Follow your heart ...

Pat did. She's from Santa Cruz, retired in 2006, sold her house, gave stuff away and bought "Phoebe McGee", a 22 ft RV. She's put many miles in/on her new home and has many adventures to share. You can follow her blog at ADayintheLifeofaGypsy.blogspot.com

Fortunately, she was going through San Diego on her way to the Baja and had time to stay a few days. BTW, that's TaZzi, her traveling companion. We tried to get TaZzi to pose with the Santa's hat, but she was more interested in tackling it ;-)

Safe journey my friend, thanks for taking the time to stop in San Diego. I've enjoyed your visit here.

San Diego Zoo Safari Park

My new house is just 10-15 minutes from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park (formerly called Wild Animal Park). Friend Pat (from Santa Cruz) is visiting for a few days while on her way to Baja and we had a free morning, so off we went to the Park. While walking by the chimpanzee area, a volunteer was telling us about their feeding times, and how the chimps have their places they sit while waiting for the trainer to throw them food. This young male sits up on a huge rock, catches tomatoes as they are thrown to him. They eat about 40 lbs. of vegetables each day. Today was tomatoes and celery day. They are offered a different veggie each day.

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/park/

Spider Mums

Love these flowers, the texture, color, spidery arms. Spider mums symbolize different things in different countries -- in the US they convey "elope with me". They are the national flower of Japan and a chrysanthemum adorns the crest of the Japanese Imperial family. For the Chinese, the mum symbolizes nobility. Quite an emblem.

I combined the photo of the mums with a texture photo.

Another photo from Balboa Park

The flowers are always beautiful in the Botanical Building -- this past visit there were orchids and plenty of mums. Here's my photo for today's blog. I especially liked the contrast of the while/light purple mums with the very dark foliage.

Walk at Del Mar CA beach

My neighbor, Lillian, invited me to walk (low tide) at a beach in Del Mar. Just an easy 30-minute drive from our homes, easy parking during the week, and a beach inhabited mainly by gulls. I haven't found my bird books yet, but these might be Hermann's gulls (red beaks)? Overcast, but no wind, made for an easy walk at low tide. Temps in the low 60's. Life is good.

Another photo from Balboa Park

I'm playing around with some filters in Photoshop.  The watercolor filter brought out the beautiful colors in the background on this one.

watercolor filter used

Balboa Park photography outing

Met up with friend Terry for a photo morning. We visited the Botanical Building, Museum of Photographic Arts and a great lunch at a nearby restaurant. It's so great to be in San Diego. Thanks Terry! Here's my shot of the often-photographed Botanical Building.