I was out for my walk yesterday when I saw the neighbor’s Argentine Giant Cactus was blooming. So, of course I turned around to get my camera from home and set out again. In our little park was another one in bloom. I took photos all around the neighborhood, enjoying the sights of Spring cactus blossoms.
There were lots of bees. I was lucky enough to capture this guy on a cactus bud.
Here’s a close up of the beautiful Argentine Giant blossom taken with my 105 mm lens. In fact, all the photos on this page are taken with that lens.
I love the color of this blossom.
This was at the neighbor’s house. We have one Argentine Giant Cactus and it was one lone blossom in bloom yesterday, gone today.
At the park.
This purple beavertail cactus has a beautiful yellow flower. I wondered why some beavertail are green and others yellow. This is what I found out:
Beavertail cacti (Opuntia basilaris) turn purple primarily as a stress response to cold temperatures, intense sun, or drought, acting as a natural sunscreen. This purple pigment, known as anthocyanin, protects the plant’s cells from damage, making the color change most intense during winter or arid conditions.
I also learned there are purple varieties including one called Purple Desert.
Here’s to a happy Monday and week ahead. What’s on your schedule for this week?
I was given a Christmas Cactus by a friend four years ago. It looks pretty healthy, but until this past week, it’s never bloomed. Fellow blogger Busy Bee Suz who has a green thumb — which is something I lack — suggested that I move my Christmas Cactus. I moved it by the sliding glass door and a few weeks later it has two buds! How exciting is that?
While I switched from my 80-400 mm lens that I use to take Red and Mrs. photos to my 105mm Macro Lens, I took a few other photos. These were outside in the backyard.
We have three bougainvillea we planted a few months ago. They are thriving in the sun. In Palm Springs, we had bougainvillea that never took off. This is very encouraging!
Aren’t they beautiful?
Yesterday was my first day I managed to take a little walk post surgery. I was disappointed because my foot hurt in my tennis shoes. I had to wear flip flops with very little support. My foot is bruised and a little swollen so the tennis shoes rubbed my foot and were a no go!
It felt good to move around even though it was a short walk. My husband and I like to walk and talk. I shared a memory with him from my childhood. It was good to laugh together.
The Memory
When I was three and my brother was five, we went as a family to a church retreat camp staying in a tiny cabin in the woods of Washington. There were families from our Presbyterian church as well as ones from other parts of the state. Along with the small cabins, there was a meeting hall where we gathered as a group.
I remember sitting in the first row with my family, when the pastor asked if anyone wanted to share something with the group. My brother jumped up. He grabbed the microphone and belted out “Edelweiss” from the Sound of Music! I wonder what my parents thought? As his worshipping little sister, I was so proud.
“Blossom of snow May you bloom and grow Bloom and grow forever…”
These lyrics were stuck in my head after photographing the blossoms above. That’s probably why I remembered this blast from the past.
We have lots of these cacti in our yard. They are only about three feet tall, much smaller than saguaro — although they look similar. I think they are called Cardon Cacti and they are spikier than saguaro cacti.
Do you have any silly memories to share from your childhood?
What would you have thought as my parents when my brother sang Edelweiss?
I was surprised to get an email Tuesday that I needed to submit my Sea Glass Work In Progress for Thursday night’s photography class. After traveling to Northern California to help my kids, I hadn’t had a thought about photography in more than 10 days. Before I left town, I sent a few photos to my professor that I took with my Macro lens and asked him for suggestions. He pointed out that I needed to adjust a setting for “exposure compensation” to zero. It was set at -.7 and my photos were too dark.
So, Tuesday and Wednesday with my camera adjusted, I set out to take more sea glass photos. I also looked through my scanned images of kids and beach photos. Finally I settled on some and sent in my WIP. As I’m writing this, I haven’t had my Thursday night class yet, so I’m not sure what my feedback from the professor and students will be. It’s more than a little nerve wracking.
Here are photos I’ve taken this week since coming home:
Bougainvillea blossom from a new plant. The last plant was eaten at the roots by a raccoon, skunk or javelina.
A house sparrow at the bird bath. The little birds like the bird bath, rarely do the bigger birds use it.
