Fruity

Look at these lovely apples growing on my neighbor's tree! Not a common sight this close to the coast...wonder how they taste?

Pretty/Sad

When I saw this I thought, "Wow, how pretty..." Alas, the monarch is deceased...but at least it died in a place of beauty.

Ocean

 Blue-grey sky meets blue-grey water.

 Pelicans. My mother-in-law calls them pterodactyls...

In formation.

Yerm

First clafoutis of the summer! (Even though really it's more hot-chocolate-by-the-fire weather here at the moment--"June gloom" overload...)

Abstract

 Some abstract shots of a magnolia blossom...arty!

Random Heart

Garden Love

 I think everyone should have a cutting garden (or flowers in their gardens that they can cut and bring inside). Mine brings me great joy (and beauty and fragrance!). Here we have dahlias (a real favorite flower of mine), lisianthus, and pinks (which smell delightful). Yay!

Abstract Sky

Poppy Love

 My yearly poppy crop (they reseed every year...).

P.S. Pretend it's Tuesday...I didn't publish this until after midnight, oops!

Banana Yum

Banana bread for breakfast...yum!

Cat/Lizard

 The magnificent Ria...

...and her lizard victim: note the missing foot and tail. But don't feel too sorry for him/her--it still can skitter away in the blink of an eye (whether or not it can still climb, I'm not sure). Poor thing...

Corvid Confab

 Here we have what we believe to be a crow family...looks like maybe mom or dad on the right and three young ones (marked by their light-colored eyes and the bit of pink at the corners of their beaks). They were making quite a racket...

 Note the blue eyes on these crows...

 Synchronized crowing...

They are really really comical...even though crows robe nests (boo!) and make a mess in our fountain, they are quite fun to watch.

Bye Bee

 I have seen this lovely black carpenter bee floating around this plant for several weeks now, like a tiny blimp. Carpenter bees are solitary bees.

Yesterday I found it (same one?) dead on the sidewalk. So sad...I hope it just died of natural causes.

Hello, Bee-Youtiful

Busy busy busy, buzz buzz buzz.

Dandy

Hawkish

 A lovely Cooper's hawk hung out on the telephone pole behind our house for a while this afternoon. He/she was calling (as can be seen in photo below). We most often see Red-tailed or Red-shouldered hawks around the 'hood, so it was cool to see/hear this one.

Bye-bye.

Medusa's Head

The newest plant in the garden: a new-to-me euphorbia (Euphorbia flanganii, common name Medusa's head), purchased at a rummage sale. I've never seen this before...so cool! Did you know that poinsettias are also in the euphorbia family?

Coffee Pelican

More fun with Nespresso foam: pelican yelling! (What is he/she yelling about, I wonder?)

Fancy

 I collect vintage sewing and sewing-related books, pamphlet, etc., and I just treated myself to this rare booklet: Vogue's Book of Fancy Dress, from the 1920s. It is a catalogue of various costume patterns published by Vogue; the illustrations are beyond fabulous!

Pheebs

This pretty black phoebe has been coming to the fountain to drink. (I think it's a phoebe--it actually looks a bit chubby/chunky for a phoebe, but it could be a fledgling or could be fluffed up for warmth...).