After returning from New Zealand, we had something of a quiet time for a few days. Then Hailey and Jeff Webb showed up for the weekend. Can't see the U Kansas T-shirt here, but we watched in sorrow as Kansas went down. But, Jeff recovered by swinging.
We took a little hike in Lithia Park, where the magnolia was in bloom. Lots of other things in bloom, too, like this shot of me in the pear orchard (pear trees in bloom, not me).
Amelia and I took a couple of hikes to a trail above Applegate Reservoir, and another above the Britt Festival grounds. Along the way we saw some wildflowers, like these I can't identify from the picture. Actually, most of them I can't identify, athough I now have a nice wildflower book. So, here are some more: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Closer to home, we had some red clover planted on the mesa and the front meadow last fall, and it looks nice now. Other hiking sights were a sunning lizard and this interesting (well, I think so) manzanita.
We've had some activity around the yard, too. We had a flock of cedar waxwings in a tree recently. For the first time we spotted this squirrel at the bird feeder (so far he hasn't come much, or I'll have to take some drastic steps). More recently we've had white crowned sparrows, titmouse over quail, and red-winged blackbirds.
Over the weekend of April 18-19 (that is, 16-20 for us), we traveled down to Sonoma County. While there we saw Tanna's and Stephen's new home in Timber Cove, shown here from below. It will be finished soon. Here are Tanna and Stephen on one of the decks. Stephen's mother Nancy was there, too. Here is a string (not a panorama) of views. As always, there is work for the home owners.
On Sunday there was a party for the April birthday folks (Dick, Laura, and Stephen) at Hailey's house near Sebastopol. A good time was had by all. Here we see a hard-fought game of tennis. Later the presents were wheeled in. Some endured admirably not getting presents. Laura and Stephen got lots of good stuff. (So did I, but I don't have a picture of that.)
Richard Franke
