Saturday, January 31, 2009

Delighted Boy


This little boy was so excited by the fish on the mural in one of the children's rooms at my church.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Not in a Church


This window is in a private home.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Early Spring


The flowering pear trees that line our street have already blossomed even though we're still have some cold days.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

RPV Home


This interesting house faces the ocean.  I especially like their landscaping.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Happy Lunar New Year!


These lovely mums were a New Year's gift from one of my Vietnamese-American colleagues.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Another Unique Mailbox


This mailbox is in front of Fire Station 53.  The fireman who was cleaning the full-size fire truck told me that it was built by one of the fireman of the station.  Almost all residents of Rancho Palos Verdes have a curb-side rural-style mailbox. 

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A Proud Day for America


Today, January 20, 2009 is Inauguration Day. It's amazing to see Barack Obama being inaugurated. I really didn't think that enough Americans would vote for an intellectual person of color. In spite of all of the financial problems in our country and other turmoil in other parts of the world, this is an exciting day of hope.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Favorite Sunset


This is one of my favorite sunset pictures taken from RPV. (I can't find it in my archive so I don't think that I posted it before.)

Friday, January 16, 2009

Light through the Rock


At low tide, you can see through a hole in the cliff.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Tide Pools


Last weekend there was one of the lowest daytime tides. This lovely anemone and starfish were two of the creatures on view.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Restful View



A recent addition to the Palos Verdes Nature Preserve are benches for the traveler to use. I saw this one in progress shortly after Christmas. Two weeks later it has been completed along with a message from the benefactors.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Beyond the Isthmus


The recent winds have blown the moisture away from shore. It was clear enough for me to see the water on the other side of the isthmus on Catalina Island-- more than twenty-two miles away.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Dolphins at Sunset


This lovely dolphin sculpture (see post from July 29 about the Ginsburg sculpture ) really dances at sunset.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Foggy Morning


We've had our usual mix of weather conditions. It was especially foggy one morning recently.

Friday, January 9, 2009

RPV Snowmen


Since we don't have snow, some people resort to using tumbleweeds for their "snowmen." You can see from the background how green it is even at this time of the year.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Patterns of Light


I found the pattern that my light fixture made on the ceiling interesting.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Clouds and Sunlight


I'm always fascinated by the way the sky and sunlight look when clouds blow in.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

It Shouldn't be Hollywood!


This plant, the Toyon berry, covers the hills of the Santa Monica Mountains as well as the "Hollywood" Hills. Early settlers who were familiar with holly plants from other parts of the country mistakenly thought that the hills were covered with holly. So they named the area "Hollywood" after the Toyon plant.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Painting the Bridge


This photo from December 14 is about three weeks old, but for once I was a passenger on the Vincent Thomas Bridge. I was excited to capture a photo of these men at work.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Natural Dye


Russ, a naturalist who works with the Palos Verdes Nature Conservancy, showed us this dye on our New Year's Day hike.
Cochineal is a traditional red dye of pre-Hispanic Mexico. This precious dyestuff was obtained not from a plant, but from an insect that lives its life sucking on a plant. The host plants are the flattened stems (pads or cladodes) of certain prickly pear cacti (platyopuntias, Opuntia), especially the species called nopales. The animal is a scale insect that manufactures a deep maroon pigment and stores this pigment in body fluids and tissues. Early Mixtec Indians required dyestuffs because the color of daily attire was carefully codified to signal social status. They required fast colors, i.e., those that would not fade, and Mixtecs heavily used indigo, derived from native legumes, for blues and cochineal for various shades of red.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

On Top of Eagle Rock


This is the view from the top of Eagle Rock in Topanga Canyon State Park on New Year's Day! (We love tourists here in CA, but don't have room for many more residents. So enjoy the pictures of our sunny day while you stay snuggled up in your cold climate.:-)

Starting Out 2009


About 25 energetic hikers showed up by 8:30 a.m. after driving for more than an hour on New Year's Day for the ten mile hike through parts of Toganga Canyon State Park. The hike, sponsored by the Palos Verdes/ South Bay Sierra Club group, was led by this awesome pair with assistance from one other leader. It was a beautiful day in Southern California especially up on top of the ridge. The hike went from Santa Ynez Canyon to Eagle Rock via Trippett Ranch. My husband and I enjoyed starting the new year this way.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Another Favorite from 2008


This picture really captures the beauty of my city's coastline.

Wayfarers Chapel

Wayfarers Chapel
See the archived posts from June about this historic and beautiful chapel.