With a nearly full moon and the soft pastels of an early sunrise, the Mendonoma Coast was beautiful indeed this morning. Rick and I have just returned from one week vacation. While we enjoyed it, the best part is driving up Highway One and returning home. We live in beauty here on the coast. I never want to take it for granted.
It is a bit of a walk but, oh, is it worth it! There is a beautiful waterfall on the Stornetta Public Lands. The best way to find it is to drive down Lighthouse Road. That's the way to the Point Arena Lighthouse, another great outing. Access the Stornetta Lands off of this road and walk south. Enjoy the beautiful scenery but take a jacket as it is often windy as you will see by the photo of me. Walk for perhaps 30 minutes. You will come to a stream, walk down, cross the stream, walk up and then look back. There you will see the waterfall to your right and in the distance the gleaming white Lighthouse. What a beautiful sight - a hidden treasure for you to find on the Mendocino Coast!
Several large Rosey Russulas - Russula rosacea - were found by Rozann and George Grunig on The Sea Ranch this past week. This is not the time of year for these mushrooms to fruit but the late rains must have confused them. They aren't edible. If you tasted a little bit of the cap, it would be hot and you would have to quickly spit it out. But they are beautiful to look at and to photograph. And look! Rozann photographed them on top of the Independent Coast Observer. That's where my Mendonoma Sightings column can be found each and every week. mendonoma.com
Siegfried Matull manages to get some of the most fantastic photographs of Western Bluebirds on the Mendonoma Coast. How does he do it? I've learned his camera is set on a tri-pod and pre-focused on the birdhouse currently occupied by two Western Bluebirds. With his camera that can take nine shots per second, he sits next to his camera with a remote control cable in one hand and a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon in the other. That's taking pictures, Mendonoma Coast style!
My neighbor has a spring box and there is always water on the ground. That's where a large group of Western Labrador Tea is now blooming in profusion. The leaves have an unusual fragrance to them. Reny Parker in her Wildflower of Norther California's Wine Country & North Coast Ranges describes it as "between turpentine and strawberries." I find it leans more towards the turpentine than the strawberry. This plant has medicinal qualities. Native peoples used it to treat the common cold, headaches and the aches and pains of arthritis.
