Usually Jimmie and I take long morning walks. The Backbone Trail hike is, a hike. Three miles of zig-zagging and half of it is up hill with a patch of stretching-over-boulders thrown in for variety. The back and forth seems endless and this time I felt it even the day after. Gone are the days of quick muscle recovery. First time for Jimmie and maybe the last time for me.

Years have gone by since I was here last but I still remember the underside of boulders and the earth on the upper trail, red-tinted. And trees. Ah the deep-red bark trees. What are they? I see them on no other trails and only higher up on this one. It's been years, seven or ten, since I was here last and there are fewer of these trees; the bark peeling in a way that's new to me. But I think of them on some morning walks because I don't see them anywhere else, they're a kind of unique beauty, found in a unique place.

A helicopter was the only sound barging into nature. It was a hillside away, then it hovered over an empty intersection, it came nearer and nearer and finally, it was just above Jimmie and I. A welcome sight if I were lost but today the whirrrrrrring wasn't welcome.

The pay off is the summit. The reward for slogging along like molasses up hill is standing in one spot and seeing The Valley on one side and The Ocean on the other. June gloom clouds covered the ocean but I've seen it before, it's there. Quiet and spectacular nature as far as the eye can see. 

​On Earth Day 2022 I witnessed to something historic and exalted:
​the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing groundbreaking.
​Senators, Congress Members, Mayors… Julia Butters, community leaders and students from Esperanza Elementary School attended. This ceremonial day for the world's largest critter corridor was a day filled with laughter and hope for California wildlife. 
​Watch Here https://www.facebook.com/p22mountainlionofhollywood/videos/2095216833959743

​My shero, Beth Pratt shouldered this $87 million dream 10 years in the making. Thanks to her driving force more than 5,000 individual contributions were made. This innovative dream will reduce car/animal collisions, reconnect animals that have been isolated from each other causing inbreeding and reducing genetic diversity, putting many species on the path to extinction. It's an escape route if natural disasters happen and gives insects, birds, coyotes, bobcats, deer, snakes, lizards, toads and even ants a way to cross 10 lanes of freeway. The Santa Monica Mountains Foundation even created a special plant nursery that will grow all of the fauna to cover the crossing. This bridge, spanning a freeway that carries 300,000 vehicles every day, will be a lifeline 200-feet-long, 165-feet-wide.

​As if we needed a reminder as to how critical and timely this safe crossing is, ONE DAY BEFORE this celebration, an 18-month-old mountain lion recently separated from its mother and seeking its own terrain was hit and killed on the 405 freeway. 26 Santa Monica Mountains lions have been killed since 2002.

There he was, grabbing at my heart again. Beautiful Bo. In logo form. 

In 2007 I designed this logo for Animal Surgical & Emergency Center. From the start I wanted this art to be a legacy for Bo as much as a strong and appropriate design for ASEC. I hunted for an illustrator and found a man in Canada who created a one-and-only-German-Shepherd drawing. Original and dedicated to Bo.

Bo left this world in 2003, this logo was my tribute to the boy who re-opened my door to the dog world. Conversations, friendships, education about dogs, an appreciation for the like-minded began because of him, the boy who started me down the rescue path. My 1st dog as an adult: BO. Boey, Bobo, Bobolinsky, Baby-bo, Bobolicious, Boey-bo-bo. Gone too soon.

Today, 15 years later, out of the blue, there it was. As I scrolled down the Lange Foundation Facebook
page looking for an update on Justin, recently rescued with a little help from me, Bo grabbed my heart. Stopped me in my tracks. He is on my mind less but never out of mind, he will always linger, there will always be reminders. Deep in my heart Bo, you live. Today his outline in white demanded my attention
​- oh hello old unforgettable friend. Hello again.

In winter, after the rains, some of my walking trails turn into brown mush. Unwalkable with dense and damp clumps of earth clinging to the bottom of my boots. Other trails, usually worn hard, have puddles for dogs to splash through and me to figure out how to cross.

This morning, something totally unexpected at Las Virgenes. Now I know why there's always been a sandy patch to the side of a small, barely noticeable streambed. It's been more active than I thought. Rushing water has filled that slight and shallow channel before but days ago, it was a force cutting through, exposing rocks and tree roots, leaving a gash all along the earth of it's path. January rains hollowed out a new winding way for the next heavy rain run off. Heavy like it hasn't been in 20+ years.

To put a finer point on it, what makes a cocktail party? Mixed drinks, light refreshments and an intimate guest list. Oh yes please. A perfect mixology: friends not-seen-often, Halloween and celebrate a birthday. Novel ingredients and complex flavors indeed.

​Edie and Andy add kick. Extra-dry retro spirits. 

This landmark conservation project at Liberty Canyon is complicated. It will span 10 lanes of Highway 101 where 300,000 vehicles roar every day. With this inspirational passageway urban wildlife will no longer face this impenetrable barrier, this monumental challenge to wandering between the Santa Monica Mountains, the Simi Hills and beyond.

We've inherited the trails that big cats built covering the hills and valleys of the Conejo Valley. They wander over these trails but they cannot build a bridge across one of SoCal's busiest freeways. So our mountain lions are running out of time. This transformative project will keep mountain lions from wandering into extinction.  ​

​L O V E comes in all sizes.

                         When I came to New York City on my own, this small town girl stepped
                     outside of everything she knew or grew up with. The yellow brick road called.

David McCabe was a well known British fashion photographer so my sense that anything could happen elevated wayyyy high whenever I was in his world. He photographed Andy Warhol, famous models, celebrities and - - me. His bright blue eyes and flattering English way are gone now.
​                                                  He passed away in March of this year.