Hail!

Small hail fell at the end of a heavy shower this evening. Although the hail lasted only about a minute, it nearly covered my back deck by the time the shower ended.

Manzanita

One of my favorite native California plants is the mazanita (Arctostaphylos).

Their smooth reddish bark and dark green leaves make them an attractive plant. And, in late winter they are covered with small pinkish-white flowers as you can see in this picture of two manzanitas in my front yard.

Even this small manzanita (lower right-hand corner of picture) is covered with flowers.

Upon close inspection, the manzanita flower resembles a tiny upturned urn.

Wowie the Cat

My cross-eyed neighbor cat "Wowie" stopped by yesterday and posed for some pictures.

My favourite Wowie picture

bamboo

Nearly a year ago I finished building my bamboo planter. I was curious to see how much the bamboo had grown over the past year. So I took some photos today and then merged them with photos taken last March.

Hiking at Point Lobos with Steve

My friend Steve from Buffalo visited on Friday. After lunch at the Trailside Cafe, we went on a short hike at Point Lobos.

Steve and I had some good hiking weather with sunny skies and temperatures in the mid 60s.

A coastal rock formation at Point Lobos

January freeze

A hard freeze in mid January caused extensive damage to plants in my yard. Here is my stand of giant bird of paradise as they looked back in mid December.

Giant birds of paradise on January 19, a few days after the end of the freeze.

Giant birds of paradise, after pruning.

Tree fern grove on January 8, a few days before the cold snap began.

Tree fern grove on January 19, a few days after the freeze ended.

Tree fern grove after pruning.

Bougainvillea back in November, before the freeze

Bougainvillea after the freeze

Bougainvillea, after pruning.

Back yard milestone

I recently completed most structural work in the back yard, including the terraces, steps, paths, and fire pit patio. Here is the view from the back deck looking toward the fire pit patio.

View from the top of the stairs, looking down toward patio.

View from the east side of house. The open terraced areas will be vegetable gardens in the spring.

View from the patio looking up the stairs toward the back of the house.

View from corner garden above fire pit patio

View from behind the shed. The plan is to put a pond in the raised section on the right.

chimenea incident

On the evening of February 6, I decided to use my new fire pit patio for the first time. I built a roaring fire in the chimenea. Apparently, I let the fire get too hot and the result was a cracked chimenea.

Here you can clearly see the crack in the chimenea