Weekend walk report: The Great Exhale

 I find a certain relief in the end of the season of "happy holidays." I am profoundly grateful for the end of this forced pageant, a season of manufactured joy that feels increasingly hollow against the weight of the world’s actual suffering. There is a dignity in the year’s end, as the heavy weight of false obligation evaporates to reveal a more honest quietude.

And on that delightful note, here are some photos taken on this weekend's walks, Saturday, December 20th and today, Sunday, December 21st.  

Saturday, December 20th

Not much on the picture front. In fact had I noticed through the camera that both birds were a little sloppy from a recent bath, perhaps in the nearby fountain, I might not have even taken those two shots. They're still cute little birds, I suspect both are young.

White-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys). Docken calls these, bicycle helmet sparrows. 

 And specking of Docken, My thanks to her for joining me for both walks over the phone.

Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos). There's always a mockingbird.

 Ceiba speciosa, the floss silk tree (formerly Chorisia speciosa), is a species of deciduous tree that is native to the tropical and subtropical forests of South America. There were only six flowers left on the tree.

 And that was it for Saturday.

 Sunday, December 21st (today)

This was just moments out of the car and into the walk. Docken called while I was taking these pictures. So, Doc... these are the flowers I knew you'd remember. Duranta erecta, commonly known as golden dewdrop, pigeon berry, or skyflower.  

 Lycianthes rantonnetii ‘Royal Robe.’

 Oenothera speciosa is a species in the evening primrose family known by several common names, including pinkladies, pink evening primrose and showy evening primrose. This was the only one. Docken and I have been in this spot when there are 100s of them.

 Tiny and full of dewdrops. Tradescantia pallida plant, commonly known as purple heart or purple queen. 

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Well, not so much anymore. Commercial rose breeding has prioritized vase life, appearance, and durability over scent, resulting in many modern varieties having little to no fragrance. Consequently, many people, particularly younger generations accustomed to unscented commercial cut flowers, have missed out on the natural, powerful smell of traditional, historical roses. Humans. Shame.

 

 

Incarvillea delavayi, the so‑called hardy gloxinia or flowering fern.

 

 Pelargonium peltatum.

 

 Senna bicapsularis 'Buttercream.'

 

 Grevillea halmaturina subsp. laevis.

 

 Banksia ericifolia. I believe this is correct. I don't think I knew this before and I've taken pictures of this plant many times. Another namesake plant. 

 

 Senna bicapsularis. Just to show the diff.

 

 Eucalyptus tereticornis, commonly known as forest red gum, blue gum or red irongum, is a species of tree that is native to eastern Australia and southern New Guinea.

 

 Arbutus unedo, commonly known as strawberry tree, also called madrone, is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean Basin and Western Europe. 

 

 

This dude was the only ancient car worshiper in the parking lot today. I think he was on his phone calling people to say, WTF?! Google AI search argued with me about the make and model of this car. Goggle wanted to insist the it was a 1952 Mercury Monterey convertible. Even after I told Google it says Lincoln on the front of the hood, Google argued with me. I knew the make and model because they were both in chrome on the freakin car. Finally, when I told Google it was a Lincoln, Capri, Google agreed. I only wanted to know the year, it's a 1953. So, next time you go look for medical advice from Google AI, just think about it.

 

 I had to remove my close up lens when this coyote popped out of the bushes, it was only about 25-30 feet in front of me. It was 11:40 in the morning. So I asked Google AI about this too and Google said, Yes, coyotes absolutely come out during the day, though they are most active at dawn, dusk, and night; daytime sightings are very normal, especially in spring/summer when feeding pups, or in urban areas where they adapt to human schedules, and a daytime appearance doesn't mean they're sick, just opportunistic. 

 

 The coyote was in between tall shrubs in a long row of Tecoma stans alternating with Nerium oleander. 

 

Nerium oleander.

 

 Red-tailed hawk.

 

 California poppy (Eschscholzia californica).

 

 
Gaura lindheimeri .

 

 Working with me this evening, we have the lovely Junimoon.

 

 She's a moonchild 

Gathering the flowers in a garden 

Lovely moonchild 

Drifting on the echoes of the hours

 

 

Today's walk report: Two miles of forever

 It simply seemed like a very long walk but it was only two miles. That's all. 

Here are some pictures taken along the way.

I started out on this Crassula ovata, commonly known as jade plant, tracking bees with a close-up lens atop a 70-300mm zoom lens. The trick is to try and follow one bee. There were a lot of bees.

 Canna lily.

 It's still Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, sometimes it's hard to tell in Southern California. Highs have been in the low to upper 80ºs for the past week. These shots are all from the same Pistacia chinensis tree. I avoided leaves which remained predominantly green.

 Google insists that these are, Pandorea jasminoides 'Lady Di'. Who am I to argue?

 Argyranthemum frutescens, known as Paris daisy, marguerite or marguerite daisy.

 Zantedeschia aethiopica, commonly known as calla lily and arum lily.

 Monarch butterfly on Westringia fruticosa and Westringia fruticosa flowers solo. 

 Myrtus communis 'Variegata'. I guess. This is the only section of the plant that displays variegated leaves.

 Limonium perezii.

 California brittlebush (Encelia californica), also known as the California bush sunflower or coast sunflower. This was the only flower so far on the bush.

 Collapse the light into Earth

 

Weekend walk report: Toy Drive

 The event was this...

 

Motor4Toys claims to be the "world's largest automotive toy drive" and a huge annual event. I was certainly impressed. My walks were Saturday, December 6th and Sunday, December 7th. The images for the toy drive on Saturday represented dozens of people in preparation for the event on Sunday. I knew nothing about any of this before I got to the college campus. All images are in the order in which they were taken.

I decided I would like this tree for my Christmas tree. I would also like to have that rock for Christmas.

 Cooper's hawk (Astur cooperii) was reclassified from the genus Accipiter to the genus Astur as a result of a major taxonomic revision published in 2024. Amazing eyes.

 The toy drive. As I was approaching I was in bright light and pretty far away, while this was all in shadows. I mentioned to Docken over the phone (thank you Doc for joining me) that I thought I was walking into a movie filming.

There were, perhaps, 1,000 bikes and trikes.

 Meanwhile, I was a little slow on this. Two ravens trying to chase off a red-tailed hawk. This is not a rare event.

 
Sunday, December 7th (today).

A scrub jay on top of the weather station's instruments, proudly holding an acorn.

 
For the most part I avoided the crowd. It was a remarkable event. The lines of large plastic bags were items distributed from yesterday's piles of boxes. Each bag appeared to contain at least a dozen toys.

 There are the ancient cars too and their worshipers.

 A 1985 Backdraft Cobra replica is a modern, high-quality replica of the classic AC Cobra, built by Backdraft Racing, a company that started in 2001.

This is a custom Humvee, I have no idea how that can manage any bumps in the road. Apparently it has a 10” air suspension lift but even so, this vehicle is low to the ground.

America.

I call this picture, "James Rebar." Oddly enough, last week I thought there was a bird atop one of the rods and that it would make an interesting close-up shot but it turned out to be some sort of label. There's one here though. I totally missed seeing it until I got home. Can you find the bird?

Joni Mitchell - Shiny Toys