Yesterday's walk report: Bruise control

 Once again, gravity wins. Yesterday, Saturday, April 25th, I took the fall I have always dreaded. After turning my left ankle on a small, unassuming pine cone, I tumbled onto an asphalt "fire lane" inside the college campus where weekend walks typically take place. I went down hard, and since I wear a Black Rapid camera sling (older model) where my camera rides on my right hip, both camera and my 70-300mm lens took a pretty rough hit. So did my right knee and especially my right hand, wrist, and shoulder. My left shoulder was already hurting, probably due to moderately severe left neural foraminal narrowing, C4-5, and chronic tendonitis, but my whole body took a hit. 

First thing, check the camera. The articulating screen was wide open, the UV filter was smashed, and the threads were jammed into the lens. More on that later. Second question, was I able to stand back up? It was a serious question. I probably spent close to 30 seconds adjusting slightly and thinking about it. My car was 1/2 mile away. I got up slowly, stood in place to get my bearings, took a photo of the pine cone and started walking toward my car. I learned long ago that when you're hurting, if you can do it, walk rapidly, even if it hurts more to do so. You’ll get to your destination quicker. I didn't look at the camera again. I walked quickly with my eyes focused on the ground in front of me.

Once back in my car, I looked over the camera and saw the AF/MF (autofocus, manual focus) switch was missing. In the moment, it appeared as though it had broken off rather than it had fallen off from the force. I needed to go home and check myself out. Sitting in the car, I was really hurting. 

Once I got home, checked my wounds, and calmed down, I realized that the AF/MF switch probably popped off from blunt force. I also looked up a local camera store I used to go to with some frequency when I lived in these parts in my previous life some 40 years ago. I believed they did camera repairs. I decided to drive back as close to the scene of the crime as possible, park my car, find the switch, and see if I could get the filter cut off by a "professional" because it was clear I lacked the proper tools. 

I found the switch. At first, I was looking near a wrong pine cone, then I saw the broken glass from my UV filter, and bingo, there it was. 

Before getting into my experience at Woodland Hills Camera, here are some pictures that were taken before the fall. Nothing too exciting.

A panoramic of this tree's canopy. The green was outstanding. This is a honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), likely the 'Sunburst' cultivar. 

 And, according to Google, this is also a Gleditsia triacanthos. The colors were a spectacular contrast to everything else around.

 Before the walk, in fact as early as Friday evening, Google's Gemini AI was calling the predicted weather, "gray soup." Here's a shot of the soup. It was 60º F and very fall-like.

 A male monarch butterfly on narrowleaf milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis). The orange in the background is Eschscholzia californica, the California poppy.

 In this post, from  March 28th, I commented that I had no idea that artichoke plants could reach 7 feet in height. Add to that, I don't believe I ever saw an artichoke flower before. This was basically the end of my picture taking for the day, so you get a bunch of artichoke flower images.

 Bees were loving them.

 After that I walked 0.10 miles and my left foot met up with this little demon of a pine cone. This picture was taken after I got up, regained my composure (sort of), and was taken more for testing the camera than it was for this story. You'll see in a moment that this was taken through a shattered UV filter.

 When I went back to the campus and found my AF/MF switch, I also pocketed the pine cone. It's sitting on my desk, on front of me and Junimoon (she's sound asleep in my lap). 

Here are a couple of shots of the camera taken with my phone before I decided to trek for the switch and check out the camera store.

The missing switch. 

The damaged filter. In the second image, you can see how the filter became "fused" to the lens. This lens was over $700 when I bought it in early 2013. Replacing much of any of my camera equipment poses an issue now due to obsolescence. Mirrored DSLR cameras are becoming or have become a thing of the past, and the current evolution is in "mirrorless" cameras. A mirrorless camera is a digital, interchangeable-lens camera that lacks the internal, moving reflex mirror mechanism found in DSLRs. Light passes directly through the lens to the image sensor, which feeds a live image to an electronic viewfinder (EVF) or rear screen, allowing for smaller, lighter, and quieter cameras. To come close to what I have now and replacing it with a mirrorless camera and lenses would be, for me, a small fortune. A guesstimate would be $7,000 to $8,000.

