11-4-2003  A care package to those in wintry climates

Mostly we're non-seasonal here in Southern California.  Only the scattered tree or vine turns color; the weather remains about the same, the UPS delivery guy continues to wear shorts.  But on occasion the air turns chillier, an unexpected (unexpected because nearly any cloud that passes overhead and actually drops moisture is unanticipated) rain falls and the air clears, puffy white clouds like whipped cream appear and drift their way across the skies.  This is what we've had here the past few days, a welcome change from the smoky, ash-sprinkling skies we experienced during the preceding week, while the much-publicized wildfires raged.  It's been very beautiful since Saturday, and distinctively fallish.  This morning I couldn't keep from heading out to take a walk early, just to enjoy the neighborhood.  Nothing spectacular, but perhaps the things I saw may bring a brief respite of warmth and color to those of you in cold or dark or rainy/snowy places.

 

 
Taken from the hills dividing Camarillo from Somis on 11-1-03.  The hills, one range behind
the other, have been dramatically beautiful in their muscular barrenness.
 

A side street up the hill from us, 
thankfully one of those quiet places
full of trees and bushes and older
homes, not the cookie-cutter tracts
that are taking over our open spaces
so rapidly these days.

Bright bouganvillea adds a shout of color to a
chain link fence along the street above.  The front of one property is a tangle of huge pomegranate bushes, their leaves turning yellow, the bright red fruits dangling out over the roadway (at right.)
  

A ripening avocado dangles on the tree at left.  Avocados, as well as citrus, grow on many hillside properties, and both ripen in winter.  Above, a pink hibiscus blossom greets the morning.

A trumpet vine cascades over a
wall on my walk down the hill again.
Many flowers bloom year-round 
here because of the lack of frost.

Heading toward home (partway down the 
street on the left), you can see the Santa
Monica Mountains in the distance (near the
CSUCI campus.)  At right, a sycamore's
leaves turn color.