We are Back on the Blog - and So Are You!

Hello Everybody!

Well, I have a lot to catch up on, since the last time I posted (exactly 3 weeks ago - ouch!). The absence of news has not been without cause - a sprained muscle in my foot was the culprit, keeping me immobile and off our trails! For those of you who have checked in regularly, I apologize for the wait and for the lack of news. But thank you for your loyal readership!

Being unable to get outdoors and enjoy the coastal sage scrub, the oak woodlands, the grasslands, etc. these past three weeks really made me feel badly for the handicapped, who have little-to-no chance of enjoying our canyon like the rest of us mobile, healthy bipeds do. Sure, while I was on crutches for most of my injury, and could probably get up enough courage to visit the Nix Nature Center and look at the canyon through the windows, I knew that it would be impossible for me to "crutch-it" up Little Sycamore, Lower Laurel, Willow, Canyon, and all the other trails. Almost everything became "off-limits" to me - it was like a cruel taunting, a mirage of water in a dropless desert. Nope, I couldn't step onto the single tracks. I couldn't go even 10 feet up Little Sycamore. There was absolutely no way to get away from the canyon road. And even if I had found someone to push me in a wheelchair, it would have been in vain, for our trails are in no state to accommodate such contraptions.

Being handicapped and forced into a state of immobility also highlighted in my mind just how much the canyon has become part of my normal, weekly lifestyle. To not be able to get a whiff of the mulefat or the California sagebrush when Saturday came around left me with a noticeably duller, blander weekend. To not know how the birds were doing or with what kind of intensity they were singing their songs, and to not be able to watch the subtle changes in the plants, I felt increasingly out-of-the-loop, in another world, waiting, as a sailor far out at sea, to cross the interminable horizon and to reach my home port again.

A few of you have recently received requests for contributions to this blog, and I am excited about the articles, photos and observations that you have mentioned you will share in the upcoming weeks and months. Please let me know if you have any questions - you can email me any questions and your contributions at lagunacanyon@gmail.com.

Many of you have recently discovered my blog through the newsletter, "Canyon Views," sent home to you just recently. If this is your first time here, I strongly encourage you to get a feel for this blog by looking through the archives and reading some past posts. Recently, I have attempted to include fine art, depicting scenes of Laguna Canyon, in this online setting. If you know of any artist who has been inspired by Laguna Canyon and has shown this inspiration in their works, please let me know, and I will be happy to feature their art. A magnificent work by W. Bradley Elsberry is coming soon - so stay tuned!

So! To Come:
- Original Acrylic on Canvas by W. Bradley Elsberry
- Updates on the Trails of the Canyon
- Your contributions, comments, and questions? :)

Your friend keeping it WILD,
Jennifer Wood
lagunacanyon@gmail.com