Salsola tragus aka “tumble weed” near the intersection of California and Nevada on the east side of the Sierra. Had never seen one in its “non-tumbling” phase. #botany #wildflowers #plants #nature #hiking
#Sierra

The great equalizer: when the government shutdown truly hits below the belt and across the political spectrum. Long way to the next (non-federal) port-a-potty. Fortunately, lots of trees around for the intrepid.

And it’s alluringly fragrant!
#orchids #hanginggardens #flowers

Macro grains of sand on this beach. The shores of a defunct ceramics factory that closed down in 1968. Still affords a much better experience than the Costco across the street. I shudder at what 57 years ahead will yield in more nefarious detritus. #beach #shore #ceramics #sand #pottery #relics

RIP Sly Stone #funk #rock #music legend

youtu.be/F8Udz1ZuqKQ?...

It’s that time for one of the rarest natives around these parts — and only exists on Ring Mountain in Marin County, above the San Francisco Bay — the serpentine endemic the Tiburon Mariposa lily Calochortus tiburonensis.
#wildflowers #serpentine #lilies #Californianativeplants

Why’d the #Newt cross the path? To find true and ever-lasting love.
California orange-bellied newt (Taricha torosa). Do not lick. #amphibia

Spring has sprung. Thanks pipevine swallowtail. #spring #butterflies #gardening

Eucalyptus at the picnic spot above Drake’s Estero, Point Reyes National Seashore. #favoritetrees

Calaveras Big Trees. They are, indeed, big.
#favoritetrees

Celebratory day-drinking permitted in recognition of friend and stellar #BerkeleyLab and #BuckInstitute cellular senescence scientist Judy Campisi. Hard to process that it has already been a year since her worldly departure.

💙📚 #booksky For those who take in their literature via #audiobooks I’ve just finished “A Need to be Whole — Patriotism and the History of Prejudice,” by Kentucky farmer-poet-critical thinker Wendell Berry. Bonus is that it is skillfully narrated by Nick Offerman. High marks!

They’re filling up before getting the heck outta town!

Devasted by the news. Just days after re-release into the East Bay Regional Parks after his UC Davis rehab from a broken wing, Cal Falcon’s Equinox (aka “Nox”) has died:

news.berkeley.edu/2024/10/24/f...