of nothing
takes her in.
Cheers to you from Mary Oliver’s Heavenly Herons~
Source: Heron Rises From The Dark, Summer Pond, Mary Oliver.
Every couple of years I visit Free Flight Exotic Bird Sanctuary in Southern California and play with the birds. Meet the Superb Parrot native to Australia. This is the only bird featured in this post that is not designated endangered or vulnerable in the wild.
Every time I visit, I leave wanting to adopt one of their birds, like this Eclectus Parrot, native to the Solomon Islands.
Free Flight was established by an avian veterinarian to rescue and rehabilitate pet parrots. They have several highly endangered Hyacinth Macaws which are the largest of the Macaw species.
Friendly and outgoing Yellow Naped Amazons live in Mexico and Central America.
Pretty in Pink Moluccan Cockatoos are native to Indonesia.
Free Flight birds live in an open aviary and interact readily with the people who come to visit them.
African Grey Parrots from the Congo are famous talkers. Despite myths to the contrary, bird brains are intelligent brains. Parrot brains in particular are similar in several important ways to primate brains.
Blue and gold macaw are native to South America.
Cheers to you from the beautiful, happy and healthy parrots, at Free Flight Exotic Bird Sanctuary~
For More on the non-profit sanctuary check out : https://www.freeflightbirds.org/about-free-flight
Coquimbo Chile is a marine bird paradise!
It is home to the impressive Peruvian Pelican.
Peruvian Pelicans are twice the size of their northern cousins and stand up to five feet tall!
They somehow manage to look individually comical,
but sober as judges in a group.
These beauties were photographed in Coquimbo Chile, and on the Palomino and Ballestas Islands off the coast of Peru.
Cheers to you from the pretty as a picture Peruvian pelis~
I found Bambi grazing on a lawn in Washington state!
He was surrounded by very watchful adults.
The adults were a bit wary of humans,
but Bambi was pure curiosity!
This adult had a massive yet cleanly healed scar that transversed her right side and formed a y flap crossing over her shoulder. This was a major injury that cut through lots of muscle. I wonder if a good samaritan veterinarian stitched her up?
Cheers to you from the peaceful, and very dear-deer~
Port Townsend has to be one of the most charming towns we have visited.
It is a historic Victorian seaport on the edge of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state.
Click to enlarge if you want to see the details of this amazing house and garden.
The town is bordered by the stunning Puget Sound and the Straight of Juan de Fuca.
It has panoramic views of the sound and the snowy Olympic Mountains.
This beauty with her Mansard roof is perched overlooking the water, with windows everywhere, to capture the views.
Port Townsend is full of art galleries and artists.
The residents have restored the town’s many painted ladies to surpass their former glory.
Bounded by seas and sounds, Port Townsend has wonderful restaurants, as well as fun pubs and cafes.
St Paul’s Episcopal Church is a gothic revival built in 1860.
Wandering the the old Victorian neighborhoods is a architectual browsers paradise.
Cheers to you from stunning and historic Port Townsend~
