More flowers from the Carlsbad Flower Fields

This is going to be an annual event for me.  Besides the fields of ranunculus, there were orchids, roses, and many other flowers.  

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve

Today I went to Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve for a hike.  It was my first visit there, and I plan to go back.   Incredible beautiful.  I walked two of their trails, then visited the interpretive center.  The top photo is of a Torrey pine, found along one of the trails I took.  

The bottom two are of a Shaw's agave, the most unusual agave I've seen, and certainly the most colorful.  They apparently are found in Baja, but rare in California.

You can read more about the park here:

Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve

Carlsbad Flower Fields

Paige at the flower fields.  

This is what she shot

And this.   

I have a guest blogger today:  granddaughter Paige (3-1/2 years) recorded her morning at the flower fields.  She chose her party dress and silver glittery shoes to wear this morning.    Barb & I took lots of photos of her, then let her use the "kid" camera.

We had a great time.  This is a beautiful place to visit. The flowers were about 50% peak because of the cold spring we've had, but that didn't stop folks from coming to visit -- I was told that yesterday (Sunday) they had over 4,000 visitors.

Today was preschool & school kids, I saw 6 school buses in the parking lot, plus several charter buses.  Plenty of room, though, for everyone to enjoy the flowers.

Mission Bay Yacht Club pano

This was shot with my iPhone 3s (5 shots, left to right).  Then I used AutoStitch app to stitch them together, then brought it into Photoshop for final cropping.  Pretty exciting what the iPhones will do!   That's the main club house on the left, Junior Sailing club house on the right.    Great place to hang out.  Don't you love the clouds?

Sabot sailing on Mission Bay

It's great to be back on the water.   Last year my grandson, Cole,  had his first solo sail in this boat and promised to take me sailing when I moved down to SD.   He has named the boat "WIPEOUT" (after the TV show I believe).   Today was the day -- and he even let me steer the boat.

We had a great time cruising Mission Bay.   Weather cooperated with sunshine, lovely white puffy clouds and mild winds.

San Diego Zoo Safarai Park ... again

Back to the Safari Park again, this time with my 7-year-old grandson Cole.  His birthday present this year was a ride on the Safari Caravan and the day at the Park.   The Safari Caravan is a one-hour ride in the back of a truck (with seats & a shade cover), around the African Plains area, and includes being able to feed the giraffe.   It's very intimidating having this big guy right in your face, eating the eucalyptus leaves from your hand!   Cole did get into it, actually fed them twice and I took a lot of photos.  

We had fun exploring the rest of the park too.  

San Diego Zoo Safari Park

I'm visited the Park this morning and decided to explore the Baja Gardens.  It was fun to wander around these beautiful gardens,  being there brought back memories of living in Baja.

Pat & Dick, these are for you guys.

It's 'N' week

I'll be posting these N's for  Carol Leigh's  alphabet class today.    Top left was a stenciled N on a sign, shown as I photographed it.   I took it and ran it through a filter on Photoshop called Cutout.  Played a bit with the controls and liked this version (top right).




This worn-out N is as photographed,  I think it was from a sign in Mission Beach area.

















The final N was  just a plain N, added layers of texture, played with the Blend modes and came up with this version.





Do you have a favorite?