Puya

When I first saw Puya chilensis back in 2017 at the Adelaide Botanic Garden in Australia, it was the most exotic plant I had ever seen. Little did I know that the Chilean section of my local botanical garden would one day be a Puya hotspot. Seen here is Puya coerulea, which I have blogged about previously.

VBG Feb. 2026

While not in "superbloom" mode, the Ventura Botanical Gardens had quite a few flowers due to the rains. It also looked like they are planting a bunch of Washingtonia fan palms.

Ave. Center / Ave. snow

Photos taken by my lovely wife.

Lovewell date of 2-19-26

The Bird Way

Read this book twice. Actually the author had success with an earlier book - "The Genius of Birds" - and this was the follow up. As is sometimes the case with follow up books, it was good but... reviews suggest it was maybe not as good as the original. I may or may not read that one. This one had some fascinating material, but - unless you happen to be a bird researcher - the lengthy discourse was occasionally tiresome.

Milk & Honey

One of the soaps I got for Christmas.

Scrabble game of 2-15-26

The Scrabble game of 2-15-26, with a side of Brie.