I have added new photos to the Fire Follower Flickr Set – at the beginning of the set. The photos in the set were taken on two SBBG  Fire Follower trips, and a couple trips to Rattlesnake Canyon on my own. Twenty six photos were added from yesterday’s trip – thus if you have seen the others before, the slideshow can be closed after the new photos without having to trundle through all 91 pictures.

The photo set consists of fire-followers and other usual plants seen along the way. Botanizing with a group of people who are interested in flora in an area of such abundance and variety of growth, is a little slice of heaven in a somewhat depressing world – with unfortunate  reminders by the  invaders amongst all that beauty.

Fire Follower Slide Show

• Please click here to view a slide show of Fire Followers. For those unfamiliar with Flickr slide shows, moving the mouse over the upper and lower  edges will allow various options to be changed, selected, etc.

I attended a “Music Now” concert at SBCC, where really good music was made by mostly college youngsters. Using the Canon 7D, I recorded my son (not a student) playing guitar. I should have shot wider-angle, but I wanted to focus on the string playing – and missed the young lady creating  the superlative notes – I was thoroughly enchanted. It is amazing to realize that the auditorium was packed, with not a sound from the very attentive audience. Click on the video below to hear a musical treat. (By the way, the camera was set to 6400 ISO, and maxed out on lighting  – i.e. pushed to the limit, with no flash.)

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A couple of close  encounters of the Oak Titmouse kind occurred recently; today on a hike along Rattlesnake Canyon when I came upon a pair of parents feeding youngsters hidden inside the cavity of a trunk. The first encounter was in the Figueroa Campground, where I was able to record the bird with what seems to be three call variations.

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Despite the hiatus, I am posting a brief text-only entry for two events from the past week:

Fire Followers
I was blown away by a group hike along Rattlesnake Canyon and Tunnel Road to view burned areas. The burned shrubbery was mostly black, dead and in stark contrast to the incredible growth along the ground by certain fire followers and other plants. The soil fertility was most certainly enhanced by nutrients released by the fire, the recent decent rains, and the fact that some seeds germinate after fire.

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I’ll be taking an hiatus from blogging for a while, because of work overload being more loaded than usual. I’ll continue taking photos, my preferred method of exercise, and adding them to Flickr now and then.  See link below to view single photos, if interested.

• Flickr Photos: Click for link

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