Escaping the daily grind

NATURAL PERSPECTIVES

Here in town, traffic begins to hum well before the sun creeps

over the horizon. Not that you can see the horizon, what with the

smog.

Dawn breaks with a noisy crash. Lawn mowers and leaf blowers add

their roar to the growl of cars, trucks and motorcycles that carry

their owners to yet another day in the rat race. Barking dogs,

airplanes and helicopters add to the din.

On top of the noise, there’s the stress of just living in the

midst of a megalopolis that sprawls from the San Fernando Valley to

San Clemente. Most of us have schedules, commitments and deadlines,

all to be met amid the crush of humanity.

We all occasionally need to get out of town, “far from the madding

crowd,” or in this case, the maddening crowd. We all need respites of

peace and quiet.

That’s just what Vic and I found last weekend. Vic finished his

last birding class on Saturday at noon. Yippee! That signaled the

start of our summer vacation. Uh-oh. His first fall biology class

began Monday night. This was going to be a very short vacation. We

wanted to make the most of it.

When Ron and Judy Shenkman offered us the use of their beautiful

mountain cabin in Idyllwild for the weekend, we snapped it up.

Because we left town midafternoon on Saturday and returned midday

Monday, we were able to avoid most of the crush of traffic. By

traveling during off hours, we reduced the amount of pollution that

our car produced because the engine is far more efficient at 65 mph

than it is at idle. Yes, we actually think of things like that.

We arrived at the cabin with a few hours of daylight left on

Saturday. We filled the bird feeders, opened a bottle of good

Australian cabernet-shiraz wine and settled down on the east-facing

deck with an array of snacks.

As we bit into crispy-sweet Belgian endive leaves filled with

tangy, herb-laced goat cheese, the birds joined us. White-breasted

and pygmy nuthatches grabbed sunflower seeds, using the heavy bark of

the surrounding Ponderosa, Jeffrey and Coulter pines to “hatch” the

shells open. We snacked on Colby-jack cheese and crackers as scrub

and Steller’s jays stuffed as many as four peanuts at a time in their

mouths before flying away with their booty. I saw an odd parallelism

as we matched the birds in gorging on goodies in the fading light.

The moon rose, the stars filled the skies, and a few trailing

meteors from the Perseid showers flashed across the sky. This is what

a getaway is all about. Peace. Quiet. Relaxation.

But we didn’t spend the entire time vegging on the deck. Most of

it, sure, but not all. Vic wanted to scout out some birding locales

for future field trips with his class. I could get with that program.

On Sunday morning, we hiked around Fulmor Lake. We were surprised by

how many pine trees had been killed by the bark beetle infestation in

this area. The drought, which is particularly severe in Idyllwild,

has further stressed the trees and made them even more susceptible to

attack.

After the short hike around the lake, we checked out a few other

stops, noting mileages, ease of parking, availability of picnic and

restroom facilities and, of course, whether or not there were any

birds.

Finally, I had had enough “work” for one day. We went into town

for lunch, visited a couple of art galleries and headed back to the

cabin. We spent the afternoon listening to CDs of Vivaldi, Handel and

classical guitar played by Andres Segovia. We lightened the mood

later with some Bob Marley reggae as we talked and read.

We had our Monday morning coffee on the deck before the sun came

blazing over Tahquitz Peak. Squirrels raced up and down tree trunks,

chattering at each other. Chickadees noisily demanded that we refill

the sunflower seed feeders. Jays called anxiously, wondering if today

would bring a repeat of the previous day’s bounty, while woodpeckers

pounded all around us. Noise was everywhere, but what a delightful

difference between the sounds of the mountains and the sounds of the

city.

No escape lasts forever. It was time to go home. But somehow home

didn’t seem so bad anymore. On our arrival, the palms rustled gently

in the cool afternoon breeze that blows off the ocean every

afternoon. We luxuriated in nature’s air conditioning, knowing that

the beauty of the beach and the serenity of the Bolsa Chica wetlands

were only a short bicycle ride away.

Then we noticed noise of a different kind. Election season is upon

us. Already the sabers are rattling as at least one City Council

candidate has posted election signs all over town. These signs are a

blight on the environment, a trashy looking visual assault. They

shouldn’t really go up until after Labor Day, don’t you think?

During the upcoming weeks, this pre-election rustle will build to

a roar as every candidate will claim to care about the environment.

Watch out. Many will be wolves in sheep’s clothing. It will be

difficult to find the true friends of the environment among all the

pretenders. We’re grateful for the rest we got before the ruckus of

the silly season begins in earnest.

* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and

environmentalists. They can be reached at vicleipzig@aol.com.