I'm on my way to Sacramento to visit Grandma, on my way through San Jose I met-up with Jen for a walk through the park. Not far from Diridon Station was Guadalupe River Park. Jen has been playing with a new copy of A Californian's Guide to the Trees Among Us by Matt Ritter, so as we walk we are looking at the trees more closely along the river. An umbel shaped flower gone to seed smells like anise, but the leaves look more like fennel. I scratch and sniff a tree that supposedly has bark that smells of peanut butter. 

On the train now attempting to draw the fun, wavy shapes of this oak branch, I'm thinking to myself that doing botanical illustration on a train is like practicing calligraphy while riding a bull.