Fragrant Rain We’ve been getting some much needed rain here in SoCal for the past several days. The intermittent downpours haven’t dampened the scent of these pretty little pink flowers that bloom right outside my kitchen window making it seem like we’ve had a quite fragrant rain come through. Usually a steady rain here makes…
Settings: Sony A33-SLT • 1/500 • ƒ/5.6 • ISO 320 • 300 mm A consistent water source and some time have worked wonders for the grape vines we planted and trained on our arbor. The red grape vine is as tall, if not taller, then the white vine and they’re both reaching the top of…
Today’s weekly photo post is another entry in the urban wildlife theme. Despite the dog, we still have plenty of rabbits around our yard. There seems to be a burrow underneath the rocks for the water slide by the pool. This little guy (or gal?) was sitting outside my kitchen window, having breakfast the other…
Today’s weekly photo post continues the urban wildlife theme. We have a variety of birds that visit our back yard. Humming birds, some little yellow songbirds, a pair of hawks and we can hear an owl nearby at night. I’m not sure exactly what type this little guy is, but I think he may be…
Today’s weekly photo post is not a flower and it’s not purple! We still have plenty of those in the yard. One of the things that fascinates me about the vegetation here is how persistent it is. When and where there’s enough water, it will grow. Several of the streets have cracks in the pavement,…
Today’s weekly photo post could be considered cruel and unusual punishment for those of you stuck in winter mode. Here, spring has definitely sprung and the hills are green (this is usually seen as a bad thing here because by fall it will make abundant tinder for raging wildfires) and the flowers and trees are…
Today’s weekly photo post is another of the purple daisies from our front steps. The photo didn’t quite come out how I wanted it to. The flower itself looked as if it were purple in the center and white on the tips of the petals. I should have gone back inside to grab my Sony,…
Today’s weekly photo post is of the giant fungi growing on our dying willow tree. There are several of this variety at the base of the trunk and on a couple of the higher branches. There’s also small white fungi along the upper branches that almost make it look snow covered. Yeah. Not likely here,…
Today’s weekly photo post shows off the brilliant color of the birds of paradise just beyond our pool. This photo was taken around 5pm and our property is tucked down over the hill from where the sun sets, so the lighting is all indirect and muted. Even in the low light, these flowers shine with…
Today’s weekly photo post is of one of our two almond trees which has begun to blossom. The crows tend to get all the nuts before we even have an inkling that they might be ready. Apparently, almond trees are a lot of work to harvest and require quite a bit of pampering so that…