 
Woodland Hills Camera, now Woodland Hills Camera and Telescopes. They've apparently been there since 1952.  I was probably last in the store around 1986. While I'm extremely grateful that the tech there cut off my destroyed filter and he did so in less time than it took me to go back out directly in front of the store to get the AF/MF switch from my car, the tech and another dude standing behind the "front" counter treated me like an interruption as opposed to a customer or potential customer. At first, the guy just glanced at the camera and said, “no way, it would be cheaper just to buy a new one.” I sort of sheepishly said, “It’s just the filter,” and he interjected, “I know that!” So, I added, “The lens is still working. I took pictures, but I don't have a proper tool to remove the filter.” Then he took the lens off the camera body and went in the back. 

I thanked him for cutting the filter off. They didn't charge me (nor did he say what he was going to do), but I was dumbfounded by how rudely I was continuously treated. I even brought up the prospect of replacing equipment I owned, but that was also an annoyance as opposed to a potential sales opportunity. He mentioned options, but it was from the perspective of... I know this and that and you don't as opposed to being open to a sales perspective. As opposed to being courteous. 

I made the additional mistake of saying, “ I don't suppose it would be possible to put another UV filter on over the damage.” He acted like I was a total moron. Meanwhile, a couple of hours ago, I took the only other  58mm filter I have, a ND32 filter (Neutral Density 32), which reduces the amount of light entering the lens by 5 stops, and carefully checked to see if it would attach to the lens without screwing it on all the way. I based this on carefully looking at the camera and these two images. It works just fine, not perfect, but it doesn't need to be perfect. I'm ordering another UV filter later today. Less than $9. 

 Here's the AF/MF switch back on the camera. 

Silently falling down 
Bringing hope of future to the children...

 PS... Juni still be snoozing but I'm hurting quite a bit and I suspect the problems from fingers almost to my elbow, right hand, wrist, etc. are going to hang out for awhile, so time for an exit from this desk and treats for Juni for the interruption. Ah, the things we'll endure for a kitty in a lap.

 

 

 

Earth, it's the only one we've got

 Earth Day, 2026. Let's make every day, Earth Day.

 

Today's walk report: As Old As You're Young

 A nice walk today. I should've gotten out earlier but then again I should've slept later. There was a lot of meandering around during the walk and while I usually have a pretty precise measurement on distance traveled, today I don't. It would take too long to map it back out (Google Earth) but based on last weekend's 2.37 mile walk, I'd estimate it was 2.5 miles. I would've gone farther had it not warmed up on me so quickly. 

Here are some pictures taken along the way, some familiar subjects and some not so familiar. 

Saturday, April 18th

These are not the shrooms you're looking for.

 Oenothera speciosa,  pink ladies or pink evening primrose. They multiply quickly.

 This rose’s petals look like they were painted by hand.

 The last of the Pelargonium sidoides, AKA, African geranium flowers.

 Not the same Iris germanica 'Immortality' from last week but rather the one that opened next to it.

 Google says this is an Asparagus Fern, specifically identified as Asparagus retrofractus or Asparagus macowanii.  

 Bat-faced cuphea, Cuphea llavea.

 Heliotropium arborescens.

 Monarch on narrowleaf milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis). I spoke with one of the curators for the arboretum and the campus botanical garden and commended him on the abundance of native milkweed. I also mentioned my struggles in attempting to germinate and grow Asclepias fascicularis. The seeds need to be cold stratified to germinate and I have gotten past that part but they always (maybe three efforts at this) die on me shortly after getting the seedlings into soil. He said he would set aside a one gallon container for me to pick up tomorrow. Nice!

 Cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae).

 Most of my time sitting was spent watching these cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota). While I've watched them in the sky fly catching dozens of times they are almost impossible to track for photos. Try it sometime, try following a bird trying to eat a fly in flight. I honestly didn't know what they looked like until today. I've seen the nests dozens of times too but this was the first time I was sitting down while they were actively working on nesting close by. Yes, that's mud and yes by human terms, they can make a mess of things. There is a long row of nests under this one overhang.

