Coming Up Roses

There's always something in bloom in Santa Cruz but May seems to be a particularly pretty month.  Below are some May flowers which are currently on display at Mission Plaza:

I've been told I take a lot of photos of flowers.  This might be true.  I guess I just can't help but appreciate them.  They're little surprises.  Walks and runs down the same streets seem to change as the flowers do; yards are transformed.  Flowers are fleeting but that keep things  interesting.  In a couple of weeks or a month, these roses will have fallen away.  But by then there'll be new flowers to linger over . . . Like Hydrangeas! I always look forward to those!

April Showers

April Showers in Santa Cruz:

So pretty.  Until next year, April . . .

Adventures with Dog: Hiking in Almaden Quicksilver Park

The other weekend C and I took Buckwheat on a hike through Almaden Quicksilver Park.  In Almaden Quicksilver Park there were bushy green trees, fields of waving grass, vistas of little houses and patchwork hillsides, old mines and dilapidated buildings and winding paths with wildflowers around almost every corner.  There were also mountain bikers (one of which almost his us while barrelling down a hill), a couple of horses, a handful of trail runners and of course, other hikers.  The park was so big though, that most of the time it felt like we had it all to ourselves.

Halfway through the hike we stopped and had bagels and lox at a picnic table with a view and felt pretty happy about our choice for the day.  Three quarters of the way through the hike, we asked ourselves why we chose to take a 7 and a half mile hike the day after a 10 mile run--our legs were tired and we were ready to be back at the parking lot.  But Buckwheat was a happy camper the whole time--trotting from scent to scent, only slowing when he noticed me fall behind to take photos . . .