Playing in Pismo

While walking to wake up on an early morning stroll through our campground today, a hint of the prior evening's entertainment is revealed-chairs in a circle around a now defunct campfire.  What stories were shared? What tales were told?  Did you know there is a wine called Happy Camper that comes in versions of Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet?  It is true.  Was it shared here?

Did you know also that photographing red is the most difficult color of all?  Yes, it is true.  In the early morning, muted light before the sun rises and while the marine layer of clouds still linger over head, it is possible to photograph red.  The only thing that would have been better would have been to capture in this shot one of the hummingbirds that favor this bottle brush tree.  Alas, they have slept in today.

This flower looks like a cousin to the bottle brush tree.  I don't know the name of the shrub it was on but its shape, color and look are similar to the former.  It took looks good in this light as well.

This old fellow stands next to our coach.  It is beautiful and majestic.  It reaches up to the sky with silver arms and I know it stood here long before there was an RV park beneath its branches.  The ocean winds have shaped its arms and it rises far above the highest RV roof.  Above us, it can talk to the sky and reach out to embrace the winds.  With luck it will stand here another hundred years and another old woman will look up at it like me in awe.

Reflected in the spotless hubcap of our coach, we played (as we are often tempted to do whenever our cameras are in hand) trying to capture a different sort of image.  Jimmy's idea; but then he's often the creative one in our family when it comes to photography.  It worked.

A really nice day.  Relaxing, fun, some nice pictures.  Life is sweet.