5/26/12

Some good news for a change

Those exams? I passed them. Yay!

Yay me!

When I started blogging 6 years ago, I never would have imagined putting a picture like that up. What will be on your blog in 6 years? Anyway, I have two more weeks of school, two homework assignments, one quiz, and a final exam, and I'm done. That all seems pro forma now with the exams behind me.

I went for a hike.

Purisima Creek

Purisima Creek. We've been here many times. Just a few pics.

Purisima Creek

When you visit, be sure to bear right immediately after the trailhead. Otherwise it's a steep descent and you miss the haunted forest.

Purisima Creek

And dress in layers. I have never been here when it was not cold, wet, and blustery on the trailhead but warm, dry, and still a mile down the trail.

Purisima Creek

Purisima Creek

Purisima Creek

Purisima Creek

Purisima Creek

To commemorate the occasion, I did go a little farther than I ever have. Specifically, I've never hiked that ridge before. The trail is supposed to dead end at someone's private property a mile or so down the road, so I've never bothered to explore.

Purisima Creek

Ceanothus in Seattle were still going when I was there last weekend. They are kaput in San Francisco, but here are some in the final phase.

Purisima Creek

Purisima Creek

A lot of this too. A paintbrush?

Purisima Creek

Cow Parsnip (Heracleum lanatum), a personal favorite.

Purisima Creek

Purisima Creek

Purisima Creek

Lovely lupines.

Purisima Creek

I poached a half-dozen Phacelia californica seeds here a couple years ago. They made vigorous plants in my garden! I will show them to you.

Purisima Creek

The P. californica is grayer in leaf and paler in bloom than the more commonly grown scorpion weed, Phacelia tanacetifolia.

Purisima Creek

You would not believe how some native plant enthusiasts will go on about our coastal Fragaria. Don't get me started.

Purisima Creek

Purisima Creek

Purisima Creek

Purisima Creek

It was around this bend when I came to the end for this trip.

Purisima Creek

You can't tell from this picture that the trail here is a steep, loose rock descent. I'd already gone a good mile past where I thought the trail would end, so I was not prepared to go any further. Because you have to climb back up that shit. Not today. I turned around, slapped my ass, and said giddy up.

Purisima Creek

TThe fog lifted at the end, and I could see the ocean.

Purisima Creek

9 comments:

Kaveh Maguire said...

Congratulations! Nice celebratory hike.

Christopher C. NC said...

Congratulations on passing the exams and becoming a master statistician. A walk in the woods is a good way to get all those numbers out of your head.

rainymountain said...

Congratulations on passing your Masters exams - a successful end to all that hard work.

Brent said...

Congratulations on the Masters degree.

Those strawberries look tasty. I like the plants too, but I've never extolled their virtues. More exciting is the Lupine. Who is such a Fragaria proponent?

Annie in Austin said...

Congratulations Chuck! I loved the woods-walk and your last line "The fog lifted at the end, and I could see the ocean." Oceans of good luck to you!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

cheryl said...

Congratulations!And thanks for the short (and long) walks you take us on. Hopefully there will be more now that your hours of study have relaxed.

Ann Atkinson said...

Congrats, Chuck! That's awesome! Need more info on the fragaria groupies...because that shit is just too good to not know. What will my blog say in 6 years? Pretty sure it won't have a photo of my Master's...just sayin'

LostRoses said...

Congratulations Chuck, and also thanks for the laugh out loud over your description of getting back up the trail! Your writing is very amusing.

lisa said...

Congratulations! That hike looks so inviting, especially the ridge area. It looks as though you're really out in the wilderness.