Author: cindy knoke

https://cindyknoke.com/ I retired early after 27 years as a psychotherapist/mental health director (Cindy Barton LCSW) and moved to the outer limits of no-wheres-ville to a home I call "The Holler." My closest neighbors are coyotes (packs and packs of them and they are HUNGRY), rattlers (lots and lots of them and they are MEAN), and free range cows/bulls (the bulls aren't too friendly either!) Forget cell phones. They don't work out here. Forget GPS, it misdirects. It's best not to wander too much out here, the people (and their dogs) are kinda twitchy. To reach The Holler you turn right at the reeking chicken farm, down a bunch of pot-holed semi-streets/dirt roads, past the abandoned refrigerators and occupied old RV’s and then things get kinda dicey. My friends usual reaction to the trip to The Holler is, “You’ve got to be kidding!” Or, “Next time let’s meet half way.” This is our little bit of heavenly Appalachia right here in rural California. I blog about traveling, photography, Holler happenings, and anything else that strikes my fancy. Stop by the blog and take a peek. It’s safe. I promise. Cheers, Cindy~ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Holler Orchids~

On July 18, 2020July 18, 2020 By cindy knokeIn Conservation, EXTERIOR & INTERIOR DESIGN, Flowers, GARDENING AT THE HOLLER, HOLLER HAPPENINGS, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, Psychological Self Care, REVERIES259 Comments

Quiet beauty.

For difficult days.

Fragile.

Strong.

Like you,

and I.

Orchids grow,

in volcanic rock.

Beauty blooms from fire.

Cheers to you and keep on blooming~

Rude Roo~

On July 11, 2020July 11, 2020 By cindy knokeIn Conservation, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES, TRAVEL REVIEWS, Wild Life205 Comments

Sticking his tongue out at you!

Actually, don’t be offended. It was at me not you.

There were joey’s too!

Like babies everywhere, they spent their time eating & sleeping.

While the parents kept vigil.

Adults are well equipped for both fight & flight.

Cheers to you from Australia’s normally quite polite roos~

Hunca Munca & Brothers~

On July 3, 2020July 6, 2020 By cindy knokeIn Conservation, Flowers, GARDENING AT THE HOLLER, HOLLER HAPPENINGS, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES, Wild Life191 Comments

I was watering The Holler flowers,

daydreaming, not paying attention,

when out of the corner of my eye, I spied,

baby Hunca Munca and her three little brothers,

desperately climbing and clinging to the fountain grass.

I had inadvertently flooded their nest!

Needless to say, I gave watering a rest.

Cheers to you from all the living creatures at The Holler~

Note: For more about Hunca Munca see, “The Classic Tale of Two Bad Mice,” by Beatrix Potter.

Dancing Duet~

On June 27, 2020July 6, 2020 By cindy knokeIn Birds, Conservation, Flowers, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES, TRAVEL REVIEWS, Wild Life231 Comments

The Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney Australia are an urban bird paradise.

I found this pair of magpie larks singing and dancing happily in the park.

The name magpie lark is a misnomer as these handsome birds are neither magpies nor larks, but are members of the giant monarch flycatcher family.

Magpie larks are musical prodigies who sing co-ordinated duets together, timed by the metronomic movements of their synchronized dancing. See: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160803-the-strange-reason-magpie-larks-dance-when-nobody-is-looking

Cheers to you from the magical birdies of Oz~

Holler Hiking~

On June 20, 2020July 6, 2020 By cindy knokeIn Conservation, Coyotes, GARDENING AT THE HOLLER, HOLLER HAPPENINGS, REVERIES, Wild Life207 Comments

and picnicking,

are perfect during a pandemic.

No one here but us turkeys.

Well there are lots and lots of coyotes skulking about….

and cacti blooming everywhere.

The pasture below The Holler is happy due to all the rain,

and this is our peaceful morning view.

Cheers to you, from all of us, hunkered down at The Holler, with hopes you are staying safe and well~

Masters of Camouflage~

On June 13, 2020June 14, 2020 By cindy knokeIn Birds, Conservation, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES, TRAVEL REVIEWS215 Comments

Scaly-Breasted Lorikeets,

are easy to hear,

but hard to see,

they blend in so perfectly with their arboreal home!

Cheers to you from the well camouflaged lorikeets in Oz~

Peak Experience~

On June 4, 2020June 5, 2020 By cindy knokeIn HOLLER HAPPENINGS, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES, Wild Life231 Comments

Quarantine is good for hiking up to places where no humans are!

This is the Laguna/Borrego Escarpment close to The Holler.

It is the ridgeline of the Laguna Mountain Range in Southern California. The Pacific Coast Trail runs through here and you cross it coming up.

You are looking down from the ridgeline onto the Anza Borrego Desert, parts of which are below sea level.

Butterflies are up here enmass because the wildflowers are blooming.

The hike up is strenuous, but good exercise, and the views make it the perfect place for a quarantine picnic.

Cheers to you from a lonely view~

Now is the Time We All Need A Great Leader~

On May 29, 2020May 30, 2020 By cindy knokeIn REVERIES251 Comments

We need words and acts of wisdom, ethics and compassion, from our leaders now more than ever. Since this is utterly lacking, take heart from the words of a truly gifted leader that could never be more relevant than today.

Martin Luther King (1929 – 1968) addresses the March On Washington at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC, where he gave his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

“Letter from Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963

“Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.”

“I Have a Dream”, Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963

My heart breaks for George Floyd, his family, and our country. Are we not better people than this?

There are no cheers today, only grief~

See:

https://www.joincampaignzero.org/#vision