Little Prince's Pine - a unique and uncommon California native wildflower

I've been watching a group of these small plants, waiting and waiting to see what the bloom might be. My patience has finally been rewarded. If you haven't met, let me introduce you to Little Prince's Pine - Chimaphila menziesii. Thanks go to Peter Baye to for the ID. It's a perennial wildflower in the Heath family and it's a California native, just like me!

Nesting Pelagic Cormorants with babies near the Point Arena Lighthouse

Nik Epanchin photographed these nesting Pelagic Cormorants on a bluff face near the Point Arena Lighthouse recently. You can see the babies in the upper nest. What a great photo and I thank Nik for allowing me to share it here!

Lovely Butterfly - a Pale Swallowtail - graced us with its presence

A Pale Swallowtail - Papilio eurymedon - visited our neighbor's wax myrtles yesterday delighting us with its beauty. One of the caterpillar hosts for this butterfly is the California Coffee-Berry bush, which we have growing on our property in Anchor Bay.

The first Leopard Lily has bloomed at the edge of Quinliven Creek - an exotic beauty on the Mendonoma Coast!

One of my favorite wildflowers - the tropical-looking Leopard Lily, Lilium pardalinum - has bloomed on the forest floor. The splash of orange is so unexpected in the world of greens and browns. It is also called Tiger Lily or Panther Lily. Its roots have medicinal qualities but I'd just rather admire this rare beauty from afar.

Golden Retriever Love Brigade - a Point Arena 4th of July Parade Tradition!

It all began in 2005 - the birth of the Golden Retriever Love Brigade. Point Arena hosts an annual 4th of July parade down Highway One, which closes the road for an hour. The previous year Rick and I attended the parade and there weren't many entries. I was disappointed! So I decided to come up with an entry myself and my inspiration was my Golden Retriever, Huckleberry.

Since then we've had Love Brigade in every parade and this year was no different. Elsa and Emily did a wonderful job carrying our big sign this year. We won first prize in our division!

The coast is packed with holiday visitors but there is serenity to be found.

A lone Gull on a fence post, the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop and a beautiful, sunny day gives one the essence of serenity, Mendonoma Coast-wise. Thanks to Carolyn André for this beautiful photo.

Nesting colony of Brandt's Cormorants on Gualala Point Island - an aerial photo.

Gualala Point Island is a large, rocky island sitting off the northernmost end of The Sea Ranch. It is a haven for many birds and pinnipeds and many of us enjoy watching them from the bluffs. But on the far side, where we landlubbers cannot see, there is a large colony of Brandt's Cormorants currently nesting.

TSR are Stewards of the rocks and islands off their stretch of the coast, which are part of the California Coastal National Monument. They have formed a Task Force to monitor the seabirds. Recently their aerial photographer Craig Tooley went up with pilot Tom Osborne as part of their 5th year of monitoring and captured this photo. There are also some Common Murres in the photo, a cause for excitement. There is hope they may be prospecting for nests. And one lone Gull at the top, hoping for a free meal.

This is the big reason why fireworks over the 4th of July weekend in Gualala are a bad idea. We are fortunate to have nesting seabirds here. Don't feel sorry for us! We have fireworks in Point Arena 11 miles to the north.