How time flies . . .

Well, I've spent a good portion of the past two weeks haunting the Park in anticipation of the poppies but it seems that the weather prevented a real show this year. Mt. Murphy is a beautiful green and there was a brief period when one could see subtle brush strokes of orange, but the grasses have now overpowered much of the color.  There are poppies beginning to bloom down in the park area, with lupine and other wildflowers along Mt. Murphy road.  The weather is predicted to be nice this weekend so my plan is to be in Coloma.  In the meantime, here is a lilac photo taken about two weeks ago. The best show of lilac are bordering the church parking lot on High Street - definitely worth the walk to be rewarded by this visual and fragrant treat!

The Door Knob . . . .

Ok, so Friday I arrived at Marshall Gold about mid-afternoon to see what I could see and get in some photo practice while the sun was still shining. My goal was to experiment with close-up photos for a class I'm taking online, while also getting some images for the GDPA Newsletter article on Spring in the Park. The lilac and morning glory blooms were abundant - as was the delightful breeze, which tried my patience in my attempts to capture an image of a perfectly still flower. After deciding this was going to be futile, I began to look for something solid to study close up and settled on a door knob at James Marshall's Cabin.
When I'm out and about in the Park I usually wear my docent badge and when visitors see it, it's an open invitation to ask questions about the gold rush and Coloma's history. So I'm about 15 minutes into concentrating on taking pictures of this door knob and look up to see a small family patiently observing me work. Dad apologized and said that they didn't want to startle me, and he then noticed that I'm a docent and asked if this was an important door knob. Immediately my mind starts to sift through what I remember from my docent training and I draw a blank about the historic significance of building hardware. So I tell him no, I just thought it was a really cool door knob. This family gathers around the door knob, study it, and agree that it's a really cool door knob. With big smiles they thank me and enthusiastically move on to study James Marshall's outhouse.
I have to say that these are the people moments I enjoy the most . . .

a quick note . . . .

Well, finally a weekend with good weather? Hard to tell, but I'm headed out the door to find as much Spring in the Park as possible! It's also Second Saturday, which means the docents will be there in period clothing and participating in any number of interpretive programs throughout the day. Stay tuned for an update on new and traditional events taking place this year . . . including a weekly Farmers Market at the Monroe Orchard . . . . .