Category Archives: Photography

Have You Ever Seen a Hummingbird Moth?

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This is another post in my continual quest to NOT allow current events to cause mental and emotional distress. I don’t actively ignore the news; instead, I’m trying to manage my visceral reactivity, if that makes sense.

I didn’t get good pics of March’s full blood moon, but look who I discovered on the deck this morning! He didn’t look too perky so I put him near a flower and hope he rallies…

The White-lined Sphinx Moth, Hyles lineata, is a common “hawk moth” (Family Sphingidae) and gigantic at almost four inches! I’ve seen them around here on very rare occasions but have mistaken them for hummingbirds because they’re so big.

Hummingbird moths are excellent, beneficial pollinators, especially for night-blooming flowers, helping gardens and ecosystems thrive, though their caterpillar stage might munch on host plants like tomatoes, a minor trade-off for their adult benefits. They are harmless to humans, mimic hummingbirds, and are crucial for plant reproduction, making them a positive addition to any pollinator-friendly yard.   

Hummingbird moth symbolism often centers on luck, transformation, peace, prosperity, and longevity, appearing as a messenger for change or a sign to look closer at life’s illusions, blending butterfly themes (change) with hummingbird traits (joy, flexibility) as they are mimics of hummingbirds and symbolize a spiritual connection to nature’s deeper messages and joyful living.

The Last Photo Taken

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Here’s the most recent photo I took while I was out and about enjoying this beautiful sunshiny Southern California morning.

What is it? Is it a contrail or a chemtrail? Whatever it is, it totally ruined the absolute totality of the blue sky.

Photo by Enchanted Seashells

What was the last photo YOU took?

Desert Hike Photos

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At times, the southwest desert seems like an otherworldly place…stark, beautiful, sort of scary.

Dry Lake
Slot Canyon
A bit of rock scrambling
View from the top

My Scrub Jay Family Returns! CORRECTION!!!! This is a Western Bluebird!

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Update: A kind reader commented and asked if this was actually a Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana) and after some research, I’m convinced he’s correct! I automatically assumed it was the same scrub jay family that returns every year, but this is a much smaller bird.

I might rewrite this entire post to reflect the correction, but for now, as you’re reading, just replace Scrub Jay with Western Bluebird and it all works out.

My blueblue California Scrub Jay family has returned to build a nest in the tree house. While so much is WRONG in this world right now, the fact that these birds reappeared is heartwarming.

Photo by Enchanted Seashells

While they don’t use the same nesting material year after year, jays often return to the same location, referred to as site loyalty. They are very attached to their home ranges, and pairs often stay together for multiple years, leading them to build new nests in familiar spots within that territory.

Photo by Enchanted Seashells

How lucky am I that these guys feel safe here at Casa de Enchanted Seashells!

Welcome home!

Photo by Enchanted Seashells

I can’t resist a connection to Leon Russell. Although it’s not at all about blue birds, his song, Bluebird, is musical perfection. Sadly, I don’t think there’s a video of a live performance. https://youtu.be/Zhaq-wWykZU?si=6fegLI90ZUqI-N5q

Silence is Healing

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“When I am silent, I fall into the place where everything is music.” — Rumi

Whew, it’s definitely time for a Rumi quote to bring down sky high BP.

Today is Martin Luther King Day and that petty psychopathic orange POS removed MLK Day and Juneteenth from the list of fee-free days for our national parks and replaced them with days like Flag Day (his birthday).

My governor, California’s Governor Newsom, countered by making over 200 California State Parks free on MLK Day.

Enjoy this silent and stark tree from Mt. San Jacinto near Palm Springs, California.

Silence is healing.

Photo by Enchanted Seashells

Cloud Art

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These clouds are works of art.

I like what Bob Ross said about painting clouds: “Let’s build us a happy, little cloud that floats around the sky.”

At the beach.
Looking east.
From the front door.
Clouds of all shapes, sizes, and colors.

(Photo credit to Enchanted Seashells)

New Year Greetings With a Fling of Sandpipers 𓅪

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And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.
Rainer Maria Rilke

We’re getting ready for another storm but yesterday it still was sunny and warm. Check out these south-facing sandpipers, all looking in the same direction. I wonder what they’re thinking about…

Maybe they’re hoping 2026 will bring peace and harmony and love to the world. That’s my wish, too.

