Pitcher Plants

More photos from the Huntington Botanical Garden:

This time it is the carnivous pitcher plant. We had seen many pictures and photos of the pitcher plant, but to see it up close with our own eyes is a completely different experience. It looks so harmless and beautiful, but so deadly to an insect!











The pitcher plant on the left is known as the speckled pitcher plant (of the Nepenthes or Old World genus) while the one on the right is known as North American pitcher plant (of the Sarracenia or New World genus). We didn't even know the difference until we did the research on this!

Bum or Palm?

Is this a bum (butt) or a palm fruit? You decide.

Lonely bench

There are numerous such secluded spots all over the Huntington Botanical Garden where you can sit and enjoy nature or the view.

Elmo Wanna-Be

We stumbled upon this "Elmo Wanna-be" hairy cactus on the side of the residential road next to the trash dumpster. It's interesting how the owner decided to use his old (we're assuming he doesn't want it anymore) glasses to dress up his cactus.





Ah, another Only-in-LA for sure!

Water Lily

Closeup of a water lily taken at the Huntington Library's Japanese Garden in San Marino, CA.

The Huntington Library, Art Collection and Botanical Gardens has one of the most extensive botanical collections in the world, with nearly 120 acres and 15,000 kinds of plants from all over the world.

Facade - City of San Gabriel series

This is how the front facade of the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium looks like.

... and this is the final in the City of San Gabriel series... we promise!

Bell Tower - City of San Gabriel series

This is taken in front the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium.

Ceiling - City of San Gabriel series

The ceiling of the grand entrance to the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium made us think of architectures in Istanbul (Seda, do you not agree?)

Fountain - City of San Gabriel series

This is taken in front of the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium.

Arches - City of San Gabriel series

These arches are the backside of the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium.

Organic Vegetables

After visiting the Tanaka Farms yesterday, we visited the organic store at the Farm and took photos of some of the variety of organic vegetables being grown there, too.

There're onions, carrots, purple cauliflowers, white cauliflowers and yellow/orange cauliflowers.

Strawberry Season!

We went strawberry picking today at the Tanaka Farms, an organic farm in Irvine, about an hour's drive south of Los Angeles (technically, it's Orange County, not Los Angeles County anymore). We took on the Strawberry Tour at the farm where two wagons filled with city slickers are pulled by a old Ford tractor for an hour around the 30-acre farm. Now, what's so extraordinary is that Irvine is technically still the city, not the suburbs or the rurals.

We were so busy eating the strawberries at the farm that we forgot to take photos of the rows of strawberries! The photos at the top are from before we embarked on the tractor tour (when we're waiting to board the tour!)

Stuffed

We saw a couple of kids playing with these three stuffed animals and stuffing them into the lanterns-home in the garden section of Kohl's and asked if we could take a photo of their "creations".

Hidden Garden

We were able to sneak into one of our neighbors' garden to snap this photo. We just love the way she puts all the different flowers together.

StormWatch LA!

There was a storm coming into LA a few weeks ago and the sky turns dark almost immediately. So, we can't resist taking this photo of the sky.

When we look closer at the photo, we discovered we also captured the silhouette of a plane coming through the dark clouds on the middle right of the photo (click on the photo on the left for the 2812x2112 pixels version to see if you can spot the plane).

New Newspaper Ads

We took this photo because we notice there was a different "ads" on the side of this newspaper stand (make sure to click on the photo so you can see the "ads" more clearly). It says: "CHARLENE Please call Mark" with a phone #.

Our minds started wondering if Charlene was the girlfriend of Mark, if there was a fight or quarrel, if Mark is trying to get Charlene back?

Or, is it a Hollywood movie-style of romance? Charlene and Mark had a great time around here. Mark never got Charlene's phone # (or lose her phone #) and he can't get her out of his mind, and out of desperation, this is the only way to see if he will be able to contact him again...

Or maybe this is just an ad for something else...

We'll never know...

Decorative Agave

This Agave Attenuata (see, we did our research this time!) is another popular LA garden decoration. In fact, this was taken in our neighborhood!

Door to door

This is very unusual to see a front gate so close to the front door in L.A. because here in L.A. we like our gates open to a winding driveway to our front door. God forbids if we have to -gulp!- walk to our gate!

