Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

I grew up with National Geographic.

Every month I would thrill to the images and the story of the world, unfolding in comfortable glossy pages. Then there were my father's back issues, from his childhood, and his father's before him.

Those were the pages where I learnt about the migration of the monarchs, how every third generation would fly for thousands of miles to flock together in warm groves for the winter. It never failed to amaze me how the map of the journey was imprinted on the fragile butterflies long insect generations before they began their flights.



Last winter we visited one of the groves in Santa Cruz, but storms had pushed the butterflies out early and only a handful remained, fluttering around the eucalyptus. Slightly disappointed, we vowed we'd try again soon. That's why, when we stopped in Pacific Grove for a night on the long drive from Las Vegas to Silicon Valley, we took a detour into the butterfly grove.

This time it was different, and there were tens of thousands of butterflies, huge orange and black winged giants, covering the trees. The conifers had wide brown leaves that fluttered and flashed their colours, dropping away for quick flights in the unseasonal warmth.





(Click through to see the masses of butterflies on the branches)

Pacific Grove, California
January 2009

On our annual post-CES trip to Paso Robles with marypcb, saffronrose, mr_kurt, spikeiowa and voidampersand (shall we just call it WineCon II?), we explored several wineries that were new to us, including the rather delightful Castoro Cellars - where I picked up a "Drinks Well With Others" t-shirt.

While the others were tasting some of the "Dam Fine Wine" I wandered out into the gardens, where I saw a rather photogenic rose bush. Its tiny flowers hadn't been dead-headed, and they'd dried into interesting shapes.

I pulled out the camera, and, well, this was the result:



I was quite pleased with the way it turned out.

Paso Robles, California
January 2008

It was also the fastest I ever got a Flickr comment - within a minute of posting the image!