The Secret of the Super Secret Meadow

I know it’s supposed to be Ruby Tuesday but Ruby is giving up the floor so that I can keep my promise to share the secret of the Super Secret Meadow . . . you’ll see a tiny bit of Ruby at the end, no fears!

Come back with me to the Super Secret Meadow.  If you remember, we saw lots of wildflowers here but there were two wildflowers that I saved to share with you in a special way.  First of all, many of us read Julie Zickefoose’s blog and there is something Julie is well known for . . . no not her wealth of knowledge on birds and birding, no, not her phenomenal ability to paint birds, no, not the incomparable Chet Baker, no, not her naughty parrot, no, not her nearly unbelievable bird rehabilitation stories, no, not her fantastic kids or lovely garden or . . . yes, that’s right, orchids!  Julie has the most amazing orchids and has encouraged many of us to try growing orchids for ourselves.

Well, the real secret of the Super Secret Meadow is that there are two different kinds of wild orchids growing in this super secret place.  The Super Secret Meadow is somewhere near June Lake, California.  June Lake sits at around 7500 feet above sea level on the easter side of the Sierra Nevada mountains.  This is high desert but clearly not all of it is desert.  There is a fresh water spring up here as well as a mineral water seep.  These conditions encouraged the super secret meadow to form and form it did.  And, these conditions allow orchids to thrive too.

Look closely at this picture and you’ll see white or pale green spires sticking up all over the place.  That is our first and most abundant orchid in the Super Secret Meadow. It is the White Rein Orchid which is also known as a Sierra Bog Orchid.   It’s scientific name is Platanthera dilatata or Habenaria dilatata (evidently it’s undergoing a taxon change — well, we birders understand that one, don’t we?  Ask me how my Blue Grouse became a Dusky Grouse that was really a Sooty Grouse).

Isn’t it lovely?

The other orchid found in and near the Super Secret Meadow is the Stream Orchid.  We actually saw these along the trail to the Super Secret Meadow.  The Stream Orchid’s scientific name is Epipactis gigantea.

Look at those gorgeous colors.

I absolutely fell in love with these beautiful orchids.  They are so, so beautiful.  I was so happy to see them wild and thriving.  I desperately wanted to take them all home with me — and they both do grow in Santa Cruz county — but that would have been so wrong.  And if I collected them and they didn’t survive.  Well, I don’t think I could live with that.  Better to collect photographs and know they are there, thriving, wild, and in a Super Secret Meadow.

Ruby hopes you liked the Super Secret Meadow as much as she did!

 

Temperature Temper Tantrum

hot, sticky, temper
the temperature goes up
the heat annoys me

I have read about people who enjoy the heat, who sink into it, and fully relax.  I am not one of those people.  I cannot cope well in hot weather.  Small decisions are beyond me.  Little details slip away from me.  The heat annoys me.

hot, languid, lifeless
each leaf wilts before the heat
the water is hot

My favorite time of each day is when I water the garden.  When temperatures sore to over 100, the black coil of hose becomes an efficient solar water heater.  If I were washing my dishes, I’d be pleased but scalding my plants will not help them to recover from the heat.  The heat annoys me.

smoke clogs the clear sky
brown, ash-filled air clogs my lungs
I long for cool fog

