Friday, June 01, 2012

June First

Wow, it really is June!  Already.
And it's Friday, the first one in the month.
Time for Friday Fave Five hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

Now that summer break has arrived, I am excitedly organizing my summer plans.  Trips to visit family, days off to play at the beach, books and more books to read, sweaters and more sweaters to knit. 
1. I began my fun filled week with a walk along the beach in Ventura where the wind surfers were out in the water taking advantage of the high winds.


The walk included this guy, Lord Surrey, my favorite pit bull puppy.


2. An advantage of having summer break is the freedom to take a day trip during the week.  On Tuesday, The Professor and I drove to Claremont (east of Los Angeles) to visit the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden (RSABG) which features native California flora.

Sometimes RSABG places scupltures in meadows and small gardens.  This summer there are BUGS.  Big bugs.


I kept thinking how delighted our little ones would be to see them.


The garden also features unusual native plants such as this boojum tree.


Manzanitas are not uncommon but their red bark is distinctive and truly stunning.


The garden is situated in the foothills of the San Gabrial Mountains which you can see in the background behind the Our Lady's Candles.


3. The following may not seem like a favorite event for the week.  What I value about it is The Professor's steady and calm actions when he discovered this guy behind our house after we returned from our excursion -- a young rattle snake about 14 inches long.  He was just basking in the early evening sun and seemed disinclined to move.  Since we couldn't get at any defensive or offensive weapons (like rakes and shovels) without risking disturbing him, we called 911 to contact animal control.  A fire truck arrived rather quickly and the five firemen expertly and carefully executed their duty to remove the snake.  That's my fave--prompt and serious removal.  Earlier in the spring, our local newspaper had published an article warning residents who live near the mountains (we do) to be aware that this has been a season of unusually high numbers of baby rattlers hatched (abundant rain two years ago=more baby rabbits last year=more mama rattlers hatching more babies this year).  As you can imagine, we have and will be very careful and cautious working in our garden from now on.


4. There are happy animals in my garden, too, such as this feral ginger cat who decided that my Iceberg rosebush was a delightful spot to grab a little nap as long as I kept my distance.


5. What flowers say 'Southern California Summer' to you?  In my garden, I know it's almost summer when the jasmine and the hibiscus are blooming. 


Note:  This week I discovered proof that people have been taking my photos and posting them on other websites.  I have been aware for a long time that this is a wide spread problem on the internet and I suspected that my photos were being 'appropriated'.  When I was checking my 'sitemeter' account, I followed some trails and found my photos on more than one site. My reason for mentioning this is to ask what you do if/when you find your pictures posted without any permission from you or credit given for your work?  I have a notice on my sidebar that all my photos are copyrighted but obviously that doesn't mean anything to people who take them and post them.  I would appreciate your thoughts/opinions/ideas/suggestions about what to do.

14 comments:

ellen b. said...

Fun to see those plants that we don't see up here. Oye about that rattlesnake. I'm glad the fire dept was prompt in removing it. I'm a lot more fond of baby ducks visiting...
I don't know what to tell you about the photo stealing.

Barbara H. said...

I'm glad the fire dept. took care of the snake -- I would never have thought of calling them for that but I am glad to know now that I can.

The flowers are so pretty!

I've never seen wind surfers in action but it looks like it would be so fun to watch.

The Botanical Garden excursion sounds really neat.

I don't know if anyone has copied my photos, but someone had copied my posts and used them for their own without any mention or attribution. I commented about it on her post but she removed the comments without taking any other action. I need to figure out what to do.

Susanne said...

Eek, scary about the rattlesnakes. We apparently have them around here but I've never seen one.

I have no idea what to do about stolen pictures, quotes or posts. You could email and tell them to remove them. Or maybe contact their host and let them know they are posting stolen things? Post their name on your blog as someone who has stolen your copywrited stuff?

Anonymous said...

Good thing that young rattle was basking in plain view, to bad the feral cat(s) aren't able to help keep them away.

That boojum tree is so strange looking!

No idea how to stop others from copying and posting as their own your material. Susanne has valid suggestions.

Brenda said...

So glad the firemen were able to quickly/efficiently remove that snake, that would be a fav of mine as well!

I love the smell of Jasmine in California- its different than the way it smells in tropical countries, but I have to say that roses are the flower I most closely associate with California, they seem to grow so well in the hot arid weather.

About the posting- I would go to the sites and leave a message politly requesting that they credit you when they "borrow" your photos.

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

Those are some mighty big bugs! And wow on the rattler....!

Mom24 said...

I'm so sorry people are stealing your photos. Unfortunately, I think I would "watermark" them with your blog name across the middle. I know that's inconvenient, but it seems a bit necessary.

I can not imagine living somewhere with rattlers, though your pictures are beautiful! I love the cat too. :)

Have a good week.

Laura@OutnumberedMom said...

What a great snapshot of Southern California! Love the photos...except the rattlesnake!

I'm not too savvy as to photos...but have you ever tried to put a watermark on your photos? (Willow's Cottage or something) That might deter people.

Have a great week!

nikkipolani said...

That botanical garden sounds like a fun place to visit! Must make a note of it for an interesting outing. Speaking of outing, I'm glad the baby rattler is out of your property and hopefully no more will be found.

I'm not sure there's a lot you can do when people appropriate/steal your photos. I used to watermark my photos, but it's a pain. On Wordpress, we have the option to have the search engines NOT index our site. This means if people are googling baby rattlers, they won't find your blog. I find the vast reduction in spam to be well worth the reduced traffic. And I think this also reduces stolen content/photos. I'm not sure if this helps, but I name very few of my photo files. I leave the camera image numbering to reduce search-ability.

Gattina said...

I prefer by far the pit bull puppy and the cute cat ! I first thought the grasshopper was a statue ! The picture is so sharp ! As I am retired for me it's always holdays, fortunately I have blogging otherwise I would get crazy !

snoopydogknits said...

Hello there! Love those big bugs and the fabulous Lord Surrey. He's a very fine fellow! Ros

Jerralea said...

I've been wondering how to watermark and/or copyright photos myself....

Reading your blog (and Anne's) makes me want to visit botanical gardens. I'm going to do a search to find some in my area.

Thank goodness your hubby was calm about the rattler. I would have been a nervous wreck!

Tracy said...

Enjoy yours summer break, Willow! :o) We're just back from our trip the US. Lovely to catch up here with you. ((HUGS))

Aqeela said...

The Boojum tree is amazing, and i love its name, ive never heard of it before! We only have common grass snakes in the wild in England but ive never seen one.
How do you find out that people are pinching your words or photos? I doubt any of mine is worth pinching but would love to know if any have.
Aqeela xx