Someone in Laguna decorated this city structure with shells and sea glass. This was an old photo I scanned from our summers in Laguna Beach.
Another sea glass photo from this week.
I identified this pretty shrub with blue flowers as “Imperial Blue.”
These are photos from my recent trip to Berkeley and Oakland, California. I was helping my daughter, post her shoulder surgery.
This is the Cheeseboard pizza from Thursday. Cremini mushroom and Kale with a side of their famous cilantro pepper sauce to dip the crust. As an added bonus, they top your slice with a sliver! Cheeseboard Collective is an institution in Berkeley.
Here’s the background info from Cheeseboard’s website:
About Our Pizza
Cheese Board Pizza started with a simple, fun idea during one of our shifts
We’d grab some extra sourdough baguette dough, pick our favorite cheeses from the counter, and toss on veggies from the market next door to make pizzas just for us. Then, in 1985, we decided to share the fun and started serving a single type of vegetarian pizza to customers after hours on Friday nights. Each night, we’d make one fresh, unique pizza with veggies, specialty cheeses from the Cheese Board, and a thin, sourdough crust.
Today, that same recipe is still our go-to. The Pizzeria, now located just two doors south of the Cheese Shop and Bakery, is open for lunch and dinner four days a week. We’ve also added salads, roasted garlic, cookies, soft serve ice cream, sodas, beer, and wine. Live music is part of the scene at both lunch and dinner, adding to the vibrant atmosphere. Even though the line for pizza often stretches down the block, it moves quickly, with music keeping things lively along the way.
Here’s a rose I saw on my walk from my Berkeley Airbnb and Cheeseboard.
Beautiful Bougainvillea I spotted on a walk in Oakland with my son and daughter-in-law.
I’m not sure what these berries are. I just thought it made a unique shot on my walk to Cheeseboard for a slice.
Berkeley is a beautiful town when you open your eyes and notice the little things like flowers.
The tree-lined streets made for nice walks when I returned to my Airbnb after taking care of my daughter at my son’s apartment.
This was my cozy Airbnb — a separate room with it’s own entrance at the back of a home. I stayed here five years ago when my son had shoulder surgery. It has a bathroom, bedroom and a kitchenette.
Now for everything Cheeseboard:
My last three evenings, I walked from the Airbnb to Cheeseboard for a slice of pizza (and a sliver) before it got dark. It was my daughter’s idea. She told me to go home early so I could have Cheeseboard, which is a treat I enjoy when I visit my kids. Prior to my Cheeseboard walks, I was getting home after dark, exhausted and savoring a cup of chowder I had bought the day I arrived. I wrote about Cheeseboard years ago: How long would you wait for pizza? Hint: It’s Cheese Board.
I’d walk around Shattuck Avenue for about 30 minutes then get in line at Cheeseboard and walk home with my salad and slice. Yes, I’d get in line because there is always a line. There is also a cheese shop two doors down owned by Cheeseboard where I’d buy a few treats for the kids to bring the next day, like their favorite cheese, crackers, chips and homemade tomatillo salsa.
About Cheeseboard: They make one flavor of pizza per day and one salad. No special orders except Gluten and/or Vegan free. The pizza’s randomly change according to fresh produce and they locally source cheese. There is never meat on a Cheeseboard pizza.
I had this one and will say it was really, really good. I liked the Cremini/Kale better, though.
The pizza I had on my last night in Berkeley.
This is the line going into Cheeseboard. The open door near the front of the photo goes into their cheese and bakery shop.
The line wound around the corner and down the street.
If you go to Berkeley, I highly recommend a slice of pizza at Cheeseboard.
What’s your favorite pizza or a pizza spot?
What do you think of my Berkeley photos?
If you’ve never been there, did you think it would be so beautiful?
I was out on a walk yesterday morning when a neighbor walking her dog said, “There are so many beautiful blossoms, you need your camera for your class.”
I had run into her once while taking cacti blossom photos for the class, which by the way, the professor said weren’t creative but rather ordinary. I was thrilled they were in focus!
I continued with my walk and noticed several gorgeous blooms and blossoms. My neighbor was right. I beelined back home for my camera and got my Macro lens.
