sunrise from home
February 11, 2010

I think the reason I have so many February sunrises on camera is because the time of sunrise is late enough for me to have had my coffee already and there's little fog to get in the way. I like the almost-rainbow effect in this shot. I'm guessing it's a halo. I'd appreciate it if anyone could enlighten me as to what this optical phenomena is officially called.

seagull on power pole at sunrise
February 8, 2010

I thought this was pretty, so am including it.

pollen

Since I don't have any other place to record these kinds of observations, I'm posting it here. We had quite a bit of rain on Friday and Saturday, after which I noticed massive amounts of this bright yellow pollen collected everywhere. My nose has been running like no one's business for at least a week and I swear I've gone through a whole box of Kleenex! I'm wondering if I have allergies to this pollen. Does it come from the pine trees? Or the oaks?

ps 02/17/10 - My nose is still dripping like mad. Makes me rethink that cold I thought I had last year for 2 months!

pss 02/22/10 - With today's rain, my nose seems to have finally stopped dripping. Yeah!

pss 01/26/11 - Noticed a light dusting of yellow pollen on many parked cars for the first time this year. I still haven't figured out if the pollen comes from the pines or the oaks.

habitat ~ 02/05/10 ~ Monterey Bay Recreation Trail

Monterey Bay Recreation Trail
February 2, 2010

I was attempting to capture all 3 flowers in one pic to show what's blooming right now. The bright orange flower is definitely a California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) because of the red ring at the base of the encased bud. The seaside daisy (Erigeron glaucus) is in the back with the spoon-shaped leaves. And the bright yellow Bermuda buttercup (Oxalis pres-caprae) is the non-native flower in the mix.