Blog Archives
Friday Flower Fiesta (June 22, 2012)
A selection of ten flower pictures from my roamings throughout San Diego County this past week.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I can recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Friday Flower Fiesta #18 — Coronado for Memorial Day
I had a very busy week and almost didn’t get out and about to get some flower pictures for our Friday Flower Fiesta. Have no fear, though. I did.
Memorial Day weekend is when I celebrate one of my anniversaries. I have four:
-
May 26, 1994 — The day we met
-
July 1, 1995 — The day we started shacking up together
-
July 31, 2004 — The day we got civil unionized
-
October 30, 2008 — The day we got married (we did it in California because marriage was legal at the time)
I’m very much a romantic, although Jim would way a devious romantic. I have a full weekend of activities planned for our 18th anniversary of meeting.
We started our anniversary weekend with a great meal at Costa Azul on Coronado Island, home to Coronado Beach, named today as the #1 beach in America. I chose Coronado because the Island is always full of beautiful flowers, flowers that love the cooler temperatures and higher humidity that we don’t have on the mainland.
Without further addoo (that’s Texan for adiuex), today’s Friday Flower Fiesta:
Picture 1 – Aloe
Picture 2 – Lily of the Nile bud
Picture 3 – Lily of the Nile
Picture 4 – Lily of the Nile
Picture 5 – Canna lily
Picture 6 – Unknown
Picture 7 – Biggest, baddest Jacaranda I’ve ever seen
Picture 8 – Rose
Picture 9 – Canna lily
Picture 10 – Hollyhock
Picture 11 – Rose
Picture 12 – Hibiscus
Picture 13 – Hibiscus
Picture 14 – Bird of Paradise
Pictures 12 & 13 of the hibiscus is the most unusual stigma and style that I’ve ever seen on a hibiscus.
Flower parts courtesy of Wikipedia
Folks who have been following me for a while know that I’ve been on a quest for 34 years to find the perfect Bird of Paradise (Picture 14). That’s not it. Probably #3 in my collection. I like it a lot because the background is water. Rarely do I find a Bird of Paradise growing so close to the water that some of the blossoms are hanging over the water.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County? I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor with Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re just looking for a home inspector,
I can highly recommend Russel Ray; that’s me!
Friday Flower Fiesta — #12 (April 13, 2012)
For this week’s Friday Flower Fiesta, a selection of pictures taken in March throughout San Diego.
Pictures 1, 2, and 3 were taken in Balboa Park, the crown jewel of parks in San Diego County and the largest city-owned urban cultural park in the United States, according to the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau, and who am I to argue with them? I questioned them on it one time because there are three parks with more acreage: Mission Trails Regional Park right here in San Diego, Central Park in New York City, and Griffith Park in Los Angeles. The key word in the Visitors Bureau publicity is the word cultural. None of the other three parks are cultural parks. Now I understand.
The rest of the pictures were taken at The Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College.
Now that we have that out of the way, Friday Flower Fiesta #12:
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4
Picture 5
Picture 6
Picture 7
Picture 8
Picture 9
Picture 10
Picture 11
Picture 12
Picture 13
This post approved by
Friday Flower Fiesta — #10 (March 30, 2012)
Throughout San Diego’s neighborhoods and along the many streets and freeways is a spectacular burst of color, particularly with the bougainvillea and ice plant. They are at their peak right now and typically last through about mid-May. Here’s a sampling from my exploits today where I was up in San Marcos at 8:00 a.m. and over in Spring Valley at 1:00 p.m., a distance of about 60 miles.
Seven bougainvilleas, one yellow daisy, and five ice plants:
This post approved by
Friday Flower Fiesta — #8: (March 16, 2012)
Friday Flower Fiesta #8 is dedicated to Roy Kelley, a real estate agent with RE/MAX Realty Group in Gaithersburg, Maryland. I have known Roy for a few years through a real estate professional networking site. I highly recommend him for anyone buying or selling a home in the Gaithersburg, Maryland, area. I can also highly recommend his beautiful flower pictures. Here are just some of them at Facebook: Kentlands and Lakelands.
Dedications are my way of trying to provide a little extra Google juice for people I have come to know and respect over the years.
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
Today’s Friday Flower Fiesta pictures all were taken this past week either at home inspections, in my back yard gardens, or in my neighborhood.
Picture 1 — Gerbera daisy
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
Picture 2 — Flowerus unknownsii
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
Picture 3 — Bougainvillea from my garden
Bougainvilleas are in high bloom right now throughout San Diego County
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
Picture 4 — Iris
In order to grow irises in La Mesa, choose a protected shady area.
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
Picture 5 — Petunias
One of my neighbors loves petunias, being the first in line
at the nurseries when they are available in the spring.
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
Picture 6 — Petunia from my neighbor’s garden 
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
Picture 7 — Flowerus whoknowsii
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
Picture 8 — Hibiscus
Hibiscus bloom year-round here.
I particularly like the color of this one.
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
Picture 9 — Pelargonium from my garden
Most people know this as a geranium, but it’s really a pelargonium. 
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
Picture 10 — Pelargonium from my garden
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
All pictures taken by Russel Ray using a Canon Rebel XSi camera and a Sigma 50mm macro lens. Post-processing was done in Adobe Lightroom 4 and picture framing was done in Corel PaintShop Pro X4.
A digital double exposure
This post is dedicated to Bob Willis, a real estate agent with Prudential California Realty in Whittier, California. I have known Bob for about three years through a real estate professional networking site. I highly recommend him for anyone needing real estate services in the Whittier, California, area.
Dedications are my way of trying to provide a little extra Google juice for people I have come to know and respect over the years.
