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On Monday clouds started to arrive from the north. Yes, we had an early rainstorm coming in! Linda Bostwick photographed the advancing storm clouds from her Point Arena home above the harbor.

With the sun behind the clouds, Linda caught some magic with her photo - just lovely! The storm arrived later Monday evening and by Tuesday morning there was 0.60 inches in my rain gauge. Early rains are a blessing here on the Mendonoma Coast.

Today is warm, in the low 70's, with some clouds and a breeze. It's a beautiful Autumn day here today.

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Mel Smith and Linda Bostwick are grandparents! Yes, the Ensatina Salamander eggs hatched in their water meter box in Point Arena.

Gary Nafis of californiaherps.com took a look at Mel’s photo. He wrote, “Look at all those cute little babies!” I asked Gary what to expect next. He wrote, “The young will probably stay there with the mother until it rains enough for the ground to be saturated as long as they don't have too much trouble climbing up the sides of the meter box. Maybe Linda and Mel can check back to find out.”

We think there are about one dozen little salamanders in the water meter box. And Linda and Mel will keep checking on them.

It's sunny and warm this afternoon with no wind. But the leading edge of the storm, the first clouds, are flowing in from the north. We have a chance for an early rainstorm tomorrow, and what a blessing that would be!

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Don Krieger photographed something I’ve never seen before. He wrote, “On Saturday afternoon, as we were standing at Del Mar Point looking south, we saw the phenomena known as a Brocken Specter (look in the center of the photo.)"

A Brocken Specter, also called Brocken bow, mountain specter, or specter of the Brocken is the magnified shadow of a person cast in midair upon any type of cloud opposite a strong light source. Amazing.

Thanks to Don for allowing me to share his unusual photo with you here.

Foggy and cool this morning, but the sun has appeared this afternoon. Still a little smoky here today.

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The last evening of August brought a beautiful full moon. It was the second full moon in the month, and thus called a Blue Moon. And it was also a Supermoon. Some of the coast’s best photographers were out to get their photos of this event. Rozanne Rapozo wrote, “ We relocated from Breakers Reach to Gualala Point Regional Park this time to photograph the last Supermoon until September of next year! The weather has been so uncooperative this year that this is the first time I’ve been out photographing at night in ages. Amazing to watch the moon rise above the ridge.” And shine through the Serge at the park!

Bill Oxford also got some great photos. He photographed the large moon framed by trees, and from the bluffs. He wrote, “I shot the Blue Moon at Shell Beach and my backyard in TSR on Wednesday. Had a great time on the bluff finding compositions until 2:00 a.m. I accidentally flushed out some sleeping Deer to their distain and my startled surprise. All good!”

You can see Bill’s series at his website, http://billoxfordphoto.com/bluemoonatthesearanch

Thanks to Rozanne and Bill for allowing me to share their photos with you here.

It was cool and foggy this morning, but the sun is breaking through. It doesn't seem to be as smoky today. So far, I haven't smelled smoke. We actually have rain in the forecast for Monday. Wouldn't it be terrific if it rained to our north and helped put out the fires?!

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Just in time for Autumn, Monarch Butterflies are beginning to grace us with their presence. They travel here to feed before their long migration southward. Paul Brewer recently photographed several in his Gualala garden.

See the two black dots on the Monarch on the left, on his lower wings? That tells you it's a male.

These Monarchs are the Methuselah generation, the long-lived generation that makes the fall migration.

Thanks to Paul for allowing me to share his photos with you here. You can see Paul's nature photographs displayed at the Gualala Arts Dolphin Gallery. Here's the link to their website: https://gualalaarts.org/dolphin-gallery/

The day started out partly-sunny, but for the first time in weeks, smoke has drifted down from the fires in far northern California and Oregon.