Under the Solano Sun

I love to plant sunflowers of different types and, at the end of summer, leave the sunflower heads to ripen and feed the birds. The birds make a mess when pulling the seeds out of the sunflower head, but nonetheless, it's quite entertaining to watch.

Thirty years ago, on a cold, foggy day in December, my husband and I packed up the home I had bought in Modesto, loaded all our belongings into a U-Haul truck and moved ourselves to Vacaville.

Who says California doesn't have seasons? The appearance of the Naked Lady (Amaryllis belladonna) in August has always signaled the waning days of summer vacation for me.

This summer my husband and I have been busy traveling across the country with destinations in the state of North Carolina and Florida. This blog will focus on NC, which I have to say, I am enthralled with.

A few getaway days found us in Fort Bragg. Our first destination was the Mendocino Botanical Gardens. This garden is on 47 acres that has a forest of coastal pines, some wetlands and as you walk on the path that takes you to the ocean you can hear the waves.