Are you cereus?

The old cereus returns (and so do I) - August 2011

2011-08-20T17:55:00.001-07:00

It's been a long time since I updated these pages. Just too busy. This page started as a place to put pictures of our night-blooming cereus plants that didn't fit on the webpage I created years ago. That original cereus was gravely damaged in January 2007 by a series of hard freezes (it can get below freezing in Los Angeles).

The plant was thought to be dead, but eventually new sprouts emerged from the soil. Gradually, it returned to health, becoming a very prolific producer of flat, green leaves... but no flowers. A few weeks ago, about a dozen buds were spotted on the original plant as well as two others that were separated out from the original after it revived. All three participated in this series of blooms that spanned three nights. There are no buds remaining on the plant that I have been able to detect, so this is probably it for the season.

I'm not especially fond of this particular batch of photographs, but without further ado, here are some of the pictures.

Most of these shots were fused from three different exposures using a program called Photomatix Pro. I don't have a lot of experience with HDR photography, so this is something of a learning experience.

I've been trying to recreate this backlit shot for some time. I like the original very much, but it's an old 2 megapixel shot, which means it does not bear much enlargement.

That's all for now.

Trona Pinnacles - January 2010

2010-01-03T13:26:00.000-08:00

The Trona Pinnacles are located in the Mojave Desert, about 20 miles east of Ridgecrest. These tufa towers were formed when the area was covered by an ancient lake. Several movies, including Start Trek V, were filmed there. We went to the Pinnacles for the first time on New Year's Day, and the sky was somewhat uncooperative during the visit...

There was a nice sunset over the Mojave on the way home, however. Perhaps we left the Pinnacles a wee bit too early.

A cereus bud!

2009-10-03T16:37:00.000-07:00

We've never had more cereus (oxypetalum) plants, and they've never looked healthier. However, there's been no activity this summer at all... other than the making of many new, big leaves. In contrast with past years, the plants spent the winter indoors, and have occupied a shady place this summer. They never get direct sun. This may be why the leaves have stayed a deep, vibrant green and most of the leaves do not look motheaten.

And the plants missed blooming on my birthday this year, which hasn't happened often in the last decade.

But, here's a look at a soon-to-be literal late bloomer...

Based on my photographic record, this plant looks to be about 11 days from blooming. Any later than that, and I'll miss it, owing to being out of town.

[Update: This flower bloomed the night after we left, so that's why there are no pictures.]

Yellowstone National Park - August 2009 (Part III)

2009-08-30T07:47:00.001-07:00

Now for the third and final segment of Yellowstone pictures, starting with Upper Falls from Uncle Tom's Trail. We did all 328 steps down. Well, down wasn't the hard part!

A close-up of that rainbow...

Tower Falls...

The Yellowstone River snakes around...

This sign didn't lie...

My guess is this is a young elk...

Two views of Lower Falls from Artist Point at dawn

And, finally, the Teton Range again, this time from Snake River Overlook on the way back south...

Yellowstone National Park - August 2009 (Part II)

2009-08-29T12:46:00.001-07:00

Most of the Teton and Yellowstone pictures were taken with a recently acquired Canon Rebel T1i, a 15 MP camera bought to succeed my aging 8 MP Digital Rebel XT. It's a nice camera but one major complaint is its mode dial is far too easily moved, which has led to me sometimes taking pictures using inappropriate settings. Oh, well. Now, if only the damned cereus plants would bloom! :-)

Here are some more Yellowstone pictures, starting with Clepsydra Geyser...

That's not marble, it's the damp surface of Grand Prismatic Spring...

Another, better show from Old Faithful...

Deer near Grant Village...

Yellowstone Lake at dawn, from near Gull Point..

Ironically, fishing isn't allowed from the Fishing Bridge, perhaps owing to the otters...

Family portrait...

Yellowstone National Park - August 2009 (Part I)

2009-08-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

From Grand Teton, we went north to Yellowstone, a much more crowded park. Just inside the South Entrance, we encountered Lewis Falls, just off the west side of the road...

The Kepler Cascades, near Old Faithful...

