alaya took me to walk in the windy hills during my first visit to her condo in late May, and it was a beautiful day.  You can't always tell it in the photos, but I'm not calling them "windy hills" for nothing; it was howling up there.  A string and a skinny dog and you could have flown it like a kite.

We didn't have a kite, or even a skinny dog, so we had to content ourselves with hiking up the steep and very lushly-grassy hills, and enjoying the lovely view.  This area is largely pasture, and while we weren't elbowing cows out of our way on the walk, or having to watch our step, nearby fields were grazed down, and there was evidence of bovine activity if you looked closely.

The area is quite wild, considering there are houses in every direction, and you can often see deer and many other "wild" animals roaming around.  In fact we saw a deer way up on a hill during this first Windy Hills visit, but it was moving too quickly and was too far away for me to get a zoomed in shot of it.  The only long shot I took shows nothing more than a tiny brown smudge way up on a ridge, and the only reason anyone would suspect a deer sighting, rather than a rock or a branch or a dead patch of grass or a crash-landed dogkite would be because I said so.  And what's the point in looking at a photo of that?

Malaya and I did return to this area a few days later to have a picnic, but I stupidly didn't bring the camera that time.  We mostly sat and ate sammiches and grapes and carrots and chips and made out that time anyway, so there wouldn't have been too much to take a photo of anyway.

Return trips to the Windy Hills are planned, and I'd like to hike up into the trees some, which look very foresty, and on relatively steep hillsides, which I love.

After these first Windy Hills photos were taken, we walked down and around a bit to reach the shady woods, and you can click those gold letters to view that photo page.

All photos taken in late May, 2003 and first posted here July 2, 2003.  More to come when we return to the area.

While the photos don't do them justice, these hills are so amazingly picturesque and rolling and windy.  I want to run full speed up, or possibly down these hills, with my arms outstretched while making buzzing engine noises.  And perhaps some day I shall.

Click to see this shot full size.

A shot from one of the higher hills, off to the north. I love the way some hills are bare of trees, while others have the thick, dark-green trees. It provides such a nice contrast and definition.  Most of the distant hills are pasture land, or were in the past, which is why they've been cleared of forests.

Click to see it full size.

You can see one of the largely-disintegrated cow fences in this shot, running up the hill from the lower left.

Click this image to see a much larger view of this rolling hillside.

A zoomed in shot of a distant hillside.  I love the way the sun is shining just high enough to get over the edge of the hill, and sending very long shadows down from every little bush and bump.

I make an appearance, courtesy of Malaya's camera skills.  Remember that wind I mentioned earlier? It's the reason for my hair's special behavior here.

Yet more pretty, green, lightly-forested hillsides. The photos don't really convey the beauty of the land, and of course not the feel of the wind and the warm sunshine.

Click it to see it full size.

A rare view of Malaya, standing on the rather-overgrown and rather rough road up to the top of the hills.

Yes, it's me. On a pedestal, of course.

 

I'll add more photos to this page next time we take a trip up to these hills and I remember to bring a camera.  There are some fun-looking trails up into the trees that I want to explore.

All site content copyright "Flux" (Eric Bruce), 2002-2007.