The other day, I took a walk down by the creek behind the hospital, to search again for tadpoles for Mrs. W's class. The trail actually has a name. It's the Lost Trail, and it merges into the Brea Dam Trail. It's bordered by major streets and housing tracts, but it feels remote and wild. On a weekday morning, except for an occasional mountain biker, it's just me and the coyotes.

Looking down at the creek.


A wild meadow of weeds.


Elegant, curly weeds.


With spirals.


The trail is lined in places with these fernlike plants.


This is a weed too. I have them in my lawn, only smaller.


This weed has interesting markings.





Here's one reason why I don't like to walk the trails by myself. Sometimes it's a little scary by myself. I think this is a dog skull. It was under a tree.


OK, how about some more nice flowers? These are white radish flowers.


This one looks like a butterfly.


Well, I didn't find any tadpoles this trip, but I found this really cool little skink.


And yes, of course I picked it up. It was very squirmy, but the scales were smooth and snake-like. If you've ever touched a snake, you know how neat that feels.