Speaking of Old Faithful...

Boil, bubble, toil and trouble... at Firehole Lake...

Not the surf reaching the shore... it's boiling water...

A cascade of steaming, hot water...

Firehole Falls... nice, cool water...

At Firehole Cascade...

Grand Teton National Park - August 2009

2009-08-22T18:08:00.000-07:00

After the most exhausting summer of my life, it's time for an exhausting vacation :-) Yesterday, we arrived in Grand Teton NP, having left from Salt Lake City where the Mesoscale Conference was held. These pictures were taken today, from near Jenny Lake. The first is Grand Teton mountain itself from the trail to Hidden Falls.

And this is downstream of Hidden Falls...

The sun, low in the sky over the Snake River at Oxbow Bend...

Bison are everywhere in the park, and are completely unafraid of people. Indeed, they like to stand in the road and stare at all the shiny cars with their strange, two-legged occupants. With time, bison encounters went from a scary novelty to a tedious event...

Here are bison walking in front of an old barn on Mormon Row...

On to Yellowstone...

Huntington Library - February and April 2009

2009-04-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

We were able to get away to the Huntington Library's botanical gardens twice so far this year, in February and April. As you certainly would expect, there were many more flowers in bloom in April, especially in the Cactus Garden. First, flowering plants related to the cereus, though of course these will all be day bloomers. The cactus greenhouse is open on Saturdays, and among the specimens in bloom during the visit was this beautiful cereus labeled "Epicactus 'Mystic Mood'":

Two more views of this cereus...

Echinopsis obrepanda, also from the greenhouse. (Don't these Latin names sound like vile diseases?)

I didn't get the name of this one, but I think it's the same plant I had that perished in the January, 2007, freeze:

Straining for the sun,,,

One stands above the crowd...

Cyclops is a little bit spooky, especially when it catches the sun...

Finally, from February, a butterfly alights on a peach tree in the Chinese Garden that was in bloom at the time...

Sequoia National Park - March 2009

2009-04-26T18:28:00.001-07:00

In March, we went up to Wuksachi Lodge in Sequoia National Park. A foot and a half of snow fell after our arrival, making for some nice pictures and an interesting drive down the mountain. Before the snow fell, the clouds rolled in...

After the snow, on the drive back down...

Farther down the mountain, close to the snowline, where the snow on the road had already melted...

Looking back at the snow-covered mountains...

Death Valley - December 2008

2009-04-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

It's been months since I updated this blog -- been too bloody busy, unfortunately -- so here's a spate of posts. These are pictures I took at Death Valley National Park late last December. First, the charcoal kilns above Wildrose are always worth a visit...

Sunrise, after a little help from Photoshop...

Two views of sand dunes, that same sunrise...

Death Valley itself, seen from Badwater Basin. A large, framed version of this one now adorns the kitchen wall...

From near Artists' Palette...

Mountains near sunset...

What constellation are you seeing in this photograph of the night sky? Click here for some assistance.

Beijing, China - October 2008

2008-11-08T14:11:00.000-08:00

I recently spent a week in Beijing, China, but was far too busy to take many pictures. But, here are a few shots. The first three were taken at the Summer Palace:

The "Bird's Nest" as seen from a bus:

On television, the Water Cube appeared a much deeper blue than seen here, perhaps because I usually saw the building at night and perhaps illuminated from inside:

What did they do with Floor 0?

Alaska - September 2008

2008-11-08T13:52:00.000-08:00

We took our first-ever trip, a land/sea tour, to Alaska early last September. Here are a few pictures from that excursion. The first shows our son, Ty, deep in thought on the train to Denali National Park:

More of the notoriously fickle Mt. McKinley than most visitors ever manage to see:

Some rushes growing on the swampy tundra:

Elsewhere, fall colors were much in evidence:

My first double rainbow made its appearance in Denali!