The bleeding wall. It's like a Poe short story.

 
Thanks again to Miss Junimoon for all of her help.

 
Look at the mirror over there, what do you see? Tell yourself a lie 
Are you as old as you seem? Feel something that you have to 
Being open, an innocent, wise only when age can mellow the haste 
New hopes, ambitions undone—you're only as old as you're young

 

Yesterday's walk report: More monarchs and stuff

 I got through most of this process yesterday, at least the photo editing portion was taken care of but with this other delayed post from Friday's backyard butterfly activity, two posts in day was too much. I also have other stuff to do. Right now, Juni is curled up in my lap purring away and that might cut the banter... good for you and me.

Here are some photos taken on yesterday's 2.37 mile walk.

Sunday, April 12th

Hong Kong Orchid Tree (Bauhinia × blakeana). I last took close-up images of flowers on this tree on March 28th. I was taken aback yesterday by how loaded it was with flowers since then. 

 Also in that March 28th post I mis-ID'd this flower as, Turk's Cap (Malvaviscus arboreus). I did that because Google told me so. I thought too it looked familiar but none of the buds were fully open. It's actually Pavonia-missionum AKA, red mallow. 

 Onto the first monarchs and monarchs because they have been unusually plentiful--not so overall in the grand scheme of things but in my recent walks, yes. The shrub is Cotoneaster pannosus, known by the common name silverleaf cotoneaster.

I have taken pictures of this canna lily many times but this might be the prettiest I have ever seen it.

 

 Same deal with this Iris germanica 'Immortality'. It typically has looked rather beat up when I've seen it flowering.

 

If you notice water drops, that's because we got .25" of rain yesterday. That was greatly appreciated because I needed to water at home and wasn't feeling especially inclined to walk around with a garden hose. Left rear, an absolutely massive Salvia canariensis (Canary Island Sage).

In this post I mentioned the 120 yard line of pomegranate trees loaded with flowers. Here are some of the larger ones. That small ramp leads to the campus weather station. I rely heavily on data from that weather station.

Another update. This is the palo verde tree that had lost two large branches last week. It appears to me that was a rather sloppy cut by the clean-up crew. I forgot to get a picture of the "cleanup" cut on the other side break. 

 

Back to the monarchs. Those last images were taken in the arboretum. I'm now in the botanical garden a little over a 1/4 mile away. 

 

Monarch butterfly and a no-ID Callistemon. 

 

Monarchs on Salvia rosmarinus. These are two different butterflies. there were three. I believe one of them is the same as the one on the bottlebrush.

 

 Classroom building's rock roof with treetops (an oak and palo verde trees) in the background. The sky was beautiful post the early AM rains.

 

One more monarch shot in a small eucalyptus tree. A rather diminutive male monarch. 

 After that I continued walking just for the sake of walking. On the way back to my car I detoured into the garden one more time for a few minutes of bench sitting. Not a great shot but this Pistacia chinensis tree has been consistently a perch for many male Calypte anna humminbirds I have followed over the years. Expect to see this bird again (we may have seen him before, I still need some familiarity). 

 I almost always add a song off of YouTube at the end of each post. Sometimes the song is post-relative and other times it's more relevant to what I was listening to or to my general mood. Sometimes it's just a song. This time I wanted to post something different. Many viewers have probably already seen photos from the recent Artemis II space mission and certainly have been moved by them. I was actually brought to tears yesterday watching this and seeing again the first Earth rising image. Earthrise, taken from lunar orbit by astronaut William Anders on December 24, 1968, during the Apollo 8 mission. That image at least started the emotional roller-coaster for me. All of the images are stunning in their inherent beauty, but also driving my feelings was how this beautiful planet is being destroyed by a handful of greedy, gluttonous, narcissistic humans, with no moral compass. I watched much of this without sound.
 

PS, Juni slept (mostly) in my lap for the duration.