On December 21st, the shortening of the day length reached a minimum at Winter Solstice. Until June 21, 2010, sunshine hours will increase daily. During this last week since the Winter Solstice, while visiting along Alisal Road to Figueroa Mountain Road, green shoots and young plants were seen in abundance, even as many “fall” trees had not yet shed all of their leaves.

(Cottonwood along Alisal Road)

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I made it out to Happy Canyon and Sunset Valley Roads on Sunday to photograph fall color along the creeks by the sides of those roads. There were some wonderful displays here and there, and I may have erred in some of the images with respect to identifying Sycamore and Big-leaf Maple leaves where it was difficult to discern defining shapes in the photos.

(Big-leaf Maple along Happy Canyon Road)

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