California wild rose
Rosa californica
Rosaceae

In a time of year of dried grasses and the death of non-natives (both seasonally and by the reserve's visibly apparent use of herbicides as a management tool), it was refreshing to see this native rose blooming. As I've been looking around for more information online, I found Las Pilitas Nursery description to be particularly entertaining and perhaps a bit uncouth. And for a touchy-feely link recommendation, Friends of Edgewood has an interesting post. I'm still looking for information on how to prepare fresh rose hips for tea. As a start, I thought this was a good post at Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. I'd love to get suggestions.

H2O - the bad and the healing

Blog Action Day 2010 Water

My sister died from bad water. Acute gastroenteritis. We were supposed to be adopted together. I had 3 sets of legal parents and guardians across two continents. I lived with more families than I can recall. I would have loved to have my sister along for this journey. I miss who she could have become. I am now living by the ocean. I hear salt water is healing... the sea, the sweat, and the tears.

This is my story.
Katie

wordless Wednesday

Gabriola sp. ~ 10/12/10 ~ at home

Gabriola sierrae or Gabriola dyari

While doing laundry, I spotted this moth in the stairwell and figured it was worth a photo with its handsome features. I thought it'd be easy to ID. NOT! I've already spent an hour looking online and am still not satisfied I've found a match. My best guess would be the distinguished cypress owlet (Cutina distincta), but I don't think that's correct, mostly due to the fact they're not supposedly found in CA. The moth above is 16mm from head to forewing tip.

We get numerous moths in our 3 story stairwell, because several lights turn on automatically every night and we're right next to a public park with an oak and several conifers of various species. Unfortunately, I rarely take pictures of the moths that greet me every morning, since I'm either rushing out the door, or the moths are too high up and too tiny to get a decent pic.

ps 10/16/10 - Another moth originally posted as unknown. I'm going to go with the expert opinion of Chris Grinter from The Skeptical Moth that this is G. sierrae. Although, now that I've looked it up, I wonder if it might not be G. dyari, which according to BugGuide feeds on Douglas-fir (there's one not even 5 feet away) and flies from June to October.