Cactus Monday

Happy Cactus Monday!
Be sure to stop by Teri's Painted Daisies.

What is this life if, full of care,
we have no time to stand and stare?
~ W. H. Davies

Happy Thanksgiving

A special thanks today to all of my blogger friends who bring beauty, laughter, and wisdom into my life every day. I hope all of you are enjoying time with family and friends.

Friendship isn't a big thing -

it's a million little things.

~ Author Unknown

Thankful Thursday

How could I not be thankful for glorious fall weather,

Laguna Beach sand and skies,

and these two characters?

"Look at Daddy..."

"...no, the other way..."

"...there you go!"

Smile.
Have you ever noticed how easily puppies make human friends?

Yet all they do is wag their tails and fall over.

~ Walter Anderson

The End of the Line

The theme for this month's Picture This Photo Contest at Gardening Gone Wild is "The End of the Line."  I haven't participated recently, and wasn't planning to make the effort this time.  But often opportunities are handed to us when we're not expecting them.  Every day when I have walked the dogs this week, I have marveled at the delicate white roses blooming on the corner down the street.  We go for our walks in the late afternoon, just before dusk starts settling in, so there is a gentle light illuminating their white petals.  Yesterday I realized I had forgotten yet again to take my camera along, so when we got home I grabbed it and went back to the roses.  Up close they were even more beautiful, in all stages of growth.  There were a few at that oh-so-fragile point when their petals begin to wilt and droop before dropping off to the ground below:  the end of the line.  Rather than looking forlorn, this one had a dignified grace about it, a softening before the final fade.

So much has been said and sung of beautiful young girls,

why don't somebody wake up to the beauty of old women? 
~ Harriet Beecher Stowe

Psst.... I thought I would also share one at a younger stage, for comparison:

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

dried ocotillo blooms

As promised, here are photos from our weekend camping trip in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (in Coyote Canyon, for those who might know the area).  I'm including a handful of my favorites and you can see more in the slideshow below.  I enjoyed the cacti and other plants, as they differ from what we are used to in the east Mojave desert.  I have always loved ocotillo, but this is the first time I've ever seen them up close.

ocotillo

As you can see, we had amazing weather; absolutely clear, mid-80s during the day and mid-50s at night, and an occasional,just-right light breeze.  The sky was an unbelievably deep blue.  We were serenaded by an owl as we lay in our cozy tent to go to sleep, and the desert was aglow all night from the light of the nearly-full moon.  I serendipitously awoke at 4:30am to witness it slip silently behind the hills.  Simply magical.

buckwheat

(not sure what this is?)

And more...



(I apologize if there are any issues with this slideshow - experimenting with Flickr)

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Cactus Monday

There aren't many hours left on this Cactus Monday, but I'm squeaking in with this barrel cactus from our trip to Anza-Borrego over Halloween weekend. Will have more photos to post this week. Happy Cactus Monday, everyone! For more Cactus Monday delights, visit Teri's Painted Daisies.

The empty vessel giveth a greater sound than the full barrel.

~ John Lyly

Cactus Monday

We went camping in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park over the weekend, so I'm sharing this cholla with its appropriate bit of spider web decoration for Halloween. As the deep blue sky (not Photoshopped) indicates, we had absolutely gorgeous weather, and the almost-full moon was spectacular. I'm hoping to find the time to share more photos later in the week. In the meantime, Happy Cactus Monday, everyone! Visit Teri's Painted Daisies for more cactus beauty.

A wisp of gossamer, about the size and substance of a spider's web.

~ Monica Baldwin

Fun Wins!

I just had to share this...  

(Sorry - can't figure out how to make it fit the space properly - if you right-click on it, you can choose to view it in YouTube so you can see everything.)

Live and work but do not forget to play,
to have fun in life and really enjoy it.

~ Eileen Caddy

Ah... Autumn

I noticed the leaves in our neighborhood had started to turn, so I took my camera along when I walked the dogs late yesterday afternoon. Thank goodness our neighborhood planners were kind enough to include some trees and vines that change with the seasons; otherwise we might miss out on Autumn's wonders here in the suburbs in Southern California.

Are you finished yet, Mommy?

Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.
~ Elizabeth Lawrence

Happy Cactus Monday!

Silver cholla (Cylindropuntia echinocarpa)

I'm still knee-deep in book editing (I never knew how much work goes into creating an index until I first worked on one myself), but it's been so long since my last post I wanted to pop in and say hello to everyone.

Since it also happens to be Cactus Monday, I'm sharing these silver cholla blossoms. This is one of the photos I included in my 2010 calendar, "Mojave in Bloom," for sale in my Zazzle shop. The calendar includes cactus and desert wildlfowers, all found in the East Mojave.

Mojave in Bloom 2010 Calendar by dragonflyseye

There's also a second calendar of East Mojave desert scenery and I've also been working on one of garden flowers as well. There are simply not enough hours in the day for all the things I want to accomplish.

I hope all of you are enjoying this change in season we're experiencing. We here in Southern California are enjoying a bit of rain and I know many others are already experiencing snow. Time for soup and sweaters!

You can check out other cactus delights at Terri's Painted Daisies.

The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly
changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools.
~ Henry Beston, Northern Farm