I took blogger friend Danny Watts’ advice. His blog is Fountain Pen Chronicles: Adventures in Analog. He told me to get down on the ground for photos to get a better Point of View and Depth of Field. I took my husband with me, to help me up (Also Danny’s suggestion). My husband’s phone was blowing up with clients and he had to head home. I was left alone. I got on the ground. I managed to get myself up, which wasn’t that comfortable on the sidewalk or gravel. But I did it.
This is the blossom featured above from a distance. It’s so beautiful but lasts only one or two days.
Here are more cacti in bloom:
And a Fairy Duster!
Here’s for the little bit of fauna to go with the flora:
A Curve Billed Thrasher on the Century Plant.
My latest and final photography assignment for the class is to tell a story using six to 10 photos. I’m not sure what to do, but he’s giving us an extra week to work on it. I’m taking photos of my creatures, hoping a story line reveals itself to me.
FYI, parts of this post is from previous May Days.
In first grade, my teacher Mrs. Iverson showed us how to make May Day baskets from pink and yellow construction paper. We drew ivy and flowers on the paper baskets with our thick crayons before going up one-by-one to our teacher’s desk to get the handle stapled on.
On the way home from school, we walked together picking dandelions and soft lavender-colored clover to fill our baskets. The more daring kids picked pansies or snap dragons from a neighbor’s yard to add to their construction paper baskets.
We took turns “May Daying” the neighbors.
I climbed the steps to Mrs. Fixie’s front door. She was the grandmotherly lady with the neat white bun on top of her head who often gave me home-made oatmeal cookies.
I hung the basket on her doorknob. Then, I rang her doorbell and ran as far as my first-grade legs would take me. I hid behind a hedge and watched her open the front door and scan the neighborhood.
Then, she looked at her doorknob at the paper basket filled with flowering weeds. A big smile broke across her face.
“Happy May Day!” I yelled jumping up behind the shrubs.
Bougainvillea.
Where did this fun tradition begin? But, more importantly, where did it go?
Did your kids make May Day baskets in school? Did they surprise your elderly neighbors with baskets of flowers and sunshine on May 1st? Mine did not.
When my mom was in an assisted living home three states away, I always ordered her a basket of flowers on May Day. The card read “Happy May Day! Love, ???”
She’d call to thank me and I’d say, “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about!”
“Really? I could have sworn it was you! I wonder who sent me these flowers?” she’d answer.
That’s how we’ve kept our May Day tradition alive. My son sometimes remembers to text me flower emojis to wish me “Happy May Day.” While my daughter was home, she’d pick bougainvillea, snap dragons and roses from our back yard and pound on the door after school and her swim meet.
I’d run outside and won’t be able to contain the smile on my face as I race around the yard trying to catch her.
In our empty nest, my husband usually remembers to buy flowers, leaves them on the front porch, rings the doorbell and runs away.
Happy May Day, everyone!
How do you celebrate May Day? Or, have you ever celebrated it?
The past week, cacti bloomed. The beauty is fleeting, because the flowers only last a day or two.
This beauty is next to our driveway. Leaving for a walk, my husband and I stopped to admire it. He said, “I feel so much pride in this cactus, which is funny, because I had nothing to do with it.” I felt the same way, proud of our blooming plant.
This was our cactus two days after the photo taken above.
I believe in God, only I spell it Nature. —Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright made his home in our desert. He appreciated the beauty surrounding us. I’ve visited Frank Lloyd Wright’s desert home and school called Taliesin West. I wrote about my visit HERE.
From Wikipedia:
Wright believed Scottsdale to be the perfect spot for such a building: a place of residence, a place of business and a place to learn. Wright described it like this, “Finally I learned of a site twenty-six miles from Phoenix, across the desert of the vast Paradise Valley. On up to a great mesa in the mountains. On the mesa just below McDowell Peak we stopped, turned, and looked around. The top of the world.”
More photos of cacti blooms from our neighborhood:
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”
—Albert Einstein
I feel like a kid in a candy store. I see everything around me with fresh eyes although this is my fourth Spring here. I’m in awe and surprised by the prickly cacti producing such eye catching flowers.
If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.
