March was true to its saying - it came roaring in with rain and cold and went baaing out with mild weather. The days still began on the cold side but warmed up enough for Gordy, Buster and I to sit in the gazebo for our evening cocktails.

Johnny-Jump-Ups reseed themselves and come up all over my yard. They are fun to watch grow and are early bloomers in the Spring. This year there was a group in one of the pots that grew together to form what appeared to be a bush.

 
My Johnny-Jump-Up bush - a coyote watching Buster from across the river.

 
The otter pond in July of last year and March of this year.

Once the rain ceased, Gordy, Buster and I have enjoyed many walks by the river. There is always plenty to see. One day, a coyote was on the otherside of the river stalking something (probably a rabbit). When he glanced up and saw Buster, he sat down and watched. It was funny to see the coyote sitting perfectly still. When we moved on, I looked back and the coyote had resumed his stalking.

We are definitely still in a drought. The ponds just keep drying up. Some, like the Secret Lake, can be crossed without even running into any mud. It is rare to see any birds or animals by the lakes/ponds. When they do refill, somehow fish manage to get into them. There must be some inlet from the river.

I have had a facination with the rock sculptures we encounter along the trails. The other day I learned that the practice has been given the name cairning. Cairns are man made piles of stone, usually in a conical form. In the past they have had many different uses including marking trails and creating burial mounds. I googled cairning and found out the modern day ones are meant as sculptures with two main forms. One form carefully balances rocks so they stand unnaturally on edge. The other form is to pile them on their flat sides to form a large column. I have tried the balancing act and it takes a bit of effort.

In mid March, I went with friends Marilyn Pearce, Mary Dobrowolski and Harriet Neal to Marilyn's house in Mill Valley (the house originally belonged to Jim's mother, Muriel). We stayed overnight and went to the deYoung Museum the next day for "Bouquets to Art" (as we did last year).

It was fun to explore Mill Valley and see what has changed or not changed since I had last been there. The Sweetwater, a concert hall, had moved around the corner but was not open. A sign on it said "Coming Soon" but somebody in green paint had crossed off "Soon" and wrote in "When?"

Harriet's cousin, Ellen Demel Deck, is an artist who lives in Mill Valley. We stopped by her house but she wasn't home. Later she called Harriet and came over to where we were staying for a visit.

Muriel's house was built early in the 1900's. Marilyn said it was built like a ship with the captain's quarters on the upper deck and the crew below. Later, the downstairs was turned into a separate apartment and now the tenant is able to look after the house. This really turned out to be a good thing because Marilyn inadvertently locked the key to the upstairs inside the house on our way out.

 
The group - Mary, Marilyn, Ellen and Harriet at the dining room table - Marilyn at the door to the house pointing to the key she had locked inside.

 
Orchids at Muriel's house - a view of Mount Tam out the bedroom window

Our walk up W Blithedale

We went out to dinner at a new place in Mill Valley that was quite good (however, I forgot the name). The next day we packed up for our trip to the deYoung. But first, we took a nice walk up W. Blithedale - redwoods in the fog with a running stream and a hint of wildflowers to come.

 
Entry to the deYoung with lights and mobile of anthriums- Whistler's "Gold Scab: Eruption in Frilthy Lucre" portrayed in succulents

 
The 2008 and 2009 (respectively) interpretations of the lady in the black dress.

 
Marilyn sniffs again - Bird painting depiction

The trip to the deYoung was marvelous. The florists interpreted a piece of art into a floral arrangement. I noticed that this year, ti leaves seemed to be a folage of choice for many. They came in green, black-red and multi colors. Another florist merged lavender blosooms on to bear grass. He did it so well that you almost believed the flowers were really part of the plant. It was interesting to see some of the art from last year was also used this year. So, I went back to compare the works.

 
The 2008 and 2009 (respectively) interpretations of oranges in white wrappers.

 
A whimsical interpretation of the dog from the portrait - closeup of flowers from the entry way with orchids, ti leaves, tulips and more.

 
More dresses - the white dress was constructed from beech bark.

The deYoung also had two other exhibits that we toured - Yves Saint Laurent clothing and an Andy Warhol exibit. The clothing exhibited went from things that you could see yourself wearing to things that made you gasp (like the dress based on an African motif with a black pointed bra). We couldn't take pictures of the designs because they were touring exhibits and not property of the museum. Marilyn didn't see the sign, took a picture and got in trouble. The guard made her delete it from her camera.

The Andy Warhol exibit came complete with rock music (he did design a number of album covers in his day). Again no picture taking. One area was set up as a psychedelic room complete with strobe lights, music and images. There was also a stack of pillows in the center where you could lay back and experience the whole thing. I thought about it and decided that I would pass. At my age, once I got down, there was no guarantee that I would be able to get up!

The level of Folsom Lake has been rising. It is now about 3/4 the way full. At least this year, they have refrained from emptying it in preparation for the spring run off. This is what they did last year and surprise, there was NO spring run off. So, Jim, Gordy and I finally got to take a few nice boat rides. Oh, yes we did play at fishing but nobody took the bait.

Our garden section for the Woman's Thursday Club toured a unique nursery in Loomis - The High Hand Nursery. It is located in the old fruit packing sheds for High Hand Orchards. The owner, Scott Paris, gave us the tour and told us about the history of the site.

 
Scott tells us about the grafted japanese maple trees - Pegasus and sun flower topiaries

 
Scenes from the garden - inside the old packing shed now housing an art gallery, metal working shop and garden pots and garden art.

The last big thing in March is I had to buy a new car. My cadillac finally was going to cost more than she was worth. We decided to donate her to a charity which would probably sell her for scrap. A neighbor was talking to us about it and offered to pay us what we could have deducted from our taxes. Mark is a mechanic, so all he has to pay for is parts. Now Cassie has a new home and so far, they are very happy with her.

Gordy and I looked around and figured we would probably buy a 2 year old Camry. Everyone we had talked to who had had a Camry loved it. We looked at CarMax, ads and signed up for the Costco car service. Before we actually went out to see the used cars that we had looked at on-line, I decided I would like to look at the new ones. Well, by the time all the incentives and discounts were considered, it was cheaper for us to buy a new car instead of a used one! In fact, she was so new that they had to take her off the delivery truck for me to test drive her. I drove home that day in Candy (her name). I am still getting the hang of her and yesterday, April 4, Buster got his first ride in her.

Gordy has only ridden in her once, when we were at the dealer. He claims that she doesn't like him. Every time he goes by her she honks and flashes her lights at him. Could it be that he has too many keys in his pocket?

So, that's where we are.

Thanks for stopping by,