Coffee’s up. Grab a cup and pull up a chair. If we were having coffee I would tell you I think I found the name of the those trees with the yellow flowers I told you about last week. They are not Golden Rain but are Sweet Acacia.
They have feathery yellow puffs with thorns on their branches. There are two of these trees behind our back wall. I found some of the puffs on the ground.
The neighbors were having them pruned and we picked up one of the tree branches and found the thorns. The Sweet Acacia trees are losing their yellow puffs so hopefully less pollen. There are lots of things blooming around here now. So it could be something else. I took a short walk around and spotted a pretty yellow oleander and some beautiful Palo Brea trees.
I’m still using my cell phone camera for now. I have to hold the view finder away from me a bit to shoot photos. So my focus is probably hit and miss. I am seriously thinking about buying a new digital camera. The amount of sunlight does make a difference with glare. I tried the wide-brimmed hat but not as helpful as I had hoped. It is often breezy and I had to pull the hat on tight. Then the brim blocked my view down the road. I discovered some cloud cover is helpful in reducing glare.
I had another roadrunner sighting. First he/she was taking shelter under a low bush and later making a daring dodge in front of a FedEx truck. I read online that roadrunners can make a clicking sound like a raptor, (Jurassic Park variety), when hunting together. I heard some clicking sounds on one of my walks. I felt a bit edgy imagining a roadrunner dogging my trail.
Did you hear we are opening fully in California on June 15? We are cautiously optimistic about this. Maybe because we have these variants running around. The latest is called the Double Mutant out of India discovered recently by scientists at Stanford University. This is in addition to the New York mutant, the UK mutant, the South African mutant, and our own California mutant. Many Californians are getting vaccinated so hopefully we will win the race for immunity.
The thing is we now have to get comfortable re-entering society. I read an interesting article about how to gradually expose yourself to social situations to cope with the anxiety. It’s called ‘Dreading post-pandemic crowds and social situations? Exposure therapy can help’, by Ileyse Debrow DiMarco in the Washington Post. Even the thought of crowds makes me apprehensive and I know I won’t be exposing myself to them any time soon. Have an appointment for my first professional haircut in over a year next week. That is a start.
Weekend Coffee Share is hosted by Natalie of Natalie the Explorer.
Notes Tied On The Sagebrush 
Oh, those trees!! 😍 So beautiful with all those yellow flowers… and orange fluff!
I’m biased of course, but I’d totally recommend to get a new camera. I don’t know the level of your photography skills, but a camera is so much more fun to use. It offers so many more creative options. Now when people here and there believe the camera industry is dying, I could consider buying 1-2 extra cameras so that I’d have a camera until I die. I’d hate having to use a cell phone! Many love it, but I don’t.
I hope the reopening of California goes well. I didn’t even know of all virus mutations you mention. I have a friend in Sacramento and from her it sounds like the virus situation is still quite bad. But much can happen until June, of course.
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I am glad my photos look good. Your photos are beautiful. I do think photography suits my personality because I can do it by myself and be creative. Thank you for your good wishes. I hope it goes well for all the world too. Glad you stopped by, Susanne.
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Those trees are beautiful! I love the yellow flowers on the Palo Brea. I visited Arizona a year and a half ago and was trying to spot a roadrunner, but no luck. Maybe the next time we are there.
I have never read about a double mutant. Yikes! We have had our first shot and will get our second soon. I will be glad when we are fully immunized, but you are right – getting back into society will take some getting used to.
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I do love the trees too. Those roadrunners can be elusive. We are all going through such a transition. Thank you for stopping by, Laurie.
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Beautiful yellow flowers, Deborah. I use my phone camera for my blog photos. I like that it’s portable and I don’t need to carry a phone and a camera. I read about CA fully opening on June 15. Hopefully with more people fully vaccinated, the re-opening will go well. #WeekendCoffeeShare
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You get some great photos Natalie. I hope we keep going in the right direction. Thank you, Natalie.
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I’m with you on the crowd issue. Have started working but am kept away from the masses which is good. I am not sure we need to meet in crowds. Why is being alone always thought to be something bad? Maybe because we start thinking for ourselves and figure out our societies don’t work as good as thought? Sorry, this wasn’t meant to be a rant. I love your pictures. Lots of plants I never heard of. 🙋♀️🐝
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Keeping away from crowds is not a bad idea especially if you haven’t had the vaccine. Many people are finding out they don’t mind being alone. It’s true it gives us more time to reflect on the state of the world. I hadn’t heard of these trees either. Researching the trees and plants is a great learning experience for me. Thank you, Bee. 🙂
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Hi Deborah, love the pictures, great job. I mostly take pictures on my phone and my good ones are accidental. I have a friend with some cameras I think are fancy. She gets lots of good pictures, but says she takes a lot, A LOT, of pictures to get those good ones. Thanks for sharing. Michele
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Sounds like our cell photo camera experiences are similar. That’s interesting about your friend with traditional cameras. Takes practice and skill. Thank you for stopping by, Michele.
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I love those trees. How pretty. I’d love to see a roadrunner. I live in Washington and I don’t know when we’ll fully open. Not soon enough. Though my entire family has worked the whole time, so in a lot of ways things have stayed the same.
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Most of my family worked but most were allowed to work remotely. Washington state had some of the first cases. It would be stressful to be in public service job. Did you have precautions like masks and social distancing? Thank you, Kirstin.
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