Friday the 13th is said to be an unlucky day. Well, I say phooey on that! Bettye Winters got a beautiful photograph of thunderclouds forming over Manchester Beach and the Point Arena Lighthouse. Look how the sun glints off of the newly restored white Lighthouse. Thanks to Bettye for allowing me to share her photo with you here.
Friday also brought a spectacular sunset and I was lucky enough to capture it with my camera from my deck in Anchor Bay.
As Bettye wrote me, "Love it here!"
The song goes, "March went out like a Lion..." but here on the Mendonoma Coast April is acting like a Lion. Yesterday's weather was wild with a bit of everything thrown in the mix. That brought a chance for rainbows and Tom Eckles was ready with his new iPad, which he calls an iPad3. A beautiful rainbow appeared in front of Tom's Gualala home, framed by two trees.
Today the story has been the incredible cloud show ever changing in the western sky. I took this photo from our deck in Anchor Bay this morning.
We have several more storms lined up and then...and then...sunny and warmer! The much needed rain has been a blessing but we are ready for some springtime. This weekend looks like it will be spring incarnate. But the storms bring a chance for beautiful sunsets. Here is a recent one I photographed from our deck in Anchor Bay.
My best to you from the beautiful Mendonoma coast! Jeanne Jackson
In less than 24 hours we had 4.9 inches of rain at our house in Anchor Bay. That's enough to cause flooding and, indeed, the Garcia River has flooded Highway One this morning. The seasonal creek the crosses our property was doing its best imitation of a mighty river and was running dangerously fast and very muddy. We were afraid that our golden retriever, Huckleberry, might get too close to the stream so we leashed him up.
I took these photos late yesterday afternoon after 4.2 inches had fallen. Here's Rick and Huck next to the spot on the creek where we usually can jump across - not yesterday and still not today!
In the upper left is the path we usually take to get down to the forest floor. It was a river too!
Here Quinliven Creek rushes underneath the bridge Rick built with his son, Ron, so we could get across in times like these. This is about as close to the bridge as we've seen the creek. It was a little scary going across the bridge!
And below you can see the creek as it looks this morning. It's lower and not so muddy but still running strong.
And amidst all this winter-like weather, a wonderful sign of spring - a Red Clintonia emerges.
Yes, Horsetails are ancient plants. In the time of the dinosaurs, they grew as trees more than a hundred feet tall. They have evolved to survive in modern times when the dinosaurs obviously did not. They now grow one, two or even three feet tall. The first signs of Horsetails have appeared in and on the banks of Quinliven Creek at our property in Anchor Bay.
Horsetails are also called Scouring Rush and were used for scrubbing pots. Equisetum is their Latin name and they have medicinal qualities. Native American peoples used these plants to stop bleeding.
We have a big storm coming in late tonight. Last night's sunset showed the first clouds of the storm. Batten down the hatches!
