. . . to see these beautiful Winchester 9x19mm Luger Parabellum rounds. Parabellum is from an ancient Latin credo – “Si vis pacem, para bellum.” Translated, it means “if you seek peace, prepare for war.”
Verna took this artistic photo last weekend when we were doing gun maintenance after our weekly target practice. I use the big version for a computer background picture.
Last summer when we visited the Petrified Forest, we saw an artist’s conception of the primordial swamp that existed over 225 million years ago in this now high desert plateau. The petrified and fragmented remains of those ancient trees can be seen throughout a large part of the park.
When we went to the Botanic Garden’s lake area last Saturday, I took this picture of what looked like that swamp picture. The only thing missing is supercrocs in the lake, oviraptor dinosaurs scurrying about and pterodons soaring overhead. Click the image to see the big picture.
All the years that I have been in California, it was not until last weekend that I saw a red dragonfly. In fact, there were red dragonflies in abundance, around the lake at the South Coast Botanic Gardens. This is one of those infrequent occasions where I got an outstanding picture (Verna is the queen of artistic photos in our family).
I did some research and found out that this is a Ruby Meadowhawk, a variety of the suborder Anistoptera (Dragonfly). This is an excerpt from the WikiPedia page on Dragonflies:
Dragonflies typically eat mosquitoes, midges and other small insects like flies, bees, and butterflies. They are usually found around lakes, ponds, streams, and wetlands because their larvae, known as “nymphs”, are aquatic. Dragonflies do not normally bite or sting humans (though they will bite in order to escape, for example, if grasped by the abdomen); in fact, they are valued as a predator that helps control the populations of harmful insects, such as mosquitoes. It is because of this that dragonflies are sometimes called “mosquito hawks.”
I saw this orange cymbidium orchid at the Botanic Gardens plant sale on Saturday, and thought it was very nice. Since it was one of the first things to be seen inside the courtyard as we entered the show and sale, I put it aside and we went to look at the rest of the exhibits in the courtyard and showroom.
After cruising the exhibits a bit, Verna bought an interesting succulent for the front flowerbed (more on that later). We went out into the garden area and took a very long walk through the volunteer garden, past the cactus patch and all the way to the lake (more on that later as well).
On our way back from the lake, I couldn’t stop thinking about the orange cymbidium, and so I decided to buy it. It already has the beautiful flowers shown, and numerous stalks and pods that promise that we should have more of these in a while. Verna took this picture after we got it home and in the patio. Click for the full sized view.
One very nice feature at the Botanic Garden is the Rose Garden. This is a panoramic view of the garden taken from the north entrance to the garden. Click to see it full-sized.
Just a few steps away from the orchid show we went to over the weekend, is the botanic gardens. One of our favorite sections is the cactus and succulent garden. You will find many strange and beautiful varieties such as this beautifully symmetrical member of the agavaceae family, which is closely related to yucca, aloe and agave. Click on the image below for the larger version.
