Fragrant Rain 09/52

Fragrant Rain 09/52: Photo of a raindrops clinging to a climbing vine of flowers by Kristen Koster on Flickr.com

Fragrant Rain

We’ve been getting some much needed rain here in SoCal for the past several days. The intermittent downpours haven’t dampened the scent of these pretty little pink flowers that bloom right outside my kitchen window making it seem like we’ve had a quite fragrant rain come through. Usually a steady rain here makes everything smell either squeaky clean and fresh or it brings out the deep, rich, earthy smells. So this heavy floral scent is a noticeable change.

I’m not sure what kind of flowers these are exactly, but when you walk outside and the breeze blows the right way, you get hit with a wall of fragrance, even from 15-20 feet away. It’s a heady sweet scent to match their girly pink blooms. The fence that they’re growing on has been taken over by it and they’re threatening to consume the bird feeder hanging there as well.

Hopefully the rain will help rather than hinder (in the case of recent burns areas where they’re experiencing mudslides and flooding) in the long run. Of course, lots of spring rain generally leads to lots of underbrush growth that then dries up after 5-6 months of no rain and provides lots of tinder in the fall. Vicious cycle.

I also noticed I’ve been forgetting to put my EXIF info for my photos this year. I’ll try to go back and add them at some point, but in the meantime, you can click on the photo to go to Flickr’s site and click on the … icon and choose EXIF info to see which camera, exposure, aperture, focal length and ISO Speed is used in each shot. It’s something I should pay more attention to in the shots I feel work, but I’m usually much more appreciative of the serendipitous successes than ones that I try to manufacture.

Peekaboo Bird of Paradise 04/52

Photo of a Bird of Paradise plant peeking up from behind another bush by Kristen Koster on Flickr.com

Peekaboo Bird of Paradise

A bit more color from here in Sunny SoCal for those of you still gripping with cold temperatures and the occasional snowstorm. Spring is coming! Don’t lose faith!

I’ve always like these bird of paradise plants. They can always be counted on to bring a spot of color to the winter months here and the flower formation and even the leaves are interesting in the right light. What I didn’t realize before we actually had any in our own yard, was just how dirty they can also be. The dead brown flowers will rarely be mistaken for a bird of any kind. At least they don’t smell…

January has been a quick month and I haven’t found my way out of the yard yet. MUST work on that this year. I’ve been eyeing the neighbor’s tree, but that’ll be another flower so maybe it won’t count. I need to drive out to the dam one day and see if I can find something interesting there now that I’ve got this zoom lense. Unfortunately, the water won’t be spilling over like the last time we was out there.

Sunny So Cal 3/52

Photo of Palm Trees in late afternoon sun in Sunny So Cal by Kristen Koster on Flickr.com

Sunny So Cal

While the rest of the country has been dealing with temperatures well below normal, we’ve been having a heat wave here in Southern California. My car’s thermometer hit 90˚F on two separate days this week. Now, granted this was because the car had been sitting in the sun with the windows up, the temp never dipped below 86˚F either afternoon after opening it up and driving to school. It’s just not natural to have summer in January. We’re not in the southern hemisphere!

So why are we so hot? The Santa Ana winds have been blowing in off the desert to the east. We haven’t been getting any cool ocean breezes where we live — it’s a bit inland. But instead of having warnings about extremely low temperatures and worrying if we’ve left faucets to drip so they don’t freeze, we’ve been experiencing a different kind of anxiousness. You see, we’re experiencing a drought here in the desert (Yup, we pipe in all our water and irrigate the hell out of everything! Oh, and to ski, they draw up lake water and manufacture their own snow.) and with the winds and temperatures that high, the humidity in the single digits or low teens… we get put under a red flag warning. The means there’s a danger of wildfires. Luckily the few that started last week in the county were put out quickly, but it seems that one area closer to LA wasn’t as lucky.

Even in the middle of winter and usually when we’d be expecting a deluge of rain in about a month or so, we’re parched beneath those gorgeous sunny skies. Everywhere has its own problems. Just some insight into how paradise isn’t always what it appears to be. It looks like the winds have stopped now, but I’d send gladly ship out some of our heat if I could.

