Photograph: View of the El Dorado Nature Center in the Summer

Just what the title says: The El Dorado Nature Center as seen from the bridge last summer (last year)!

Photograph: Dragonfly at the El Dorado Nature Center

Another dragonfly from this summer. Some red to hold onto while waiting for summer's return!

I think this is a flame wing, but I am still learning, so any correction or comment is welcome!

Photograph: Duskywing on Coastal Sunflower

A duskywing butterfly rests on a coastal sunflower at the El Dorado Nature Center in the late summer.

Tree at the Rancho Los Cerritos

I do love trees!

Or maybe you'd guessed that already.

Trees at the Eldorado Nature Center

Tree at the El Dorado Nature Center

A summer tree at the El Dorado Nature Center. I'm getting quite fond of the place!

Summer Dusk in the Dominguez Gap Wetlands

Summer dusk in the Dominguez Gap Wetlands. It's not a very big place, but it is a beautiful one.

Dragonfly in the Dominguez Gap Wetlands

I took this this summer, the summer of the dragonfly. I went for years barely noticing them save as quick, bright darts. Last year, I began to see them. This year, they were everywhere, around the river, in the wetlands, all over. This one was in the Dominguez Gap Wetlands.

I believe this is a common green darner.

Garden Hibiscus

A hibiscus in the garden, in summer. I'm still sorting through all those photos.

The River Dreams

The Los Angeles River at sunset. I like to think it's enjoying the rain and dreaming of past greatness.

Summer Dragonfly

I took these in the summer, the summer of the dragonflies at the El Dorado Nature Center. It is a lovely, thriving place with an amazing variety of plants and animals.

I think the dragonfly might be a blue dasher.

A Hawk Over the Dominguez Gap Wetlands

A hawk hovering over the Dominguez Gap Wetlands in November. I tried to figure out what sort it was, but I'm not up on hawks? Perhaps a female kestrel? I'm going mostly by the color of the underside and the fact that she(?) spent a lot of time hovering in the evening. I never got a good look at the upper wings, and I am no good yet on comparative wing shape etc.

It was beautiful, in any case, white against the evening sky.

Photograph: Egret Elegance

I like the way the egret is studying itself intently, very nearly touching and making a perfect circle.

I've always had trouble telling the snowy egret and the great egret apart when they're not near one another for size comparison, and especially when the snowy egrets aren't in their breeding plumage, but someone recently clued me in: the Great White Egret has a yellow beak and black feet; the snowy has a black beak and yellow feet. How simple!

This was taken in Huntington Beach Central Park in Talbert Lake which has, bless it, lasted all year long this year. If we get any decent rain this winter, we may have it for two years running, to the benefit of frogs, turtles, waterfowl, and photographers.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Huntington Beach Public Library at Sunset

Another look at one of the most beautiful places in Huntington Beach, this time at sunset.

Trees at Dusk, Huntington Beach Central Park

I took this at just that moment when day is turning to dusk.

Isaiah 25:1-9, The Shroud will be Destroyed

1 O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

2 For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.

3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.

4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

5 Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

6 And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.

7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.

8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.

9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

Isaiah 25:1-9 (King James Version)

This was the morning's Old Testament reading. I really loved the joy and gladness in it. The picture of God's love coming in as a cool, refreshing rain, banishing the desert heat really struck me this time. Also, I love the thought of there being just a brief, temporary darkness between us and God, one that someday will be destroyed so that we can fully rejoice (The NIV phrases that bit "On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations" which is an even more awesome way of looking at it. Death will be conquered indeed).

And, of course, there is the wonderful promise that "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces."

One thing I really love about going to an Anglican church is the morning readings. They often make me pay attention to a passage in a new way, or to reconsider a book I have not read in a while (Sometimes I love Isaiah, but I bogged down thoroughly on my last two read-throughs. Maybe I'll give the book another try. It really does run the gamut, and Isaiah, as I recall, has some of the most wonderful discussions with God).

Seagull and Prize

A seagull displays his prize.

(Ok, technically, he's getting ready to run away from all the seagulls that want to take it from him, but he certainly looks like he's posing proudly.).

More Fungi

This one was on a tree near the road. I have no idea what it is, except sort of slimy and oozy and Halloween-y.

And this one was in Lake Park. I don't know what it is, either. Sadly, someone else had spotted the tree first and had broken a number of really interesting looking growths. Still, this one shows promise, if it's left alone. Just look at the way it fans out.

Trees in Huntington Beach Central Park

One of the many things I love about the park is the number and variety of trees that grow there. That and the number and variety of birds that can be found sitting in them.