Cal-Pac Annual Conference 2007

Another annual session of the California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church took place at the University of Redlands last week and I was once again blessed to be part of it. This year, it ran from Wednesday night to Sunday noon, a shorter time, but we got a lot done. It got up to 106 degrees one day but because I spent so much time in the freezing cold video room, I came home with a cold :-( That was the only downside to this year's experience for me, so once I get all the photos edited and my report written for tomorrow's worship services, I'll make the links.

Graduation Time

This past weekend was a time of celebrations and great times with old friends. We drove up to San Luis Obispo on Friday and enjoyed Julie's celebration dinner at the 1865 Restaurant. After dinner, we joined Julie, Gabe, and Jenn for drinks downtown. We then had the luxury of walking back just a couple of blocks to the Victorian house we were sharing with them and Julie's grandma. Commencement in the stadium was at 9 the next morning, followed by a smaller ceremony in the Rec Center for the Physical Science departments. Then lunch at Holly and Julie's house with more friends and family. Link to all the SLO pictures.

After we said our goodbyes to the Messers we started the slow drive down to Ventura. Between the Cal Poly and UCSB commencement ceremonies, all the beginning-of-summer-vacation travelers, and all the high school graduations between Ventura and SLO, it was a slow go up and down the 101. We finally got to the Francis's at 7:00; the Pattons left the 4:00 ceremony and got there at 9:00. It was party time again! More pictures from Kelly's BBQ.

Another Black (Gold)fish

I thought we had lost the black fish that appeared "out of nowhere" last year, but lately I've been noticing extra movement when I fed our goldfish. (Update: Doah! I very vaguely remember buying three or four "feeder fish" for a dollar and think the black fish was one of those.) I finally saw a black fish last week and yesterday I caught it with the camera, some shots quite by accident since this fish moves so quickly and is so easily camoflaged.

Red-tailed Hawk Gets a Snake Dinner

I've gotten to see some beautiful birds on my lunch breaks and our hikes around the Ormond Wetlands, but this has got to be one of the highpoints of my new birdwatching sightings! After eating my lunch in the parking lot, I walked down to the water and ran into a man who told me he had watched the hawk catch a snake so big the snake had wrapped around the bird's legs and body. He hadn't been sure who was going to win the battle, but by the time I discovered the hawk on my walk, it had bitten the snake's head off and was using its feet to stop the snake's body from continuing to move.From my vantage point of about twenty-five feet away, the hawk looked to be about 20"-24" tall. The Nikkor 55-200mm digital lens really did the job of catching the beauty and power of this bird! I got a few different shots as I walked by and as the bird took his meal to a couple of different places. Once it started skinning the snake, I went back to work and left the hawk to eat its meal.Click on the photos to enlarge them; click on the title to see my photo album.

May was the Month for Irises

Maybe it was the drought; maybe it was the extreme cold and hot this year, but irises of all kinds bloomed last month. Some of the re-blooming bearded irises that hadn't bloomed well the year or two before, really took off. Some of those had bloomed in the late fall and are beginning to show buds again!

The Dutch irises that I planted with the tulips at the end of 2006 bloomed and I'm fairly certain they'll come back next year like the ones in the front yard that bloomed a couple of months ago.
The water irises around the pond were the nicest surprise and I look forward to seeing them again next spring!
These are just a sample - go to the Kodak Gallery link by clicking on this posting's title to see more.