Today's walk report: 021614

Sunday double header.

Say what?!?

That's right, starting with a very quiet late A.M. matinée walk to the garden...

Gulf Fritillary or Passion Butterfly (Agraulis vanillae) on Lantana.

I named these two Eric and Docken.

Then there were the turtles again. Which one is Yertle?

These two, I named Eric and Docken.

Unknown moth on Tagetes lemmonii.

This is an unknown, I'll ID later, I promise. These flowers are tiny. Shot at 300 mm with a Canon 500D close-up lens.

Some variety of Banksia, an Australian native.

More Tagetes lemmonii.

Possibly a Wrentit. There were 4 of them, drove me nuts trying to get a shot off.

The mallards flew in midway into our visit. I named them Eric and Docken. It just seemed fitting.

Some aloe. I was testing how close I could get without a Canon Speedlite 430EX II.

Bee on Cistus x hybridus, aka, White Rockrose.

More Cistus x hybridus.

Delosperma cooperi.

Special request from Docken.

Back home from walk #1 and another Docken request. This rose bush has always been in front of my house it's almost 60 years old.

Walk #2...

We decided to do an early evening walk to catch the sunset.

As it turned out, most of our entertainment came from these two calves way down below the hillside we were sitting on. They were frolicking quite a bit but the real fun came when they both took off after a nearby gaggle of geese which were grazing in the same field. It was a lot funnier than you might imagine.

Sorry about the picture quality but I wasn't anticipating something like that.

Meanwhile... not the most spectacular sunset but we enjoyed it.

Today's walk report: 021514

The turtles are back!

No, not the 60's band that did the song Happy Together...

I think this means we can officially kiss winter goodbye in Southern California because the red-eared slider turtles know what's up.

Meanwhile, until a short while ago I was much more inclined to spend my evening hours pulling together photos, making post production edits, etc. and do this report but now I'm in love like I've never been before and want to get back to her. So, no stories. I'll simply leave you with some pictures. I hope you like them. We had a very pleasant walk into the early evening. I so enjoy my new companion. It's a whole new "ball game" sharing my walks with someone I love.

Blue hibiscus, alyogyne huegelii.

Ozothamnus diosmifolius, or Rice Flower.

Purple iris.

 ID forthcoming... Maybe.

Tip of the eucalyptus.

My reflection in her eye. <sigh>

I can't see me lovin' nobody but you for all my life...

Today's walk report: 051013

I was just minding my own business walking the final stretch of the college campus with my camera over my shoulder, hanging down at my hip, lens cap on, camera turned off and I hear a WHOOP! from the Los Angeles County Sheriff driving up the hill I'm on. So I take off my headphones and ask what's up. He asked me what my business was on the campus. I explained, "I'm going for a walk, just like I've done here almost everyday for the past 2 years. Why, is there a problem?" I already knew what he was going to say because this is the second time this has happened in two years. He says, "you can't take pictures here." I sort of played dumb at 1st so I could hear his explanation, except he didn't really have one... simply, you can't take pictures here without a permit. I questioned the campus being a public place and how was this so. Again, he tries to impress upon me that it's a matter of a fact. So then I explain that two years ago the very same thing happened. When I got home that time I called the Sheriff's station on campus, thinking that the officer who harassed me that time was some rookie and somehow skipped school the day he was taught about the 1st amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Except the officer answering concurred! He said, all you need to do is go to the Student Services office and let them know. About a week later I did just that, mostly out of curiosity. I had already checked long and hard for something on this in the school's website---this is a Los Angeles Community College, folks--this isn't some outpost of tyranny. We're not talking North Korea here. Anyway, the office knew nothing about it. So I told this guy, "yeah, when I went to the office someone there said, 'that's a violation of your 1st amendment rights' and I said to the officer, "this is exactly what I thought." He basically skirted over everything I said, including my going back to his alleged "permit" because, of course, there is no permit. They don't require permits for things which are within your constitutional rights. He also skirted my question as to what ordinance was he trying to enforce. Remember, at this point all I was doing was walking with a camera strapped over my shoulder. Now, I wasn't going to go at it with the guy. I even offered him my driver's license, in fact I sort of insisted. Despite him violating my civil rights, I don't feel like having to deal with this again. Here's what the ACLU has to say regarding this issue...

When in public spaces where you are lawfully present you have the right to photograph anything that is in plain view. That includes pictures of federal buildings, transportation facilities, and police. Such photography is a form of public oversight over the government and is important in a free society.

You can read more here. He continued with a whole song and dance about all of the terrible problems in the world and the stuff that has happened on college campuses, that "we just need to know the intentions..." Total bullshit. I didn't even get into with an enrollment of 21,000, how many students have cell phones and how many cell phones have cameras... I mentioned some other stuff though. I tried to pose a question or two in order to point out just how ludicrous his premise was but again I wasn't going to hammer on the guy and put him in the corner he needs to be put into--along with the rest of them.

On to the walk...

He thought he was perfectly camouflaged.

Red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) I have no idea what he was eating but he seemed to enjoy it.

Allen's Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin) and
Kangaroo paw.

Help! There's a terrorist taking my picture!!!

Some straw flowers in the Australian section of the garden.

For sure no one will have a camera at the car show on the weekend not to mention all of the children's soccer events which take place all the time or the gymnastics classes, swimming classes, just regular students going to school and having fun at lunch or whatever... no iPhones or other mobile devices taking any pictures of that! 

Todays walk report: 042013

Today's high, 93º f. Walk temps low 90s to upper 80s, a huge contrast to upper 50s to mid 60s a week ago and that made for a short walk, 6.37 KM. I changed back to old shoes but yesterday's decision to wear new shoes had a residual effect. Owww. I had also done minor toe surgery in the AM, don't know if it helped much.

It crossed my mind today while in the garden that the walk is always telling me a story. Not necessarily a good one but a story nonetheless. 

Happy family.

Unknown tiny green spider on blue hibiscus, Alyogyne huegelii. It's neither blue nor is it a hibiscus. What's the deal with these botanists who name plants? Do they drink a lot?

I so wanted this series of shots to come out better but again, this spider is tiny, probably less than 1 cm in body length and it was windy. I was holding and sometimes twisting the lower stem of this flower while trying to take the shot but the wind was blowing the petals too much not to pick up on movement. At the same moment I was feeling a certain amount of awe in the spider's ability not to be blown away.

 

That's the 2nd biggest asparagus I've ever seen!