Delighted Boy

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

Not in a Church

This window is in a private home.

Another View of Spring

Early Spring

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

RPV Home

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

Happy Lunar New Year!

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

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. 

Enjoying the View from Sunset Park

Cloudy View Looking Eastward

Another View of the Ocean

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.

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.)

Light through the Rock

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

Tide Pools

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

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.

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.

Dolphins at Sunset

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

Sunset over Trump National Golf Course

Foggy Morning

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

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.

Patterns of Light

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

Clouds and Sunlight

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Another Favorite from 2008

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

"Best Photo of the Year" Theme Day

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants