Transitional Season

The San Francisco Bay Area is in the midst of deciding whether spring should arrive or not.  Bone chilling storms during which I huddle by the fire cursing my leaky windows have been alternating with seductively mild days that entice me to leave my house without a jacket.

Last Monday was one of the pleasant days and by luck, a holiday here.  I hiked Mount Tamalpais wearing just a t-shirt over my hiking pants.  It is still early enough in the season to see waterfalls throughout the state's green spaces and the day was beautiful.  See the blue sky in the photo at left?

On Saturday I hiked at Castle Rock and the weather had turned again.  Drizzly, cold, low visibility.  I was chilled to the bone and wet to boot!  But I have to admit the mist does look quite dramatic.

After Castle Rock, we headed out to the coast to try to catch a glimpse of an elephant seal at Año Nuevo and almost ran into one sleeping on the beach (left).  I didn't notice the scratches on her back until I looked at the photos.  I hope she wasn't hurt!  Elephant seals may seem awkward, but they are fast and can be aggressive.  I admit I was too chicken to walk around to take a photo of her from the front.  Now that we got to see one seal, though, we hope to return to the preserve in the next few weeks before they return to sea.

And I hope to see the signs of spring popping out at me more frequently in the coming weeks.  I plan to take a little stroll to the nursery around the corner to ogle vegetable seeds and seedlings.  I cooked beets and chard and had radishes from the garden yesterday and I'm inspired to be more attentive to the garden this year.