Beautiful Deadly Blossoms and Bees

Yesterday while painting on the Patio, there was a loud buzzing on the east side of the house. I ran over and peered around the corner, and there was a bee swarm flying around like crazy. Calling out to Scoschi, Scoschi Sscoschi House , into the house !!! the sliding door was open and she came quickly and we made it into the house without being stung. That is a good thing, for I'm allergic to bee stings.

Shaking and breathing hard from the Adrenalin surge, we both sat on the sofa and looked out side. There were no bees to see, but we stayed in for hours to make sure.

Going to Wiki, I found that bees can fly up to 15 miles an hour, and that I should run at least 100 yards to outrun them. Humph...at 84 I walk about 2.5 miles an hour, and I'm not a football player how can I do this 100 yard run. So what to do if I'm out on My morning walk at there is a bee swarm coming at me?

Contemplating this, Scoschi and I are walking up San Dimas toward the place where we always stop at the end of San Miguel Court to survey the Valley. There up ahead on the sidewalk are beautiful white blossoms. Scoschi walking ahead of me makes a run for them. She has never seen them before, and being a puppy, all is fair to sniff and possibly eat. I recognize the blossoms as Oleander blossoms and call out to Scoschi “no no”...she stops and we make a wide path around them, they are so lovely...

Oleanders are deadly to people and pets. One leaf can kill a dog. Any part of the Oleander will make a human sick and possibly kill if enough is ingested. The smoke can also kill or make you sick. It is said that the Roman soldiers used smoke to kill their opponents. Along the freeways you can see these bushes with their beautiful white and pink blossoms waving their cane in the breeze.

Still contemplating the bee episode, I look around and though it is only 6:00 AM the sun will be up and the warming flora will attract the bees. The flowers in the many gardens are splendid in their water color compositions , but the bees will come. WOW...walking is supposed to be calming and a time for introspection on the bounty of nature and the melding of our human self. Blossoms and Bees, and calming Nature, how do I come to terms with the paradoxical elements of these two thoughts swirling round in my brain?

So here I am...walking in my beautiful Rancho Hermosa neighborhood with thoughts of mortality making me fearful. Hmmmm...then the thought of fear its self being the source...so Stop, and think that never have you seen a swarm on any of your walks. The Oleander is not a threat to Scoschi because you are ever caring of what the little one can smell on our walks. So think calm. Pondering my own advice, we come to the end of San Miguel Court, the sun is blasting its way onto this new day, and the day will be a fine one because I have kicked the fear over the fence and watched it vanish into the rays of the sun. It will be a fine Day.

May Grey and June Gloom

Actinoform Clouds

These two ladies who make up our spring and early summer weather patterns have returned today with their usual impact of depressing emotional status. I have experienced these weather patterns for decades, and like clockwork they return year after year. The cloud cover is deep and lasts for hours if not the entire day. The Actinoform cloud can be 300 miles wide and for this reason, we cannot see the edges, so it is just the entire sky. This year, the first 8 days of May were sunny and joyfully warm. Hmmm...is this going to be the new normal with our planet's warming? I guess not, for today Miss Grey is back bringing the feeling of another day without the golden sunshine that is our San Diego promise.

Miss Scoschi doesn't seem concerned, she has spotted a rabbit on walk descending  the San Dimas hill. Energy streams from her little body, and little emotive sounds of hunting glee are her letting me know that if I did not have her on a leash, well, out of sight would she be. The rabbit escapes under a bush and dashes under a car out of sight. Scoschi undaunted struggles to climb the bank and attack the bush. Miss Grey seems unrelated Scoschi's emotional being for her instincts of the hunt are bred into her. Maybe this is the same mental need we have that the sun is bred into us for our daily energy lift. I know that seasonal affective disorder is an important recognized state which can cause depression. This usually happens in the short winter months, but for some, it can happen in the months of May and June.

The Blanket of Actinoform Cloud

My focus today is to keep up the daily routine of “the Walk”. The Walk has become an increasing need, for the isolation of our current social distancing is keeping us well, but the isolation does build up a tension of angst. The longer that this isolation continues, I believe that the walk will become exponentially important. The calming effect of the drumbeat of resounding footsteps is the sound of good health and body maintenance. As I look out at the San Luis Rey Valley smothered in it's grey blanket overhead, the day seems heavy and lacking in energy. 

July comes with Time 

The Good News... I have an energy charger with me in the form of a little Rat Terrier called Scoschi. She looks at me as if to say, why are we stopping, and why can't we find another rabbit ? I smile, and the smile generates the mental awakening that today is a gift of time and time is the most precious possession we have for our human existence.   

San Luis Rey Valley 

Little Cat Feet

Fog Rivers in the San Luis Rey Valley

In California when we think of Fog, we picture in our minds eye, San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Here in Oceanside we have coastal fog throughout the year, and sometimes it is so dense that it is unsafe to drive. Sometimes the Fog goes inland and can become a hazard to all. Driving in these conditions is for the folks who, I guess have x-ray eyes. I can remember one time when I was in collage, living in Whittier, my future husband Robert and I exited a movie and we could not see across the street. I lived about 1 mile from the movie theater so I walked next to the driver's side of the car so we could follow the white line in the middle of the road, and I could direct the way and Robert drove. We never saw another car, or human being. It was like we were in a world by our selves and creepy to the max. I have read that in London they have fog such as this.

