BENEDICTO...

...for lovers and nature lovers...

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets' towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightening clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you -- beyond that next turning of the canyon walls.

~~~~~~~~Edward Abbey

MI FAMILIA -- PART III

My second cousin, Sara Gonzalez is getting married. Matt Scott is the lucky guy!

The Bride

The Groom

The Grandmother of the Bride

Suzanne, the Mother of the Bride

Court, the Father of the Bride

Cousin Jesse and Mother of the Bride

The Bride again --

can't have too many pix of the Bride!

Boris (may he rest in peace)

Sara and Matt met at the Ion Theatre in San Diego, California. No, they are not ushers. They are actors in a unique, "bold, uncompromising theater" group.

The group is so "uncompromising," that, a mere two years after establishing an experimental home base called "The Lab," it DE-installed the "Lab" when the company learned that the property's owners were the largest in-state supporters for the passage of Proposition 8. Committed to its mission of inclusiveness and diversity, the landlord's support of Proposition 8 became a major obstacle for the company. You can definitely say that ION talks the talk and walks the walk. Hooray for ION!

(If you're not a Californian, or if you are not familiar with Proposition 8, you'll find some excellent background here:)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_8_(2008)

And a discussion of the subsequent lawsuit filed in Federal District Court, here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_v._Schwarzenegger

But I digress....here is the link to ION THEATRE. Should you wish to explore the site, may I suggest you start by clicking on "COMPANY" on the top menu bar, then scroll through the "COMPANY 1..." options at the bottom. BEHOLD! In the first view, there's Sara and Matt sitting on the stairs, bottom right. A handsome couple indeed.

http://www.iontheatre.com/

Also at the top of the menu bar, click on "ON STAGE" to learn about Ion's productions, (ESPECIALLY THE ONE DIRECTED BY SARA!), then at the bottom of the page, find "Back of the Throat," to watch Sara's synopsis of the play she directed and how, in the present climate, it is a highly affecting post 9-11 allegory.

~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Sara and Matt, I wish you a fulfilling life together, brimming with joy and adventure, and, as you grow old together, with happy surprises and challenges within reach. Oh be still my heart!!

SALMON EGG TREE

Actually, I don't think this is a tree, but rather, a bush on steroids! And I just made up the name for it! I don't know what kind of plant, small tree or large bush, it really is! It's simply stunning in person!

It has an oak-like leaf, and I was just surprised to find it covered with luscious, juicy berries this time of year --late July.

It's the only specimen I found in my new neighborhood (approximate elevation of 1200'). I can't wait to see what its blooms look like in the Spring.

It's readily apparent I need to get a regional tree identification book to augment my wildflower tomes. These mysteries are tormenting me!

A MERE MONTH AGO...

...homeward bound from Washington, along the Columbia River Gorge.

Cool, refreshing...........blinding rain!

Misty, mysterious forests...

Lots and lots of flowering weeds, otherwise known as wildflowers...

and cool green hills.

Oh why oh why couldn't I have appreciated that weather?!!

And when the sun comes out and finishes melting this snow,

Lake Shasta may have absolutely no red dirt shoreline showing. I haven't seen the lake this full in decades. It was absolutely stunning.

And in today's sweltering heat (no, the grass is never greener, for very long, at least), I have those lovely memories of Pacific Northwest Rain to keep me cool(er)!

NAME THAT TREE #9

Devils Postpile National Monument

GAINING A FOOTHOLD

Tioga Pass

July, 2010

"Q" - NAME THAT TREE (#8)

Another Hawaii find.