While Hawk Got an A+, her Mom Got a D-

Some days it's good news, bad news. Wednesday was one of those days. While Hawk and I were still jubilant over her A+ grade on recovery from her surgeon (yes, the doctor really said "A+") she got a call after lunch from her mother with a grade that was poor. Her doctor didn't pick a letter grade, but it was a D- (near failing) result. Hawk's mom has cancer.

More to come soon.

Poppies! Poppies!

Wildflower Travelog #2
Neenach, CA · Thu, 12 Mar 2026. 11am.

This morning Hawk and I drove from our hotel in Lebec (above "The Grapevine") toward the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve in Antelope Valley north of Los Angeles. It's a great place to see the colorful California poppy, and now is peak blooming season for the wildflower.

The preserve, which is a state park, is only about 45 minutes away from where we stayed last night. We didn't get all the way there, though. Not yet, anyway. We took a detour near the tiny village of Neenach because we saw beautiful fields of poppies nearby. Take a look at this video of highlights from our voyage.

Watch on YouTube

I've tagged this blog "4x4" even though we didn't go off road, per se. We drove on public roads the whole time. But miles and miles of them out here in the sparsely populated northwest corner of Los Angeles County are dirt surfaces with ruts and occasional mud puddles.