I live near the coast.  Soon, the weather will change and the cool, damp fog will reclaim its right to march up into these mountains bringing fog needed by redwood trees, my garden, and the fire-fighters alike.  We wait for that.  Some wait calmly.  I wait with growing impatience.  The heat annoys me.

~~~~~~~~

Haibun is an ancient type of poetry combining haiku and prose.  This haibun was written in answer to a prompt from read write poem.
More heat-induced tantrums poems can be found at read write poem.
All content written by Liza Lee Miller unless otherwise noted.
© 2008, Liza Lee Miller.

 

Visit the Super Secret Meadow!

Igor, my wonderful stepfather, took me to the Super Secret Meadow.  I can’t tell you exactly where it is because then I’d have to kill you — it’s Super Secret!  I will tell you that it is where I saw the Red-breasted Sapsucker and heard the Sooty Grouse. The intrepid hikers for this adventure were me (behind the camera, as always), Gage (super hiker but tends to whine when near his mother), and the aforementioned, Igor (that’s really his name and no, his hump doesn’t move–although he will answer to Eye-gor!).

The trail to the Super Secret Meadow (SSM) is steep, very steep.  For me, a short, difficult hike with a reward at the end, is way, way better than a long, easy hike from point A to point B.  No thank you.  Work, destination with reward, and home.  Thank you much!  And the SSM is definitely a reward!

Isn’t it lovely?  We passed lots of loveliness on the way up, too.  At the SSM, we also saw signs of mammalian life.  Bear poop, coyote poop, and a big ol’ deer wallow with deer hair in it.  Gage, who came on the hike too, encouraged Igor to examine the coyote poop and see what he’d been eating.  Of course he did.  They found some sort of bone — Igor thought it might be a scapula off some creature.  I post these pictures because I know how Susan loves all things poop-related.  (My husband really can’t believe that I took a picture of bear poop!  You’d think he understood me better than that!)

Deer hair in wallow; Coyote poop

Coyote poop being examined; Bear poop

Okay, enough with the fauna.  On with the flora . . .

Wild Iris.  Don’t know exactly which one.

Crimson columbine (Aquilegia formosa)

California Blue-Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium idahoense)

Bigelow’s Sneezeweed (Helenium bigelovii)

Shooting Star (Dodecatheon jeffreyi)

Leopard Lily (Lilium pardalinum)

Aster of some sort.  Love it’s intrepid “I’ll grow out of a sheer face of granite if I want to” nature.

Sierra Stonecrop (Sedum obtusatum)

Dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium)

So, did you enjoy your visit to the Super Secret Meadow?  I know I did.  It was worth the steep hike.  It was worth the bloodthirsty mosquitos (who, no exaggeration, were an inch long and left welts all over my body!).  It was worth the fall I took when I was literally 5 steps from the flats again (just bruises and scrapes, no worries!).  It was worth my son whining at me that the flowers were boring! 

But, the best part is that I still have a secret.  I’m not sharing the best part of the Super Secret Meadow with you.

Yet.

It’s a surprise that will have to wait a bit.  Stay tuned.  It’s worth it.  Promise!

 

Myth or . . .

A flutter catches my eye
Could it be a fairy far from home?
Or just a simple lost moth?

More Myth poems at One Single Impression.
All content written by Liza Lee Miller unless otherwise noted.
© 2008, Liza Lee Miller.

 

Happy Birthday, Bunny!

I just want to go to sleep and wake up in the morning and it’ll be like five seconds.  I can’t wait to be ten.  I’m tired of being a little kid.

Happy Birthday, Bunny Girl.  I am beyond proud of you, beyond loving you, nearly beyond words as I look at you and all you have accomplished in your ten short, blazingly fast years.  Ten years.  It just isn’t possible.  But, when I do the math (2008-1998=10), I know it must be.  You have grown and changed so much and yet you are still my little girl.  You are kind and funny and thoughtful and smart and very talented.  Yesterday, I heard you play flute music you composed and tonight I watched you dazzle me on stage in a play.  I ache with pride in you.  The years ahead will fly for me (and drag for you, I know) and my pride and love will only grow.  Your future’s so bright, you need to wear shades.

 

Wildflowers!

A side benefit of birding is that sometimes there aren’t birds around . . . or not around yet . . . or that you can’t see right that minute.  Oh, you get the point.  Sometimes when you’re birding, there’s no birds.  Usually, however, there are other things to look at like butterflies, moths, dragonflies, and wildflowers.  I like to look at wildflowers when I can because those other things tend to move to fast for me to capture with my camera and if I don’t capture it with my camera . . . I didn’t really see it.  You see?

The eastern Sierra Nevada mountains is high desert and as such, it’s seasons are off from where I live in the coastal mountains.  So, it’s the tail end of spring up there and deep summer here.  So, we saw lots and lots of wildflowers.  Sometimes I stopped and took pictures and sometimes I couldn’t.  We went on a nature walk at Mono Lake’s South Tufa area.  My parents have both recently become volunteers at the Mono Lake Visitors Center and my stepfather, Igor, is going to start giving tours at the South Tufa area.  So, we were there to see how it’s done and to enjoy the Tufas and the birds.  Dave, the tourguide, is also an expert birder.  He can do amazing bird calls.  He’s the reason that I have a Brewer’s Sparrow on my life list now.  Thank you, Dave!

Mono Lake is one of the most amazing places on earth.  Why?  Well, my husband and I were married there 20 years ago and that is why it’s amazing.  No?  Well, how about it’s an inland sea, 6 times saltier than the oceans.  How about the fact that in the 30’s far-sighted officials in LA bought the water rights to the streams that feed Mono Lake and nearly killed it?  How about the grassroots movement that saved Mono Lake?  How about the amazing numbers of California Gulls, Phalaropes, and Eared Grebes that visit Mono Lake every year and depend on the amazing richness of food (brine shrimp and black flies) that it provides?  How about it’s stunning beauty? [Click]

I’m guessing that you get the idea . . . Mono Lake is amazing and wonderful and thankfully it’s being preserved.  Yay!

Desert Suncup (Camissonia boothii var. desertorum) at South Tufa, Mono Lake

Phacelia fremontii (Fremont phacelia) at South Tufa, Mono Lake

