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Spring has! We must experience the ephemeral beauty of the spring wildflowers before they disappear until next year! I am emerging from winter hibernation and trying to get out as much as possible. This is my favorite time of year. The wildflowers bring such excitement! I love being in the woods before the trees leaf out in the crisp, but warm weather. Oh wildflowers, how I’ve missed you! Last weekend we visited Bluff Spring Fen in Elgin, IL and Lyman Woods in Downer’s Grove, IL.

Hepatica

Bloodroot

Skunk Cabbage

Mayapples

Trout Lily

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After the single digit weather we’ve had, 34 degrees and sunny felt like summer! Like California! We had to get out, so we went to the North Park Village Nature Center just a few miles from home. Who knew 34 degrees could make a person so happy?

Whole album Click Here.

I also put some silliness up on youtube:

More Here.

And a trip up north wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Superdawg!

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So, it’s going to warm up again, right? I guess not. I forgot how much you have to check weather.com and the thermometer in Chicago. I’ll just be going about my day and then “Oh crap, it’s snowing. Hard. I don’t have any boots. Or a snow scraper. Please don’t let the windshield washer fluid run out” OR “Shoot, it’s raining AND freezing, I don’t have my raincoat AND down vest or parka.” Or then I wear a sweater to work at a school and it’s so f-ing hot inside I’m sweating all day long, but it’s freezing and windy outside. Geez Louise preparing for the weather in Chicago takes effort. I guess I had gleefully forgotten. But the schools in California were very cold and damp in the winter. So there.

Can I just get a little bit of sun, here? That would be nice, thanks.

I know this picture is a month or so old, but I thought it was pretty. And happy.

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Being back in Chicago has its benefits. It’s especially fun to be with friends again and visit familiar places. Living in California, everything was new. In Chicago, we can relish traditions. Just don’t ask me if I miss California. :)

Click Here for the whole album.

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Before we moved, we took another trip to Redwood National Park. This picture is from Del Norte Redwoods State Park. We took so many pictures that I haven’t even tried to put them into an album yet. Here’s a taste.

This one is from the Rockefeller Forest, Bull Creek Flats, Humboldt Redwoods State Park:

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One day there may come a time when you have to make a decision.

And you’re not really sure what to do. You are warned about the dangers of doing something different. You worry about which is the right path.

But you make your choice and you choose the more uncertain route. You find that things aren’t easy. Sometimes the path is “overgrown and strewn with thorns” (in the words of Sarah McLachlan). You think to yourself, dang, is this worth getting poison oak?

But soon you start to see the good things.

The further you travel, you experience more beauty and wonder than you ever imagined.

And you realize that if you never took the risk, accepted the challenges, you would never have been rewarded with such fulfilling experiences.

You decide it was worth all the risks, uncertainty, and scrapes along the way. Because in the end, it changed your life forever.

Life is what you make it.

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I’ve seen some stairways in San Francisco, but never realized they were a key to exploring the fantastic neighborhoods. One day at Shakespeare & Co. bookstore in Berkeley I spotted a book called Stairway Walks in San Francisco. Oh how I wish I had found this book sooner! I live in a hip part of Oakland (yes, they do exist) and I value supporting the local businesses, so I stick close to home a lot. This book has given me the inspiration and opportunity to explore San Francisco neighborhoods in manageable sections… on foot! Who could pass up the walk on the cover that featured this glorious stairway?:

The only thing missing from this book is the inclusion of mileage in the descriptions of the walks (or should I say “urban hikes?”). It’s sort of difficult to tell if the walks are short or long. However, there are detailed maps and descriptions of each walk.

This weekend, we went on the Land’s End & Sutro Baths walk:

What a beautiful sunny day it was!!

The yard next to our apartment is devoid of sunshine and teeming with plant-munching slugs. But a girl can dream…

Bay Friendly Garden Tour

Click on the photo below to view the album:

A nail in the tire threatened to keep us from our goal of visiting many gardens, but after a quick tire plug we were off on a garden adventure!

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This weekend we volunteered with the Sierra Club’s Inner City Outings. ICO’s mission statement reads: “Sierra Club Inner City Outings is a community outreach program that provides opportunities for urban youth and adults to explore, enjoy and protect the natural world.” On Saturday, we helped take a group of Oakland 5th graders to Angel Island. We had such a great time! The weather was sunny and warm (being in the middle of the bay had the potential to be foggy and cold), the kids were great, and we all had fun taking the ferry from Tiburon, hiking, and playing on the beach. I’d never been to Angel Island before, so it was an adventure for me, too. If you’d like to see the whole album on Flickr, click here.

You can click here to read more about ICO on the website. Click here for a list of local contacts to see if there is an ICO in your city. I know Chicago has an ICO, but I don’t think they have a website.