Haven't seen this for a while!

Nope, not snow like this!  I took these photos in February of 2011, on one of my 3 day weekends.  We haven't seen this much snow in our local mountains, believe me, since then...sigh...and I don't think we're going to see it this year...I found these on one of the hard drives.  I'm still looking for photos from Palm Canyon, but we have 3 hard drives and I haven't found them yet...Anyway, enjoy the snow from Deep Canyon, February 2011!~  :-)  ALL of these photos were taken with my Nikon D40x.

Arches & shadows at mission San Juan Capistrano~Shadow Shot Sunday~122913

I love the late afternoon shadows at mission San Juan Capistrano, especially in winter.  We were there over the Thanksgiving break and strolled the grounds.  Shadow Shot Sunday for December 29, 2013.  To visit SSS, please go to:  http://shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com/

Sunlight and a tree~SkyWatch Friday~122713

Morning sun behind a pine tree up in Idyllwild last weekend.  SkyWatch Friday for December 27, 2013.  To visit SWF, please go to:   http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Favorite gate~Friday's Fences~122713

This is absolutely my favorite gate.  It's up in Idyllwild, CA, down the street from the cabin where we stay.  It's only an hour from our home, so we try to get up to Idyllwild whenever we can.  Friday's Fences for December 27, 2013.  To visit Friday's Fences, please go to:   http://lifeaccordingtojanandjer.blogspot.com/

An unexpected Christmas present

We're actually doing our Christmas present exchange on New Year's Day because our daughter and her family are up in Northern California and won't be back until then...We did, however, have Christmas dinner with our son and his family yesterday.  Or rather, they all did...I had...FOOD POISONING!  Yes!  Can you believe it?  We had a wonderful breakfast of bacon, French toast, and potatoes, then sat down to watch either Homeland or The Newsroom (I ran back and forth between the two shows, since I've seen all of both of them...) I made a green smoothie in the afternoon~almond milk, organic carrot juice, Green Goddess juice, fresh cilantro, fresh parsley, some ginger, and a protein mix....Hmmmm.....SOMETHING in there was contaminated (I'm thinking either the cilantro or the parsley)...So, about 2 hours later...well, you know the story...I was in pain, shaking, vomiting, clammy...And, this went on regularly for another 2 hours.  Needless to say, I missed out on the dinner.  Hubby and I ended up spending the night at our son's house, but I am fine this morning (THANK GOODNESS!)...Our dogs missed us and I'm getting an earful from Abby, our indoor cat!

Tree bark~Shadow Shot Sunday~122213

I wonder what stories this old tree could tell?  I saw it last weekend, when we were up at the Whitewater Preserve.  Posting this for Shadow Shot Sunday, 122213.  To visit Shadow Shot Sunday, please go to:   http://shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com/

Ranch, fence, and clouds~SkyWatch Friday ~122013

I often see more clouds up at the horse ranch, since it is at 4,000 feet and therefore 3,800 feet higher than our desert home.  And, on this morning, the clouds were swirling.  The neighbor has an apple farm, and that's his barbed wire fence.  They probably got snow last night, since the forecast was for snow down to about 3,500 feet, so I'll have to email the ranch owner and ask her if they did.  It's still too dark to even go outside yet this morning, but I'll take my camera with me today and hopefully get some new photos of our mountains and their snow!  SWF  for December 20, 2013...last day of school before WINTER BREAK!!! :-)  To visit SkyWatch Friday, please go to:   http://skyley.blogspot.com/