Blue and Gold Wildflowers!

Continuing on with my flower addiction, here are some of my recent wildflower photos. We've had an amazing amount of rain this winter/spring, and I'm already seeing more of some species than in past years. I still have a gazillion photos to go through, but if you're a flower addict, too, I hope you enjoy these blue and gold beauties:-)

"Face the Sun", these sunflowers bloom year-round here. They get a bit raggedy looking in winter, but they keep going. They're always a joyful bright spot in the landscape:-)

"Blue Beauties", Baby Blue Eyes, Nemophilia menziesii, a native California wildflower. I love these little beauties, and have spotted more patches of them this year than in the past - yay!

"Poppy Perfect", poppies are the best flowers to catch the light going through them! They glow from within, and are so gorgeous:-)

"Sun Seeker", Common Fiddlenecks, Amsinckia menziesii (another Cali native), are just about the 1st wildflowers to start blooming here, and light up the hillsides.

"Simply Blue", another Baby Blue Eyes flower - such a soft, delicate beauty:-)

"Light Dancers", and more poppies in the light:-)

Back on Track!

I needed a mini-break from my blog, hence my absence these past few days. Even though I have lots of ideas, I was having brain-freeze when it actually came time to post something (must be all those Icees I drink;-). Anyways, I'm back on track, and sharing several recent photos. I hope you enjoy them, and if you know what the weird creature is on the last photo, please share - sometimes it's hard to know where to start searching for insect id's.

"Hide-n-seek" We startled a covey of quail as we were driving, and they went up into the trees. Very hard to see, but I was able to capture this gentleman:-)

"Emerging", beautiful wildflower, terrible name: Blue-dick.

"Blending In", this ground squirrel thought if he stayed real still, he was invisible;-)

"Sun Dance", California Poppies can have the best shadows!

"Alien", there were several of these along with other weird flying insects on this Mountain Whitethorn (Ceanothus cordulatus). What are they?

Poppies, Poppies, Poppies!

Yup, three recent photos of California Poppies:-)

"Sunny Side Up!" Love the sheen on poppies when the sun hits.

"It Takes Two..." These were growing out of a steep hill hence side view.

"Sunny Side Up!" Even on a cloudy day, California Poppies are neon-bright!

Sanity

Okay, it’s past time to put up some positive images on my blog! I shouldn’t have left it so long, but it was hard to think of what to do after that last post. I’m proud of what I wrote, but it definitely wasn’t the cheeriest of posts.

So, for this post, I’m going to put up some of my favorite images from the past year from the wonderful drives my mom and I have taken. Last October, when it had finally cooled down, we took a drive up into the foothills. This led to the discovery of a whole new world around us – the foothills are much more like the California we remember. It’s been wonderful to find the beauty and serenity that exists up there. It’s where we go to regain our sanity and perspective:-) We have a special road that we discovered, and there’s always something magical to see.

Right now, though, it’s been too hot, and everything’s dried out, so we haven’t gone for a while. However, I’ve taken so many photos, I can relive the experiences over and over. I hope you’ll enjoy these as much as I do…

Getting started - the foothills, March, 2009

"Bird on a Wire" - Savannah Sparrow

"Poppies Poppin' Up!", March, 2009

"Golden Girl", June 2009

Lovely lone lupine, March 2009

"Just the Two of Us" - California Quail couple, March 2009

"Dare to be Different!", late March, 2009

"Moo-ther and Child" - Happier California Cows who get to be cows, Jan. 2009

"Reaching Out" - "Grass Nut" native wildflower, April 2009

"Ladybug Love" ;-) April, 2009

One of the absolute best-ever sightings - a bobcat! Late March, 2009

I hope you've enjoyed this little journey as much as I did:-) I have so many photos, it's hard to choose - these are some of my absolute favorites, though. That bobcat was spotted just as we rounded a corner. We stopped a little distance away, and I quietly opened my door, stretched around, and started shooting. S/he was still a little ways off, and didn't notice us for the longest time. It was quite an experience, and an honor. Nature is so amazing, and getting back to it feels soooo good!

More to come!