Tag: Conejo Valley
Most of December 2021 saw rain and cold weather – at last! It doesn’t change the drought situation here in California, but it does help. I hope the bits of green here will soon spread over the hills, which have been dead and brown for far too long. Rain in the single-digit percentage points shows up on the weather forecast, but with the climate situation it is impossible to predict anything.
This is from the Chumash Trial area near my house. It is the same area where I spotted the Acorn Woodpecker in yesterday’s photo. I love this area because of the wonderful oak trees down this trail. Sadly, many were lost in the Woolley Fire (I think that is the one) from a few years ago that swept through this area.
One of the fun things about digital images, or digitized film images, is the playing around in post and creating presets. This one I rather like – it gives a sense of the softness that new growth brings to the world. Spring is coming, early of course in my neck of the woods, and the rains are the reason for the rainy season.
Etc.
This afternoon I finally got out for a walk – the weather was not in the high 90s by 10 a.m. It felt so good to be outdoors after nearly 6 weeks inside or in the shade, trying to keep from melting. In general, heat doesn’t bother me, but exercising and sweating in such temperatures gets to me, and it seems this year has been particularly intense. The only walks seem to occur at night, once the sun has gone down and the sidewalks quit sizzling. Our air conditioning ran non-stop a few days in a row, which is unusual for us, but that gives you a sense of the heat – but at least our humidity is relatively low, unlike the southeast.
I decided to play with my Instax Wide by FujiFilm. Normally I just take a picture here and there with my instant cameras but thought it would be fun to use it as the camera to record today’s wanderings. Thus, in no particular order, a few scenes from my afternoon’s perambulation. Click on an image to move through the gallery.
This is a tree that I visit every spring: the orchid flower tree, or orchid tree, or something like that. It is covered with these ridiculously luscious flowers, and seems as if it is from another world altogether.
Need I say more?
Matilija (pronounced muh-till-i-hah) poppies are amazing flowers. They bloom all at once, have flowers about 5″ in diameter, and can stand over 6 feet tall. Impressive when you have vast swaths of them. This year’s crop is magnificent!.
The local botanical garden is filled with new growth. Vines, trees, shrubs, bulbs are in bloom. Birds and lizards and coyotes are to be seen, and the squirrels are fatter than fat. I was walking home from my visit when a rustling caught my ear . . . this guy was just bopping around within feet of me, and luckily I could get his portrait before he flew off to explore new territory. This is a Dark-eyed Junco.
The Glass Aerie 