My homegrown cucumbers are very prickly. It’s not a problem; the spines are easy to scrub off. But before doing so today, I decided to examine some of them under the microscope. Now I’m curious about cactus spines!
Cucumis sativus
Month: October 2023
lone oak
Sketched from a photo, following John Muir Laws’ Happy Little Trees workshop. He shared a lot of good tips on drawing both broadleaf and coniferous trees, near and far.
get on your high horse
We hiked Nicholas Flat for the first time since spring. The new bridge has remarkably high sides; Vic says it’s to make it safe for horses.
nearly over
Pretty much the last harvest of salad veg for the year; there’s still cucumbers on the vine, and lots of basil, but I pulled the last tomato plant today. This sketch shows 1/50th of the green tomatoes now filling a big colander on the counter, so we’ll still be eating them for a few weeks. Looking forward to brassicas, beets, chard, potatoes, onions ….
historic gatehouse
Built in 1929, the guard house of the historic Adamson House sits just inside the entrance gate. I’d love to have a peek inside, but it’s not open to the public; it’s the private residence of a State Park ranger. Is it full of spectacular tiles, like the main house, I wonder?
seamonster
The playground at the Santa Monica Pier features a large concrete sea serpent head, and a small boat. I was just about finished this sketch when a couple of kids came to play, brandishing toy swords and loudly declaiming in a language I didn’t understand. Perfect pirates. So fun to witness.
sketchy business
I met up with Urban Sketchers Los Angeles at Santa Monica Pier yesterday; it was much easier to sketch the seated sketchers than the tourists walking by!
curious and curiouser
On Sulphur Mountain I saw a curious phenomenon—clusters of baby acorns on one of the coast live oaks. This makes no sense to me, for multiple reasons:
- It’s autumn, not spring. The year’s acorn crop is ending, not beginning.
- Acorns don’t usually grow in thick clusters like this. They grow singly or in pairs.
- There was no evidence of male flowers, whose dried catkins usually linger for quite a while after the female flowers are fertilised.
I know we’ve had a weird weather year, but I only observed this phenomenon in a single tree out of many hundreds I passed. Why would only one tree be affected, if weather was the cause? What’s going on here?
wood rat nest
Our nature journaling trip to Santa Cruz Island was cancelled by the transportation company due to strong winds. Instead, we climbed the Sulphur Mountain Road Trail and journaled frogs, jumping spiders, mutant acorns, wood rat nests, and more. I saw my first northern harrier! What a lovely day with kindred spirits.
mise en place
Prepping lunch for my Santa Cruz Island trip with the Channel Island Nature Journalers. First time I’m going there, and I’m excited!
hashiworks 