Do you know what a group of sandpipers is called?

There are many recognized collective nouns for a group of sandpipers:

𓅪 a bind
𓅪 a cluster
𓅪 a contradiction
𓅪 a fling
𓅪 a hill
𓅪 a time-step

My personal favorite is a “fling” of sandpipers.

𓅪 Happy 2026!
Hauʻoli Makahiki Hou

Winter Solstice and Mother’s Night 2025

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Mother’s Night (Mōdraniht) is an ancient Germanic/Anglo-Saxon tradition, celebrated on the eve of the Winter Solstice, marking the first night of Yule to honor ancestral mothers, female deities like Frigg, and the divine feminine, to focus on nurturing, protection, and rebirth. It’s a solemn yet festive night for remembrance, offerings, and connecting with life’s cycles, often involving candles, feasts, and rituals for the “Disir” (mother spirits). 

The first thing that comes to my mind is to honor my very own Mother Spirit with some yummy chocolate, so I will!

Winter solstice —
the farthest touch
of dark.
The sun’s been
arching back,
breathing behind the clouds,
taking its time,
waiting
for you, too. –Tanya Markul

❄

Here are a few positive affirmations to greet this winter solstice:

❄ Embrace the Darkness – I welcome the darkness, for within it lies the seeds of new beginnings.
❄ Find Inner Light – I am a beacon of light, radiating warmth and positivity even in the coldest of times.
❄ Release and Renew – I release what no longer serves me, making space for growth and transformation.
❄ Connect with Nature – I am attuned to the rhythms of the Earth, finding harmony in its cycles.
❄ Cultivate Gratitude – I am grateful for the lessons of the past and the opportunities of the future.


Curated from rebeccadouglas.co.uk

Holiday Wishes 🕎 🎄🎅🏻 🌺

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Hanukkah started last night at sundown and ends on December 22, so don’t forget to light your menorah and remember to honor the Bondi and Brown victims.

May the lights of Hanukkah usher in a better world for all of us.

This photo was taken from the top of my street where I’m able to see the setting sun AND a hint of the Pacific ocean. It’s one of my favorite spots.

🕎 🎄🎅🏻 🌺

Ode To Our Ocean

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This photo was taken at the beach on a spectacularly warm December afternoon. The sky was blue and the Pacific Ocean was full of sparkles; a magnificent day.

Photo by Enchanted Seashells

Ode To Our Ocean

The sea sings out to its many saviors:
Teenagers with fists thrust into the air at climate strikes,
Scientists converging around their data,
A child who stoops to scoop up a piece of trash.

The sea sings out for its singular subjects:
Arching whales that wave from their waves,
Turtles that teeter down their shining shores,
Coral reefs shining brightly as cities.

The sea sings out its suffering,
Knowing too much of waste, screeching sounds
And pernicious poison, its depths bruised by
Atrocities in the Atlantic,
Misery in the Mediterranean,
Its tides the preservers of time past.

The story of the ocean and the story of humanity
Are one and the same, a Great River that
Knows no borders and notes no lines,
Only ripples.
While we might call it the Seven Seas,
Today we sing out your true name:
The one ocean.
For no matter how we try to separate your waters,
You are the colossus that connects us.

Water makes up 70% of Earth,
70% of the human heart,
And 70% of the human being,
All of us, bodies of water,
For we, too are oceans,
Or at least beings bobbing in the same boat.
To stand up for for our ocean
Is to stand up for our own ship
The sea is a restless, strong collective of many pieces.
So are we.
The ocean can recover.
And so will we.
Let us not divide the tides,
But discover all they have to teach us–
Green meadows of sea grass that survive pathogens,
Blue-bloodied marine snails that can fight off viruses.
There are more lessons to learn,
Still more work to be done.
So we lift our faces to the sun.
May the seas help us see healing and hope,
May we sing out the ocean’s survival and revival.
Being the people of this blue planet is our most
Profound privilege and power,
For if we be the ocean’s saviors,
Then it is surely ours.

Written by Amanda Gorman for World Oceans Day. Harvard graduate Gorman is an American poet, activist, and model. Her work focuses on issues of oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization, as well as the African diaspora. Gorman was the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate.