recipe: strawberry scones


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The Peg House sign

The Peg House sign

A must stop on Hwy 101

Two miles north of Leggett is a sight to experience. This cozy and historic Redwood Empire structure is held together in the Danish tradition entirely with wooden pegs. The hand hewn beams and Old World craftsmanship pleases visitors from around the world who come here to swim and fish the south fork of the Eel River and explore the magnificent towering redwood corridors. (source)

The Peg House

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The Peg House
69501 Hwy 101, Leggett, CA. 95585

New bww logoThis is my contribution to edition #76 of Black and White Wednesday – A Culinary Photography Event created by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook, now organized by Cinzia of Cindystar, and hosted this week by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook.

The photos were shot in color and then converted to black and white (Lightroom preset B&W Split Tone 2).

This post contains the gallery of images submitted to the event.

 

oasi / oasis

 Washingtonia filifera frond with fibrous threads on leaf segments

Washingtonia filifera frond

There are 2,500 species of palms worldwide, with 11 native to North America. The largest of these, and the only palm tree native to western North America, is the California Fan Palm. It is also known as the Desert Palm and the California Washingtonia. (source)

The leaf fronds are up to 6 feet (1.8 m) long, made up of a petiole up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) long, bearing a fan of leaflets 1.5–2 metres (4.9–6.6 ft) long. They have long thread-like white fibers between the segments. When the fronds die they remain attached and drop down to cloak the trunk in a wide skirt. The shelter that the skirt creates provides a microhabitat for many small birds and invertebrates. (source)

Oasis in Palm Canyon, Anza-Borrego Desert

Palm Canyon, Anza-Borrego Desert

Borrego Palm Canyon is the third-largest palm oasis in California… (source)

Oasis:

  • a fertile spot in a desert where water is found
  • a pleasant or peaceful area or period in the midst of a difficult, troubled, or hectic place or situation

Last year, our winter break oasis was in lush Big Island of Hawai'i. This year, it is in the deserts of Southern California. In Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, for the first time, we visited an actual oasis.

Palm Canyon, Anza-Borrego Desert

small pools of gold

On our way back along the Palm Canyon Trail, in the magic light of the late afternoon sun, the water turned shining gold.

 Washingtonia filifera frond with fibrous threads on leaf segments

filifera means "thread-bearing"

I am officially in love with the desert and will share more photos soon. In the meantime, I would like to wish you all the best in the New Year:

Buon Anno!

visita a Yosemite / visit to Yosemite

Yosemite

Half Dome and a portion of Yosemite Valley

Every day is Earth Day (la Giornata della Terra). Yet, spending the day in Yosemite National Park made for a special celebration this year. Yosemite is one of the most famous parks in the US and rightly so.

Iron Door Saloon

California’s oldest saloon (says the sign)

We spent the night before and the night after our visit to Yosemite at the Hotel Charlotte in Groveland, across the street from the saloon above.

Groveland was originally a gold rush town and then became a sleepy farming community until the San Francisco Hetch Hetchy water project made it their headquarters and built a railroad yard and hospital for the work crews (both now gone). From 1915 till 1935 Groveland was a boom town supporting seven hotels, 10,000 residents and much activity. [source]

Reading a few signs in Groveland made me realized that a number of Italian immigrants settled there: Laveroni, Cassaretto, DeFerrari.

The week prior to our visit, it had snowed, but we had perfect weather, a bit too warm, if anything. There were a lot of people in the Valley, especially around the Visitor Center, but it was not difficult to escape the crowd, since the vast majority of people don’t hike on the trails. 

Yosemite Falls

Lower Yosemite Fall

Yosemite in the spring means its waterfalls (cascate) are full and offer an amazing show (spettacolo). The three sections of Yosemite Falls — upper, middle and lower — combine to form the tallest waterfall in North America at 2,425 feet. A one-mile loop trail (sentiero) leads to the base of Lower Yosemite Fall (photo above).

Yosemite Falls

Upper Yosemite Fall

You can hike all the way to the top of the Falls (it’s an all-day hike). We started on that trail and turned around after reaching the view point where I took the photo above. Seeing Yosemite Falls in its powerful spring beauty, it is difficult to imagine that it goes dry in the summer. (The video on this page shows also what happens to the fall during the winter.)

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

visita a Yosemite

or launch the visita a Yosemite audio file [mp3].

[Depending on your set-up, the audio file will be played within the browser or by your mp3 player application. Please, contact me if you encounter any problems.]

Yosemite, travel