Last week week we had strong cold winds blowing on Saturday. I spotted this sun doggy showing the winds and residual moisture we had. It’s a little hard to see the rainbow effect in this shot. I can see it on my phone but it didn’t translate well. Now it is bone dry with humidity the 24% range and warm. Our temperatures went from 50’s and 60’s to low 80’s.
Growing up in the Philadelphia area, we would always get a week in January that we called January thaw. The temps went from freezing to maybe high 40’s and low 50’s. It was a brief respite from the winter weather which usually got worse in February. Here in Southern California, we don’t usually get down to freezing, but still it was a warm relief from the cold and wet weather of the last few months.
Meanwhile, the hummingbirds are really active. We lost one of our feeders that got destroyed in the wind and the other one is clear glass with red flowers, but they often don’t see that it is full as I refuse to add red food coloring to the liquid. I was in the process of making up new food for them when one hummingbird came right up to my front door to ask for the food. It was warm out so I had left the door open to air out the house. We seem to have the most aggressive hummingbirds here. They let me know when the nectar is gone.
Besides the hummingbirds, we are getting a lot of butterflies. Monarch butterflies are back. I saw a few right by my office window and then realized there was a milkweed plant there. We still have the Gulf fritillary butterflies visiting as well. My spring plants are coming up and I am hoping for a mass display of flowering plants. The ground is still moist from all our rain except the very top layer. Finally the borage that came up is starting to flower. Once the clover and borage get established, the bees will be back too.
With beautiful weather like this I must get out. Thinking I’ll go on a beach walk.
Reflections Outside My Window 