Welcome to Friday Night Photos everyone. Your once a week break from the daily madness of the crazy world we live in. Post any photos, memes, music, or whatever else you find of interest that helps you escape the madness.

Well, after a week of triple digit temps things finally cooled off on Wednesday. The last two days have been in the low to mid 80s with a mild breeze, dropping to the upper 50s at night. The 7 day forecast calls for more of the same. Infinitely better.

On Tuesday the camera club had its monthly outing in Coronado, a spit of land in the San Diego bay with a land bridge (the Silver Strand) running south to Imperial Beach at the south end of the bay, and a man made bridge (Coronado bridge) going east to San Diego. Coronado is an odd mix of a famous hotel (Hotel del Coronado where the movie Some Like It Hot was filmed), multi million dollar beach and bay front homes, a lot of trendy shops, and 2 navy bases (one of which I worked at for 20 years).

$600-1500 for a one night stay at the Hotel del Coronado

Welcome to Friday Night Photos everyone. Your once a week break from the daily madness of the crazy world we live in. Post any photos , memes, music, or whatever else you find of interest that helps you escape the madness.

Got a little bit of a heat wave going on right now. It was 107° on my patio yesterday. It's supposed to be even hotter today, tomorrow and Sunday with the possibility of thunderstorms on the weekend. Oh joy. Thankfully we haven't had very many hot days this summer and hopefully this will be the last of them.

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park has a small Japanese garden. These are some of the Bonsai trees in the garden.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonsai

Juniperus Chinensis 'Shimpaku'

Welcome to Friday Night Photos everyone. Your once a week break from the daily madness of the crazy world we live in. Post any photos, memes, music, or whatever else you find of interest that helps you escape the madness.

Hard to believe it's the start of my fourth year behind the wheel of FNP. Harder yet to believe I haven't driven it into a ditch. A very heartfelt thanks to everyone that has contributed photos, memes, music, links and conversation that have helped keep the wheels on the road.

Honey Bee

Happy Friday everyone. I hope everybody is doing well. Post any photos, memes, or music you like.

This month's camera club outing was at the Self-realization Fellowship Meditation Garden in Encinitas. Located on a bluff overlooking the Pacific ocean, the garden has a wide variety of trees and plants, Koi ponds and plenty of benches where you can sit and relax (or meditate if that's your thing) and enjoy the garden and the view of the ocean.

https://www.travelandleisure.com/most-peaceful-place-in-california-self-...

Happy Friday everyone. I hope everybody is doing well. Post any photos, memes, or music you like.

San Diego has a horse racing track at the fairgrounds in Del Mar but I'm not a gambler so the ponies don't hold much interest for me. In the 47 years I've lived in San Diego I've been to the track a grand total of one time and that was 30 some odd years ago. Last Sunday I made my second visit there when I went with some friends to celebrate a birthday. One of those friends has a connection at the track and was able to get us into the paddock and along the rail for one of the races. It was a fun day and everybody had a great time and even though I didn't bet any money I felt like a winner just for the opportunity to photograph something new and different.

Groom leading horse into the paddock

Happy Friday everyone. I hope everybody is doing well. Post any photos, memes, or music you like.

No, I didn't go on an African safari (I wish), but I did go to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park for a few hours on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning this week.

Malayan Tiger

Happy Friday everyone. I hope everybody is doing well. Post any photos, memes, or music you like.

I didn't get out with the camera this week. These photos are from a visit to the Bernardo Winery eight years ago.

Bernardo winery, located in the Rancho Bernardo community of San Diego, has been in continuous operation since it was founded in 1889. Since it made sacramental wine for the Catholic church it has the distinction of being one of the few producers of alcohol that was allowed to continue production during prohibition. Along with the wine tasting room, the winery also has an Italian restaurant, gift shops and antiques up the wazoo.

Happy Friday everyone. I hope everybody is doing well. Post any photos, memes, or music you like.

I love going to Santee Lakes from late fall through early spring for all the migratory birds. From late spring to early fall the birding is not so good since all the migratory birds are all gone, but in their place are Dragonflies and Damselflies.
I spent a couple of hours at the Lakes the last two mornings walking the shoreline hoping to get some dragons in flight. Unfortunately the little boogers wouldn't cooperate and all I was able to get were stationary shots. Some days you bite the bear and some days the bear bites you. The last two mornings the bear bit me. The one inflight shot posted here was from last year.
Pop quiz. How do you tell the difference between a Damselfly and a Dragonfly? See answer below. No cheating.

Happy Friday everyone. I hope everybody is doing well. Post any photos, memes, or music you like.

I had not been to the zoo in a few months and the last time I was there I didn't photograph any animals. I only went to check out their orchid house which is only open one day a month. Needing to replace my raggedy old zoo ballcap and wanting to check out the newly refurbished hippo pool I decided it was time for a visit and stopped by for a few hours Monday morning and again yesterday morning.
You never know from one day to the next how active the animals will be. On Monday the hippos (mother and daughter) were the most active I've ever seen them, roaming about from one end of the pool to the other. Normally they spend all their time sitting at one end of the pool almost complete submerged and rarely moving.
Yesterday it was the Grizzly bears that were out and about. Normally they, along with all the other bears, spend all their time sleeping in the shade.

Adult male Mandrill