Up in the Clouds

I'm overwhelmed by the response of all you lovely people to my six year anniversary blip. I almost forgot about it myself, but I definitely had my head in the clouds reading all your comments. The ones over our house early this morning were unusual and looked almost tactile. Thank you so much for all your stars and hearts...I don't think I've ever been on the first popular page before, and I must confess I rather like it there!

OilMan and I took Ozzie to the regional park down the road this morning. It was hard hit by fire last year, but started looking much better when all sorts of wildflowers bloomed, including several varieties that only bloom after a fire. Today what we noticed was how dry everything is. The grass is a lovely golden color where it is still standing, but has fallen in drifts and waves onto the ground. I became quite fascinated with photographing it, but didn't manage to capture anything very good before my battery died. I can remember the days when nothing had a battery and transistor radios the size of a telephone book were all the rage...oh wait, what's a telephone book?

Without the tall grass and wildflowers the burned trees and the charred patches underneath them stood out in stark contrast to the cerulean sky, but it hadn't heated up yet and it was a pleasant walk. The extreme dry conditions  so early in the season have everybody on edge.

The extra shows the hill behind our house and the thriving vineyards at their feet. There is some opposition to the idea of vineyards extending further up into the hills and taking out watershed, but much of the opposition seems to have died since the vines survived the fires better than almost anything else.