The other day, we had some food. … That is all it was, food, nothing special.
But, this little purple flower looks so good that I want to spin the stamens on a fork with the purple sauce dripping. … All the while eating the little yellow meatballs.
Oh heck! I think I forgot to eat lunch as I was editing images this afternoon.
At the time, in any location on our planet, when the sun is sinking in transit from day to night, all the species of plants and animals prepares for their nocturnal or diurnal missions. Diurnal, to sleep, and dream of love, life, and events untold coming from the events of the past day. Nocturnal, to rouse, take stock, touch, feel, taste the blood coursing through the veins, to live again.
Here we stand, at a point of decision. We can look at a moment and decide. Shall we live, or shall we sleep?
I love Bananas. … And these small flowers are where some bananas will come from. The flower heart is edible, and is eaten like an artichoke.
As the fruiting body (inflorescence) grows larger and longer, the rows of red sheathing that are the flower heart, open one at a time, and expose the flowers in sets of flowers.
In this image the flowers are juicy, and beautiful. The color of the heart is rich and powerful.
San Diego is a beautiful city as most people see it. But, it has many nooks and crannies of beauty seen by very few.
Fiesta island, is one of those beautiful places that are hidden from a casual view. The island is ringed by a road that is frequented by cyclists in their drive for healthful exercise. Between the road and the interior of most of the island, stand berms, artificial ridges of heaped earth that hides the islands center from the casual view of those just driving around the island. You have to stop your car, get out, and walk past the berms to the magic of a Southern California spring.
I walk there with my dog quite often. It is a very dog friendly place for off leash walking. In this image, my dog Gypsy is having a very good day.
You have to hurry down there to see it, because it is our spring, and it does not last long.
I thought this little flower might be a nice thing to look at this morning. This is a single flower, and the very edge of a second flower, on the crown of a Barrel Cactus.
Cactus has always intrigued me because a flower is the sexual heart of the plant, and yet, on a cactus, it is surrounded by spiky, dangerous, barriers to the sweetness therein. If you try to break down the barrier to get to the sweetness, you are harmed, and you harm the plant. But, if you are the target of the plants affection, the spikes are no barrier, they are only facilitators, helping you along your mutual path of desire.
In the end, the bee gets the nectar, and the cactus, … ? … Well the cactus gets little cacti.
Trees are beautiful. I think that I would like to have been a tree. They stand with the sun on their faces, soaking energy from its light. The breeze moves through their leaves, gently caressing the total body. When the rains come softly, they catch the tiny drops from the air and moisten their own roots. When the wind and the rains blast against the tree, it bends and twists, but comes back. The life energy is strong in a tree.
Some people personify trees even more than I do. Here is such a tree, a happy tree in a beautiful section of town.
Spring in the desert of Southern California is full of beautiful things.
This particular Friday evening, was no exception when I went for a ride with a friend to the desert. Warm winds moved the branches, and hair, but did not chill the body. It was evening, and the sun was very low, creating long shadows, and a little later, as the sun dropped behind the mountains, no shadows at all.
I have several favorite images of the evening, but I always come back to this image of Jenivive looking at this large, and beautiful Ocotillo.
I like to walk my dog in different places. Part of the reason my dog goes along with me on these walks, is to give me the excuse to go somewhere she has not been.
This day, I took her down to Tecolote Canyon, not far from our normal route, but off the normal path. I was following the sound of laughing, and voices in good humor. The sound was coming from a hidden area. When we moved between trees, and next to the creek, we found six young men drinking beer, and having a good time.
These three were up in the tree, drinking. I thought the light looked very cool, and I asked them whether, or not, I could shoot this image. They said yes.
So here we have three young men, standing in a tree, drinking beer.
Sometimes transition is a hard thing, like this flower, past beauty, now gravid with tomorrows life.
Sunrise, and sunset.
We are the children of those that came before us. With eyes closed we can see backwards, in time, to the very beginning of those lives. We can see their existence as part of our own lives, and now they are gone. Part of our life has ceased being, except as memories already fading. We can no longer smell the flower that was there, or hear the laugh of a father friend.
Look to your children, your friends, and rejoice in the present. Hold them, and love them, for tomorrow they will feel as you do now.
Spring is here. Go outside and stand, very quietly, for ten minutes, listening. I just heard, what must be hundreds of, birds singing in every direction my attention was focused. What a wonderful sound.
This image is from the Huntington Botanical Gardens in Pasadena. In the image is a little red headed House Finch for you to compare colors. The flowers are that color green, and beautiful.
This is in the cactus gardens, and they have separated planted areas of these kinds of flowering plants. Each of the areas has flowers of one color. Blues, greens, yellows. … Of them all, the blues and the greens caught my eyes most.
Mesembryanthemum crystallinum – Crystalline Ice Plant – (Aizoaceae) – common ice plant – Native of South Africa, but, living on Fiesta Island in San Diego. It has been used as a landscape ornamental and is named for the small glistening vesicles that cover its leaves and stems.
This was shot in the very late afternoon, almost sunset, and the sun was very low, streaming through the crystalline vesicles that caught my attention while I was walking around with my macro lens on my camera. I have some other images of the plant with its beautiful small white flowers. … Oh, and by the way, you can eat this plant, leaves and all.
I love colors. We see with colors. The world is colorful.
This little canyon along interstate “8,” just a small distance outside San Diego, caught my attention one day as I was driving towards the mountains. It is the life experienced in transit that matters, not the target of the transit that matters most. “Journey verses Destination”
By being open along the journey, I found this wonderful little place that captured my eyes for a short time. If I had been focused on the mountains, I would not have seen the trees.
This lone Saguaro looks across the land of the petroglyphs of the Painted Rocks Petroglyph Site east of Gila Bend, Arizona USA.
Because Sentinel has one branch and is as tall as it is, the age of this cactus is estimated to be between 40, and 70 years old. This cactus could be my age, having seen what I have seen, and knowing what I know of life. But, this cactus is far smarter than I will ever be. He stands in the sun, year after year, watching the world, smelling the seasons as they move through time. This lone sentinel watches the stars at night, as they mark astronomical time.
This sentinel marks the shadow of the sun across the desert floor, while I run around scraping together things needed for my life to continue. He feels the water course down his flesh, pool at his base, and swells when it is ingested, expanding his structure so that he can pass the dry times. … I cannot go more than a few hours without water.
I am getting ready to head out to the desert this week and shoot whatever the spring has brought to the Southern California deserts, usually aiming at the new growth.
Ahhh But! I am also a very opportunistic photographer. This image was from a previous spring jaunt into the barren land with a friend who also possesses the eyes of an eagle. He spotted this group of Big Horn Sheep from quite a distance, pointed them out to me, like a hunter siccing a dog onto a prey.
So I started walking towards these sheep, at an angle, moving closer towards them every step, but not directly towards them. That angled approach kept them from being spooked, and hightailing it for higher ground. In the end, this is the best I could do.
Notice the flowers, and the green all around the sheep. The flowers were the target of the day, the sheep was the true bonus, and best images of the day.