Seiko

My wife is doing the honors today, wearing the Seiko moonphase watch I'm holding here. This was once like new but non-working, sitting in my fix-it-someday box. About 3 years ago I revived it for my brother-in-law,  to give to his wife for Christmas. She didn't like it much and didn't wear it often (she's the outdoorsy type, interested in horses and golf). Eventually sister-in-law broke it, and handed it to my wife -- thus it ended up in my fix-it pile, again!

The water's surface was still, with only 2 coots and a lone fisherman visible as we hiked around.

We ducked through the reeds and overhanging bushes until it got too swampy. This view is from the south end of the pond.



Now we are looking northeast.





We have come to the stream which leaves the pond at its lowest end, so we crossed over using some rocks and broken concrete steps.





Heron hiding in the underbrush on the other side of the lake (spotted by my wife).



Hummingbird in the tree right next to us, spotted by my wife (again!). Sorry it was a rushed shot as he flitted off a second later.





I like this house perched on a hill to the north of the pond. It looks like a pair of mid-century modern binoculars.



This is THEIR VIEW of the morning sky (with us wandering around below, of course).



My wife is watching the Windy Maps tracker app, which we are using successfully for only the second time.

Red dot shows where we stopped walking so I could take pictures of the birds. 

I suppose it would have been nice to have it on some of our other walks, but I don't like messing with an app while I have so many other things to watch out for - birds, for example, and my footing, and homeless people.

And river crossings, coming right up. As you can see on the map above, the river is a dotted line. We haven't had rain for a few weeks (and before that 5 months) so I don't expect much water.

The rocky ford allows us to easily get across without muddy boots.



I've never been a woodsman, but I have to say that these walks have opened my eyes to the beauty of trees in the winter morning dawn light.



This looks like the only sycamore in our pond's park. It's holding onto many more of its leaves than the ones we saw a few days ago in a cold canyon.



A red-trunked eucalyptus.



Here is a small cluster of "California" Pepper Trees. These actually come from Peru but were brought by Spanish settlers about 200 years ago. 



The college I attended had a Pepper Tree Lane, and the trees were planted about 1900 by the first occupants of the property. The photo below shows the largest/oldest pepper in California, at the San Luis Rey Mission, about 50 miles north of here. A bit too far for our morning walks, but a site we have often visited.

The binocular house again. It was dropped onto the steep hillside lot, just a couple years ago.



We reached the car and here's the moonphase watch, on the arm of Mrs. C

  login to reply