One Last Look at Our 2007 Tulips

(Click on the pictures and you'll see the larger originals.)
April was definitely the height of the tulip season this year - much later than usual. Probably due to the drought since we only got four inches of rain and a couple of heat waves and freezes in January and February. Strange weather everywhere; let's hope it doesn't happen again next year. Here are a few more of our tulips, but for a better look at all of the tulips, take a look at our Kodak Gallery albums and some of my You Tube videos.

Snowy Plovers on South Ormond Beach

Tom and I hiked around the beach and got to see lots of birds on Saturday. We hoped to see snowy plovers again and got our wish - we even got to see a baby! (Click on the pictures below to enlarge them and you'll see it.)(Lucky for us the birds don't stay within the fences!) Click on the title of this post to see more pictures of what we saw. Besides the snowy plovers, we got to see other birds and even saw dolphins swimming by - we really do live in a fabulous area!

Late April Tulips

Burgandy Lace, to be exact. These bulbs were planted at the end of 1999 and have naturalized nicely - not the usual thing in SoCal! Take a look at the flowers and us over the years (with one exception, you can look at the bigger versions by clicking on them) . . .

2000, the first year:

2001, year 2:

2003, year 4:

2005, year 5
(Interesting to see that the group in the corner began to turn into Rembrandt-style tulips. Tom thinks I planted the varigated hybrids but I don't remember planting anything else in that spot.)
2006, year 6:

2007, Year 7. Last but not least, these were taken on April 26th of this year, at the end of Sam's visit:
(Will the group in the front be red again by 2008? Stay tuned!)

A New Camera!

Eek, has it really been over a month since I last updated this blog? Wow, time flies when you're having fun and keeping busy! We have been talking about buying a replacement for our malfunctioning 35mm Pentax SLR for a long time - we had both been saving for and researching digital SLRs. So last Friday, while I was down in Pasadena, I visited Samy's Camera and bought a Nikon D40 digital SLR and an extra zoom (85-200mm) lens. I decided to go for the lighter weight and not worry about a huge amount of megapixals - 6.2 MP is plenty for the definition we need. This is a great camera - works just like a "real", old-school camera and the lenses are wonderful. It weighs so much less than the old Pentax film camera; the body weights just over a pound. Here's a picture of the Pentax next to our Nikon boxes.These were the first photos I took with the new camera; great for indoor shots without a flash!These pictures were taken by Tom with his digital 5.0 MP automatic Polaroid (bought for $79 at Target!)

2007 Ventura CROP Hunger Walk

The 27th annual CROP Walk happened on a later date than usual. It happened because of scheduling conflicts with the church but later, after Daylight Saving Time had begun, turned out to be very nice. We had registration, stretching, and the pre-walk program in Trotter Hall. The runners left on Coach Burns' starter pistol shot, and the walkers left to the rhythm of Joe's drum . . .

Upon their return, the runners and walkers were welcomed back by Bruce. Refreshments and music were waiting for them in the patio!

Still photos can be seen by clicking here.