san francisco at dawn

one of the things i like best about the part of califonia i’ve moved to is the variety in flora: on the hillside surrounding my apartment, the following plants are growing: palm trees, deciduous trees: cherry, live oak, eucalyptus among others, coniferous trees: redwoods and others, ferns, bamboo, blackberry bushes, wild grasses, cactus, agave, and ivy. what do all those plants have in common? basically, nothing, except that they all live in my front yard. its kind of an amazing climate.

the other thing about northern california is that the colors of the seasons are all mixed up. growing up in the Idaho rocky mountains, the seasons work thus: summer is green, fall is golden, winter is brown, and spring is…mostly more brown. the same general rule applies to Chicago. but here, everything works backwards: there is so little rain in the summer that everything turns golden brown by july, and stays that way until the rains start in october or november. then suddenly everything turns green, and the morning fogs cease and the skies are deep dark blue, and the world continues to green throughout the winter. spring brings flashes of color as the early flowers bloom. i remember being so surprised by this pattern when i came to northern california for college. being away for eight years, most of which i spent in chicago (or idaho) i’d forgotten how upside down the color palettes are here.

mind you, i’m not complaining. it’s november first, and i woke up to sunlight from my south-facing windows at 7am. by 8am it was warm enough to have the front door open, an zeke went out and slept in the sun on the porch. B and i spent the morning hiking in the hills above MV. recent rains have caused the ferns to spring out of the ground in force, whole hillsides of lime-green fronds unfurling in the shade. the trees that do respond to the changes in light are throwing down their leaves, crunchy, a smell of rotting leaves that evoked some memory from childhood.

but golden gate park shows no sign of impending winter:

too beautiful out for ghouls: halloween game of frisbee in golden gate park