January Rose 1/52

Close up macro photo of a pink rose in full bloom in January by Kristen Koster on Flickr.com

January Rose

This particular rose is one of a dozen or so that stretch in a line along our hill behind the pool. Enjoying the California sunshine and very temperate winters (It was 85˚F two weeks ago!) they tend to bloom multiple times a year. Unfortunately, I have no idea what the names of any of the varieties are, so we just enjoy them as they bloom.

As you can see, I’m embarking on another photo journey and I’m determined to make it through the fall months for this Project 52 in 2014. One of my Christmas presents was a spare battery for my camera, so I can’t use that as an excuse for not picking it up and taking pictures. I’m going to try to post these on Sunday evenings.

Several friends and family members have been asking why I don’t submit anything for photography contests or anything. I’m not actively looking for feedback or external recognition. It’s a hobby, something I enjoy for the sake of doing, but I’m not interested in having it judged. And yes, I know, just posting it on the net offers it up for comment. But again, my choice to share them with you all. They won’t all be easy, pretty flowers, but I hope you enjoy the process as well.

Weekly Photos: 28-30 Bacon! Regency Gown! Waterfall!

Weekly Photo 28/52 for 2013: Pork Loin with Bacon Weave by Kristen Koster on FlickrSettings: Sony A33-SLT • 1/25 • ƒ/5.0 • ISO 1600 • 35 mm

Not quite a Bacon Explosion, but it’s still pretty tasty. Take one pound of bacon and lay out in a weave pattern. Take one pork loin and coat with dry rub of choice. Wrap and bake… um how long? HOW LONG?! Oh right.. I made it, I should know. I want to say it was 325˚F for about 90 minutes give or take. Fairly easily to do for an impressive presentation.


Weekly Photo 29/52 for 2013: Ella Quinn headed to Beau Monde Soiree by Kristen Koster on FlickrSettings: Apple iPhone 4S • 1/15 • ƒ/2.4 • ISO 500 • 4.3 mm

Two weeks ago I was in Atlanta for the RWA National convention. The Beau Monde chapter’s annual mini-conference and soiree is always held the day before and some of the ladies go all out in getting dressed up in period costumes for the dancing. Here’s the lovely Ella Quinn on her way to the party!


Weekly Photo 30/52 for 2013: Waterfall by Kristen Koster on FlickrSettings: Sony A33-SLT • 1/500 • ƒ/5.6 • ISO 250 • 300 mm

This waterfall is part of our pool. It runs the same time as the water slide. Love the play of light on running water and the sound is so soothing. Ok, this one roars between the two, but it’s still pretty!


I THINK this catches me up! Thanks for being patient and indulging me! I’ll have an interview up with Georgie Lee tomorrow, talking about the Regency and many other periods of history and her new Regency novella, HERO’S REDEMPTION.

Weekly Photo 26 & 27 / 52 for 2013: Grape Vines & Hummingbird

Weekly Photo 26/52 for 2013: Grape Arbor by Kristen Koster on FlickrSettings: Sony A33-SLT • 1/500 • ƒ/5.6 • ISO 320 • 300 mm

A consistent water source and some time have worked wonders for the grape vines we planted and trained on our arbor. The red grape vine is as tall, if not taller, then the white vine and they’re both reaching the top of the arbor. The reds are reaching for the nearby tree branches, so we’ll have to watch that. No grapes yet, but maybe we’ll get some next year!

 

Weekly Photo 27/52 for 2013: Hummingbird & Bird of Paradise by Kristen Koster on FlickrSettings: Sony A33-SLT • 1/500 • ƒ/5.6 • ISO 500 • 300 mm

We get hummingbirds close to year round here. They get a wide variety of flowers to choose from as the landscaping shifts throughout the ‘seasons’, so I haven’t been using the separate feeder this year. This way they get more natural food and we don’t get dive-bombed on the patio. This picture was taken out our kitchen window and I really didn’t do this little guy justice at all. The sun had caught the feathers on his head and throat just right and they gleamed a brilliant ruby, but I wasn’t quick enough and had the camera set too slow to catch it properly. Something to work on. I love their antics!

