Antelope Acres

 

I had been seeing pictures of the poppy blooms in Antelope Valley on my social media feed for the last week or more. The past year has seen a lot more rain in California than usual. Therefore nature lovers have been hopeful for a super bloom. One lovely lady on social media who owns property closer to the poppy reserve was kind enough to share some details about some exact locations to find the wildflowers outside the boundaries of the reserve. 

Yesterday, Friday, mom, Abhay and I set out in the morning to see the flowers. We went through the Grapevine( Hwy 99) then over to Hwy 138 towards Lancaster. Soon the flowers began to make an appearance on both sides of the freeway. Looked like colorful tapestry carpets rolled over the earth.  We turned on 170 th street West and then on to E street. There it was ! A huge meadow over several acres appearing to lift up its chest proudly to show off its splendor. Lupines, poppies and owl’s eyes amongst other species of flowers interspersed with delicate grasses were at their peak glory. The sun was letting them bask in its warmth as the gentle breeze caressed them fondly. The earth was happy at least in this corner. 

We took pictures in this meadow then proceeded towards the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, a state park reserved for conservation purposes. From a distance we could tell that the poppies within the reserve were not as dense as what we have seen before during the last super bloom. We decided to explore outside the reserve. And we were not disappointed. On both sides of the reserve there were plenty of meadows with much denser patches of poppies. The visitor traffic was sparse making it easy to enjoy open views. We took a lot of pictures. Then I just wanted to be there, in the moment and feel it. And did just that. There were the green hills sprinkled with yellow in the distance circling around the valley on all sides, and the huge orange yellow carpet in the middle. The deep blue sky stood as a canopy above and the dirt roads provided some neutral contrast to the color palette. It was a scene to behold and cherish. A sweet silence underlined the picture and occasional sounds like that from a small aircraft flying over or the humming of a bee or cawing of ravens perched on a nearby electric pole added a note or two, creating the sound track that didn’t really need ears. Just a fully present soul with its inner eyes and ears open and mouth shut tight. 

Once it felt like the soul had soaked everything it had thirsted for I turned back the car engine and got on the road. 

In between the drive to two meadows we had stopped to check out the goodies laid out by two local farmers selling their honey. Local honey harvested from different plants like poppies, wildflowers, clover, sage, oranges and others. I had picked up a jar from the first guy, then walked over to the other guy across the street a few hundred feet away. This man had ginger infused honey in addition to other honey varieties. He was warm in his demeanor and answered my questions about the process he uses to infuse ginger into the honey. He was doing it with the bee pollen. He was a tall guy with a fair complexion, wearing a cowboy hat on his head. I was curious about his unique accent which I found delightful. He shared that he was from Mexico but had been in the company of Danish people and picked up their accent. I found that interesting. He in turn asked me out of curiosity if I had purchased honey in a plastic container? I nodded with a yes. I had just picked up a plastic bear container with honey from the first guy. This Mexican man had all his honey in glass bottles. He told me that honey has the property to extract from anything it comes into contact with. Even plastic. That explained why we shouldn’t buy honey in plastic containers. I thanked him for this piece of useful information. I bought the ginger honey from him before going back to the first guy. That man happily took back the plastic bear and gave me the honey in a glass bottle. I paid him the difference. A few miles from these two guys we saw a woman selling ostrich eggs. On her table I saw a jar that looked like lip balm. The previous guys had beeswax products like candles but no lip balm. Turns out the jar I spotted on the woman’s table was her recipe for pain balm using essential oils like menthol, camphor and many more, but not THC. Mom has knee and back pains and so I picked up one jar for her before getting back on the road. 

We decided to take the route through Tehachapi. Just a few miles outside of Antelope Acres, the landscape changed. Gone was the colorful palette of yellow, orange, green and purple and replacing it was a perfect range of neutrals. 

Just a few days back i had one of those personal realizations in a different context.  I was listening to an abhang in the voice of Ajit Kadkade. Unch neech kahi neNe Bhagawant. This is a very beautiful abhang by Sant Tukaram. I will write about it in the coming days. There are several abhangas of Sant Tukaram rendered in the voice of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. He has become the standard for these abhangas. The best there is. Ajit Kadkade is a seasoned, classically trained singer. Very well known. The mind momentarily began to draw comparisons between him and Panditji. And I stopped right there. Each thing must be seen in its own light. For what it is. Comparisons are not fair. Only then you can enjoy the thing for itself. You can smell a jasmine for itself. If you think of a rose when you are holding a jasmine in your hand, you miss out on the unique fragrance of the present moment. 

As soon as I saw the new landscape in shades of brown, beige, black and rust, I was reminded of this lesson I had learned. I left behind the awe of the flowers and stopped to appreciate the new scene in front of me. Took some pictures here before proceeding.

Again the picture changed. Now began the drive through rugged terrain of the Mojave desert marked by yucca trees. Many of these had flowers on them. Highlighting the backdrop of the terrain were rows of windmills. Occasionally we passed green meadows and there were herds of wild horses grazing on them. With short pauses to capture these highlights we carried on. Just on the outskirts of Tehachapi was a freight train parked on the tracks. My old fancy for taking pictures with trains was aroused. We stopped. Abhay took my pictures against the backdrop of the train. Only then we continued.

Abhay was dreaming of the sandwich at Kohnen Bakery in Tehachapi. Mom preferred Thai food. We picked up the sandwich and some baked goods from the bakery. I couldn’t resist the temptation of hot soup from there. Taking a few sips before leaving, we headed to the Thai restaurant. Three of us sat there and ate leisurely before the last leg of drive home.

What a beautiful day it was! 

Note: There is some problem with accessing photos to include in this post. Please check for updates in the coming days.