This morning at 6:00 AM Scosche and I set off down San Dimas and all was very quiet, the sky crystal clear and it felt like a Santa Ann condition was brewing. We used to call these conditions Santanas but the weather forecasters mostly call the condition Santa Ana. Rounding the bend in San Dimas, I could see the Valley stretched way in the distance. Rivers of Fog were curling through the San Luis Rey Riverbed, and in the subsidiaries winding their way to the riverbed. Magical it seemed, just like the Bay in San Francisco, but much more serpentine with the entanglement of the fingers of the fog in the riverbed.

The effect is surreal. The air is so clear, the mountains and hills stand out in stark purple relief, and down in the crevasses of the Valley, this whiteness, winding its way on little cat feet. So quiet, not a sound, not bird song, little Scosche looking at me like what is it, this feeling of another world within the real world. We spend time here, looking at the Valley, listening to the silence, and breathing the sweet morning air seasoned with the new growth from the rains of last month. This melding of the senses, with the blending of misty fogs and breathing in the beginnings of a new day, must be what Thoreau was writing about. Letting the soul of Nature seep into our human self, and the replenishment that this quietude brings. And so, I linger.

Now, blasting over the top of the Palomar Mountains, comes the sun. Intense it is these rays of sunshine, a visceral flooding of energy into my aging self. Young once more in my joy of this new day.

Time to go, for the day has begun, and the little cat feet down in the valley will slowly hide and become the morning dew on the meadows below...

Note: There are 7 types of fog

At San Miguel Court overlooking the San Luis Rey Valley, and Scosche looking for a rabbit...

Butterscotch Walks

Scosche Joy

May I, 2020

When we moved back to Oceanside in 2009, my Beagle Buddy, Beaureguard was only 3 years old. We did morning power walks at 4:30 AM five days a week. The San Dimas Hill was not a problem then, and we had surprises of bunnies running across our path. This did present a huge challenge for me even then, for he at 30lbs had the strength of a little bulldozer on premium gas with after burners. He did pull me over one morning, and lucky was I not to break a leg. I lost my sweet Beau last December and these months following his passing left me bereft and a profound loss of joy for my morning expeditions.

Yesterday, I found Butterscotch. She is a very small Rat Terrier. About 12 pounds, she will not be a concern for my staying upright on the morning walks.

Butterscotch

Hmmm... about the name Butterscotch. She is a princess, tiny little feet, big brown eyes, one ear up, one ear down a little, and a white vest for her Sunday best look. Scosche will be my love name for her, it's short and she comes prancing to me. Scosche means little...she is every inch a little joy. I think she might be a purebred, but with the one ear not standing upright, not good for show. I rescued her from the Oceanside Humane location, and brought her home, she is my new walking buddy and so much more. Love streams from her small body, and energy beams to my old self reviving my spirits to be a hopeful person once again.

Dog walking has many advantages. You meet new people, your dog gets to socialize, there is no timeline for fitness walking, and the energy melds between you and the pup and the stepping out seems to be easier and happier. When Beau was older, I did two walks. One for his outing adventures were start and stops, and one for my fitness training. I think that this program is one that will be revived for, my little Butterscotch Princess does take her time, and there are many stops along the way. I will try her on the morning power walk to see if she can keep up, but she being only 1 year old, it might not be her game...

I have often wondered about the why a dog is part of my essential makeup to my inner world. Why is there such a comfort in the nearness of this warm loving being next to and beside me walking where ever that may be. Once upon a time, I journeyed to Northern California for three weeks in my Ford 150 Van. I took my German Shepherd with me, her name was Miss Waldo. For the many miles on this adventure, she would sit in the co-pilot seat next to me, watching the passing scenery, noticing the cows, and other farm life that I could not really pay attention to, for I was driving. She on the other hand let me know when there was something really important to stop and take in, and this was a benefit, for taking in the new, and unexplored was really the purpose of my trip. It was with a start one day, when I looked at her, and realized that she was a dog, for her presence had been one of a silent companionable conversation with a being of wonderment and understanding about our journey.

Loyalty and trust are two of our most wanted attributes in human relationships. They are the most difficult to find in our human connections. These inborn attributes in our dogs may be the source of our connection with our canine friends for it is unquestionable. It's just there. There is one other attribute that is for me the most important of all, and this is Joy. It greets us morning, noon and night when we call them, when we come home, and in response, they give us that look that shines in their eyes that says, I Love!  Unconditioned.

May 2, 2020 6:30 AM

We did brave the long walk this morning. She out paced me every step of the way. Prancing, dancing in the new morning, looking for rabbits, and ready for adventures in her new life at Rancho Hermosa.        

Home again ready to play