31st and Final Small Stone: Stuck Sun

The sun seems stuck in the peach tree notch for a long time.  Should I help it?   It will take care of itself.  

30th Small Stone: Slow-Opening Bud

The swollen bud on the tall camellia bush that first showed red is still closed, but two other red camellia flowers are full open to the sun.  Will the slow-opening flower be more beautiful for waiting?  No, everything takes its own time and is itself. 

29th Small Stone: Waltzing Magnolias

The evenly spaced magnolia trees on Mountain Avenue slipped by my car in time with The Blue Danube waltz.  

28th Small Stone: Slanting Sunrays

Santa Ana Condition with sere wind and heat is here.  The slanting sunrays pick out the delicate design of a cast iron decoration on a neighbor’s house and the tall, white branches of a birch, waiting patiently for its leaves to reappear.

27th Small Stone Bluebells Ahead

Dark soil with fifteen bright green points breaking through it, thrusting it aside, coming of the bluebells.

Lonely Hydrangea

Blue hydrangea plant in a pot sits alongside the dormant flower bed like a guest at a party full of unknown people.  

25th Small Stone: Generous Beams

Because I slept late, the den was flooded with light when I came out, and I felt renewed by the generous beams.

24th Small Stone, Similar Branches

Finger-thick grey branches of plum tree and wisteria vine, how similar they look now, but later, one will have pink blossoms and the other purple clusters of blooms.

23rd Small Stone: Dragon Puddles

Welcoming dragon year to a world with darkened moon and dripping sky, circles widening and disappearing in shiny puddles. 

21st Small Stone: Puddle Reforms

A smooth puddle reflecting the gray sky suddenly shatters from a big raindrop from above, bounces it back, then absorbs the water into itself, smooth again.  

Swelling Camellia Buds, 19th Small Stone

The tall camellia bush beside the door is covered with fat, green buds, and one showing red along the top side as a promise for the future.

18th Small Stone: Angry Real Birds

So much noise from the sparrows and the hummingbirds, they drown out the car motor starting up.  A Cooper’s hawk sits on the highest bough of the sycamore. 

16th Small Stone: Entwined Elms

Tiny scrolling branches of two elms entwined and tangled over the street, reaching, touching, as close as they can ever get.

Berries Going

In the gray light, I see that the bright red berries of the Nandina bushes are almost all eaten up.  A mourning dove coos.

Small Stone 13--Mint Awakening

Beneath the network of bare branches on the plum tree, sprigs of mint leap into life with lime-green shoots. I crush one leaf and inhale its sharp sweetness.

This is my 13th small stone.  Scroll down to find out more about the January River of Stones or Google "Writing Our Way Home."

PS Friday the 13th is lucky for me; hope it's lucky for you too.   

Moss-Grass Armistice Line, 11th small stone

Chartreuse moss versus green grass, the armistice line runs from the Ceanothus to the fence.  The swelling buds on the California lilac match the moss.

10th Small Stone: Sycamore and Sparrows

The sycamore tree has a few leaves, brown star-shapes against the blue sky.  Many sparrows perch on its branches, having a morning gossip.

Ninth Small Stone--Sycamore Leaves

Six sycamore leaves, saucer to dinner plate sizes, fly by flipping madly in the wind, disappear into Aileen’s yard.  A hummingbird pips and circles, then perches on a bare branch where the leaves used to live.

Bonus 8th #smallstone: Sunset Palms

Hi river of stones readers/writers,
I could not resist capturing one more small stone as my husband and I drove through the sunset tonight.
cheers, Laura

Clear yellow sky with a band of mauve clouds, then a band of dark purple ones.  Compact tops of three tall palms reach up to touch the mauve layer, black silhouettes of fans against the bright sky.