An arctic bird glides over an ice-speckled Glacier Bay:

Some of Alaska's cloud-enshrouded mountain peaks:

Ketchikan, the place where we were guaranteed to see rain, proved the only fully sunny place of the trip:

Cue the theme from Jaws:

"You talkin' to me?":

The new cereus blooms - 6/30/08

2008-07-02T17:37:00.000-07:00

The cereus acquired last summer has produced its first bloom. The second of the two pictures below was taken after sunrise, with natural light. The aqua backdrop is a pool cover.

The plant is growing some new leaves, but there are no additional buds at this time.

Another Huntington visit - 27 June 2008

2008-06-27T07:28:00.001-07:00

We made another of our (almost yearly) pilgrimages to Pasadena's Huntington Library gardens yesterday. There were several species of cereus in bloom, and I took plenty of pictures, only to find the SanDisk CompactFlash card on which they should have been stored essentially empty. Not a single picture. This was a brand new card, which I tested prior to use. The other new card, purchased at the same time, functioned properly, as did the older cards (all SanDisk) I pressed into service. So, as a result, no cereus pictures from the Desert Garden this time around. I wish I knew what happened...

So, our tour today starts with the Lily Pond, which was the main center of attention. The pond was quite still, allowing for some nice reflections off its surface...

We don't recall seeing these huge lotus flowers in our previous visits - at least they were not in bloom...

Also at the Lily Pond, an insect alights on a lotus flower bud...

...while in the water, a turtle swam placidly...

Mojave pictures from April, 2008

2008-06-08T20:38:00.001-07:00

Been too busy to get some poppy pictures I took last April in the Mojave Desert, probably around the peak of the wildflower season there. The display there was nowhere near as good as it has been in the past, but still a good show. The first picture shows a picture I took along a dirt road well north of Hwy 134, looking north.

More poppy fields. In the second picture below, dry white bushes can be seen surrounded by poppies:

Those bushes become tunbleweeds when uprooted. This seems to be as far as those weeds actually get...

Poppies grow along a dry creek that wound its way through a desert farm:

Finally, a poppy rears its head above the crowd..

[27 June 2008: I've been using Apple's .Mac service to host this blog's pictures, but its frequent recent outages have prompted me to move them elsewhere.]

A new bud!

2008-06-08T19:17:00.001-07:00

Since being brought outdoors recently, the new cereus plant acquired last summer has acquired a new bud. There's just one, and it has appeared on a leaf that has not fared very well (note the damage in the pictures below), but so far, so good. I have moved the plant to a place with plenty of light but no direct sun, to see if that helps.

Meanwhile, the original cereus continues to grow. The picture below shows how far it has come as of today. In the foreground, the remains from its first life can again be seen.

The old cereus returns...

2008-05-11T15:49:00.000-07:00

As a friend's cereus is already blooming, I thought it time to revisit our own plant, a replacement for the one done in by the January, 2007, freeze. The cutting obtained that summer had been growing indoors, but was transplanted to an outdoor location just last week. It is still growing well, though it still seems unlikely there will be any blooms from it this year.

But the real story here may be the original cereus wasn't completely dead after all! Look carefully in the photo below and see that new growth has very recently appeared near one of the plant's old, ostensibly dead leaves. After we decided the plant was a goner during the summer of 2007, this pot was largely neglected, and rarely watered. Maybe a little neglect is sometimes a good thing? :-)

Poppies in Old Agoura - April, 2008

2008-04-06T21:37:00.000-07:00

Since last September, we've had 16.8" of rain at our house northwest of Los Angeles, which probably represents a below-normal total. However, 12.2" of that fell in a single month, January, which is probably the optimal time for encouraging spring flowers. The hills in the Conejo Valley are lush and green, dotted with yellow mustard and orange poppies. However, every silver lining has a cloud, and what grows now might burn later.

We'll worry about that later. For now, here are some pictures of the California golden poppy, our state flower, taken at Old Agoura Park in Agoura Hills.

The poppy's petals are somewhat translucent, giving a nice shadow effect where petals overlap when seen through strong light.

The flowers shown above are actually orange, the most common color of this flower; the petals can look somewhat yellowish depending on the light. That said, the next two photos show that true yellow and multicolor versions also exist...

