On January 7th I captured a satellite pass in the foothills of the Santa Monica mountains. The winds were wild and within an hour of the pass the Palisades Fire had started. Today I returned to the same location almost 4 months later.

The wind was gentle. It was cool as a light storm had passed the day before. In the distance there was the constant beeping of trucks backing up and the rattle of jackhammers. While the Palisades suburbs were a long way from recovery, the natural landscape seemed rejuvenated. This is a fire-climax biome. The tops of the shrubs (chamise, laurel sumac, coyote bush, and elderberry) were blackened, but from the base sprouted eager green shoots from the living roots. Many young wildflowers were present (mariposa lily, blue dicks, california brittlebush, bird's-foot trefoil and invasive black mustard). In my view, however, the clear winner is the wild cucumber. Early after the first rains, the cucumber took advantage of the lack of competition. Blackened hillsides turned green (and white flowers) as the vines stretched out in all directions. Many cucumber fruits are already the size of baseballs.