Wildflowers in the Back Yard

Chinese Houses, Collinsia heterophylla.


Wildflowers in the back yard.

The wildflowers really burst into bloom this year. This is a North sloping canyon so it blooms a little later than out on the flatlands but wow, what a display! There are poppies, Chinese Houses, California Bluebells, Lupine, Daisies, Monkeyflower, etc... It's really fun. There was even an albino or two.

Discus

Discus, Symphysodon species. These are native to the Amazon river basin where there are three different species. They are social in nature and occur in large schools. They lay their eggs on flat substrate, typically leaves or pieces of rock, which they guard and fan assiduously. When the larvae/babies hatch, they live off of a slime secretion on their parents bodies, apparently from a few days to up to two weeks, before they transition to live food. These, however, are captive line bred and likely hybrids.

On Gossamer Wings

On Gossamer Wings
When you feel a little breeze,
or notice a tickle, or need to sneeze
or find your things are rearranged
or something seems a little strange
Look very closely and you might see
sparkly dust, or a buzzing bee:
Behold! a fairy with gossamer wings
has come to show you wondrous things!

~William Allingham~

Meare's Glacier

Meare's Glacier, Alaska. The ice really is blue and huge chunks like that make a nice wave in the water (kind of like a little tidal wave) when they hit! Pretty fun!

Ah, What to Post Today? Maybe a...

Turtle! I don't know what kind of turtle he was and silly me didn't photograph the name so he's just turtle. This one was at the Osaka Aquarium.

Whale Shark

Whale Shark, Rhincodon typus. These sharks are HUGE (some over 47,000 lbs.) but gentle. They are filter feeders, spending their days gliding through the water filtering out food. They are reputed to live upwards of 70 years of age.

Hawaii from the Air

Hawaii from the Air. Can you identify the islands? Hint: Two of the main islands are missing.

Heart and Seoul

Seoul, Korea on an overcast day. Seoul seems to go on forever. Imagine New York or Boston but horizon to horizon...with the same annoying traffic and all kinds of exotic sights and things to try out.

Jumping off a Bridge

Young man jumping off of a bridge, Iao, Maui. I think he overheard me say that it was way too shallow to be safe and that just goaded him on even more. Most of us have done something crazy along the way... This young man, luckily, proved me wrong and came out of the cold mountain water without a scratch.

Statue in Sao Paulo

Statue in Sao Paulo. I shot this picture out the taxi window.

So I went hunting on the Internet to see if I could figure out what the statue stood for. Best I could find was, "Famous statue right next to Ibirapuera Park. The “Central Park” of São Paulo. The statue is supposed to represent the conquistadors that settled Brazil.

Double Crested Cormorants

Double-Crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus, La Jolla, California. These fish-eating beauties are the the most pleasantly fragrant guests to have in the neighborhood but they certainly make a beautiful display against the whitened sandstone cliffs or as they skim across the water. It is, as you probably guessed, breeding season.

Playful Kiss?

Two baby Red River Hogs (Potamochoerus porcus) at play. These range from Gambia through South Camaroon where they live in dense vegetation.

Nap Time

California Sea lions (Zalophus californianus) taking a nap. California sea lions are wonderfully communal and really seems to love a great group snuggle.

Happy Easter!

Thoas Swallowtail, Papilio thoas. These are native to Costa Rica; shown here on butterfly bush.

Beautiful day out here with clear skies and a nice cool breeze. Kind of a disarming lead in to a pretty hefty 7.2 earthquake out in Mexicali. It was the longest (perhaps 30 seconds?) and the strongest quake I've been in so far. The house was shaking quite a bit and I was holding onto the cabinet to keep things from falling off the top. Normally, by the time you feel them, they're over but this one actually went long enough that you could have walked out of the house. Hopefully, that's it for a while. Surprisingly few things managed to tumble from the shelves but overall, it looks like everything is fine. The quakes over 8 must be something pretty fierce! They say Southern California is overdue. We shall see...

Oden Lantern

I bought this Oden Lantern in Tokyo many years ago (just the paper lantern, no stand, no light). I thought it was rather expensive at some $15 for paper lantern. I ended up coughing up a bunch more for a wrought iron hanger w/ light bulb at crate and barrel so I could actually use it. It is so ironic.

To do this posting, I went searching to see if I could find out what the lantern actually said (having thought it had something to do with Obon festival all these years). Well, I found the same lantern on the Internet selling for $99. Kind of makes you think someone is raking in some money here. In any case, this one is an Oden lantern that is hung outside the door of Oden restaurants/shops (think miso-ish soup with goodies like octopus and veggies in it...). It's kind of ironic.

Ocotillo Morte

A huge old ocotillo, toppled from age or perhaps from lack of water in the last dry spell, lies in a field of blooms, slowly decaying and nourishing the earth from which it sprang.

Crimson Sunflower

Sunflower, Rolando Street Fair. Ever notice that a Sunflower is really a composite flower with hundreds of separate little flowers, each feeding into one little seed?

Creepy Crawly Wolfy Spider...

Spider cruising along an Agave attenuata leaf in my back yard. I'm tempted to say it's some sort of wolf spider but after peaking at a few pages of spider pictures on Google, I'm punting and going to bed. This one's pretty tiny, maybe half an inch in length.

Blow Your Trumpet

Large Trumpet fish, Aulostomus chinensis, gliding eerily over the reef hunting for prey. This Trumpet fish was around 3 ft. long. They are suction feeders kind of like a seahorse or a pipefish, creating a vacuum through the rapid opening of their mouth that will suck in unsuspecting fish or crustaceans. The long snout is likely for getting into crevices where shrimp, crabs and small fish would otherwise hide.

Caterpillar

Caterpillar from the White-lined Sphinx Moth, Hyles lineata, Anza Borrego Desert. It's amazing how similar their little feet are to hands and it holds the stem in its mouth to chew on it. I also like the lazy O it makes with the stems in the background.

Click here to find out more about the White-lined Sphinx Moth.