Joy: Mustard blooms in chaparral...

Spring in South California is fabulous...with almost all plants blooming.....
The fire-charred chaparral are alive with mustard and lupines...

Each inflorescence  is poor joy...

Als, like all beautiful things these are ephemeral...

Place: Spring hiking in Red Rock Canyon, Whiting ranch regional Park..

Spring is hands-down enchanting tie of the year in chaparral here......

Green grass, wildflowers, tender leaves, birds, cool breeze.....

We hiked Red Rock Canyon, Whiting ranch regional Park for the second time.......last one was in March last year..

Some delightful things that I came across...........

Thought: Confiscated snake skin products...

We are aware how dirty our human race can be...exploiting everything......
These are some of the confiscated snake skin accessories displayed in San Diego zoo...

Observation: Dream houses..............

Houses to yearn for.....nestled in wilderness, million dollar houses...in South California...

Knowledge: Bird nest as food?

Bird nest as delicacy? Seems odd, but for some Chinese, its delectable...swallow nest..made of birds saliva, which feeds on seaweeds...so the nest soup tastes fishy....

I had read somewhere, this nest hunting is endangering the bird population........

Now I saw the nest soup being sold in COSTCO...and was surprised...where do they gather the nest in so bulk to be sold in wholesale chain....

Below is a oriole nest...

Food: Edible flowers.....recipes from my kitchen...

Had read  a lot about edible flowers.........I had consumed many..especially moringa, neem, pumpkin........

Here, I tried some petals and flowers from my patio garden, on cucumber salad......

Nasturtium, geranium, bougainvillea.........

It looks not only brilliant.......taste is good too...sweet, peppery....

Another salad....cucumber, turnip, orange............some chopped nasturtium leaves..
Flowers used for garnish are geranium, nasturtium..

In egg salad.......

Daylily blossoms fried in butter...

Salad of blueberry,  turnip, cucumber..garnished with rose, daylily, pineapple guava, sage petals...

Daylily buds and petal coated in batter and fried...

Mum and nasturtium petals on avocado and salsa.........

Response is positive.......will try again, in innovative ways, for sure.......

Plants: Their pigments............

Plant pigments............Chlorophyll, Carotenes, Xanthophylls, Anthocyanins, Aurones, Betacyanins,  Betaxanthins............

Season: Lupine blooms in chaparral....

I had heard about and seen the pictures of the legendary bluebonnet flowers of Texas........

But, this Spring, in our South California wilderness, especially in those parts burnt by the wildfires, the variation of bluebonnet, the lupines bloomed prolifically......enchanting us....

Creating a nice mosaic with the mustard blooms....

Joy: Flowers......VIII..

Citrus...............

Agapanthus...........

Ornamental plum....

Sorrel.........

Peach........