Arizona had an unusually cool and wet winter, and we are having quite a nice bloom of wildflowers. My wife and I went to Peridot Mesa, an old cinder cone on the San Carlos Apache reservation today to take photos:
https://cl.ly/019ee3e53e81
https://cl.ly/ed73b79d9e44
It was very windy, so I took advantage of it, and used my 14-stop ND filter to take a 2-minute exposure - my “Monet” shot:
Oh those are so beautiful!
Thank you!
I’m happy with the images I got, which is good, because the estimated 2.5 hour drive actually took over 3.5 hours each way, due to the traffic from the Renaissance Festival. It was a very long day, but the scenery was beautiful.
I was in Anza Borrego Thursday and the bloom is gong great down there.
Very nice.
Gorgeous photos, guys. We’re off to the Central Valley today and I hope to see a few wildflowers. There’ll be nothing like that sea of poppies and lupine, but maybe I’ll see enough to take a photo.
Daffodils are popping out all around the county here, and my forsythia are starting to bloom. I’ll believe it’s spring when it’s above freezing for several mornings in a row…
Anza Borrego has been on my wildflower to-do list for a long time. It’s too far from me to be spontaneous, though.
A few more.
Something out of Dr. Seuss: DSC_5348
Still snow on the mountains: https://cl.ly/52e29f70043d
There is not one decent YouTube clip of Bugs Bunny singing, “April Showers,” so I’ll have to sing it myself.
Ahem
Mi, mi , mi…
When April show-uhs may come-a your waaaaaaay, they bring-a the flow-uhs that-a bloom in-a Maaaaaaay… .
How’s that?
So that’s what Peridot Mesa looks like in the springtime, eh? As Liz Lemon would say, “I want to go to there!” 
I noticed some red-yellow tulips starting to bloom next to the front walk yesterday.
Um, I don’t remember planting those …
Around here it’s borderline if tulips get enough cold to get blooms off of them. We had some good cold snaps this winter. So maybe they’ve been around a long time and this was a good winter for them. But then I would have at least noticed the leaves. Not much planted there and tulip leaves are easy to spot.
Hmm.
Anyway, daffodils done. Hyacinths nearly so. Forsythia going well. Early flowering trees are fading. Summer’s almost here. 
The flowers that bloom in the Spring, tra-la,
Have nothing to do with the case.
The tub water lily is beginning to grow leaves.
Beautiful pics, beowulff!
StG
Yeah, those are some stunning photos, beowulff.
Did everyone hear about Lake Elsinore?
Here is the website I use, which probably contributes to these flash crowds.
One thing you can’t see in all those SoCal flower pictures are the millions of painted lady butterflies flying everywhere.
I’ve seen swarms like this before but it’s always amazing to see a constant stream of them that seems to go on and on no matter where you look.