Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

White Epiphyllum “Cactus Orchid” Flower

white-epiphyllum.jpgThe timing for travel to the California house was just perfect for us to enjoy the blooming of the white epiphyllum flower in the planter on the side of the house. I went out of the gate near the flowerbed and took this image of the flower this afternoon. By tomorrow, the flower will have wilted and the plant it grows on will go dormant until about the same time next June.

Image: White epiphyllum flower. Click on the image to enlarge.

We went the Botanic Garden a couple of years ago to a showing of epiphyllum flowering plants and were astounded by the many, many varieties and hybrids. There are virtually all colors of the rainbow. There were hundreds of flowers at the show and all quite beautiful.

21 Jun 2012 by California Flowers Home & Garden Photography

Golden Poppy

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This poppy was growing out of a crack in the patio sidewalk of the California house. No kidding! Just before we left here in April, Bob sprayed Roundup® all over the backyard to kill the weeds that grow out there. Somehow, the poppy seeds managed to find the cracks in the sidewalk where this pretty flower is growing today. There are several places where poppies are growing, literally, like weeds, out of the cracks. Click on the image to enlarge.

20 Jun 2012 by California Flowers Home & Garden Photography

Tiny Flower

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The cactus that produced this tiny half-inch flower last year has three new flowers about to open. Since we may not be here to take pictures of them when the flowers open, I’m posting the one from last year. Click on the image to enlarge.

18 Jun 2012 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden Photography

Javelina Crossing

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I guess that the javelina knew that we posted a crossing sign (see inset). Late yesterday afternoon at around six PM, the dogs started frantically barking. It turned out that they saw a herd of javelina crossing through our back yard. I ran to get my camera and caught this image of the last of them up on the hill. There were two females, four juveniles and this must be the daddy “cactus rat.”

17 Jun 2012 by Arizona Critters Photography

Sunspot AR1504

spot1504.jpgI made my daily stop at spaceweather.com where they profiled a giant sunspot (AR1504) region that might be capable of producing solar flares. I grabbed the camera and the solar filter and proceeded out to the courtyard to take this photo of the sun. Each spot visible on the solar surface is two or more Earth diameters in width.

Image: Sunspot region AR 1504. Click image to enlarge.

The article talks about a ‘beta-gamma-delta’ magnetic field that harbors energy for strong solar flares. Since the huge sunspot complex is directly facing Earth, there may be atmospheric fireworks resulting in auroras and possible interference or disruption of power grids.

We know that the current solar cycle is quite a bit less intense than the last one, but we might wonder if some of these regions might also contribute to our planet’s climate as they have done in the past.

16 Jun 2012 by Astronomy Environment

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