Change

 From a distance the pools below the falls look unchanged.

 But up close you see a different story.  In the middle it is still deep, but there is a fan shaped perimeter of rock and gravel.  Last December we got a gully washer on the ranch and apparently it gouged out the creek upstream and deposited it here.  

When we first discovered this we were a bit saddened as we loved the depth and dark mystery of this spot.  But then we realized it is kind of nice to be able to wade around the edges and the water is a few degrees warmer, which is a good thing when you go swimming.

Sometimes change comes by force and other times by choice.  But either way there is always an adjustment that needs to be made.  To resist is futile for change is inevitable. 

Right now we made a change by choice.  We aren't on the ranch.   While we are happy to be out hiking for another 200 miles in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, we are also a bit sad to to be away from our beloved home.  

Such is life.

See you in September.  :-)


"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another."
Anatole France


You can read about last year's hike Here ,  Here, Here, Here, and Here!

Around The Garden

 Here's the view of our backyard today.  Things are growing. 

 Some, like the squash, grow too fast.  We can't keep up.  

 The cucumber and melons have a lot of growing to do.  Maybe a few cucumbers by next week.  Maybe. Melons are always iffy here. Nights are too cold.  If we are lucky we will eat one in September.  I guess I just like the idea of trying to grow melons.  :-)

 Only tomatoes we could eat are fried green ones.  I started mine by seeds late this year and it looks like they won't be ready for quite some time.









 

 Strawberries do deliver though.   

 These plums are ripe too.  They may be itty bitty but they have a fantastic flavor.






 The early corn is tasseling!  The ears are thickening.  Alert the media, (AKA the donkeys) we have corn.  Soon it will be time to sneak in and eat.  (Last year's corn thieves! missing Charlie :-()




 Leaf lettuce is always at hand here on the north coast.  I just plant every few weeks to have a steady crop.  We like chopping it small and tossing with fine olive oil and apple cider or balsamic vinegar.  Yum.




While our grape arbor is always a nice place to hang out on a summer day, our grapes don't always ripen.  This year's crop looks like it might though.  We've got our fingers crossed. 

 Apples are plentiful.  We've thinned and thinned and still the branches look like Christmas trees with too many ornaments.  We have 15 apple trees of various varieties and ages.  We do not lack for apples.  Unfortunately I found this calling card outside our fence this morning. 


 

 By tomorrow all might be lost.