Wild Rose (Rosa californica) - took this one while we were looking at the Bald Eagle nest — and being eaten alive by the biggest, most vicious, painful mosquitos I’ve ever encountered!

Hillside above Grant Lake

How could we drive by here?  Greg was wonderful and let me get out and take tons of macro shots of the flowers.

Mustang Mint (Monardella lanceolata)

Lupine (don’t know which one)

White-stemmed Blazing Star (Mentzelia albicaulis)

Sulfur flower (Eriogonum umbellatum)

Unknown itsy-bitsy blue

Unknown itsy-bitsy white flower

Prickly poppy (Argemone munita) - brimming with life!

SNEAK PREVIEW:  Coming soon! . . . a visit to the Super Secret Meadow!  Don’t tell ANYONE!

 

On getting a massage

A thistle is a beautiful plant — with an overactive defense mechanism.  One must imagine that they are the most delicious of plants and have grown those prickles in order to stay safe.  I know how they feel.

I am a prickly person.  I throw up barriers right and left to strangers, acquaintances, friends, and family.  Poke me the wrong way on the wrong day and you’ll have welts from my spiky defenses.

So, letting my guard down is difficult.  Stepping out of my clothes and lying down on a massage table, covered only in a cool white sheet is a supreme act of trust for me (and many others, I know!).  Relaxing and enjoying that experience is an act of will.  Trusting those close to me is difficult; more so trusting a stranger.

I know there will be benefits.  I know I will leave feeling renewed and relaxed and . . . open, with thorns smoothed down, with prickles eased away, without as many defenses in place.

 

Wordless Wednesday - In Flight

 

Why am I still bird blogging?

Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)

When Mike mentioned to me that this would likely be the question for the 3rd Anniversary edition of I and the Bird,  I actually laughed out loud.  There are so many ways to take this question.  Why are YOU still bird blogging?  Why are you STILL bird blogging?  Why are you still BIRD blogging?  And, I suppose, why are you still bird BLOGGING?

I am not a birder of merit.

I am not a blogger of merit.

I am not a photographer of merit.

I don’t say these things to elicit compliments.  I don’t say them out of false modesty.  I’m not upset about all this.  I have been working hard, in the last few years, to bring back things that I have dropped out of my life as I aged that used to work for me. But, I am well aware that I have a long way to go to improve my skills in all these areas.  So, why am I still doing it?

I first learned about birding from my stepfather, Igor.  In high school in my advanced biology class, we had to do a project.  I chose birding and Igor taught me some of what he knows.  It was fun and I enjoyed it.  I did well on the project (I think!).  But, I did not continue birding.  I wish I could say that was the beginning of my birding life but it wasn’t.  It did spark the interest, however.  Birds just appeal to me.  If I see an egret at the beginning of a trip, I know it will be a good trip.  My Granny Donaldson (a tough old bird if there ever was one) felt that owls were her spirit bird.  Who am I to argue?  Birds were always there, at the periphery, calling to me.  Putting up feeders at my kitchen window to see what happened was a good thing.  My mother shared her suet recipe with me and things started in earnest.  I researched bird books when I wasn’t happy with my Peterson’s Guide anymore and ended up with a Sibley’s that goes with me everywhere now.  I got “into” birds.

Another teenage hobby that was put aside later in life was photography.  When I was a teen - lo those many years ago - photography was an expensive hobby.  You had to buy a camera (I had a very nice Pentax).  You had to buy film and then develop it and get prints.  Cameras were complicated and best learned through classes and lessons which I never managed to do.  My camera languished.  Then, my husband gave me a digital camera.  One of his business partners had it — a nice Nikon.  It didn’t work though — the battery door wouldn’t stay closed so it was useless.  I researched solutions and bought an external battery pack and a new hobby was born.  I used that camera for a few years.  I started taking pictures of birds.  I bought accessories for it.  I got frustrated because it wouldn’t allow me to get close enough to birds for GOOD shots.  Greg got me my Panasonic Lumix when I finished my teaching credential program and there was no going back.  My camera goes with me everywhere.  It is not an expensive hobby.  Last weekend, I took 284 shots.  Maybe 40 of them were good enough to keep.  Maybe 20 of them will end up on my blog.  Oh, and I still don’t know how to use my camera beyond the auto settings.

When I was a child, I wrote constantly.  As a teenager, my writing grew as all those emotions overwhelmed me and came out through my pen.  In college and and as an adult, my writing life fell off until I was journaling occasionally and writing poetry less than that.  I made a conscious decision to go back to writing and blogging became a big part of that.  When writing journals for myself, it is too easy to say things like, “Boring day.  It was hot.  Greg didn’t take the trash out.  I’m so mad at him.”   Writing merely to get words down on paper doesn’t work for me.   Blogging gives me an audience.  An audience requires a commitment.  An audience requires some thought.  An audience requires that I do more than whine about my rotten life (which is actually quite nice, thank you).  Blogging about birds gives me something to write about.

So, blogging about birds fills several needs.  It gives my hobbies focus.  I find myself stretching, thinking, and persuing birds, photos, and words in new ways.  Blogging about birds helps me to be a better person.  Oh, and wait until you see what I am can do with my crafting hobby and birds!  All you can be sure of is that I’ll blog about it!

 

Ruby Tuesday - On the Road Again!

Ruby loves to go in the car with me to get the kids from their various events.  When we get near our house, I will roll down her window and let her look out.  She loves it.  I’ve worried a little bit though — if she saw a squirrel . . . well, she was riding back there with Ruthie and Ruthie was worried too.  Good thing.  I opened the window near Ruth and Ruby saw something and tried to jump out.  Luckily, Ruth grabbed her and told her in no uncertain terms NOT to do that again.  Yikes!  So, this little bit of fun may be too much fun for Ruby — sorry girl, window closed!