Bizzy, Buzzy

 

Watching

 This gorgeous hawk was just sitting on the wires, watching. (Not great photos, alas, taken on my phone and zoomed in.)

Gathering

 

A gathering of birds--not a murmuration, although perhaps it was the start of one? The photos were taken from the car, but these were most likely starlings. So cool!

Jaw Dropping

 

A Walk in the Park

 

Back to Lake Murray today (to walk with my friend and her sweet dog)...LOTS of cool clouds...

And birds! I think this is a California towhee.

More clouds!

And birds: Casein's kingbird (he has a lovely soft yellow chest that you can't see here).

Clouds...

And birds! Little birds that I can't identify...some sort of a sparrow? If anyone reading this is a birder, please let me know what this is (small and cute!).

Still more clouds.

And a bunny!

Hitchhiker

 

This girl was on my car window. I had to get out to shoo her off because I didn't want to drive off with her--then she would be too far away from her hive. 

Bloomin'

 

Who doesn't love a blooming windowsill?! (Amaryllis, amaryllis, hyacinth, hyacinth, poinsettia)

Mini, Horse

 

Today a miniature therapy horse named Hershey Kiss visited the local library branch, and of course I had to go see him (I was the only adult there without a child, LOL).

Look at his heart-shaped nose! 

Here you can see how small he really is. His owner told me he rides in the back of her mini-van (not in a miniature horse trailer. And when I left the library, there he was, in the back of her van. Too cute!

Branching

 

New One

 

New to me, maybe... I haven't posted an ice machine in quite some time! That white "c" seems unusual, but it could just be that the red has worn away...

Glory

 

Nothing quite like a winter sunset in San Diego...(well, maybe a sunrise, but I am fast asleep then!)

A Glorious Racket

 

The flocks of wild parrots that live in San Diego are marvelous. They are never quiet, and even if there are 3 or 4 of them it sounds like many more. We haven't seen or heard them in a while, and then yesterday at least a dozen of them showed up in the neighbor's twisted juniper tree (and paper bark tree) to eat berries. They made a glorious racket!

Shining

 

Rounding out photos of our oh-so-fab short road trip to see the sandhill cranes in Southeastern Arizona, here is the Hotel Gadsden in downtown Douglas. It's quite beautiful inside, but it was quite deserted two days after Christmas and was definitely giving off a bit of a Shining vibe...

Love the shoeshine stand and old phone booths!

And this is the Grand, a once-beautiful theatre downtown...apparently it last showed movies in 1958 (!); behind this facade the roof caved in and it seems to have fallen into great disrepair (not sure if the roof has been repaired or not). A local group, the Border Arts Collective, is seeking to rehabilitate it for adaptive reuse. It is so sad to see magnificent buildings molder and decay... 

Sights/Signs

 

On EVERY road trip, there are many interesting things to see along the way. Here are some sights in Arizona (Gila Bend, Benson, Tombstone, and along the road).