The Hills Are Alive...

Walking through the trails and hills of Southern California, a song stirred up in my soul:  "The hills are alive with the sound.... er sight of beauty...!"  Ok, so that's not exactly how the classical song  goes, but you get the idea.

The point is that California, and more specifically Southern California, has been blessed this fall and winter with an abundance of rain.  Over the last five years we have suffered a severe drought, which included a year of water rationing.  That is over now.

And along with all that rain comes the resulting spring "supper bloom" of wild flowers which happens about once every ten years.    With the great quantity of rain annual plants are now germinating all over the area providing a splash of color in an otherwise drab landscape.  Everything is lush right now; green grasses on the hillsides and in the canyons are smudged with the colors of the rainbow in natures most delicate art form: the flower. 

And to this spring bloom tourists are drawn like a bee to nectar.  They are everywhere enjoying the bountiful beauty which nature provides.  The following images were taken this past weekend at the Diamond Valley Lake near Hemet, California.

                          (California orange poppies with Diamond lake in the background.)

                            (A cluster of California poppies sprouting from a rock formation.)

                                            (Arroyo Lupine with California Poppy accents.)

                   (Hikers walking a trail with snow covered mountains in the background.)

                           (Canterbury Bells with the morning sun kissing the front cluster.)

                                                 (California Poppies -- the State flower.)

                                                  (Arroyo Lupine in the morning light.)

                      (Tourist with purple umbrella surveying the hills filled with poppies.)