Bunny: Weekly Photo 25/52 for 2013

Weekly Photo 20/52 for 2013: Bunny by Kristen Koster on FlickrToday’s weekly photo post is another entry in the urban wildlife theme. Despite the dog, we still have plenty of rabbits around our yard. There seems to be a burrow underneath the rocks for the water slide by the pool. This little guy (or gal?) was sitting outside my kitchen window, having breakfast the other morning. Usually, I manage to scare them off with the click and whir of the shutter but this bunny wasn’t too disturbed by it.

Settings: Sony A33-SLT • 1/400 • ƒ/5.6 • ISO 1600 • 300 mm

Weekly Photo 23 & 24 / 52 for 2013: Anigozanthos & Photo Bomb

Weekly Photo 23/52 for 2013: Anigozanthos or Bush Nugget Kangaroo Paw by Kristen Koster on FlickrMy posts might not look like I’m keeping up with my weekly photo project, but I have been taking the pictures. Our daughter has been borrowing my camera and I’m often left with a dead battery when I want to upload my photos for the week and then I forget to go back and get the charged battery until I want to take more pictures the next week. This photo is of the plant right beneath my kitchen window. The Bush Nugget Kangaroo Paw sounds so exotic, doesn’t it? I also just found out besides the lavender and rosemary we have growing in the yard, we also have a bed of chamomile right there at the base of this plant too.

Weekly Photo 24/52 for 2013: Photo Bomb! by Kristen Koster on FlickrAs I said, our daughter has been on a photo shooting kick. This includes both taking them and posing for them in her various cosplay outfits. The last day of school she came up with an idea for a project she wanted to do this summer, and tried to fit it all in that afternoon. Well, at least the photo portion of it. The dog was quite amused by this and wondered why SHE wasn’t the star of the show as usual. Nothing like having the dog pull off a photo bomb, complete with the self-satisfied grin. She knew EXACTLY what she was doing.

Weekly Photo 21 & 22 / 52 for 2013: Agacanthus & Star of India

Weekly Photo 21/52 for 2013: Agacanthus by Kristen Koster on FlickrBeing sick doesn’t make it easier to stay on top of thing like my weekly photo posts. I feel like I’ve been sick since February, but it may really be last Thanksgiving. I’m tired of coughing and no, I didn’t really want to research consumption first hand or even anything remotely like it. That said, it’s been good to take short breaks outside and enjoy the sunshine. Our yard is a giant kaleidoscope of color and the wheel keeps turning through the seasons. These flowers seem a bit early this year, as I think of them as 4th of July flowers but that might just be their resemblance to fireworks.


Weekly Photo 22/52 for 2013: Star of India by Kristen Koster on Flickr
This weekend, DD and I went down to Seaport Village and spent the day there with some of her friends. I sat on the edge of the group, not really part of it, but available if needed, and did a bunch of brainstormy type things for my writing. I took my camera with me, but since we weren’t in the part I had thought we were going to, I didn’t really see much I wanted to capture. By the time we left, I was sunburned, tired and a bit cranky, but as we pulled around by the embarcadero, we passed the Star of India and got stuck at the light by it through two cycles. Yup! I pretended I was a tourist and whipped out my camera right there! At least there are some shots I can use with Regency Posts later on as well. =)

Weekly Photo 20/52 for 2013: Little Bird

Weekly Photo 20/52 for 2013: Little Bird by Kristen Koster on FlickrToday’s weekly photo post continues the urban wildlife theme. We have a variety of birds that visit our back yard. Humming birds, some little yellow songbirds, a pair of hawks and we can hear an owl nearby at night.

I’m not sure exactly what type this little guy is, but I think he may be a junco? The ones we have love sitting on things that poke up. Like the chairs, the sprinkler heads, the head for the half-barrel fountain. Sometimes they sit in nearby trees or on the roof lines. But this little guy was happily sitting on one of the patio chairs when the dog decided he was invading HER space and told him off in no uncertain terms.

Settings: Sony A33-SLT • 1/500 • ƒ/5.6 • ISO 1000 • 300 mm