Ladybugs and Lights

I had a Saturday of adventure. I went over to Emmy‘s in the morning, and after taking Winston for a walk, we went for a hike in the Mount Diablo foothills, an area that neither of us had been to for quite a while. Because of the rain the hillsides were green and lush but the fire road we were walking on had dried out enough that we could maneuver easily around the muddy patches. Partway into our walk we passed a group of people going the other way who let us know that up ahead there were lots of ladybugs on the bushes. A little later on we encountered a couple who were taking pictures of a fallen tree. As we got closer we realized there were thousands of ladybugs on the log, then, as we looked around, we saw ladybugs covering plants, bushes and even sections of trees! There were millions and millions of them everywhere, I’ve never seen anything like it. They were clumped together in groups, I’m assuming to keep warm. As far as I know, this isn’t something that happens regularly, at least these numbers of ladybugs. I’m sure I would’ve heard about it when the kids were little and taken them to check it out. I wonder what the conditions were that created this explosion of ladybugs. 

After the hike, we went back to her place and had lunch. She’s got some fun trips planned this year, including a conference in Utah, a trip to London with Annemarie, and a trip to Nashville with her cousin Alea. She was telling me stories of one of her coworkers who keeps trying to fix her up with friends and residents at the hospital! Everybody seems to have at least one of those matchmaker friends. Lol. Right now Emmy is just enjoying spending time with friends and family, which I think is a very smart idea. After getting out of a relationship that’s lasted almost half your life you need to have space before getting involved with somebody new. 

Later that day, I spent some time collaging, I really enjoy the meditative feeling I get of putting together different types of paper that I’ve created. I don’t know if I’ll ever end up using these mini collages for anything, but it’s good way to experiment and have fun.

In the evening I drove to Napa to check out the Napa Lighted Art festival, an event I just learned about. It was amazing! There were three different projected light shows, on the façade of a church, on the courthouse, and against the wall of a hotel. They were very impressive and set to vibrant music. There were also about a dozen different light installations throughout downtown. Because it was the last Saturday of the projected light show and the weather was mild there were lots of people out, many with young kids and dogs. There were vendors on every corner selling lighted balloons and sausages. I enjoyed watching the little kids hopping around with excitement as much as I enjoyed the amazing light sculptures and shows. This is definitely on my list to check out each year.