wedding tree ~ 09/30/06 ~ Garland Ranch

wedding tree
Fagaceae

It was horrifying for me to discover 6 months after our wedding that this branch broke, the same one which we stood under while exchanging our marriage vows. My husband, ever the optimist, simply stated, "At least we took advantage of a beautiful thing while it lasted."

variable checkerspot ~ 05/27/06 ~ Garland Ranch

variable checkerspot
Euphydryas chalcedona

I am always amazed at how variable these checkerspots really are!

Gabb's checkerspot ~ 05/27/06 ~ Garland Ranch

Gabb's checkerspot
Chlosyne gabbii

I'm fairly sure about this ID, even though I have never heard of Gabb's until I looked it up. If anyone has any additional thoughts, please let me know!

ps 03/07/10 - Art Shapiro confirmed my ID.

acmon blue
Plebejus acmon

ps 03/10/10 - I very much want to call this a square-spotted blue (Euphilotes battoides) simply to have a new species on my blog. However, given the length of the orange band all the way to the HW apex and lack of FW checked fringes, I'll concede it must be an acmon female.

pss 07/01/11 - I updated the embedded links. Now that I look at the picture again, it's obvious this individual does not have the bold squarish spots on the underside typical of Euphilotes.

black-tailed deer ~ 04/18/06 ~ at home

deer and pride of Madeira
Echium candicans
Boraginaceae

These are probably the very first pictures of deer I have from home. It was so exciting at the time to see them in the park below our balcony... but now it's a bit mundane, so much so that we get a bit peeved when tourists block our driveway in order to take pictures of the deer. The purple flowers are pride of Madeira.

ps 11/19/10 - Now that I look at these pictures again, I wonder if these were triplets with their mother.

rainbow from 9th St
April 13, 2006

This was taken just a few days after our wedding from my husband's old house. I should note, it was an exceptionally rainy spring.

sunset from home
April 9, 2006

ps 03/09/10 - We cannot actually see the sun setting from home, so most labeled sunset pics are all about the clouds and the bay in the late afternoon. Yes, I know, we're on the coast of CA. We are also on a peninsula and we can see the sunrise from home, but not sunsets... unless we take the time to walk or drive to the other side that faces west towards the Pacific Ocean, not the Monterey Bay.

Garland Ranch waterfall
April 8, 2006

This is the most water I have ever seen here thanks to lots of rain this spring.

California poppy
Eschscholzia californica
Papaveraceae

Much to my disappointment, this was one of the few flowers blooming at Garland Ranch on our wedding day. The heavy rain for weeks before delayed most blooms this year.

lizard

This is likely a western fence lizard that we spotted on our wedding tree. What fun!

oaks ~ 04/08/06 ~ Garland Ranch

oaks

Fagaceae

Spring is the best time in my opinion for hiking at Garland Ranch. Everything is so lush and green... at least by CA standards.

wedding day ~ 04/08/06 ~ Garland Ranch

our wedding day tree
Fagaceae

Here's where we exchanged marriage vows, under the natural arch of this oak tree. It's about a 45 minute hike from the parking lot, up the hill past the waterfall in Garland Ranch (or an hour and a half hike with a pregnant maid of honor who needed to stop every few minutes to rest). Incredibly, with a month of nonstop rain before and after, we had a clear sunny day for our wedding. Everything was lush green from the rains, but there weren't too many wildflowers. Nature was our venue, and we had umbrellas as a gift.