Del Mar Lights

A series of photos taken from the west outside and across the water from the Del Mar Fair. The first is shot right before dark. If you go to the gallery of photos I took on this outing and thumb through the photos quickly, it is kind of like a fun flip book. As the night progressed, the lights on the Ferris wheel got more elaborate. Check it out here

Steel Wool and Fireworks

Last night I had an opportunity to meet with some photographers from the Meet Up group, "Best places to photograph in San Diego"

The founder of the group, Randy Miller provided the group with a fun warm up to the Sea World fireworks show that started at 9:50 pm. Below you will see my take from the steel wool show Randy provided. I fumbled around a bit for the first few frames, but I got dialed in finally. I need a much wider lens for this. I didn't know how things would be set up, or how close I would be to the action. I love night photography and I wish I could manage to join more of these meet ups. I'm very glad I was able to get off the waitlist and join tonight. I was fumbling when the fireworks started and they only last for 5 minutes. I knew I didn't have time to adjust much, so I just shot blindly. You can check out all 45 photos I took in this gallery.

Bud's Annual Burning 

Our friend Bud has a tradition in January of gathering a bunch of Christmas Trees and assorted other combustible materials for a VERY LARGE BIG BURN at Fiesta Island. We got an invitation this year and it was quite fun. Good people and a VERY BIG BONFIRE. The first pile lit had at least 4 Christmas trees in it along with some large wood from a growing tree that was chopped down and donated for the cause. The first photo is the beginning. Yes, it started this way. This will show you how fast a Christmas tree that has been hanging around in your home for a couple weeks will burn. There were at least 15 trees there to burn, maybe more. There was one that was very fresh and took much longer to burn than most. Most were completely burned in less than 90 seconds. The wood that was from a neighbors tree burned slow and hot and provided an excellent base for the fire. I imagine that pit still has hot coals in it 24 hours later. Those of you who have been around a fire with me know that I like to dance around the fire moving with a long shutter. You'll see some of what I came away with in the gallery I put up here.

The Burrowing Owl

Along the San Diego River, I found a Burrowing Owl. I passed by it a couple times on my daily walk. Since it seemed like it had made a home there at least for the time being, I bought my camera down and took some photos. I had fun the couple days I took my camera with me. We'll see how long he or she hangs around the area. It seems quite content. It isn't bothered at all being a mere 10 to 15 feet off the road. There aren't a bunch of cars that drive Old Sea World Dr. but the ones that do, drive way too fast. The only time I saw this bird get nervous was when an Osprey flew overhead. It didn't like that. This wee owl is about 8" tall at the most.

This owl is a small bird but look at that beak!

The other profile

Just about as straight on as I could during this visit

I do believe I am boring this owl.

The second day I was able to go around to the back side and get a peek at the legs of the owl.

Happy Halloween

Yesterday I went to a cake exhibit at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. I was all ready to sample lots of cake. Unfortunately, there wasn't any cake to sample! I sampled a couple wee pieces of cake pop. But I was ready for some full on cake tasting. I went with my dear Sweet Sara and my sister so all was not lost. It is always a good time when I get to spend time with them. I share with you here the few cakes they had on display for a competition. I have to admit that these types of cakes do not look good to eat. They are amazing works of art. There is no doubt about that. I think the fondant is unedible. It serves the purpose of allowing these beautiful works of art, though.

This one was my favorite of the bunch. All are impressive and take incredible talent. Impressive work.

Haha Hats Sale

The San Diego Hat Company has a sale every year in October. They put out boxes of assorted hats. There are hats of every size and shape for every gender. Nothing is sorted and it adds to the fun of the hunt the way they are just jammed into boxes. You never know what you'll find in a particular box. My sister and I hadn't been in a few years. We made up for that on this visit by having extra fun.

We didn't purchase all of the hats we tried on. Part of the fun is taking photos of these crazy hats while we are hunting for the ones to bring home.

The gigantic brim on some of the hats is large enough to provide shade for the whole body. But how does anyone wear these?

The next two hats are ones that I wish I had taken home with me. They were both way too hot to be practical in San Diego. But they sure have style!

Counting up the hats.

The hats tried to leap off the check out table. We had a pile of them and thoughts of the perfect person to have them on their heads. 

On our way out. We are loaded down. I have bags of hats on each shoulder and one in my hand. My sis strikes a pose with hats in hand to help tell the story.

I've shared just about all of the photos that I took at the sale here. There are a few more in the hats gallery if you feel like taking a peek at more crazy hats. We go on the first day, first thing in the morning of the sale. Retailers are known to swoop in and buy large amounts of hats when the sale opens to resell. They can sell them for 10 times the sale price, so it is a wise business move. I think we came home with some really wonderful hats and had incredible fun too.