The beach was overcast but the waves were full of surfers. The swell looks to be about three feet or so, but I heard it’s building to five feet by Friday, not that this knowledge impacts my life in any way as I don’t surf and never go in the water, but it’s pretty to look at and hear and smell the salty sea air.
Mostly I look for dolphin or whales or my eyes are laser focused on the Angels when they’re here.
Happy Sunday to everyone except the idiotic Supreme Court.
It was too hot too early to walk the full six mile round trip to the Pacific Ocean and back, so I settled for a longish trek around the lagoon with detours to observe it from different perspectives.
I ended up walking mostly all the way to the beach anyway and stopped at Rite Aid to buy myself a treat but nothing looked fun or appealing or was small enough to fit in my little backpack, so I continued on my journey.
Looking east from a secret side street overlooking Snug Harbor and the swan boats on Agua Hedionda Lagoon.
It wasn’t even 9am and the little beach was full of families enjoying Father’s Day and paddleboarding and kayaks. Thank goodness there’s no gigantic mall marring the view on the south shore.
Well, well, well, it seems like we have a very low tide, too, combined with our drought situation.
It’s not often that one could literally walk all the way around the lagoon to the beaches on the south side. I was wearing new shoes and didn’t want to ruin them in the muck, but for once it was entirely possible.
“Time and tide wait for no man”
We can’t stop the passage of time nor the movement of the tides, no matter how much we might want to halt the inexorable inevitability.
This proverb appeared about 1395 in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Prologue to the Clerk’s Tale but I also found a source that said it was recorded as early as 1225 and is reputedly a quote from Saint Mahrer. However, it’s also believed that the expression time and tide wait for no man might be older than that.
My son sent me this photo while he was at Golden Gardens Park in Ballard, Washington on beautiful Shilshole Bay.
It depicts the lowest tide in decades, four feet lower than average.
We have the same exact phone but he takes better pictures than I do, and of course he likes to send them to me to show me what I’m missing.
It’s so true–time and tide wait for no one.
This hot spell is a catalyst for all of my blooming bulbs. Here are the first two gladioli who decided to flower together in shades of pink.
All pink, ALWAYS.
A few months ago, I rescued a wilted and sad little Stargazer Lily from the back of a clearance shelf at the nursery. If I remember correctly, I paid a dollar or two for a one gallon plant.
I thought to to myself, “Nobody puts Baby in the corner” and brought it home with the hope of bringing it back to life with love and care.
My efforts were rewarded this week with a dozen or more heavenly perfumed pink blooms, perfectly timed for tonight’s full moon.
Stargazer’ lily (Lilium orientalis ‘Stargazer’) was developed in the late 1970s as a cross between Lilium auratum and L. speciosum to intentionally create a flower with upward-facing rather than drooping flowers. The tips of the flowers are “reflexed”—meaning that they curve back toward the stem—and they sport long, showy stamens.
They are among the most fragrant flowers. With a diameter of six inches or more, they have exceedingly showy blossoms—there is nothing subtle about ‘Stargazer’.
FYI…Like all lilies, ‘Stargazer’ is toxic to cats.
My bright and beautiful Scott’s Orioles are back! From bunnies to birds, I don’t have to go anywhere to be entertained.
I can’t say rats are bringers of joy, though, Or the mouse I saw this morning, but thank goodness it was outside so I didn’t have to completely freak out.
I think my little wounded bun is going to be OK. Fur is growing back and he’s still eating the greens I put out for him, which is a whole lot better than enduring the trauma of being captured.
Some clouds and sunshine, perfect for these little lefts and rights this morning…
A lineup in the ocean…
And a lineup in the sky. Look up! Pelicans!
Streets closed and a run around town, the Carlsbad 5000.
I did a lot of “B” things today all before noon, which leaves me the rest of the day to enjoy in the garden.
First of all, I went to a butterfly festival. I mean, how could I NOT, right?
It was the North County Monarch Butterfly Festival in San Marcos, which isn’t too terribly far from me, but it’s inland and since we’re having a heatwave, I thought I’d go early. It was 95 degrees at 10:00 a.m. That’s HOT!
The North County Monarch Butterfly Festival featured butterfly-inspired art, crafts, clothing, gardening, live music, and food. I really wish the kids were here because it was the perfect fun and educational event for children.
Here’s what the event website had to say: The fate of the iconic Western monarch butterfly is tied inextricably to the health of the planet, and that means our fate as human beings is informed by the same forces that impact the monarchs. Simply put, if monarch butterflies thrive, so do we, along with all of the other inhabitants of the monarch universe; conversely, if the monarchs can’t thrive in this universe, then human beings can’t either.
This event – hopefully the first of many – will feature any and all aspects of the monarch universe, from monarch-inspired arts and crafts to jewelry, clothing, biology, pollinator gardening, milkweed and nectar plant propagation and cultivating, to discussions and presentations on a wide range of subjects, from conservation and migration to habitat restoration and creation, from diseases and predators to native plants vs tropical, from children’s activities to seed exchange.
I held a snake too, from the San Diego Herpetological Society, the same organization that helped me identify that Great Basin lizard that visited for a while last year. I’m not 100% sure what snakes and lizards have to do with butterflies, but me and all the other children loved it. The snake’s name is Matt. Isn’t he handsome?
All kinds of milkweed; I purchased the native variety. I also got a variety of milkweed called Hairy Balls, again, how could I NOT? Gomphocarpus physocarpus, commonly known as hairy balls, is a species of milkweed native to southeast Africa, but it has been widely naturalized. It is often used as an ornamental plant.
Yummy smelling soaps and lip balms. Lovely!
After that I drove back to the coast where it was noticeably cooler and stopped by the Bans Off Our Bodies rally gathering at our local train station. I was happy to see an awesome and exuberant crowd of like-minded folks while I took a few photos.
Bans Off Our Bodies
Blocks and blocks of people all the way to the beach! This is in front of Spin Records.
I like to take photos of the signs, all with their permission, by the way.
A little butterfly bliss and a show of support for reproductive rights sounds like a great day to me, don’t you agree? Time to plant that milkweed!
Around 6:30 this morning as I pulled back the curtains and looked out my bedroom window, I was greeted by a darling bun chewing on a few kale leaves I had picked but forgot to bring inside.
I thought I read somewhere that rabbits don’t like kale, but this little one enjoyed every bite.
What a happy way to wake up and face a new week!
After my detour yesterday into the real world of misandry, defamation, domestic abuse, and the legal system, I’m back with my normally benign, unremarkable, and less incendiary topics.
Once again cleaning out the photos on my phone to make room for new memories, I came upon a series of cool pics depicting a flight home from a visit to the kids.
I had a window seat on a smaller aircraft. When we were about thirty minutes from landing I could even kinda sorta pick out my house.
It’s always bittersweet to come home. There’s no place like home but there’s no place like being with my babies, either. Sigh.
Leaving rainy PNW.
Two 1/2 hours later, SoCal coastline.
Off the coast of Carlsbad. I see Agua Hedionda lagoon and if you know where to look, I can pretty much pick out my street. It’s too bad the airlines won’t make a stop to let me off at our local airport because soon I’ll have to drive all the way back up!
Pt. Loma and the Coronado Bay Bridge. On approach to land any minute as soon as the pilot turns around.
This is how you land aircraft when the airport is situated in the downtown area. Looks scarier than it is, I think. Anyway, home sweet home!
Enchanted Seashells by Princess Rosebud 