The Environmental Nature Center

I just recently found out about and visited the Environmental Nature Center.

It's a gem; a lovely two and a half acre stretch of native plants. I plan to go again, as my friends and I barely scratched the surface, and I'm quite sure we didn't visit all the ecosystems they have. Also, of course, these places change.

I wonder: How many other interesting places around here have I not heard of? 

A monarch butterfly in the butterfly house.

Before the Parade: Houses

I  didn't get to spend my usual few days leisurely examining the houses before the parade. This time, it was all right before the parade started and seen around hoards of people similarly watching the crowds and the houses.

I love the pale-skinned doll sunbathing on this roof. There was another one off to the side, but since it wasn't in a chair, it really looked rather like a corpse.

 

And these people planted for the occasion. How cool is that? They won one of the decorating awards, but I wasn't close enough to see which one.

And this one: Clever use of materials. Those are old blue-jeans being the blue, and I think, old sheets for the red and white. Love it!

This garden is a long-time favorite of mine, and the Fourth of July decorations did not disappoint.

Falcons in Huntington Beach Central Park

I think these are peregrine falcons. Falcons, peregrines especially, have always seemed mythical birds, found only in tales; the birds of kings and courtiers. It's wonderful finding them in the local park, like stepping into a legend.

I've also never seen two as relaxed as the two in the tree, busy preening themselves. The third bird, the one alone, was calling and watching. Were they, I wonder, part of the same hatching? Or was the caller a younger bird? I have been told that falcons nest in and near the park, though I've never seen one of their nests yet.

The Great Carousel Hunt: Part the VII: The Irvine Spectrum Carousel

The Irvine Spectrum Carousel is a nice, pseudo-antique carousel with lovely little images from Orange County history on the top.

It has an impressive variety of horses and a good collection of other animals to ride. As always, choosing one was difficult, but I settled on a white tiger, and my co-quester of the day chose the well-mannered, beautifully decorated brown horse next to him.

The carousel was one of the slower ones, and a little juddery in spots, but, as always, made me smile.

I didn't get as many pictures as I'd have liked because, when I came back in the evening to try to catch the end of twilight--you know the time, that moment when it's not quite dark but the lights have come on and everything is just a little more real than usual--a very polite security guard came up and informed me that, unless I was taking pictures of family members, I couldn't keep on, since the entire mall was copyrighted.

That did put a damper on things, as did the prospect of another pictureless quest entry. Fortunately, I looked at the website, and I don't think he was quite right: The mall is copyrighted, so I can't sell pictures, but images for personal use are fine (I think questing counts, don't you?).

Gardening!

I was going to blog about my beautiful garden, but I spent a long time out there today, weeding, watering, and cleaning, and I'm just too tired to write coherently.

So, here are some pictures, instead.

Oh, and as a PS: I did get some writing today for The Broken Hourglass, in between trips to water and weed. Not a lot of writing, the garden was pretty demanding, but some. I hope that by Monday the current quest will be finished.

Pictures of the birds

I don't actually have many pictures of the birds. They tend not to pose well. Still, I've a few.


Peek-a-boo







I see you!








The two of them really liked the bike helmet.




Malaika playing King of the Cage.

So far, he still seems to be ok. He's sitting on my shoulder now wanting his head scratched. So, I'm going to finish this and oblige.