This weekend I was able to get out on both Saturday and Sunday - no work requirements interfered. Unfortunately, my trip to Happy Canyon Road was not too fruitful because of a very strong wind.

A little beyond the shooting range, on a small promontory facing south-ish, there were many shooting stars and chocolate lilies. They were somewhat on the dry side because of the exposure to both sun and wind. I did not even try shooting the waving shooting stars, and got one semi-reasonable chocolate lily against the sky, where the skylight turned the chocolate color dark red.

(California Poppy - March 8, 2008)

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I spent a few hours Sunday afternoon on Refugio Road, where a number of early spring flowers were seen and photographed. Amongst them, Bigpod Ceanothus, which I was able to identify now with the alternate rule - in fact it seems like the branches are alternate as well. In the photo below, the clusters of flowers are arranged alternately on the stem.

(Bigpod Ceanothus - March 2, 2008)

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Cedar Waxwings have returned to the cul-de-sac at home. They perch, with their high-pitched “tseee” sound, on the bare branches of trees edging the common garden area. There they wait and watch for a quiet moment to fly in a swarm to the pyracantha bushes full of ripe berries.

(Cedar Waxwing - March 1, 2008)

(Cedar Waxwings - March 1, 2008 - Click image to see large version)

Links of Interest

• All about Waxwings - Cornell