Tag Archives: Photography

The Circle of Life | In Memoriam

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This was one of the most heartwrenching scenarios I’ve witnessed in a really long time.

Picture me in my bedroom, folding and putting away clean laundry, when from the corner of my eye, I see movement through the window. My bedroom overlooks the garden, so I have a clear view.

I had a front row seat to watch a red tailed hawk snatch a dove out of the air, mid-flight, wrestle him to the ground, and proceed to do what birds of prey do.

It all happened in a split second as I watched, mouth agape, frozen in place. I managed to grab my phone and take one not very good photo; it’s through the screen and out of focus.

Just like this guy, most hawks practice what is known as mantling. This involves the bird spreading out its wings and covering its prey, hiding it from the eyes of other animals or larger predators that may want to steal their catch.

As quickly as it started, the drama was over, and I’m left with a circle of feathers. His/her spouse was looking all over the garden for her/him for a couple of hours, which made it all even more sad.

Predator versus prey. Rest in peace, little dove.

Later on, a tiny baby bunny was sniffing the feathers with his mom nearby, at least I think it was mom. I clapped my hands so they’d run for cover because I really didn’t want to see it happen all over again. The circle of life can be brutal.

As The Crow Flies

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Family can show up in different species, too.

My crow family (I refer to them as my cousins) are getting ready for spring by building nests in the backyard trees in preparation for the next gen. They return to the same location every year.

Did you know that crows are among the smartest animals in the world? Their intelligence is similar to that of chimpanzees. A crow’s brain accounts for almost two percent of its body mass, similar to that of humans.

I talk to them all the time and it seems as if they accept me and don’t even blink an eye when we’re together in the garden, and have brought me many shiny gifts throughout the years.

This crow cousin was gathering twigs and grasses for her nest. If you look closely, you’ll see she likes pine needles, too.

Nest construction begins in early March and will continue through about June. It takes one to two weeks to finish a nest after which the female will lay a clutch of two to six eggs.

Crow nests are made mostly of pencil-width twigs. A new nest is usually about 1.5 feet across and 8-10 inches deep.  After the bulk of construction is complete, they’ll line the cup of the nest with soft materials like grass, tree bark, moss, flowers, paper, or fur. 

Both partners participate in nest construction. Helpers might aid to some degree but most of the work is left to the parents. https://corvidresearch.blog/

I help too, and gave them the fringe I cut off a pillow that I planned to recover in a different fabric.

It’s raining today, unexpectedly, because all that was forecasted was some light drizzle, and now everything is wet. I hope my crow cousin’s nest is somewhere warm and dry. I’m going to look for more nesting material they might like to use because it makes me happy to think I’m kinda sorta like THEIR family, too.

(All photo credit to Enchanted Seashells.)

Surveying a Joyful Garden

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“Beauty is everywhere a welcome guest.” – Goethe

Sometimes we don’t notice the beauty we’re surrounded with until we look with fresh eyes.

I was focused on a major cleanup project in the garden when I finally took a breath and looked up. It was only then that I noticed being surrounded with the joy of color. Everywhere I turned, I was greeted with the wonder of nature.

Blooming calendula…

Felicia amelloides variegata: ‘Variegated Marguerite Blue Daisy’…

“Let us come alive to the splendor that is all around us and see the beauty in ordinary things.” — Thomas Merton

 Yellow Marguerite Daisy…

…and prolific white daisy groundcover…

There’s so much to be grateful for!

Acacia in bloom…

“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.” — A.A. Milne

You’re totally right, Piglet!

All photo credit to Enchanted Seashells

Garden Visitor: Red-shouldered Hawk

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This Red-Shouldered Hawk is perched on a palm tree just over the fence in the open space.

I often see these majestic birds of prey soar high overhead or perch like this on tree branches. Its rising, whistled kee-rah is a distinctive sound. They hunt small mammals, amphibians, and reptiles.

I hope he’s looking for his next meal…he’s the very real definition of hawk-eye!

On a side note, could the sky BE any bluer? I think not.

(PS All photo credit to Enchanted Seashells)

What’s Growing in the Garden

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Mushrooms!

This is an indication of how much rain we’ve had in Southern California and just how soggy the garden is…and more rain is on the way.

Unidentified fungi appeared in the crevice of a split ficus trunk that was cut down a couple years ago because the roots were starting to come too close to the foundation.

I wanted to keep the stump instead of grinding it because I thought it was architecturally beautiful and now it’s decomposing exactly like I hoped it would.

These mushrooms are definitely not edible, right? They’re most likely poisonous and I’m certainly not going to find out one way or another. I’m not THAT curious or adventurous. Or dumb.

A day later, here’s how they morphed and darkened, plus it’s raining:

Fascinating!

