Pretty summer day for a picnic!

Unknown little flower by our pond.

After our little rain the other day, the snails all came out and cavorted together.

Yellow calendula and pink oxalis blooming on the west side of our house, very hot there!

Calendula, sunflowers and hollyhocks are coming right along in the "sun garden," a euphemism for the hottest place in the yard.

Today I collected a paper bag full of Calendula seed heads. Next spring I will grow them in the front yard also.  Love these tough little plants. 

We took a picnic to a local lake today, gorgeous sky, no smoke. 

The scourge of Southern Oregon: poison oak.  Isn't it pretty? Shiny leaves, soon to have white berries and then in fall, lovely red color. This is the stuff of my nightmares.

Eight foot cattails at the edge of the lake.

I walked all the way around the lake on this little trail.  Ferns galore!

Lush beyond belief.

My favorite, vanilla leaf.  It will make an unimpressive little white flower, but it's the leaf shape that is so beautiful.

More of the trail with giant ferns, firs, salal, snowberry and some unidentifiables.

Lightest of blue skies today.

Pretty little trail.

Lime green vine maple mixed in with Oregon grape and blackberries.

Salal berries, edible but bland.

Ah Oregon forest.  Nothing is as pretty as this.

This madrone leans and peels and looks precarious next to a bunch of nice straight firs. It's hugely tall for a madrone!

 I love the aqua colored sky and the deeper blue of the water.

Pacific blackberries at the water's edge. They aren't as prolific as the Himalayan blackberries, and the berries are smaller but they taste excellent!  

Sadly, these were not quite ripe.