Fall in Grafton, IL

View @ Lookout Point 1PPD 10/16/09
Originally uploaded by jessajune

Last week, I went to Grafton, IL to see some friends get married. It rained for the early part of our stay, but by the end the weather was chilly but gorgeous. We don't get too much of the fall colors out here in California - it was a bit early for them in Grafton, but things were quite lovely. I've posted a bunch of pictures to my Flickr.

We spent a lot of time in Pere Marquette State Park, which is small but quite lovely - and the location that this picture was taken.

Rain

Rain 1PPD 10/13/09
Originally uploaded by jessajune

We had our first storm of the season this week! It was exciting. The chimney grate blew off my parents' roof and Dad and I climbed up in the rain and wind to put it back.

That may have been a large part of the excitement.

But I love fall and winter - looking forward to more storms of this sort. But for now I'm glad they've stopped, as I'm getting on a plane tomorrow.

Back from Maine!

Plank Bridge
Originally uploaded by jessajune

I am back from Maine! You didn't even know I was gone, did you? You thought this was my usual sort of not-posting-in-the-blog. But no! I had the excuse of being across the country, where it is both foggy and warm at the same time, which is pretty bizarre for we folks who hang out in San Francisco.

It was a great trip. Maine is beautiful. And very wet. They are apparently having an unusually cool/wet summer, which does not at all detract from the beauty, but does make tramping around the countryside sort of an adventure. Fortunately, I overpacked, so I had sufficient dry clothes for regular changing.

I've posted a boringly large set of photos to my Flickr: Maine Trip July 09.

Fire in China Camp

I'm glad we went to China Camp when we did. They just had a big fire over there yesterday. Fortunately no one was hurt. Apparently there has been a lot of Sudden Oak Death in that area, which lead to a lot of dried out trees in addition to the usual dry grass.

The weather has been hot this week and will continue through the weekend, which means fire danger around this area is pretty high. Be careful out there.

War for the Oaks

I am waging a war on all the baby oak trees sprouting up all over the yard. I would say I was waging war against the squirrels who likely buried them in the vegetable beds to begin with, but if the acorn has gone so far to sprout a 4" tree, I think it's safe to say the squirrels have long forgotten about them. I suspect squirrels don't have the greatest long-term memory. And certainly we can't blame the squirrels for all of them - quite a few are within tossing distance of the oak trees in the hedge alongside the yard.

Now, I love oak trees more than your average person. There is something about the sight of brown hills with spreading dark green oak that says "home" and "California" to me like nothing else. However, this does not mean I want them taking over the vegetable garden, or sprouting up under the apple trees, and getting in the way of our grand plans for this summer's gardening.

And so I wage war. I was hoping for a sprinkling of rain this week, to soften the ground. I haven't gotten it, so I'm going ahead without. I've pulled up a dozen so far this morning, and there are many many more to go. With the ground hard and dry, it's hard to get up the acorn itself, which means I may be re-fighting today's battle again in a few months. But I shall fight on. Right after I find a pair of gardening gloves, because my hands are starting to hurt.

(with apologies to Emma Bull for the title)

China Camp Hike

Grass in the wind
Originally uploaded by jessajune

The Monday of Memorial Day weekend, we went hiking at China Camp. We drove all the way out to the remains of the fishing village at the end of the park, took a quick look, then set out on the trail to find a good picnic spot.

It was a perfectly gorgeous day, and the park is a nice one - only $3 to park all day, and they have picnic facilities for people who don't choose to find a likely spot at the top of a hill, like we did.



The only difficulty in our day was that we didn't really consult a trail map. We just picked a direction and walked in it. It turns out that if you take the trail along the back side of the park, it just runs along the border, and you'll walk 5 miles or so through lovely grass and wooded areas with no forks in the trail. And if you are too stubborn to turn around, like we were, you will walk around the entire China Camp park, because if you leave your car at one and and then walk to the other, you don't have much of a choice but to go back (though by a different route, to keep things interesting). And maybe you will be pretty tired before you are finished with the trek back. Possibly.



That said, it was a great day, and I would highly recommend it as a place to go to escape June Gloom in SF. Just check a trail map before you set out, ok? And don't forget your sunscreen.