A Spot in the Shade

 [Sigh!] No matter how far into the empty wash you think you are, and how far away from where you think people have trod, invariably you're bound to discover the opposite truth - an aluminum beer can, only slightly faded, tells a tale of some earlier passerby stopping at this little bit of summer shade, a pause in the mid-morning heat. Or, maybe it was winter and the shade didn't even figure into the equation. The question remains, what was someone doing here, when "here" is in essence "nowhere?" a spot chosen by yourself for exactly that reason. Eventually it dawns on you that your reason for being there is not unique, clearly someone else was looking for that off-the-beaten-path spot as well.

California Buckwheat

For some time now I've had it on my mind to take my good camera, find a secluded spot (preferably with some shade), and sit, just to see what crawls, hops, runs, walks, trots, saunters, slithers, flies, and even rolls past within a limited field of vision. Unfortunately, doing this on what was on its way to becoming one of the hottest days of the year, was probably not the best timing. A couple hawks circled above, while smaller songbirds flew from shrub to shrub, and that was about it; the mammals, knowing better, were hunkered down in burrows, or at least in the deep shade of the washes' larger shrubs, and wouldn't be moving until the cool of the evening. Stopping later at the Eucalypts there was, at least one lizard out and about. Plus I found another small feather, small consolation for the two larger one I lost last week.

Well, eventually the season will turn, the air will cool and it will be time for another try.