A few decades ago I had a Canon A1. I loved that camera even when I goofed and created a double exposure. Sometimes double exposures were pretty neat. Accidentally taking a double exposure with my Canon Rebel XSi or my Canon 550D is virtually impossible. I’ve tried. However….
I’ve been thinking that creating a double exposure with all of these wonderful digital photo editing programs should be relatively easy to do. Well, it’s not relatively easy to do, but ultimately I did succeed.
Using Adobe Photoshop CS5, I was able to take a picture of some train tracks and a picture of a beautiful protea flower and superimpose one on the other to give me this beautiful double exposure:
I have Adobe Photoshop CS5, Adobe Lightroom 4, Corel PaintShop Pro X4, and Corel Photo-Paint X5. As with probably 80% of the population that has any one of those programs, I have never learned how to use layers. This evening I sat down with Photoshop CS5 with the sole purpose of being successful at doing something — anything! — with layers. That’s how I got my double exposure.
Friday Flower Fiesta — #3 (February 3, 2012)
Today’s Friday Flower Fiesta is dedicated to Sharon Lord of Tempe, Arizona, who owns Argent Décor. She provides home staging, vacation home furnishing, and décor ideas, all of it affordable.
I have known Sharon as a virtual friend for several years and believe that if you need any advice on staging, furnishing, and décor, Sharon is your go-to woman. Sharon, this Friday Flower Fiesta is for you!
Today’s Friday Flower Fiesta pictures were taken this past week at the San Diego Zoo, which also is an internationally recognized botanical garden as well as a world-class zoo.
Picture 1 — Unknown flowers
Picture 2 — Unknown flowers
Picture 3 — Protea
Picture 4 — Iris
Picture 5 — Giant hibiscus
Picture 6 — Giant hibiscus with guest
If you’re having a cloudy day,
remember the power of flowers.
Friday Flower Fiesta — #2 (January 27, 2012)
Today’s Friday Flower Fiesta, titled “It’s a sunny day,” is dedicated to Carl and Ceil Winters of New Braunfels, Texas. Carl and Ceil run Complete Inspection Service, a home inspection company doing business in Canyon Lake, New Braunfels, and San Antonio.
I have known Carl and Ceil as virtual friends for three years, and have always found in them a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. Carl and Ceil, this Friday Flower Fiesta is for you!
If any real estate sellers, buyers, or agents in the hill country of central Texas need a complete home inspection, call Carl and Ceil of Complete Inspection Service.
Today’s Friday Flower Fiesta pictures were taken on Monday, January 23, 2012, in the neighborhoods of La Mesa, California, about 10 miles due east of downtown San Diego.
Picture 1 — Aloe
Picture 2 — Daffodil
Picture 3 — Angel’s Trumpet
Picture 4 — Rose
Picture 5 — Lily
Picture 6 — Daffodil
Picture 7 — Unknown flower
Picture 8 — California poppy
Picture 9 – Unknown flower
Picture 10 — Unknown flower
If you’re having a cloudy day,
find someone to bring a ray of sunshine into it.
Out & About San Diego — #5: Go to the Zoo, come home with….
I have an annual pass to the San Diego Zoo and the Safari Park. I go at least once a week to one of them.
The Zoo occupies 100 acres while Safari Park has 1,800 acres.
The Zoo is in Balboa Park near downtown San Diego, while Safari Park is near Escondido, about 45 miles northeast of downtown San Diego.
Safari Park was founded in 1972 while the Zoo was founded as part of the 1915 Panama-California International Exposition.
Both the Zoo and the Safari Park are internationally recognized botanical gardens. When you go to either of them, then, it’s always worthwhile to spend some time looking at the flora, too.
Since it’s been raining off and on for the past several days, something that’s rare in San Diego, the photographers are out en masse looking for those magical pictures with water on them.
I got mine at the San Diego Zoo:
That’s a passionflower (Passiflora sp.), one of my top five flowers. There are about five hundred species of passionflowers but only nine are native to the United States. Most of them are vines, and San Diegans like to grow them on their chain-link fences to lessen the ugliness of that type of fence. You can see the chain link fence in the background of those two pictures.
Passionflowers have a unique structure, and once you’ve seen one, it’s unlikely that you’ll ever forget it. You’ll be able to identify that “weird vine with a beautiful flower” that’s growing on your neighbor’s fence.
The passion fruit is quite large for a vine, and the fruit of Passiflora edulis is actually called passionfruit and used for food and juice in many parts of the world. I can attest to the flavor of the passionfruit since I have enjoyed many a passionfruit margarita at Islands burger restaurant in San Diego’s Mission Valley. Hmmm, maybe it’s the alcohol that’s flavorful?
Pictures taken by Russel Ray using a Canon 550D and post-processing using Corel PaintShop Pro X4.
Friday Flower Fiesta — #1 (January 20, 2012)
On of the great things about living in San Diego (and there are many!) is that flowers are always blooming. Many plants that are only supposed to bloom at certain times of the year, like roses, can be found blooming at other times, sometimes even year-round.
Each Friday I’ll share five to ten flower photos from the Russel Ray Photos collection. I don’t always know all of the names, but when I do, I’ll let you know.
I use a Canon Rebel XSi and a Canon 550D, which is the same as the Canon Rebel T2i if you bought it in the United States. Mine was imported from London, England, before the Rebel T2i was available here. I use Corel Paintshop Pro X4 to crop or otherwise adjust the pictures and then to add a frame to them.
Today’s Friday Flower Fiesta pictures were taken on Christmas Day 2011 at the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park about 40 miles northeast of downtown San Diego.
Picture 1 — Unknown flower
Picture 2 — Angel’s trumpet
Picture 3 — Unknown flower
Picture 4 — Unknown flower
Picture 5 — Unknown flower
Picture 6 — Bird of paradise
Picture 7 — Unknown flower
