Casting a tall shadow...ok, a pin-headed, Gumby like shadow.

I decided to really look at shadows today. Including my shadow. 

 Pine tree roots.

The last one isn't a shadow in the true since of the word.

 I really like how the drinking fountain in the fore ground and the pond in the background, shadow, each other.

Mike in Wonderland, the corner grocery store.

It's not like he has never set foot in a grocery store. It's just that he is a task oriented fellow. If I ask him to pick up something from the store on his way home, such as milk, he enters the store, heads to the dairy department, procures the target, milk, heads to the front of the store to the checkout stands to finish the transaction and then exits the building.

Today we stopped by the store to pick up one item. Of course, I thought of a few more things while we were in the store so this caused us to wounder down the "seasonal" isle, which is full of Easter items. Mike came to a dead stop in front of the 6 foot high x4 foot wide display of...peeps.

"Oh my word! Look at all the peeps!."


He stood motionless  for 30 seconds, then said, "They have rabbit ones now too, pink rabbits." He looked at me and then back at the peeps and said," The color alone is enough to make you worry."

After he had recovered from the peeps, we proceded to the self check out. One of our purchases was a 6 pack of beer. When we  scanned the 6 pack, the automated voice directed us to show our ID to a checker. We continued to scan and bag our purchases, selected the method of payment, payed and walked out of the store. Mike was chuckling, I asked him what was so funny , he said he felt like a rebel because he didn't show his ID and walked out of the store with the beer.

I on the other had was waiting for the sirens and flashing lights to go off...busted!

I figure the self check attendant heard the machine tell us to show our ID, took one look at my gray hair and his graying beard and hit the allow button or what ever it is they must have to hit to let the transaction take place....but I am not going to tell my Che Guevara that.

Reminscing.

I am always amazed at what will activate the time machine in my mind.  Today it was a Poplar tree leafing out.

I am 12 years old again.  We are playing a game my mom called One Eyed Cat, my younger brother and sister called , boys against girls. We have a wiffle ball and a plastic bat. There are two bases, home , a stump in the middle of the yard, and first base, one of the 6 poplar trees that lined the front walk. Dad pitches for the boys team, mom pitches for the girls team. If we got a hit, we  to run to the tree, tag it, and back to the stump before the other team could tag, or cross us out. We played this often after dinner in the summers, until the bats came out. Sometimes the bats chased the ball, this bothered my little sister so, game over.

These trees trigger the time machine more than anything else for me. The tangy smell of their sap, the leaves emerging, the fissures in their bark.

There are four cotton wood trees in the park where I walk. They are cousins to the poplar tree, with many of the same characteristics. Once a week I make sure my route passes by the cotton woods so I can see them, smell  them, take a ride in the time machine.

Some days are just better than others, for cameras and people!

Look at this little guy!

See the acorn in his mouth? I swear I could hear him saying "cheese!" Had kind of a lispy sound due to the acorn. He stood there perfectly still allowing me to turn on camera, focus camera , snap three pictures, two of which were pretty good.

Pulled into the driveway after my walk, our Bird of Paradise looked so bright and glowy ( is that a word?)

On the other side of the driveway we have French Lavender, being visited buy a lot of honey bees.  My intent was to photograph the bees, and got,

A beautifully clear shot of the lavender, but no bee. I'll take it. I did get some bees, they are in the shots to follow. I think I had better light on these flowers so the camera could focus better.

Look at this one, see the veins and fuzz on the bloom....again I was aiming for a bee...

A bee!

See her, she is there, Miss Bee.

Mopey Me.

Feeling out of sorts today. Can't figure out why, the sun is out, it is in the high 70's.



The dishwasher broke. It won't drain, nice little puddle on the floor. I bailed it out, thought I had it fixed. Ran it again, nope, had to bail it out again. Maybe Mike can fix it when he comes home. He has in the past.



The neighbors dog keeps jumping the brick wall into my back yard. Third day straight. She is a nice dog and all, but  she is becoming more and more interested in the gate that leads to the rabbits. Besides if I wanted a dog....you get the idea. Some how she got out into the street, so the other neighbors and I caught her and put her back in her yard...so of course she is leaping back and fourth into my yard again.

Saw some beautiful wildflowers on my walk. I am thinking I need a big girl camera. My little point and shot takes really good pictures, but it is frustrating sometimes. Focuses on the ground , not the flower. Really, it is the camera, not me.

I took eleven pictures that look like this.

  and one that looked like this.

Tried to capture some birds but to no avail, little camera is too slow.

 Empty tree where the bird was...

I did get a ground squirrel. It was in the "if I stand really, really still the lady will not see me" mode. so I got it's picture.

Really, I did have a nice walk.

I know it's a weed, but I like it so it's in here. Life stages, new blooms, one gone to seed and some, on the left, that are brown and dead...told you, mopey.

Lupine, California Poppies and what ever the red flower is.

Lupine

Little camera caught the water drops in this shot...it is pretty good sometimes.

Sights, smells and songs.

80 degrees here today.

This is Zeus, this kind of heat makes the rabbits lethargic. Zeus could just barely lift his head up to look at me. He thought , Oh it's just her, no need to panic. If we were to have a number of days in a row like this we would need get the fans out and turn the misters on to keep everyone cool. 

Sunlight coming through the bloom on our tulip tree. This bloom was about 10 feet up.

Close up of the bloom.

The Pink Jasmine is blooming. The warm air is perfumed with it, I love that smell.

This time of year I always thing of the Seals and Croft song Summer Breeze. 

Mike has a hat like that!

Bad Bunny Patient.

Poor old Opi had to be fitted with a cone of shame today. He pulled his bandage off his incision site and pulled all his staples out. I hope he can eat in this thing.....I will keep an eye on him.