image shows a black and white bird with yellow eyes clinging to a grey tree. The tree is barkless, and its surface is dotted with acorns embedded into it in holes that are placed in a series of slightly slanted, but mostly vertical lines.

Do acorn woodpeckers kill the trees they use to store nuts?

Sometimes when you go out and into nature, nature does something so interesting that you want to stop and watch it for a while. Case in point: while on a hike last week, my husband and I came across a colony of acorn woodpeckers stashing nuts for the winter. After watching for awhile, we found ourselves wondering: “Do acorn woodpeckers kill the trees they use to store nuts?”

Barrel shaped cactus plant with giant cluster of white flowers with a yellow center.

Wordless Wednesday: Flowering cacti

It’s springtime for the cacti too.

Snippet of Carrie Lederer's Lost in my abstract garden is a swirl of purples and green in various floral shapes.

Palo Alto Public Art Project: Lost in My Abstract Garden on California Avenue

Palo Alto has installed eight new temporary murals designed to give residents struggling with the pandemic a bit of an emotional boost this spring. Last week, I visited the murals along California Avenue, and found myself spending a great deal of time with Carrie Lederer’s mural, Lost in My Abstract Garden.

Mural of a marching band consisting of a variety of foods playing various instruments. The mural reads Welcome to California Avenue.

The Palo Alto Public Art Project is helping us remember how to be in public spaces again

With Santa Clara County slowly resuming economic and social activities, looking at some freshly installed public art is a great opportunity to get my entire family used to roaming freely around the world again.

Wordless Wednesday: Spring flowers

Apparently, this is the week we get spring flowers in Northern California.

Wordless Wednesday: Donkeys need walks too

I spotted a couple of women walking their donkeys on one of my walks this week. Could this be the most California thing ever?

My (@shalahowell) tweet from August 21: "There's a squirrel in my backyard frantically digging a hole to stash an emergency horde of nuts and all I can think is "Same Dude Same"

What a difference air quality makes

The wildfires in Northern California have sent a ton of smoke our way this week. While talking to my uncle this week, I found myself unable to explain adequately how weird the light has been as a result. Fortunately, my habit of taking multiple pictures of every flower I manage to grow means that I have a couple of photos that capture it.

My daughter took this picture of the rodent digging up our yard. It shows his face and his very long, very yellow, and pretty snarly teeth.

“Is that weird beastie in my yard a mole, vole, or gopher?”

While swinging on the swing set one blissful afternoon, The Twelve-Year-Old noticed a furry beast with a rather fine set of long yellow teeth staring at her from his burrow. Naturally she wanted to know what was watching her. “Mommyo is that weird beastie a mole, vole, or gopher?”

Wordless Wednesday: Oleander

It’s just a glorious time of year for flowering plants in California. Google tells me this one is oleander.

sleek black vintage convertible with white wall tires.

A selection of vintage Ford cars

Earlier this summer, we happened across a line of vintage cars parked on a street next to a town festival in Northern California. Naturally, I took pictures. Here’s a selection of vintage Ford motor cars from that show.