I'm sitting here, looking out my window at some very pretty flowers. I will grab my camera and take a few pictures. I'll be back in a few minutes.

I'm back. I took 23 pictures. Here are three of those. I'll post more when I return home. I'm playing in a chess match this afternoon.

Russ, I'm glad you didn't forget us when you were out enjoying your beautiful flowers. The ones you posted are gorgeous !

Actually, we have botanical gardens for just such moments as these.

Botanical gardens are a blessing. I love the ones in my area. The blooms you posted are beautiful !


Betty

Always love the flower pictures. I took this one earlier this week.

Tennie, those are simply beautiful.

My DW picked a few flowers yesterday - before the rain hit.

Bummer! I posted this last night, or so I thought I had. Must have only previewed it. Here's a redo...

I went to the zoo earlier this week and found these beautiful flowers in the butterfly area. The butterflies won't be back until spring, and spring won't be any time soon here. It is below zero again, but at least the sun has been out yesterday and today. Yesterday I wanted to photograph the sun lighting up the steam that rises off the river; it's especially striking at the end of the day. But there was a wind and I just didn't feel like toughing it out to get some photos.

Courtney

You are all blowing me away with the outstanding flower photos. I have to wait it is still lousy here.

Well, Judy, this isn't going to blow you away; it's still lousy here too. But, we had four or so days of very warm weather and this is what I see under what was a +2' drift.

Parsley.jpg (179.57 KiB) Viewed 1138 times

The forecast is for snow/sleet tomorrow. Mu parsley clump will go back to sleep for another month or so.

Rusty

A short switch from flowers, which are wonderful and I'm looking forward to seeing many more. Here is a photo of the Gaviota pier, which is in California's Santa Barbara County.

I started going there in 1972 to surf perfect waves without the crowded conditions that the rest of California was having. The reason there weren't any crowds (back then) was because the only way to get to the waves was to launch your boat using the "do it yourself" hoist at the end of the pier. Then boating up the coast to the surf spots. I did that for 25 years and loved every minute.

Russ that looks very inviting. We have been on very few vacations but one was to California i will always treasure the trip.

Here's a photo of us using the "do it yourself" hoist. This was my 3rd "Ranch Boat"

I bought one more boat before that area became too crowded, making going up there not worth all the trouble. We would leave home at 2 AM in order to get there at dawn. We'd surf all day and then, half the time, drive back home. The other half we'd camp out and stay a few days.