Wordless Wednesday - My Favorite Colors

A Summer Solstice Sunset

Due to Timing...

The Solstice, I know, arrives for most people tomorrow on the 21st.  But, for those of us living in North America west of the Central Time Zone, it arrives tonight!  10:04 on the West Coast in the Pacific Time Zone, 11:04 in the Mountain Time Zone (the Rockies, etc.) and 9:04 in the Alaska Time Zone.  So, for everyone in these time zones, Happy Summer Solstice.  And, Happy Summer Solstice to everyone else when it arrives tomorrow.  Of course, in many parts of the world it's already tomorrow, so Happy Summer Solstice (Winter Solstice to those of you below the Equator) to all of you right now. 

Okay, all this thinking about time zones and different seasons has made my head hurt, so I'm going to bed now.  Good night to some and good morning to others! 

I Love Crinkles

I took these photos back in 2010, but I have literally thousands of photos that I've taken through the years, so if I just used the current ones...well, think how many photos would never get their moment in the 'spotlight.'

I love the crinkly texture of the petals of these flowers...

Perhaps because I'm starting to get quite a few 'crinkles' on my own face, lol.  Wait...the title of this post isn't quite accurate, because I don't love the crinkles I'm getting on my face, but I earned every one and I'm proud of every one.  Crinkles from laughing, crinkles from toughing out hard times, crinkles from being outside in all kinds of weather in the forest and on the mountain tops I love.  I just wish that I wouldn't have a new one showing up every few days!

Sunday Sunlight

Light and shadow dappling the peaks, hills and the San Bernardino Valley floor.  I took this from around the 3,500 foot level in April of 2012.

A Quotation for Saturday

"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is a society where none intrudes,
By the deep Sea and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or all I have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot conceal." Lord Byron, George Gordon

(The first photo was taken up here by me, the second was taken by my friend Kathleen's daughter-in-law Cindy on a trip to Oregon in June of 2012).

Confused Bloomers

Things are blooming at odd times this year.  The foxgloves down by the little creek bloomed so early they're already starting to look a little bedraggled.

But the wild sweet peas with their delicious scent are a couple of weeks late.

While the Viburnum, or snowball bush, is in full bloom.  Usually at this time of year they're still little chartreuse colored balls; they don't reach the full blown white stage until the end of June. 

The fuchsia plants won't make it through the winters up here, so the nursery usually gets some in . . . around the fourth of July.  I saw this on Memorial Day and took a chance and bought it.  I've had to bring it inside several times since then, but it seems to be holding it's own.  They're kind of a pain to grow, even as annuals, because I have to water them once a day and mist them three times a day, but they're worth it to me.  I always thought they looked like little ballerinas.  And I'm sure the faeries use their petals to make dresses. :)

Wordless Wednesday - Thoughtful

Patience Rewarded

I finally got some pictures of a Great Blue Heron.  I see blue ones and grey ones often at Lake Gregory but they're never very cooperative.  This one was amazingly agreeable!

Showing off her beautiful wings then finally taking off to fly to the other side of the lake when this little boy accidentally scared her.

"There!  Take that, little boy and nosy woman with the camera!"  Unfortunately for her, my camera has a verrrry long lens.

She turned her back and began hunting for fish... 

"Hmmm...nothing over there, nothing here..." 

"Wait...I think...yes...."

"Aha!  Gotcha!" 

Then she resumed her hunt.  I don't know about the little boy, but this was a pretty thrilling experience for me!

I Hate Teeth

I wish my past week had been as tranquil as this photo looks.  Numerous trips up and down the hill getting my sister to doctor appointments and getting a nasty surprise while my sister and I were having lunch.  I started to bite into a sandwich and felt a very odd sensation in the front of my mouth.  I took the sandwich away from my mouth and there, stuck in the bread, was half of my tooth!  It had a crown on it; the entire crown came off but only part of my tooth was in it.  I was hoping the dentist could reattach it using some sort of dental super glue, or whatever they use, but no such luck.  I have to have oral surgery on the 20th of this month...YUCK.  Then I have to wait for at least four weeks for it to heal so he can put a bridge in, or whatever he's going to do to fix it.  I hate teeth, they just cause no end of trouble!

A Quotation for Monday

"If there were to be a universal sound depicting peace, I would surely vote for the purr."  Barbara L. Diamond

I think Gloria would agree; she loves being washed by her big sister Sophia and purrs so loudly that I can hear her from two rooms away.

Sunday Sunlight

Sunlight sparkling on the waters of Lake Gregory, Crestline, Ca.  Taken in May of this year. 

On a different note, see that little thing down at the bottom of the photo about half way between the center bottom and bottom right?  It kept appearing in a lot of my photos, but never in the same place or going in the same direction, so I don't think it was dust on the lens.  Maybe a bug following me around?  Or, (and I like this best) perhaps it was a Faery in disguise?  I saw something similar in a photo I took last autumn (I think it was last autumn) but it was green instead of the bluish-white of this one.

Zoooooooommmm!

Can it really be June already?  This year is flying by faster than a Italian race car with its gas pedal glued to the floorboard.  The poppies (California's state flower) and the beautiful blue lupins are blooming on the hillsides. 

Down at Lake Arrowhead, the ducks are doing their thing close to the shore, where they won't get run over by a boat.   

My mama, and every older person I knew when I was a child, used to tell me to "make the most of being young because time goes by faster than you can blink."  I didn't believe them.  Summer lasted forever, then school went on for an eternity until Christmas vacation...time passing by fast?  What were they talking about? 

Now I know.  And, I bet you know, too...don't blink, or it will be November!