California Photos

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Wood

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This week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge theme is wood. Last week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge theme was water and I couldn’t stop thinking of the many photos I could sort through to select the final few.

This week’s wood theme was a little more challenging for me. I didn’t want to show you just trees, trees and more trees. Yes, I will display a few trees below, but I also wanted to show you objects made out of wood. I hope you enjoy my selection of wood photos.

This HUGE wood sculpture is to welcome you to the small mountain town of Idyllwild in Southern California, about two hours north of San Diego. The man who created this sculpture for the town (apparently he wasn’t done with it when I snapped the photo) sells many other wood sculptures, mostly of wildlife. They’re just beautiful.

Cece's Fun Foto Challenge - Wood - Wood sculpture in Idyllwild, California — Cece’s Fun Foto Challenge – Wood – Wood sculpture in Idyllwild, California

Here’s the same Idyllwild wood sculpture from a different angle.

Wildlife wood sculpture in Idyllwild California

Here are two Stellar Jay birds perched on opposite branches of a pine tree. This photo was taken in Idyllwild too, where Stellar Jays are easy to spot.

When we stayed in Idyllwild the first time, we rented a dome house made entirely out of wood inside and out. Here’s a part of the interior walls and ceiling to show you what a dome house looks like. Pretty neat, huh?

I took the next photo on the Star of India ship at the San Diego Maritime Museum with my kids (working hard!). That ship was used in the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with Russell Crowe and it’s still an active ship to this day.

Star of India - San Diego Maritime Museum — Star of India – San Diego Maritime Museum

As for these last photos, let me tell you a funny story. I took them at Dos Picos State Park northeast of San Diego a couple of years ago and never used them for anything. But I still saved them on my computer, because I knew I would use them one day for sure. And now the day has come. I present you a pile of wood!

Here is the pile of wood from up close. I find it pretty nice actually.

More photos of frost in San Diego

This is the rest of the photos of frost I took these past few weeks in San Diego, California. You can find my other photos of frost here and here. I think this may have been my last opportunity to photograph frost this winter, since we’ve been experiencing a warming trend. And what a warming it has been! While the rest of the USA is suffering from subzero temperatures, we’re enjoying afternoons in the low 80s. How crazy is that? Of course, there’s a chance the warmth won’t last and we’ll have a few more frosty mornings before the end of winter. We’ll see, but in the meantime, I’m pretty happy with the large set of photos I got.

Remember you can click on any photo below for a larger view.

I think this may be my favorite frost photo of all. What do you think?

Here’s some frost on a spider web. And what a messy spider web it is!

I like the look of the frost on these dried flowers, covering every petal. And I really like the bluish gray tint from the winter morning’s light.

Here’s a dusting of frost on dried leaves. Did somebody sprinkled powdered sugar?

Here’s the last photo, showing not only frost but also small ice crystals on this leaf. It almost looks like a hairy leaf!

January 24, 2013February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: California Photos, Photography, Photos of San Diego, Plant PhotosTags: California pictures, frost on dried leaves, frost on leaf, frost on leaves, frost on plants, frost on spider web, frost on spiderweb, frost photos, frosty leaves, frosty plants, photography, photos, photos of frost, San Diego 4 Comments

Travel theme: Multicolored Cotoneaster Lacteus

The color red: the Cotoneaster Lacteus’s red berries

You’ve got to love Google search! I love these very thick and adundant bushes at my son’s school that display hundreds of tight grapes of red berries in the winter, bringing color to our chilly winter mornings. I took several photos of the bushes and their red berries recently and wanted to post a few here (see below), but I had no idea what the plants were.

So I searched for “bush with red berries”, and after looking through dozens of photos on Google, I found out these bushes are called Cotoneaster Lacteus. A fancy Latin name for an evergreen hedging shrub that features both flowers and berries (not simultaneously of course). So if you’ve ever wondered what Cotoneaster Lacteus bush and its berries look like, this is the post for you. 😉

Remember you can click on each photo to see a larger version of it.

