Primavera

In the photos which I posted earlier today, there aren't any views of our typical California hills. That is, those rolling, bare and grassy hills within whose canyons and arroyos and gulches we find the sturdy live oaks and shrubs native to our Mediterranean climate. In the summertime, the grass is dry and yellow-brown from lack of water, making a stark contrast to the dark green of the vegetation in the ravines.

But in the spring, after the rains of winter, these hills offer shades of the most lovely green hues, varying across the landscape from dark olive-green, to pale viridian to verdigris to chartreuse to bluish-green. The landscape then becomes a challenge and a delight for painters.

And spring is not very far away.