Playing with the Camera

One was taken with the flash, the other without. Yes, they need to be rotated sideways so you can get the full effect--they are rotated on my Flickr page, but there doesn't seem to be a way to do that here.

So I guess I need to do more playing, this time with the blogger software!

Signs of Fall

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Originally uploaded by marie watterlond

Kind of few and far between, especially when we've had a bad heat wave...but they're there if we look.

Rainy Day!

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Originally uploaded by marie watterlond

This is an example of SoCal weather playing with our minds. I was out at Daughter's today and the rain came down by the bucketful. Thunder, lightning, even a little bit of hail.

Got back home and everything is bone-dry. Now I get to spend the weekend moving hoses around to try to get some water on the parched plants. Would it have hurt to have given us just a little bit of rain here?

Sulphur Sky at Sunset

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Originally uploaded by marie watterlond

Taken from the end of the driveway--wish I could have taken out the electric wires and other stuff, but I guess it gives it a sense of place.

What do you think?

Capistrano Mission Bells

Mission Bells
Originally uploaded by marie watterlond

Mission San Juan Capistrano has the bells displayed next to the ruins of the stone church. Quotes:

The original bells were hung from a large nearby tree for some fifteen years, until the chapel bell tower was completed in 1791. What ultimately became of the original bells is not known. New bells were cast in Chile for inclusion in the belfry of "The Great Stone Church." All four of Mission San Juan Capistrano's bells are named and all bear inscriptions as follows (from the largest to the smallest; inscriptions are translated from Latin):[114]

* "Praised by Jesus, San Vicente. In honor of the Reverend Fathers, Ministers (of the Mission) Fray Vicente Fustér, and Fray Juan Santiago, 1796."
* "Hail Mary most pure. Ruelas made me, and I am called San Juan, 1796."
* "Hail Mary most pure, San Antonio, 1804."
* "Hail Mary most pure, San Rafael, 1804."

I love the practice of naming bells--and one of my all-time favorite books is Dorothy Sayers' The Nine Tailors.

More info about the mission here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_San_Juan_Capistrano

Capistrano Koi

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Originally uploaded by marie watterlond

Mission San Juan Capistrano stocks its fountains with water lilies and koi. Mu autentico!

Moonflower

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Originally uploaded by marie watterlond

Or is it just a morning glory? Hard to tell, but these are so pale and pretty I'm enjoying them! Planted a bunch of really old seeds in a couple of pots--well, the whole potful was really old seeds. And they grew!

My black thumb is feeling a little less black and bleak now.