The red berries of the Cotoneaster Lacteus

I love the abundance of red berries on each branch!

Close-up of the Cotoneaster Lacteus and its red berries

I took these photos on a frosty morning, so you can see the frost melting in some areas, while it leaves a layer of white dust in others. This last photo is my favorite of the bunch.

Red berries and red leaves of the Cotoneaster Lacteus

January 22, 2013February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: California Photos, Photography, Photos of San Diego, Plant PhotosTags: bush with red berries, California pictures, Cotoneaster Lacteus, Cotoneaster Lacteus photos, Cotoneaster Lacteus red berries, photography, photos, photos of berries, red berries bush, red berries Cotoneaster Lacteus, red berry bush, San Diego 5 Comments

A word a week photo challenge: Weather

I’m participating in A Word in Your Ear’s photo challenge. This week’s photo theme is weather. San Diego weather is pretty regular, mostly sunny and warm, but we get rain sometimes (never enough), and even frost in the winter (a lot of frost this winter).

Here are a few photos that represent weather in San Diego, using the WordPress gallery format. You can click on any image to view all of them in a slideshow format. I’ve used these photos in previous posts so I’ve left the original captions. This way, if you’d like to view the original post, just search for the caption text in my website’s Search box.

Do you like the weather where you live?

Travel theme: delicate frost on leaves

Frost on leaves in San Diego

Travel theme: sky with puffy clouds

WordPress weekly photo challenge: Escape to Coronado Beach

Three wet lemons on the tree

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/11/01/photo-challenge – Eerie foggy morning in San Diego

Let’s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge: Green raspberry leaves

Sunday Post: Natural Resources – water – Lake Hemet, California

Pink and violet clouds at sunset

January 21, 2013February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: California Photos, Landscape Photos, Ocean photos, Photography, Photos of San Diego, Plant Photos, Sky Photos, Sunset photos, Water photosTags: A word a week photo challenge, A word a week photo challenge: Weather, A Word in Your Ear photo challenge, California pictures, fog in San Diego, frost in San Diego, frost photos, Pacific ocean photos, photography, photos, photos of clouds, photos of fog, San Diego, San Diego skies, San Diego sky, wet lemons 7 Comments

Sunday Post: Simplicity

Today I’m participating in Jakesprinter’s Sunday Post photo challenge. This week’s theme is Simplicity.

Yesterday was a beautiful winter day in San Diego. Not a cloud in the sky, slight breeze, unusually warm (75 degrees by the coast). Perfect for a visit at the San Diego Botanic Garden with my kids. You’d think January would offer few opportunities for taking photos of nature but I got to snap a few. I’ll share them in several posts and I thought I’d take the opportunity of displaying a few here, with this simplicity theme.

Remember you can click on each photo for a larger view of it.

A pond with some running water exemplifies simplicity to me. And simple is beautiful, like this sculpture at the lily pond by the entrance of the San Diego Botanic Garden.

There’s also a Bamboo pond in the Bamboo Garden, which is about three times as big as this one, but still very small and simple.

Sunday Post: Simplicity - Bamboo pond at the San Diego Botanic Garden — Sunday Post: Simplicity – Bamboo pond at the San Diego Botanic Garden

It has a basic waterfall set up, again, very simple. A trickle of water over rocks.

There may have been some animals underwater but we didn’t spot any. Instead we spotted a couple of mallards, or technically a mallard couple having a snack in the pond. I love the simple ripples in the water.

Sunday Post: Simplicity - Ducks at the Bamboo pond at the San Diego Botanic Garden — Sunday Post: Simplicity – Ducks at the Bamboo pond at the San Diego Botanic Garden

Finally we were lucky enough to see a green heron, checking out the water and looking for some potential lunch. Again, I love the simple reflection of the green heron in the water. Simplicity, what a beautiful theme!