California pictures

A Word A Week Challenge – Dawn in San Diego

My 2013 calendar’s pick: a January sunrise

View all of the pictures I selected for my 2013 photo calendar.

My 2013 12-month photo calendar is now available for sale on my Zazzle online store. Thank you for your support!

It’s been taking me a very long time to go through my thousands of photos to pick the ones to display on this blog, and eventually put up for sale in the appropriate formats and media on Zazzle. It’s one of those things I really want to get done but the task seems so overwhelming, I tend to put it aside almost every day. Very counterproductive.

That’s until a friend of mine, who obviously has more commonsense than me, suggested I start it all with a 2013 photo calendar, displaying some of my favorite/best pictures. The lightbulb flashed over my head as soon as she mentioned it and since then, I’ve been picking, editing and asking people to choose the right photos for each month. All photos were taken in Southern California and portray what nature looks like around here at different times of the year.

I’ve decided to showcase my photo choices for each month on this photo blog, while I’m putting the 2013 calendar together for sale. I’d love to hear what you think about them, so please feel free to comment.

Today, I’ll start with January 2013. This is a sunrise photo I took last January of a winter sunrise. The sky colors were just beautiful on that morning. I’d love to see a sunrise like this one every single day!

Purple and white California lupine at San Diego Mission Trails Regional Park

The color purple

San Diego County is home to many types of plants and flowers and Spring is the best season to spot colorful blooms. By the time June comes, everything turns to yellow and brown so you need to enjoy the blooms while they last. Lilac blooms are my favorite for sure (more lilac blooms here).

This past Spring, as I was hiking in a regional park called San Diego Mission Trails park, I noticed a beautiful purple flower on the side of the path. I kneeled down to take the photo below of this lupine plant. I call it the color purple.

“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.”
― Alice Walker, The Color Purple

The color purple - California lupine at San Diego Mission Trails Regional Park — The color purple – California lupine at San Diego Mission Trails Regional Park

September 14, 2012February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Bloom Photos, California Photos, Flower PhotosTags: blooms, california lupine, California pictures, lupine photos, photography, photos, photos of flowers, photos of lupine, purple blooms, purple flowers, purple lupine, San Diego, san diego mission trails, the color purple Leave a comment

Photo of male Stellar Jay bird in Idyllwild, California

My first photos of Stellar Jay birds

If you enjoy my photos and would like to purchase some, I want to thank you! Simply visit my Zazzle online shop and browse the product offerings. If there’s a photo you would like to purchase but don’t see it in my shop, please contact me by using the Contact form at the bottom of my home page and let me know which photos you are interested in purchasing, and in what format / medium.Idyllwild, California, just two hours northeast of San Diego, is a small town known for its vibrant interest in music and the arts. It’s also right in the middle of the San Bernardino forest and is home of many animals and plants.

In my previous post, I featured a lazy squirrel relaxing in the sun. Here I’d like to feature a local bird that is just beautiful: the Stellar Jay. I’ve never seen any Stellar jay birds in San Diego, just blue jays, but there are tons of Stellar Jays in Idyllwild. In the pictures below, they were just standing on a tree right behind my cottage.

Here’s a photo of the female Stellar Jay bird:

Photo of female Stellar Jay bird in Idyllwild, California

Here’s a photo of the male Stellar Jay bird:

They really are beautiful birds but they have quite a feisty character. I saw them attack squirrels and chipmunks without hesitation to keep them away from the area they were feeding on. And they’re pretty loud too!

July 27, 2012February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Animal Photos, Bird photosTags: bird photos, California pictures, idyllwild california, photo of stellar jay, photo of stellar jay bird, photography, photos, photos of birds, stellar jay, stellar jay bird Leave a comment

Wildflower blooms in the spring in Southern California

Wildflower blooms in Southern California

I spotted these beautiful spring wildflower blooms in Dos Picos Park, Ramona, California, Spring 2012. The weather wasn’t perfect (it was cloudy most of the day) but it gave the park an eerie light, which made for some very nice photos of wildflower blooms. Almost out of this world.

Click on the photos of wildflower blooms for larger size.