Elephants on Parade 6

In my last post I said that some of the elephants I had hoped to spot had moved to Los Angeles for a short time. Today I went out to see if they were back.

This first elephant represents an elephant that is being helped by the charity behind the parade.

This one is at Dana Point Harbour.

I photographed this one on Saturday but I forgot to get a photo of the other side.

From another area of the Harbour.

Lantern Bay Park. It was very sunny so hard not to get these reflections.

All the remaining elephants are on the grounds of the area's resorts so I will have to wait until they are all gathered together in mid-November to photograph the remaining 11.

Elephants on Parade 5

This morning I set out on a major safari to track down more of the Elephants on display around Dana Point.

My first stop was along Pacific Coast Highway to photograph the first two elephants.

My next stop was Dana Point Harbour. It was a cool foggy morning down at the harbour - perfect for walking here, there, and everywhere.

I had trouble finding some of the elephants until I was directed to this sign showing that some of them had moved to a temporary grazing area in Los Angeles.

While I was in the area, I walked over to another part of the harbour to my current favourite elephant. I had photographed it from the car (while hubby was driving) and wanted to get a close up view and see what was on the other side.

Then it was onto Lantern Bay Park which is across the road from Doheny State Beach.

This last elephant was painted by a local artist I once attended a painting demonstration by. This elephant is at the entrance to a resort above the park. There are more elephants inside the resort but as a non-guest I could not go in.

Loafing Around

I have a lot of recipe books because I love to cook. Even so, I am always looking out for new recipes. I came across this cake recipe at the website of a magazine from Britain called 'The Simple Things'.

For those who might not know, icing sugar is also known as powdered sugar. I used less sugar for the icing than was called for but with probably too much orange juice. This may be why the icing ran off so much. I just kept scooping it up and pouring it back onto the loaf. Next time I'll make sure the icing is thicker.
And yes, there will be a next time. Yum!

http://www.thesimplethings.com/janis-cake-in-the-house-pistachio-raspberry-loaf/

Elephants on Parade 4

I've been back on safari seeking out more elephants. The following two are in the small park above Strands Beach in Dana Point.

A view from the park.

See the painted electrical box in the background? Many local cities are paying artists to paint these boxes.

I love this artistic floor.

Meanwhile back at Dana Point Harbour...

Island Life

'Treasure Island' 5" x 7" Oil on Canvas.

This is the southern most beach in Laguna Beach and is named for the 1934 film 'Treasure Island' which was filmed here. 

Elephants on Parade 3

The Elephant below, with its map of part of the southern California coastline, is my favourite one so far. I took it from the car so at some time I want to park and walk back to see what is on the other side.

Morning at the Beach

August in Southern California was a lot cooler and less sunny than normal so it was lovely to see a bright sunny and warm September which lasted all month.

One Monday morning I decided to go to the beach with hubby. While he surfed, I wandered around seeing what was going on up and down the beach.

With most people back at school and work after the summer break, the beach was mostly empty.

There weren't many birds to spot. Perhaps they were back at work somewhere else as well? 

A lack of rain means that the basin at the end of the creek was seriously lacking in water.

Workmen are working on a portion of San Juan Creek's wall in anticipation of future heavy rains. In the past run-off has literally run over the wall and flooded the cycle track that runs beside the creek.

After heavy rain the run off water breaks through the sand to empty out into the ocean.

Currently this sign is redundant.

The starting point of the cycle track off limits for months and months until the current work is completed.

Another shoreline bird keeping busy looking for food.

I love the colours here: blue, green, blue-violet, purple, yellow ochre.

A pretty shell. Doheny Beach is a nature preserve as well as a State Beach so you can look but not collect.

A Snowy Egret checking out the surf.

And doing whatever it is doing here.