Photography, Cats, Life

Lounging Summer Cats, Dandelions, Tiny Bees, and the Joy of Mountain Biking

A week, or so, in photos

The dandelions are blowing in the wind. The cats are lounging on the balcony, or else on the flagstones in the garden, where it is a little cooler. And the summer flowers are bobbing on the breeze, along with several varieties of bees and butterflies.

Summer, in Southern California, is a nice time of year, if you don’t count these tiny little mosquitos which have migrated up from Mexico in the last couple of years. I’ve read that their arrival is an effect of global warming. I’ve had to drop my title as “she who never gets a mosquito bite,” because these little guys get everybody! As a result, we have gone into full-scale mosquito avoidance mode around here, and I have a new sense of compassion for my husband who seems to be the direct target for any sort of mosquito.

But, aside from the mosquitos, it’s been a lovely summer so far.

My husband went to a Dodger’s game (which turned out to be a weird immersion into a mostly un-masked sports arena) one night last week, and, while he was gone, I had a twilight poetry-writing jam session in the garden.

This miniscule bee shows up every summer and seems to live most of its life in close proximity to this flower. I parked myself on the garden bench where I could watch these little ones and pondered what the flower might look like to a bee and vice versa. Here’s the poem which resulted: Do You Have to Name it to Know it? The Bee’s Knees, along with a few more, yet to be published poems, were also the result of the muse’s visit that night.

The succulents all seem to bloom at slightly different times during the summer. This one is from a spiky “cholla-like” variety. I’m having a lot of fun using my two macro lenses (a 105 mm and a 50 mm) with my Nikon z7II.

My kitties are all rescues. But they all have a little bit of Maine Coon in them — which means they have a LOT of fur. They love lounging in the garden, but they get a little overheated and have to come inside for their afternoon naps. Here is little Freyja, basking in the warmth of the late afternoon.

And this is Miss Uma Zooma Angelwings. She got that name because she has these white “wings” of “underfur” that pop out when she plays.

Emerson is Uma’s brother. His summer tactic to keep cool is to post up on the bottom shelf of a little table on a second-story balcony (right off of my office — so he can keep his eye on me).

From Emerson’s lounging area, he can also watch the hummingbird feeders (hung out of his reach).

The Coneflowers are so lovely this time of year.

I’ve been mountain biking a lot this summer. This is the view from Horseshoe Loop, one of my daily rides. You can see how dry California is right now. I’ve been happy to see that the dried mustard and other vegetation has been cleared out in several areas near the neighborhoods.

There’s a particular corner on the trail where my tires always get stuck in the sand, which is so deep there that it acts like quicksand. But, I chanced to look up from there the other day and saw these pretty berries (shot with my iPhone 12 Pro Max).

My husband and I have a “date day” on Sundays. We normally bring the bikes down to El Moro Canyon, where we can hop onto an assortment of trails, some of which feel “air conditioned” because of the ocean breeze wafting through the canyons. This is Laguna Beach, behind me, in the photo below.

I hope that you all had lovely weeks. As always, I thank you Dennett for creating this SNAPSHOTS “week in photos” challenge. It’s so fun to share about the week and to read about so many other photographers’ weeks around the world.

You might want to check out a few of the others who participate:

Dennett Anne Bonfert Eileen Vorbach Lisa Bolin Tracy Aston David Wade Chambers Mia Verita Kim Zuch Barbara Radisavljevic LensAfield Barbara Dalton Sasha Meyer Susan Alison Diana Lotti Barbara Dalton K. Barrett June Nguyen Juan O. Aguilera and more…

Erika Burkhalter is a yogi, neurophilosopher, cat-mom, photographer, and lover of travel and nature, spreading her love and amazement for Mother Earth’s glories, one photo, poem or story at a time. (MS Neuropsychology, MA Yoga Studies).

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Photos and story ©Erika Burkhalter.