The Hills Are Alive

Went searching for wild flowers. Found them, ... and some cows.

California has been pounded with rain this winter, and well into the spring we still had some good rain last weekend. We definitely needed such a winter, to help out with the state drought. But after so many wildfires in recent past, the risk of too much water, as the weather warms up and snow melts, is also elevated.

The flowers on the foothills of Mount Diablo (San Francisco East Bay) loved all this water, and are really blooming with the beautiful days we’ve seen between storms. It does not compare with the “super bloom” we saw in the news, which happened more in the Central Valley and Southern California, where it is usually a bit warmer. But on hikes through the rolling hills and pastures of the East Bay, we can see beautiful patches of orange poppies, and other colorful wild flowers.

If you look close enough, you’ll see the orange poppies scattered on this hill. And no, that’s not the Windows XP hill.

… and a few cows.

These pictures were taken during a couple of hikes we did in the end of April, and the beginning of May. There are still lots of flowers on the hills, but we are starting to see the familiar yellow hue returning to scenery. With the high temperatures we get in the summer, frequently above 90F (32C), yellow will be the predominant color with all the green grass drying up.

Window XP

With the huge success of Window XP as an operating system across the world, the picture below is said to be one of the most viewed pictures in history.

Windows XP image by Charles O’Rear

That picture was taken in Napa Valley, which is not too far from where I live and shoot frequently. I often come back home with pictures that remind me of it.

From the archives

Here are a few samples that came back when searching my Lightroom catalog for “green hill”.

February 2016

February 2016

March 2017

April 2017