Just water pictures from the past 04-29-24

 

MontereyBay

Doheny Beach, Dana Point, CA

White Pelicans, Anaheim Lakes, CA

Otters at Morro Bay, CA

Puget Sound, WA and Mount Baker on the mainland.

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Dancing water bottles! 01-28-21

Just a short explanation about the "dancing water bottles".  Thanks to Shasta for that delightful title!   In January I check my "emergency supplies", which are not very extensive, but stored water is one of the necessities.  I didn't mark the date on these bottles, don't know why not, I usually do.  And I have never had the bottles collapse like this.  It would have to be temperature related, but these were stored where I always store them, which is inside the house rather than in the garage.  They are kind of whimsical, aren't they?   The water is fine and I am using them up now.  New bottles in the same cabinet, but with the date on them. 

It was a gorgeous day with just a slight wind and lots of blue sky.  In the distance the mountains were snow covered and topped with bright white clouds.  About 9:30p it started to rain, but soon petered out.  Hope we get some more during the night and/or tomorrow.  It has been so dry for so long.  

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Drive from SJBautista to Placentia on Feb 22nd 03-02-20

I finally spent some time editing the pictures I took on I-5 coming home on the 22nd.  There are a LOT of almond trees; they line the highway and stretch to the rising hills for miles and miles.  In between there are fallow fields, open uncultivated land, other orchards, and, of course, off ramps that lead to gas stations, restaurants, etc.   It is harder to take pictures with a cell phone when I am driving and I plan to go back to a point and shoot camera.  I think the images are better using that method.  Here are some views from along the way.

  

Something that is pretty prominent are the billboards begging for more water for agriculture.  One of which questions: "Is it wasting water to grow food?"  I know that there are new methods for watering crops, very few farms along this route use overhead sprinklers now. 

I have no idea what the actual problem is, other than the continuing drought, but I do get tired of the signs.  

Almond blossoms.

Almond blossoms, bee hives, tumbleweeds. 

Almond blossoms and tumbleweeds. 

Almond blossoms and lowering clouds. 

NOT almonds, another nut or fruit, along with tumbleweeds. 

 More NOT almonds. 

And then it started to rain.  More almond blossoms and beehives. 

Well, you get the idea!  California grows 80% of the world's almonds and they are the #1 exported crop.  

There are other crops growing along I-5 in the valley.  Lots of grapes, both for wine making and produce.  I have seen the pickers packing the grapes directly in the boxes that are shipped to stores. 

Almonds in the distance, grapes in the foreground. 

And there are some orange and lemon orchards. I know these are oranges because I have driven the route when the fruit was still on the trees.  All picked and shipped now. 

Citrus trees have very dense foliage and the leaves are dark and glossy.  

Saw a lot of these low growing yellow wild flowers, but I don't know what it is.  This is uncultivated land.  But almonds in the background. 

A green crop in the background and plain old grass on the freeway verge. 

These are piles of dead almond trees.   It seems they cut down the old trees and let them dry out in the fields, then they are scraped into these huge piles. 

 And the piles are ground into mulch.

There are several facilities along the way to which the mulch is trucked and then processed for further mulching.  The trees have a life span of 20 -25 years and do not bear fruit the first 3 or 4 years.  Almonds are alternate bearing so that a large crop one year is often followed by a lighter crop the next year.  [Google]

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A visit to Carlsbad, CA 10-3-19

Friends Carol and Kathy went with me to Carlsbad today to see an exhibit called "Six Little Words" at the Front Porch Gallery.   It is a very small exhibit of photographs and stories told in just six words.  I don't know which came first, the story or the photograph, the latter I think.  My favorite was the image of a monk in his robes with Mt Everest in the background.  The story was: "Siri, quickest way to Mt. Everest." Although I am not sure that is actually a complete story.   But there were many clever stories.  Part of this exhibit is at Oceanside Museum of Art and the lady at the gallery told us that the displays will be switched in a month or so.  You can read the story behind "Six Little Words" at  https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123289019

We walked around a few blocks of Carlsbad, which has a great deal of retirement housing and beach rental properties.  Some interesting architecture and lots of restaurant along with a great view of the vast Pacific.  

We stopped at the train station which serves both Metro and Amtrak just to see what is there.  Inspecting the ticketing machines we talked about taking the train down next time.  However, I will miss driving, even in the traffic!

Up the street we came across strange signs like this.  Made no sense until we looked across the street at vending stations on the side of a building.  We walked over and accosted a couple who were filling gallon jugs with water.  What is this water about? 

They told us it comes from a well somewhere nearby and it has the perfect PH balance that will improve your health.  It seems a very popular product as a number of people were coming and going with their jugs.  None of us remember hearing about it before.  

You can buy empty jugs nearby, but we just went on our way, driving just a few blocks to a wonderful restaurant that I will feature on Friday Food tomorrow evening.  

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Ten years ago 08-27-18

Always interesting to look back a few years, or ten.  Having all these pictures so easily accessible is amazing, I'm always discovering things I had completely forgotten about.  Ten years ago I was Poodle Nanny to Corky Loos, whose parents are water connected.  They live near the ocean and regularly went to Lake Havasu in Arizona with a great view of the lake.  Now that Corky has gone over the Rainbow Bridge I see his parents very seldom.

But I have a lot of water reflection pictures that I took for inspiration.  I doubt that I will ever tackle anything as complicated as these images, but they do bring back wonderful memories. 

At Monterey Aquarium   09-01-08

At Los Alamitos Bay   08-16-08

And Thanks for all the nice comments about the Terry Grant post, I'm so fortunate to be able to enjoy her quilts every day in my house.  

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Wordless Hot Wednesday 07-01-15

Miscellaneous leftovers from Road Trip 05-21-15

I haven't done much that is photographable since I came home from my Road Trip.  You know how it is....  unpack, put away, laundry, mail, laundry, restock pill boxes, laundry....!   And I have just now gotten around to sorting through the last few days of pictures, deleting and resizing and editing.  Here are just a few more from my 3000 miles of driving.

 

One thing I notice when I get out of southern California is the old cars on the road.  I suppose there are a lot around here, but they are mixed in with so many newer cars they seem rare.  This vintage Lincoln was cruising down I-5 in Washington State  - looks to be in good shape and it was doing 70mph or so.  I thought at first the driver was giving me the one-finger-salute, but he was just smoking a cigarette held in his left hand.  Smoking, another thing I notice when I am on the road.

There was a huge patch of nettles in a roadside rest, they are so distinctive in their growth pattern they are hard to miss.  But I remember having to learn the hard way when I was a child.  They sting like the devil when one get them on the skin - especially a bare bottom.

Buttercups.

At another stop there was a field of buttercups, so bright in the sun.

Crossing the mighty Columbia River.  Just look at all that water running off to the sea.  Sad.

I  took my arty dice along for company, they are sparkly and cheerful on a dreary day, but I didn't have many of those.  The weather was phenomenal, I don't think I have ever been to the Pacific Northwest before and not seen any rain. 

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Dunsmuir City Park, CA 05-12-15

Whenever I drive north or south up I-5 I try to stop in Dunsmuir, a place of pleasant memories and a lovely walk along the Upper Sacramento River.  Down stream of Mt. Shasta the water is cold and clear.   It has been 20 years or more since a disastrous train wreck that dumped thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals into the river, impacting the ecology and the economy of the area.  Now the fishing is great and other wildlife has returned to "normal" levels.  The town originated as a railroad stop with a roundhouse and repair shops for the Southern Pacific after the trains crossed the mountains to the north, so there are remnants of that early life in this town sort of stuck on the side of a hill.  The slogan for the town has always been "The best water in the world."  with a fountain on the main drag with spigots to access this sparkling clean water.  The fountain was once located next to the train depot, which has long been torn down, but moved up the hill to the present location in the (I believe) 1980s.  There are some shops located at the bottom of the hill across from the old roundhouse and I sometimes stop at Brown Trout, which has changed owners and inventory over the years.  This time I only stopped at the city park along the river which is restorative and provides a bit of walking exercise after hours in the car.  There is a nice playground for children.  I am posting a lot of images so you can have a feeling of taking the trail along the river.

 

Exit I-5 at the northern exit and go south along the frontage road until you see the City Park sign on your right (west).   The road in isn't very well marked, but it is short - just bear to your right at the intersections.

They currently have this lovely scabiosa growing under the sign.

Here is the car parked in the small lot across from the playground.

One thing about traveling alone is that there are never any pictures to prove one was there!  I sometimes use the timer on my camera, but this time asked a couple ladies starting out on a walk with a lovely brown dog.  I appreciate their help, but didn't expect to have a tree growing out of my hat!

 

On the left middle of this image is a train engine, one of four pulling a long line of freight cars up the steep slope.  It was VERY noisy, but soon gone and the sound of birds and the rush of water could be heard again.

Along the way are plaques in tribute to individuals or organizations.

Large stones in the middle of the river create places for little flower gardens.

Setting out on the riverside trail to the south...

...and to the north.

Someone has placed an origami dragon on the top of this plaque.

New leaves on an emerging white oak tree.

The last of the dogwood blossoms.  Unfortunately the Dogwood Daze celebration isn't until May 23.  It is hard to arrange things correctly with Mother Nature.

New dogwood leaves on the same tree.

 

It is a great place to stop and get close to Nature and just relax a bit before hitting I-5 again - going north or south.

 

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