Author Archives for matthiasleue

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Manzanita

The fresh growth of the new spring leaves is always a joy to see, especially in contrast to the dark bark of the manzanita (little apple). Some Native Americans still gather the berries for food. The shrub’s leaves and berries are also used in teas/ or as tinctures to treat poison oak rash.

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Delicate sage blossom

This is a sage blossom that just opened up after another spring shower. I love to rub the plant’s leaves between my fingers and smell the sage when I walk by on a daily walk. My cat Calvin occasionally sniffs the plant leaves at cat level too, but his interest lies more towards the direction of scurrying local wildlife.

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California’s Valley Oaks: Seasonal Contrasts

A California winter and early spring spring sight, the striking dark black limbs of the valley oaks always make for interesting photographic subject matter. Their twisted framework of branches provide a stark contrast to the sky behind them. Then with the first warm sunny days they miraculously transform into opulent trees with lush bright green foliage completely hiding the framework of the branches. Shade for summer picnics under their huge canopies follows.

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A Day at the Orchid Show: Colorful Displays and New Discoveries

I have always been fond of orchids, so when I saw about half a dozen hand-lettered signs spaced out at various intervals next to the main road advertising an orchid show last weekend, it didn’t take much convincing to plan to attend.

I picked up a neighbor who is also fond of orchids and we drove over to the show on Saturday morning. Although medium in size in terms of an exhibit, there were spectacular orchids in all colors, shapes, and varieties. A carpenter had even built special wooden exhibit stands for some of them. These prize winning orchids were an orchid lover’s dream and a joy to photograph as well.

Later, as I was perusing the sale portion room of the exhibit a man walked in and asked us to check our numbers on our entry tickets, and lo and behold I saw that I was the proud winner, picking out a beautiful dendrobium orchid. I have seldom won anything so there was much excitement on my behalf.

Dendrobium orchids have a profusion of flowers but lose some of their leaves in winter I learned when reading up about them later. I have only had phalaenopsis orchids until now, so the dendrobium orchid was new to me. Cradling my new treasure I headed home with a big smile on my face.

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Illuminating

Even a blind chicken finds a kernel once in a while I chuckle to myself as I open my photos folder. I thought I had been holding my iPhone steady to photograph a string of Christmas lights, but I guess not! I wonder if I could pass this off as the Northern Lights, hehehe.