Off The Beaten Track

I know the sign says "Stay on trail"

...but my husband says "let's go"

and... well... what can one do?


So we peek into places like this...




that turn into this...




and this...




and this...




and catch a glimpse of this...





This box didn't have a sign, but I knew we're not to touch it

...but my daughter's curiosity got the best of her

So she opened it...




and was thrilled to find a nest with three of these...





The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Rancho Mission Viejo

More interesting finds from our ventures outdoors this week.

Today's pictures are from a hike we took up into the hills from the parking lot at Remington Senior Apartments, right by the fire station. There's a trail across from the fire station that heads down into the cover of some very, very large, climbable oak trees.




You'll see paths and hills carved into the trail by dirt-bikers. The kids love running up and down them.




The trail winds through the oaks then comes out into the sunshine for a bit of an uphill climb. One section is really steep, but gets you up to the ridge for some really beautiful views.






Here's what we saw...

Ground Pink



Lupine



Splendid Mariposa Lily as it looked on our way up the hill



The same lily as the sun was setting on the way down - it closed




Wishbone Bush



Wild Cucumber



Salamander - found this guy while digging with a stick through the fallen oak leaves in the shade. I thought it was an earth worm and was about to show it to my 2 year old when I noticed its head looked different and it had legs.



Horehound - I see this everywhere now. You can boil the leaves to make a sore throat remedy. You can also make horehound candy with it.



The next pictures are from earlier in the week at the tidepools in Laguna Beach.

Unidentified caterpillar on deerweed



I believe this is some kind of coralline algae - pretty



goose neck barnacles, they look like crab claws





And last but not least, a bit of a poem from our studies this week...

Mother-my-love, if you'll give me your hand,
And go where I ask you to wander,
I will lead you away to a beautiful land
The Dreamland that's waiting out yonder.

~from Child and Mother by Eugene Field

This is my catch up on all my pictures post. Excuse the randomness.

The beach after the heavy rains we had here. See the pack of terns that blended themselves in with the seagulls? They're the "coolest" looking birds in my book.



This was from last week at the beach, a much warmer, nicer day. This lady found this grebe in the water, she thinks it was hit by a wave or sick. She also thought it might have been an immature bird based on its size. It was a rare treat to see it so close and my daughter got to pet it.



This was the sunset that day - Valentine's day. We watched the sun sink all the way into the sea together. Beautiful. And if you look along the horizon you can see Catalina's silhouette. What a blessing to live in this beautiful place.




Here's a dumpy, stinky looking gutter by us. Most times when we poke around in it, people passing by make comments like "Ewww!" or "Yuck!" It is. But it's a treasure to us, a whole world in and of itself.



Look closer, look at what's just hatched! Tiny baby tadpoles :)



And this was the best find of all - a sac of frog eggs! We've raised frogs from tadpoles we caught, but never from this!!



Speaking of frogs, we went to the stream by us last week and the kids found this: A Giant Water Bug! It eats frogs, fish, snakes, snails, insect larvae, etc. It can deliver a pretty painful sting with its beak so it's also known as the "toe-biter" and it flies! To think these were in the stream all those times we walked through there!



Here's some fresh poison oak just sprouting along the side of the stream.

Fort in the Woods

I took the kids to a fort we found out in the woods a few minutes away from here. East Coasters will laugh when I call this the "woods", it's not, but it is for us as close as we'll get to the woods around these parts of Southern California. It's actually a collection of big heaps of dirt someone made along a trail we like to hike. It's hidden, but easily accessible if you know where to find it. The teenagers use it for a hang out as evidenced by the left over carpet, wooden furniture, graffiti and broken bottles. The kids like picking up the little plastic BBs and empty CO2 magazines they leave behind as well.

Unfortunately, my camera batteries weren't charged (some blogger I am!), so these are my ugly cell phone pictures from today. It never ceases to amaze me that no matter how much my son complains that he doesn't want to go or how much of a cranky mood we can be before heading out the door, a bit of nature cures it all.

As soon as we get there they start poking around, pulling on this, looking under that, crafting and creating ideas of what to play and do.

They found this dead tree with logs under it. Just a heap of junk, to a child, A FORT!










A snail!





A woman's touch...
(she doesn't realize it's caution tape with radioactive symbols on it - and I wasn't about to tell her it wasn't just pretty ribbon).



Not sure what this is for



A teeter tot of course :)





A door!



Fix the pretty ribbon first :)



It was a fun day - and they made me promise to bring them back asap!

We also noticed all kinds of green and yellow things have sprung up - grasses, weeds, moss, lichen, these spongy looking mushrooms...





is this sulphur shelf? It's a baby one if it is.



Spiraling wild cucumber shoots for bracelets...




Here's a shot I took a couple weeks ago of my daughter in the rain... see how the hills are all turning green? Can't wait for Spring!



Here's a shot from our local beach a couple of days ago.



A beautiful drive down PCH



We found several of these sandworms as we dug holes in the sand.



Well, it's late and I need to get some sleep! I know this blog has been so dull lately, but rest assured, Spring is coming and it's going to be a good one!!