June 30 - Work Play

Music from the time of Muslim traders in Gambia (c. 800) to



Hidegard von Bingen (1098-1179, hair afire with the spirit of God), for the Historians;



then Bela Bartok, et. al., for the Pianists.



Paper grading at China Moon in Moraga follows, as preparation for a walk on the



Rocky Ridge and



Rimer Creek Trails in the



EBMUD lands of


Upper San Leandro Reservoir,



past



horses,



hills,



and heights,



taking to the road for a loop through Canyon (a rustic Lagunitas-like community shivering in the redwoods), Skyline Drive (with the fog coming in), and Fish Ranch Road (git along little haddock), to return bikeside and poolside with Harriet and the



newspaper, for another orchestrated page of



The Opera of Daniel: V. Belshazzar's Feast.

June 29 - Dreaming of Babylon

Finish orchestration and record The Opera of Daniel: IV. Nebuchadnezzar's Second Dream; with music from St. Benedict to Charlemagne for the Music Historians; and F Lydian / Major, Snake Charmer Song, and ostinati and power chords for the Pianists.



Past Fairfield Vineyard Hill (first shot on present camera of which is the cover of A Walk Through California) and



the usual scenic suspects on the way home,



then pump up Harriet's bike and meet her at the pool with the



newspaper.

June 28 - Drenched, Quenched

Another blazing day, Harriet off visiting Flora for several hours, so there's time to do three more mixes of A Walk Through California: Placer (Cows and Cars 2-4) and another orchestrated page of The Opera of Daniel: IV. Nebuchadnezzar's Second Dream. We rendezvous at the pool late in the day,



biking back as the heat radiates off the pavement.

June 27 - To Those Thrilling Days

Off in the comforting/approaching-hundred-degree heat to the Sierra today,



up I-80 towards the



gold country of



Auburn, to continue the string of hikes from



the California coast to Nevada (from Sacramento to the Sierra crest, within the watershed of the American River and its Middle Fork -- heading now roughly toward the "u" in Placer County in the above map) -- first drive and walk in these regions in the blog-and-camera era.



Piano Quiz 1 grading preceeds this at Tio Pepe's,



with views of the old fire- and



court-



houses,



then into Auburn Ravine below



Foresthill Bridge (highest in California and third in country, after spans in Colorado and West Virgina),



along the Middle Fork of



the American River,



ascending Old Foresthill Road past digger pines and



the former limestone quarry,



Beyond Foresthill, the scene opens up even more toward



distant still-snowy ridges and



the yaw



of the canyon.



Mosquito Ridge Road descends towards the national forest,



around Volcano and



Ladys [side-]Canyons to



Circle Bridge over



the North Fork of the Middle Fork,



then ascends Mosquito Ridge proper



past cliffs, and



Deadwood and



Balloon Ridges (I am not making up these names, at least not most of them...),



with views straight back down North Fork Middle Fork at Peavine Promontory (OK, I sort of made up that last one -- it's a prominent switchback at the top of the initial Mosquito Ridge Rade, just south of Peavine Canyon...).



Beyond Mosquito Narrows, the Ridge plateaux out into a long green tunnel, where cowbells justle in the towers of high pines, such that it its time to stop and record



A Walk Through California: Placer (Cows and Cars 1).





A few miles beyond California's (and the world's) northernmost giant sequoias,



at the quixotic Greek Store site,



by the crossing of Spruce Creek is the walk



in the castelated conifer corridor to the



pine-coney corner of



Robinson Flat



Road (perhaps four miles round trip -- walking uphill and coasting down with the mini bike -- high elevation... a gentle rise to c. 5900 ft, heading downslope again), and the solution is (as in Samuel Beckett) to go on (in this case, next time continuing on MRR east towards French Meadows, rather than north on RFR, an option also pondered).



For now, it's operation reverse in the dying light of the



Second and



First Mosquito Grade Cliffs (several years ago these were passed in smoldering revenge smoke, post fiery cataclysm);


the Middle Fork and

Rubicon Rivers upstream, and their confluence down (taken from Mosquito Saddle),



as well as further bailing past more Digger pines and



the North Fork Middle Fork Trail,



to Circle Bridge,



Volcano Canyon,



zipping down Foresthill Road past Everybody's Inn,



and all way over the Bridge.