The finished product! Late in the evening the flowers opened to their full glory, beckoning photographers and pollinators alike.
California
The Cactus Egg
Shortly before opening completely, the flower goes onto what I call the Fabergé Egg phase, resembling the famous designer eggs with little scenes inside seen through a peephole. The delicate interior of this egg harbors the pistils and stamens that enable night-flying pollinators to cross-pollinate the flowers.
More Cactus Flowers
Remember the little alien-looking eyestalks on the picture I shot of the backyard cactus I posted in my article Cactus Flower Season? Well, tonight the little stalks have extended themselves into buds that soon will produce beautiful, delicate and fragrant cactus flowers. These are a type of night-blooming cereus and attract nocturnal pollinators. The next stage of the bloom for these will resemble a Fabergé Egg. I’ll have those out to you tomorrow! Things happen fast in the world of these gorgeous flowers — almost hour by hour.
Angelides’ Deception of the Day
In the campaign already underway for the California Governorship, both sides are cranking up the rhetoric. Phil Angelides recently criticized Governor Schwarzenegger’s performance with regard to education in the state. The Governor’s camp produced this in response:
Fresno schools Superintendent Dr. Peter Mehas issued the following statement:
“As an educator of 44 years, I am disappointed that Phil Angelides continues to bring his negativity and pessimism to one of the most important issues to Californians — education funding.
“Like a typical politician, he is distorting the facts by using data from 2003 to talk about our schools. Angelides ignores that Governor Schwarzenegger has put unprecedented amounts of funding towards educating our students. Two years in a row he raised per-pupil funding, bringing it to over $11,000, which is more than $1,400 higher than just two years ago. Governor Schwarzenegger is fully funding our schools, while Phil Angelides offers no real plan — just his promises for higher taxes.”
Dr. Peter G. Mehas is the Superintendent of the Fresno County Office of Education.
Image: Phil Angelides using deceptive data
(note: image was not a part of the Schwarzenegger release.)
Strawberries
Now is the time of year that our backyard starts producing fruit and veggies, most of which reach our table one way or another. Among the beans, peas, squash and melons, none are more colorful as they ripen on their vines as the strawberries. They look so tempting that sometimes I’ll wash one and split it with the Cap’n right in the garden! This one was particularly sweet and delicious.
Squirrel at La Purisima Mission
One of the more charming landmarks along El Camino Real in California is the La Purisima Mission near Lompoc. The ambience in the mission is set by docents dressed in the attire and playing roles as though the original occupants were still there. On our last visit, we snapped this picture of a squirrel on a low tree limb in the picnic ground. We liked the composition and lighting of this picture very much. Click the image for a larger view.
More about the mission itself:
Misión La PurÃsima Concepción De MarÃa SantÃsima (Mission of the Immaculate Conception of Most Holy Mary) was founded by Father Presidente Fermin de Lasuén on December 8, 1787 and was the 11th of 21 Franciscan Missions in California. During the Mission’s early years, several thousand Chumash Indians were baptized into the Catholic Church; over 100 large and small adobe buildings were built; a water system developed; crops and livestock raised and La Purisima grew and prospered.
A Good Start for 2006
Yesterday, California held it’s primary elections. Of interest to us, locally, was the race pitting our over-developing mayor and city council against challengers who ran on a “less-development and fix the infrastructure first” platform. Damsel and I often noted the outrageous development and resulting load to the streets, sewers and other services in the city. Today, we have a new mayor and two new members on the council, displacing cronies of, and the soon-to-be former mayor.
Also of interest to us, were two propositions on the statewide ballot; one under the guise of “Reading and Literacy Improvement and Public Library Construction and Renovation,” and the other would place 4-year old children in “free” pre-schools for a year. Both would unnecessarily fleece taxpayers for progressive/socialist purposes. In other words, pump more money into failed educational systems and increase debt. Fortunately, both went down to defeat.
There was also a national interest in the results of Congressional District 50 to the south of us; the district vacated by “Duke” Cunningham when he admitted to bribes. Republican Brian Bilbray emerged victorious after a costly and contentious special election race against Democrat Francine Busby, a local school board member. That’s a good thing since the Democrats would have been given a net gain had this woman been elected. And who knows what momentum it may have stirred up for them.
All in all, we were satisfied with most of the election results, and look forward to re-electing Arnold as governor and electing Tom McClintock as lieutenant governor in November.