Kaapicat

carrot-ginger soup

picturesque Japanese lunch

harbor patrol and squirrel

ladybugs

One of life's great pleasures is releasing ladybugs onto your pest-stressed lemon tree.

marine layer

Or if you prefer, the Ventura River Snake.

News from Santa Fe

Santa Barbara Airport part 3

Waiting for the Mrs. to land at Santa Barbara Airport. I saw her plane descend from this same spot more or less. The clouds were interesting that day. 

Lighthouse Coffee

Another new coffee house by a local chain... There are actually four locations now, the others being on the Mesa, Chapala St. and Haley St. This one is on Turnpike on the way to the airport.

Javi and Mommy

Javi wondering where Mommy is.

Dean: a coffee shop

Sometimes an airport fiasco results in the discovery of an exceptionally appealing new coffee house. The space is pleasing - both aesthetically and the abundance of it. The coffee is good too. Highly recommend.

Tucker's Grove Park

Sometimes an airport fiasco results in your first visit to Tucker's Grove Park. I found myself pondering all the ways that hiking down the San Antonio Creek Trail was different from being on an aircraft. Roomier than the aisle, but more poison oak.

Summit Drive

The Ventura Botanical Gardens, as seen from Summit Drive.

Chañar

Chañar (Geoffroea decorticans) - another intriguingly obscure Chilean tree.

Tecoma fulva

Tecoma fulva, a Latin American relative of the better known Cape Honeysuckle (Tecoma capensis). Seen at the Ventura Botanical Gardens.

books

Some good books, especially Open City which sparkles from cover to cover.

crackers

Some good crackers (above) and some stale crackers (below).

beach humor part 2

A seagull and three dolphins walk into a bar...

beach humor

A seagull, a squirrel, a fisherman and two dolphins walk into a bar...

Kirtland warbler

"Monument to the Kirtland Warbler" in Mio, Michigan - apparently a stop on the birdwatching circuit. The bird nests exclusively in that state's northern jack pine forests, and then winters in the Caribbean. They nearly went extinct in the 1980s due to habitat loss, but careful stewardship has brought the population back up from 400 to 4000. The tiny songbird is named after Jared Potter Kirtland (1793-1877), a doctor and naturalist from Wallingford, CT who emigrated to Ohio's Western Reserve in 1803. Ohio was originally a colony of Connecticut, and although it attained statehood that year, it was still a wild frontier and there was plenty of new material to keep the doctor occupied. So there you have it. (Postcards courtesy my late Aunt Lana, who apparently went to Mio, MI).

snowy egret

The snowy egret is distinguished by its bright yellow feet, which much of the time are submerged in water while it feeds in shallow surf. Once upon a time their plumage was used for ladies' hats and their numbers got dangerously low. Thanks to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, their numbers have fully rebounded.

Santa Maria Inn

The remains of an historic hotel in Santa Maria, CA. Jimmy Stewart, Gary Cooper, Marilyn Monroe and John Wayne all stayed here back in the day. Who knew? From the inside you can feel the history oozing from the walls. From the outside you can't.

Novo revisited

Sometimes you return to a restaurant and are seated at the exact same table as the first time. Such was the case at Novo in San Luis Obispo. We also enjoyed some of the exact same food. It was delightful.

Mecaphesa

Mecaphesa is a genus of crab spiders and the one I found crawling around my ficus plant was possibly Mecaphesa california or else one of the other 49 species.

colors of summer