Poison Oak

This morning all was quiet in the neighborhood. No tree trimmers, no jackhammers, no beeping trucks or No Turn signs as Ozzie and I headed for the hills. It was a pleasant morning--overcast but not cold. From our vantage point on the ridge we could see in the distance the line of sun under the clouds promising sun for us by the time we finished our hike. An owl hooted somewhere nearby, hawks circled effortlessly overhead and Ozzie chased bunnies into the underbrush. Feeling a bit the worse for wear after our Indian feast--delicious and fun but way past our bedtime by the time the last of the guests took their leave--this early morning
Exercise was just what the doctor ordered.

In the flat light the wildflowers were particularly lovely--blue Scabiosa, purple sage, bright red wild currant bushes and the orange poppies which gave the Golden Gate its name because at one time they turned the East Bay hills golden and were the first thing sailors saw as they entered the San Francisco bay. The hills are now covered with non-native Eucalyptus trees, imported from Australia by a lumber baron who discovered too late that the wood is unsuitable for building houses. It would seem to me that a lumber baron ought to have a better understanding of what kind of wood he was importing--perhaps the story is apocryphal. It is true, however, that these trees provided nearly 80% of the fuel for the disastrous East Bay Hills Firestorm, which burned down over 3,000 homes and took 24 lives in 1991. We watched from our windows as the fire burned one house after another,and could hear transformers and Eucalyptus trees blowing up in the intense heat.

My blip today is of the infamous Poison Oak leaves which, if touched can spread through their oil a terrible rash which behaves almost like a burn, except that it itches insanely. The leaves turn red in the fall and are quite pretty. A neighbor, newly arrived in the area had a lovely arrangement of branches covered in the bright red leaves prominently displayed in her foyer.

My husband has flown off on a business trip, and I am looking forward to a quiet evening with the Tour de France as the boys toil up one of the final mountain stages of the 2012 tour.