A Fond Memory...Red Rock Revisited

Mid-July I'll be lusting after damp, chilly weather and unable to even remember quite what rain feels like, but today I woke to the sound of heavy raindrops and leaden skies and today it just matched my miserable mood. Why so down you may ask...and my answer is simple: I'm getting old. How old you may wonder? Old enough that bits of me that are meant to be permanent just whimsically detatch. Yesterday I bit into a piece of bread and a piece of my tooth fell off. Yes, a piece of bread and yes a visible (just left of front) tooth just snapped in half. WTF? So today was my emergency visit to the dentist. Not my normal dentist but his partner who looked at my sad sorry half a tooth and shook his head and said quite matter-of-factly, "I see this all the time with people your age." In my head played another WTF? The dentist worked some temporary magic and now I can pass as normal for another month until the new crown is made.

So I'm just going to post some pictures from our lovely Sunday when it was sunny and filled with friends and teeth that were whole. Himself organized a group walk up Red Rock and eight of us made our way there and here and here's what we saw, all before lunch. Can't seem to get the labels to match the pictures, so guess what you're looking at, ok?

Susan Peering at the Redness of the Rock and what I recollect to be a lizard without a tail.
Monica and Sage taking five.
A snake and I can't remember what kind but it was pretty long, 3' or so, and non-poisonous. Not a rattle to be heard.
The mountainsides are covered in Ceanothus (all varieties)...blue and white...it's everywhere and it's fragrant. Southern California's lilac.
Bush Monkey Flower (Mimulus Aurantiacus)
Crimson Pitcher Sage (Salvia Spathacea)