Moon Over LA: The Beginning

Per suggestion from Sally from Sydney, we tried to figure out how to do a prequel (a la Hollywood) to our Moon Over LA series (I and II).

So, here's the tagline for Moon Over LA: The Beginning:
Before the moon became the moon...
Before it started shining in the dusk...
The stadium lights from nearby high school shines through in the twilight of the day...

Life & Death of A Tree

San Fernando Mission Part Tres

San Fernando Mission Part Dos

San Fernando Mission

Close-up Series 3/3

As much as we love this photo (make sure you click on it to see the 1024pixel version of it), it is nothing compared to Brookville's version (Hope you don't mind us link your Bee photos, Abe) .

As we look closer at the photo while editing it, we noticed the yellow pollen all over the abomen of the bee. Pollination as nature intended!

Close-up Series 2/3

Per request from Jilly, we have uploaded the original 2112x2816 photo for y'all to click on for the 1024-pixel version.

Enjoy!

Close-up Series 1/3

We finally figured out how to use the macro option on our Sony T9!

So bear with us while we play Brookville's wannabe, the great Abe Lincoln with these series of close-ups!

Oh, and make sure to click on the photo for the 1024-pixel version.

It's a Dog's Life

Only in America, a dog gets to be chauffeured in a hybrid car!

We took this photo at a traffic light and noticed the chauffeured dog chillin' out.

Secluded view

A very secluded spot for this owner of L.A. house and yet has a nice view if he/she looks out that window.

31-cent Ice-cream Scoops

May 2nd is Baskin-Robbins' 31-cent Scoop Night in honor of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation from 5pm to 10pm. So we went to the nearest Baskin Robbins around 6:45pm and this is the line we encountered.

The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (their website is www.firehero.org) remembers America's fallen heroes and assists their families.

Baskin-Robbins will donation $100,000 to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Kudos goes to Baskin-Robbins for supporting such a worthy cause.

*** There! That's our public service announcement for the day! ***

Birds of Paradise

We know a lot of people probably had posted photos of Birds of Paradise, but they are so unique that it's worth another post!

Theme Photo: City Exchange

The roof of this shopping center reminds us of buildings in Asia.

This is taken in Monterey Park where there is such a huge population of Asians, that during the 2000 census, Monterey Park and a bunch of neighboring cities around Monterey Park had Asians as the majority population group.

Monterey Park, by the way, is still part of the Los Angeles metropolitan; hence technically still LA!


Here are the other 81 cities participating in this months theme photo: Monte Carlo, Monaco - Rome, Italy - Singapore, Singapore - Tenerife, Spain - Rotterdam, Netherlands - London, UK - Montréal (QC), Canada - Melbourne, Australia - Naples (FL), USA - Bastia, France - Hong Kong, China - Mazatlan, Mexico - Buenos Aeres, Argentina - Manila, Philippines - Arradon, France - Madison (WI), USA - Evry, France - Seoul, Korea - Shanghai, China - Bucaramanga (Santander), Colombia - Sequim (WA), USA - Singapore, Singapore - Budapest, Hungary - Baziège, France - Hamburg, Germany - Toruń, Poland - Nelson, New Zealand - Madison (WI), USA - Vantaa, Finland - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Mainz, Germany - Dubai, UAE - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Cork, Ireland - Stockholm, Sweden - Menton, France - Tel Aviv, Israel - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Kitakami, Japan - Stayton (OR), USA - Szentes, Hungary - Stavanger, Norway - Grenoble, France - Villigen, Switzerland - Paris, France - Hyde, UK - Moscow, Russia - Joplin (MO), USA - Jakarta, Indonesia - Greenville (SC), USA - Cape Town, South Africa - Asheville (NC), USA - Seattle (WA), USA - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Madrid, Spain - Auckland, New Zealand - Oulu, Finland - Lubbock (TX), USA - Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina - Baton Rouge (LA), USA - Sydney, Australia - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Vancouver, Canada - Seattle (WA), USA - Selma (AL), USA - Chandler (AZ), USA - Sharon (CT), USA - Manila, Philippines - Lyon, France - New York City (NY), USA - Los Angeles (CA), USA - Brookville (OH), USA - Hayle, UK - Wailea (HI), USA - Saarbrücken, Germany - San Diego (CA), USA - Boston (MA), USA - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - Anderson (SC), USA - Torino, Italy