
K’s been away for a few days, and Bodie is moping.

Yesterday was my birthday. Inspired by Yvea Moore and others in the nature journalling community, I invited some friends to help me celebrate by picking up litter on Venice Beach. It’s a tradition I hope goes viral. (Let’s see … on any given day, about 11,000 people in Los Angeles are celebrating their birthday. Imagine if they all took a couple of friends and picked up litter for an hour on this one day per year. It could really make a difference, right?)


I took a good zoom class yesterday with Kristin Meuser, on the topic of Creating Depth in Mini Watercolor Landscapes (or landscapitos, as they are called in the nature journalling community). She’s running another class on Sunday, if you care to attend. I’ll be there!
This was sketched from Kristin’s photo, but I feel like I sat in pretty much this exact spot when we visited Mono Lake last September.

In amongst the native sagebrush and laurel sumac in the Malibu Bluffs Open Space is a big healthy patch of non-native Pride of Madeira. Even though it doesn’t ‘belong’ there, the bees, hummingbirds, orange-tips and tiny native pollinators are loving it.

Just back from a fabulous Field Ecology Weekend, camping with the Malibu Creek and Topanga State Park docents, and learning from a wide range of teachers. I have many pages of notes to review and digest, and new areas of interest to pursue. Obsidian knapping and animal tracking were highlights!

As I’m going camping this weekend, K gave me my birthday present early. It’s exactly what I hoped for, and I’m tickled pink.