Right turn, Clyde

I am not sure how this cypress could have formed this way, but I would like to hang a hammock up there.

Cypress signaling right, San Francisco, 2012.

I can't write much else tonight because I'm tired. The bus ride kind of sucked the life out of me tonight. The bus does this. It gives a little back in the form of entertainment and occasional sense of community, but ultimately it takes away. I am excited to get back on the bike tomorrow. Between rain and a high-endurance cold, I've been off the bike for about a week. ugh.

I also missed picking up a newly developed film order by about 15 minutes tonight. But I should have some fresh material soon. 

I am glad that I rediscovered this photo, though.

Coast Lily

Lilium maritimum, or coast lily, is not to be overlooked. It's a plant of wet wood openings with a fairly small flower that becomes even more interesting when looked at from below. Its leaves are palmate, smooth, and glossy. Like other members of Liliaceae family, its petals are in multiples of three (think of the trillium or Easter lilies as other examples) and it has parallel veins on its leaves.

Lilium maritimum, Salt Point SP, 2011.

The coast lily is considered a rare plant, reaching the California Native Plant Society's ranking of 1B.1. Part of this ranking comes from it being endemic to California -- it is found in California alone -- and partly from its habitat being threatened. I suspect most of its habitat has already been lost; thankfully, there are protected populations such as the one I saw at Salt Point.

Salt Point State Park is an amazing place to explore. See also previous posts. 

Mountain Lake

One of the restoration sites I manage in the Presidio is the replanted native vegetation surrounding Mountain Lake. The lake has a rich historical timeline, which continues today. Prior to Spanish settlement, attributed to the Juan Bautista de Anza party in 1776, it sat as a lake surrounded by sand. Most of the western, low-lying lands of San Francisco were sand dunes. The lake might have looked something like a larger version of the one in this picture. It was probably a low point in the topography filled by groundwater that percolated to the surface. 

Many times I have wished that somehow it could be possible to be transported back to this time to have seen and experienced it. I don't know what the afterlife means or will be, but some kind of heaven, for me, would be to see all the restoration sites where I have worked in their ancient states. It would be enlightening and surprising -- maybe even amusing, in light of what I know today -- to observe plants and wildlife while having sand blast my face as I walked through the Richmond District. 

Today the lake is much different, mainly owing to its location directly adjacent to Highway 1 and construction projects that have altered the lake; also owing to the golf course that neighbors it.  On all sides, the lake is encroached by development of sorts, but the future does hold promise for its health.

Woven Fence at South Shore Bench, Mountain Lake, Presidio, 2012.

Above is a picture of a bench on the south shoreline with a fence in front that I made with the help of our seasonal restoration technicians. The vertical posts are willow branches, a few of which should remain alive as roots sprout from them to find water in the ground; the horizontal woven branches are mostly cuttings from sycamores that are cut yearly in a process called pollarding. We did this as part of a few work days committed to sprucing up the public areas of the site in anticipation of public informative walks there. The walks will probably continue in the future as the public is informed of the latest status of the planned remediation of the lake. Not much official information exists online at this time, but should once the project reaches the public comment period. Here's a blog post pertaining to it.

The implementation of the enhancement plan is where I hope to get involved in the future. This, provided funds come through, will hopefully make the lake more of a functioning ecosystem and get it back on track to where it's thought it would have been without urbanization.

There's a Butterfly in there

I enjoyed going through a super-fast roll of 3200 speed B&W film recently. I was told to expect grain. I knew I'd be able to take advantage of low light as well. I decided to shoot things that I might also have shot in color, but to also try to create interesting black and white shots that are more interesting purely because they lack color. 

I think it worked in this one. I shot an orange-and-black West Coast Lady (Vanessa annabella) butterfly here on a seaside daisy. The shot would have been very colorful, and the butterfly would have contrasted distinctly against a purple, green, and yellow background. I think the result is amazing; I hope you agree. 

Click the links above to see these species in "living" color.  To find the butterfly, here's a hint: it's facing to the left and is dead-center in the frame.

Vanessa at Park Scrub, Presidio, 2012