I found a poem by Emily Dickinson about mushrooms…

The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants –
At Evening, it is not
At Morning, in a Truffled Hut
It stop opon a Spot

As if it tarried always
And yet it’s whole Career
Is shorter than a Snake’s Delay –
And fleeter than a Tare –

’Tis Vegetation’s Juggler –
The Germ of Alibi –
Doth like a Bubble antedate
And like a Bubble, hie –

I feel as if the Grass was pleased
To have it intermit –
This surreptitious Scion
Of Summer’s circumspect.

Had Nature any supple Face
Or could she one contemn –
Had Nature an Apostate –
That Mushroom – it is Him!

Vitamin Sea Therapy

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“The sea is a desert of waves, A wilderness of water.”
–Langston Hughes

There was a high surf advisory and I really wanted to see the big waves which were supposed to peak on Sunday, breaking 6-9 with 10-12 foot sets.

More rain is on the way, but the ocean was electric with healing energy. The beach was packed with surfers and onlookers. I took a lot of pics and sent them to the original Angel Boy to make him feel bad for missing out on a great surf sesh, ‘cos that’s the kind of mom I am, haha.

“I need the sea because it teaches me.”
–Pablo Neruda

“The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.”
–Vladimir Nabokov

“The sea cures all ailments of man.”
– Plato

“But the sea which no one tends is also a garden.”
–William Carlos Williams

“There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea,
whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath…”
–Herman Melville

“Protecting the ocean is not just about saving marine life; it’s about safeguarding our own future. Our fate is intimately connected to the health of the ocean.”
–Greta Thunberg

Portrait of a Finch

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My poetry professor would be proud of this haiku I wrote…

solitary finch
perched deep in the mulberry
will you stay or go?                                 
                                  By Princess Rosebud

This morning, I looked up into the branches of a winter-nude mulberry and couldn’t resist snapping a photo of this precious little finch.

I had to run to retrieve my phone as I willed her to stay long enough for a photo op. “Please don’t move, please don’t move, please don’t go.”

And she didn’t.

I was rewarded with a mostly monochromatic composition, which is exactly what I’d hoped for. In reality, the little bird has a yellow breast, but the quality of light turned everything almost colorless and dramatic.

If Thoughts Were Clouds

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If thoughts were clouds…what would these say?

As I cleaned up the garden from leaves and branches and other debris, I looked up and snapped a photo of the very last of the clouds from that atmospheric rain event that brought us four+ inches of rain in a short period of time.

It’s warm and the sun is drying out the soggy earth.

It’s A Mystery

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I have a million seashells, well maybe not actually ONE MILLION, but I have a lot. Some are big, some small; many are so beautiful they’re lovingly displayed on shelves. To me, they’re all enchanted.

During the torrential rain when it was stupidly dangerous to venture out and I was forced to allow my leg to heal, I decided it was the perfect time to dust and rearrange my enchanted treasures.

In the process of relocating one of the seashells, I noticed there was what seemed to be paper stuck deep inside the cavity and that piqued my curiosity.

What was it?

A treasure map? A love note? Jewels?

Tweezers were necessary to extract whatever it was, and when I uncrumpled two pieces of thin yellow paper, I discovered THIS:

It appears to be a receipt from the Chong Hua Hospital pharmacy. It doesn’t say anything else that I can decipher. Google reports that this hospital is located outside of Cebu City in the Philippines.

Crazy, right? From the Philippines? Why was it in a seashell? How did it get there? How did it get HERE?

There was no date, no name, no treasure map, no smuggled diamonds, no love letter.

You can 1000% believe that I’ve peered inside every other seashell around here but they’re all devoid of any surprises.

The mystery remains…

My Soul Mate is a Monster

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Sorry for the typo.

I meant to say my Giant Monstera is my soulmate. I certainly should have done a better job of proofreading…my bad.

This guy is the cause of my freak injury. I know I should hate him for it, but he’s so beautiful, especially when backlit by the sun.

I can’t help but love the source of my trauma, my pain.

You can’t really see it in this photo, but the reason why I raced down the stairs in slippery socks (and fell HARD) was to get the Amazon package that contained the moss poles to help my BFF climb to new heights.

When we first met (at Trader Joe’s) and fell in love, he whispered to me that a little support would make him happy. Since I love to oblige, it was an easy request to grant, however, this proclivity of mine set the stage for me to become irrevocably injured.

Deep wounds take a long time to heal, but my love for this Giant Monstera will last forever. Pretty soon I’ll need taller poles and more support because he’s growing and thriving under my care.

Love hurts, but isn’t he gorgeous? My monster(a), my soulmate. 

Update on my injury: Stitches came out yesterday (after two weeks) but were replaced by a dozen Steri-strips to help the eight-inch gash finish healing, which it is,  but at a snail's pace, probably because I'm not a very patient patient. I'm a much better caregiver. The recommendation was no strenuous activity for at least two more weeks or it'll open up again and I'll need more stitches and the doc threatened me with an aircast to immobilize my leg. "Threatened" might be a SLIGHT exaggeration, but that's how I interpreted her words...