Superbloom 2019 Part I

Posted on March 21, 2019 by

As I said, I took a lot of photos at Walker Canyon, so will divide them into two parts.

I forgot to mention that the sky was insanely blue that day. We have such beautiful skies in the winter. I love the contrast between the green and orange here.

Someone said the orange looked like Nacho Cheese Doritos or Cheetos dust and I have to agree. 🙂

You may have seen on the news that they had to close the canyon one day because enormous crowds were showing up and they couldn’t handle them. The parking situation is pretty bleak–just a one lane road with cars parked on both sides. I got there in the morning, but was still concerned I wouldn’t get a spot. Luckily some people left right as I was driving by.
When I left, the backup on the Interstate was five miles long. Now it’s much worse.

It was strange to see a dried up riverbed when we’ve had so much rain.

A closer look at the California poppies.

Gradually more people showed up and were taking lots of selfies. I was glad to see that they were being careful to not trample the wildflowers. I was happy to stay on the path, because rattlesnake season has started and someone got bitten last week.

Then across the freeway, the Elsinore Mountains. Not quite as colorful, but lovely still.

An artist was carrying an easel and paints when I was leaving. Wish I could see his finished painting.

More next week….

Great weekend, everyone!

{carole}

Advertisements
Posted in photography | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Poppy Superbloom Preview

Posted on March 14, 2019 by

You may or may not have heard of California’s “Superbloom” that happened two years ago. They’re pretty rare–there must be adequate rainfall and moderate temps–but we have another one this year. I missed the last one so was happy to catch the amazing poppies near Lake Elsinore. Here’s a preview….

The colors really are that intense. I’ve never seen anything like it. Reminds me of those pyramids of spices you see in India. The tiny dots at the top are people.
I took a lot of photos, so will post them next week.

Great weekend, everyone!

{carole}

Posted in photography | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Lit From Within

Posted on March 7, 2019 by

I haven’t been doing much photography lately due to all the rain, so I’m digging into the archives for this shot of Gerbera daisies.

The Gerbera is named for German botanist and doctor Traugott Gerber who was a friend of Carl Linnaeus. It is the fifth most popular cut flower in the world, according to Wiki.

“Linnaeus” seems to be a common answer on the TV program Jeopardy. I was saddened to hear that the host, Alex Trebek, has Stage IV pancreatic cancer. I hope he can beat it. We so enjoyed the live taping.

Great weekend, everyone….

{carole}

Posted in photography | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Truly Wacky Weather

Posted on February 22, 2019 by

Did you hear it snowed in Vegas (twice)? And in Malibu? We don’t have snow, but there’s a lot of it in the mountains just 40 minutes away. We’ve had cool temps in the 40s but I had to laugh when I saw this banner on the screen the other day:

via NBC7SanDiego

I guess it’s all perspective, huh!

Anyway, flowers are starting to bloom and I captured this the other day….

I’m not sure if this is a flowering pear or wild plum. Believe it or not, we haven’t had much sun this month. It rained for five straight days last week, which is really unusual. Lots of rain this week, but we need it to combat drought conditions. They’re saying we could have another “superbloom” in California. I’m thinking of driving out to see the desert flowers this year.

Great weekend, everyone!

{carole}

Posted in photography | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Back Again

Posted on January 29, 2019 by

I’m happy to say I’m just about back to my old self, and am very grateful. Just being able to do normal things again is wonderful.

My husband was fantastic and helped me out a great deal. I can’t imagine how people go through surgery and recovery without someone helping them.

And this guy was my constant companion. He was content to just lie by my side for hours at a time and that was so comforting. It’s amazing how pets know that you’re not up to par and can’t play with them.
He’s now back to his old ornery self. 😉

Seems like forever since I last posted and almost forgot how to do it. Will have to look through the archives so I can figure out what to post next. Hope you are all doing well!

{carole}

Posted in photography | Tagged , , , | 19 Comments

Sunset on the Rocks

Posted on December 7, 2018 by

Hi everyone,

I recently had surgery that I’d planned for a long time and am just uncomfortable sitting at a desk. Now that the holidays are upon us, I’ll be taking time off until next year.

Hope you’re all doing well…here’s a recent shot of sunset at the beach.

Happy Holidays!

{carole}

Posted in photography | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

Rise Mohave Lantern Festival

Posted on November 16, 2018 by

As stated previously, I went to a lantern festival in the Mohave Desert outside Las Vegas. Rise Mohave happens every year and my son and his girlfriend had raved about it. Now I see why…it was truly magical.

After about a half-hour bus ride from Las Vegas, we got to the desert just before sunset. The weather was perfect! It had rained the day before, so I was a little worried the event would be cancelled. The sky was crystal clear, thankfully.

Here’s the sign that everyone posed in front of:

And from behind:

The whole thing was beautifully organized. We had assigned spots and were given tatami mats to sit on. I got tired of sitting on the hard ground, so luckily they had a tent where you could sit on benches for a break.

This was also where you could write on your two lanterns. People wrote all kinds of stuff–things that they were grateful for, people they wanted to pray for and negative stuff they wanted to go up in flames. It was pretty emotional, I have to say.

Oh, there was live music too, which was a nice touch.

When it was completely dark, we were told to light our lanterns, which was the hard part. I think my son lighted most of the lanterns near us because it was a struggle! There’s a little wax square at the base of the lantern and you have to hold a flame to it for several seconds. All this while the wind is blowing and you have to worry about the lantern collapsing and burning! Somehow we managed to not burn any of ours. 🙂

It helps to stand the lantern on the ground once it’s lit, and then wait a few minutes until it’s ready to float.

And then they’re off! It was soooo beautiful, made me teary-eyed. Everyone was so happy and awed by the sight of the lanterns in the night sky. I was so happy to be with my son and his girlfriend too. They made the entire trip extra-special for me.

Here’s a short video I shot on my iPhone….

If you’re planning a trip to Vegas in the month of October, check out Rise Mohave.

Great weekend, everyone!

{carole}

Posted in photography | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Life is So, So Short

Posted on November 8, 2018 by

I’ve been away from the blog because I lost a dear friend I’ve known nearly my whole life, with no warning. She was healthy, and too young to die. I am still processing what happened and it’s been nearly three weeks now. What a reminder of the brevity of life.

I flew back to the Midwest to say goodbye, and thank heaven she was still alive when I got there. My friend wasn’t conscious, but I just wanted her to know I was there. She died the following day.

After so many years in Southern California, I wasn’t really prepared for a snowfall in October. This is how it looked the afternoon before I left:

It quickly progressed to this:

My flight home connected through Salt Lake City and we flew right over the Great Salt Lake….

And then the city itself, which I hadn’t seen since I was around ten years old.

Before all this happened, I went to Las Vegas with my son and his girlfriend for a Lantern Festival in the Mohave Desert. I’ll share those photos next time.

Carpe diem, everyone….

{carole}

Posted in photography | Tagged , , | 18 Comments

Peaks from Above

Posted on October 2, 2018 by

Oh, I meant to get this in before October, but then I caught the flu and didn’t feel like doing much of anything. Seems kind of early for flu season….

I flew up to Oregon for a long weekend and took the shots below from the plane. I had a short layover in Seattle, which was experiencing terrible air quality due to fires. At first I thought it was fog. That made it really nice to climb up for this view….

Pretty sure this is Mt. Rainier. So glad I had a window seat for a change.

I had almost forgotten about Mt. St. Helens until I saw the caldera. They’re both so beautiful.

I’ll post more photos from Oregon in the future.

{carole}

Posted in photography | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

Market Haul

Posted on August 10, 2018 by

My husband and I are really enjoying the local farmers markets. Here’s what looked good last time:

I prefer my beets pickled, so have never cooked them. Now I’m curious as to how they taste.

Aren’t these peaches gorgeous?

I like the way the vendor packaged these vegetables.

The colors in these plums are so pretty. They’re really sweet too.

A closer look.

Crazy cucumbers.

These onions are huge. As you can see, they’re as big or bigger than a full head of broccoli.

Don’t the leaves on these radishes look like lace?

There weren’t a lot of flowers at this market, but the sunflowers looked great.

Plenty of succulents.

I am really going to miss these tomatoes. The ones in the grocery store are so tasteless in the winter.

So, I’ve decided to take the rest of August off. I have a small trip planned, but mostly I just need to recharge the batteries. See you in September!

{carole}

Posted in photography | Tagged , , | 8 Comments