Ithuriel's spear

Some years after I planted the corms, the flowers finally appeared under my black oak this spring. Abundant this time of year in our Bay Area hills, it is one of my favorite flowers. Ithuriel is an angel in Paradise Lost, and Milton may have invented the name. Gabriel instructs Ithuriel and Zephon to find the devil in the Garden of Eden, and they do...

Ithuriel and Zephon, with winged speed

Search through this garden, leave unsearched no nook;

But chiefly where those two fair creatures lodge,

Now laid perhaps asleep, secure of harm.

This evening from the sun's decline arrived,

Who tells of some infernal Spirit seen

Hitherward bent (who could have thought?) escaped

The bars of Hell, on errand bad no doubt:

Such, where ye find, seise fast, and hither bring.

So saying, on he led his radiant files,

Dazzling the moon; these to the bower direct

In search of whom they sought: Him there they found

Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve,

Assaying by his devilish art to reach

The organs of her fancy, and with them forge

Illusions, as he list, phantasms and dreams;

Or if, inspiring venom, he might taint

The animal spirits, that from pure blood arise

Like gentle breaths from rivers pure, thence raise

At least distempered, discontented thoughts,

Vain hopes, vain aims, inordinate desires,

Blown up with high conceits ingendering pride.

Him thus intent Ithuriel with his spear

Touched lightly; for no falshood can endure

Touch of celestial temper, but returns

Of force to its own likeness: Up he starts

Discovered and surprised. As when a spark

Lights on a heap of nitrous powder, laid

Fit for the tun some magazine to store

Against a rumoured war, the smutty grain,

With sudden blaze diffused, inflames the air;

So started up in his own shape the Fiend.

Back stept those two fair Angels, half amazed

So sudden to behold the grisly king;

Yet thus, unmoved with fear, accost him soon.

Paradise Lost, Book IV

Rose galls

Diplolepis is a genus of cynipid wasp that induces galls on our native wild roses. I'd never noticed them before this spring. Recently I stumbled across two different species that produce similar spiny galls. The first, D. bicolor, occurs along the stem; I saw it in Armstrong Redwoods State Park. The second, D. polita, grows on the leaf (photo below); these were at Hidden Villa. D. bicolor has the honor of being the cover photo of Ronald Russo's wonderful guide, Plant Galls of the Western United States. Lucky gall!

Chris Strachwitz, RIP

I didn't realize he had died, and heard this profile on KQED today. An underappreciated hero of American cultural preservation, and of great American music.

Congrats Terence Blanchard

SFJAZZ has appointed Terence Blanchard its new Executive Artistic Director, filling the shoes of SFJAZZ founder Randall Kline, who is stepping down after 40 years at the helm. It's hard to imagine another choice who would bring Blanchard's creativity, reputation, and influence across jazz and American music. Check out his soundtrack for the new Perry Mason series on HBO. The show is OK, the music is killer.