California pictures

Sycamore leaves are beautiful in the fall

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Tree leaves are finally starting to change colors in San Diego, at least when it comes to deciduous trees. There are a lot of poplars in the city park behind my house so I hope to make my way there soon. It’s all a question of picking the right time of the day for the best photos. For what I’m trying to do, it might be the warm yellow light of the late afternoon.

In the meantime, I’ll share leaves from another tree we find a lot around San Diego County: the Sycamore tree. To most of us, the Sycamore doesn’t mean much but for the Kumeyaay, the native Americans who lived around here tens of thousands of years ago, it was a life saver. Or should I say a butt saver? Because of the Sycamore leaves’ very soft, almost velvety like, surface, the Kumeyaay used it as toilet paper. Good thing to know if you’re ever stranded somewhere in a forest, right?

I love Sycamore leaves because they are much larger than most tree leaves. They only turn yellow and brown until they come off the tree in late Fall, but they’re still pretty to look at, especially if you capture the light from an interesting angle.

Here are a few photos of Sycamore leaves. Let me know what you think. And remember you can click on each photo for an enlarged view.

Green and brown Sycamore tree leaf in the fall

Green and brown Sycamore leaves in the fall

November 6, 2012February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: California Photos, Tree PhotosTags: California pictures, photography, photos, photos of sycamore leaves, photos of trees, San Diego fall trees, sycamore leaf photo, sycamore leaves photos, sycamore photos, sycamore tree, sycamore tree leaves, trees 2 Comments

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Lines on a bottle brush tree flower

Bees love bottle brush tree flowers

I love bottle brush tree flowers. They feature a beautiful red hue and it’s easy to figure out how they got their name. I recently found out bottle brush trees are a native plant of Australia. This may explain why we have so many of them in San Diego, as the weather is similar here as in many parts of Australia.

I chose bottle brush tree flowers for the month of April in my 2013 photo calendar and I had a few pictures to choose from. My final pick was actually not my first choice. The photo below was. I love the angle of the flower, the deep green leaves on the left and the other red brushes in the background. And then, surprise surprise, there are two bees on this bottle brush tree flower: one at the bottom of it and one flying right in front of it. The only thing that stopped me from choosing this photo as my final selection was that the flying bee was out of focus. But hey, it wasn’t even supposed to be on the picture in the first place!

What do you think? Should I consider it for my 2014 photo calendar? Or does the blurry bee bother you? Make sure you click on the image for a larger view, especially if you want to see the bees better.

November 5, 2012February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Bloom Photos, California Photos, Flower Photos, Photography, Photos of San DiegoTags: bee photos, bees, bottle brush tree flowers, bottle brush tree photo, California pictures, flying bee, photo of bees, photography, photos, photos of blooms, photos of bottle brush tree, photos of bottle brush tree flowers, photos of flowers, San Diego 11 Comments

Travel theme: Stones with rain drops on spiderweb

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Water

I’m participating in the LetsBeWild.com Wild Weekly Photo Challenge. This week’s Challenge is: Water.

Water can be photographed in so many ways. It can be spread out over an ocean’s length or be contained in a single drop. It can look blue, green, gray, transparent, or reflect what’s around.

My favorite form of water to photograph is water drops, so all the photos below feature water drops for this week’s photo challenge. You may have seen a few of them or none of them on this website already. There are a couple of new ones too.

Remember you can click on each photo to see a larger view.

I shared these raindrops on a spider web over river rocks last week, and I think they fit this theme perfectly.

Close-up of rain drops on a spider web with river rocks underneath

Let's be wild weekly photo challenge - water - wet branch after the rain — Let’s be wild weekly photo challenge – water – wet branch after the rain

I took these last two pictures after the rain we had last week in San Diego. I love how tiny droplets outline the leaves and the bougainvillea flower. It almost looks like tiny, shiny diamonds.

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Water - raindrops on a leaf — Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Water – raindrops on a leaf

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Water - raindrops on a bougainvillea flower — Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Water – raindrops on a bougainvillea flower

November 2, 2012February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: California Photos, Flower Photos, Photos of San Diego, Plant Photos, Rock photosTags: California pictures, let's be wild weekly photo challenge, Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Water, photography, photos, rain drops on spider web, rain drops on tree, rain drops photos, raindrop photos, raindrops on spider web 9 Comments

Travel theme: Multicolored sumac fall foliage

Enjoy these fall colors for Halloween

I don’t have any scary monsters to show you for Halloween. Or carved pumpkins. Or skeletons half buried in the backyard. Halloween happens to be my least favorite “holiday”. Sure, you get tons of candy and kids have a lot of fun trick or treating, but the decorations are just creepy, and I speak from personal experience. I set up a giant spiderweb at my front door, along with a very large plastic black widow tangled in it, and I can’t stand spiders. I really love my kids but first thing November 1 morning, that thing is coming down.

I still have it on my list to visit a large pumpkin patch and manage to snap a few good, colorful pictures. In the meantime, I’ll show you more of the beautiful foliage the sumac tree has to offer in San Diego in the fall. I need to go back to this location very soon and take some new pictures. I love the colors on the photos below but I need to work on the framing and the angles. With a little effort, I hope I’ll end up with something really good to show you.

In the meantime, these photos will have to do! Remember you can click on each sumac tree photo below for a larger view.

Fall foliage - sumac tree — Fall foliage – sumac tree

Fall foliage - colorful sumac — Fall foliage – colorful sumac

Fall foliage in San Diego - yellow and orange leaves, red seeds of the sumac tree — Fall foliage in San Diego – yellow and orange leaves, red seeds of the sumac tree

October 31, 2012February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: California Photos, Photos of San Diego, Tree PhotosTags: California pictures, fall foliage, foliage in San Diego, orange sumac leaves, photography, photos, photos of trees, San Diego, San Diego fall trees, San Diego foliage, sumac berries, sumac foliage, sumac leaves, sumac seeds, sumac tree, trees, yellow sumac leaves 9 Comments

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Escape

Warning: one of the photos below is not for the faint of heart. Look at your own risk!

I’m participating in the LetsBeWild.com Wild Weekly Photo Challenge. This week’s Challenge is: Escape and I decided to have a little fun with this theme.

As usual, you can click on any of the photos below for a larger view.

Successful escape

Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge – Escape. A fallen tree

Look at this fallen pine tree. It doesn’t look like much, right? Pretty dead, huh? Now look again at its roots, to the left of the trunk, and you’ll notice a brand new tree growing out of it! It’s standing way above the ground, as if floating in the air, with one big root under its trunk linking back to the dead trunk. Now, if that’s not a successful escape from death, I don’t know what to call it.

Unsuccessful escape

I took this photo with my cell phone camera so the quality is not great, but I think the subjects are fascinating. This happened in a rattlesnake exhibit at the San Diego Zoo. I understand they gas the mice they feed the snakes, so they’re still alive (snakes don’t eat dead animals). The feeding takes place once a week so I guess this was my lucky day. No chance of escape there!

Happy Monday!