Friday Flowers and storm clouds 12-12-14

Mid-winter is heavy bloom time for Bird of Paradise. 

In this garden of succulents the aloe flowers are ablaze. 

There is a plant called Red Hot Poker that has a similar look, but this is aloe. 

They are sort of shaggy.

We had heavy rain and wind in the early morning hours and it took me almost twice as long to reach San Clemente as it normally does - lots of traffic and difficult to see through the pounding rain.  But I picked up my two friends and drove on to San Diego, happy that the rain had slackened and there was no noticeable wind.  We saw the Visions Biennial exhibit "The Sky's the Limit", ate lunch at Solare and drove home with only a few showers and not very heavy traffic.  A lovely day, in fact! 

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