...and they even come in pure white! I don't recall seeing this in earlier years,,,

Finally, here's another extreme close-up of the common orange variety:

Mostly setting and rising (March 2008)

2008-03-29T20:41:00.001-07:00

Spring break took us to (only) our second trip to Lake Tahoe, the first having been almost exactly three years ago. The lake provides a nice canvas for the sun and moon, both of which are most dramatic when relatively low on the horizon. The first picture below juxtaposes a setting sun with a shot of the moon taken just before dawn.

A few more sunset shots:

Finally, a waterfall near Emerald Bay...

On the way back, we passed through the Grapevine/Gorman area on I-5 which in years past has played host to some amazing spring flower displays. Although this has not been a wet winter here in Southern California, what rain did come was concentrated in January when it ostensibly has the potential to do the most good for spring flowers. However, while there are reports of very nice blooms at lower elevations to the south, there was little activity (yet) around the Grapevine. Just a few more weeks?

Growth and decay

2008-02-27T21:10:00.000-08:00

By growth, I'm referring to the new cereus, purchased last year to replace the old plant that died about a year ago now. After a rough start, the plant is growing quickly, producing the stalk seen in the photo below. The leaf seen at rear is disfigured, the result of a rotting disease that luckily appears to have been arrested. Getting the plant more natural light appears to have been the cure.

By decay, I'm referring to Scientific American which has in its March issue a story on electronic markets that contains a remarkable claim:

[T]he futures market for orange juice concentrate predicts Florida weather better than the National Weather Service.

This statement is offered without proof, without reference or citation, and without even defining what it means by "weather" or revealing what its metrics for success or skill are. I found several sloppy or needlessly contentious statements among the articles in that issue, which I bought and perused in an airport while awaiting a flight. I used to read Scientific American years ago. I don't know why I stopped reading it, but I know why I won't be resuming that old habit anytime soon.

And I'd still like to see the proof.

Sunsets and haze

2007-12-24T22:43:00.001-08:00

I've been much too busy lately to take many pictures, but here are some from the last few months. The theme is 'sunsets and haze'. The first picture shows the sun setting behind an offshore platform, taken from Ventura, California.

Two views of a sunset seen from Sequoia National Park:

Finally, the view from Sequoia's Eleven Range Overlook:

Taiwan - August/September 2007

2007-09-08T20:55:00.000-07:00

We returned to Taiwan for the first time in 14 years. Some things have not changed: Taipei is still very crowded, very humid, very busy. Personal space is at a minimum. Other things have changed: fewer cars, better mass-transit, improved air quality. The world's tallest building is, at least temporarily, in Taipei. The high speed rail system on the island's west side reduced a 6+ hour train ride to Kaohsiung to 90 min (and was smooth and very cool). Many more signs in English, and Pinyin has largely supplanted Wade-Giles for romanization of Chinese words. People didn't look so painfully thin, a sign of prosperity. Another change: Taiwan is now a vigorous democracy, it citizens unafraid to voice their opinions.

Here are some pictures taken while touring about the island. The first three come from Yehliu Beach, on Taiwan's northeast shore, one of the strangest places on Earth. I particularly liked these sandstone columns, which were typically topped by rock-filled craters.

The Pacific Ocean, from Kenting National Park in southern Taiwan:

From Kaohsiung, the Nine Corner Bridge, a pagoda, rowers on Lotus Lake, and one of its namesakes:

A butterfly alights on a flower in Taroko Gorge:

Swans making waves in Datun Natural Park:

A cloud over Taipei's National Palace Museum:

Taipei 101 skyscraper:

Two amusing signs. The elevator is disabled?

A sign warning of rockfalls in Taroko Gorge displays a sense of humor!

Miscellaneous pictures (April to July 2007)

2007-07-08T16:49:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures taken last April at Pasadena's (actually San Marino's) Huntington Library, starting with a Trichocereus thelegonus, a spiky cactus from Argentina...

Two views of Echinocereus pentalophus and its speculacular flower...

A bee hovers over this one, which was labeled X Echinobivia...

I was so taken with looking at this one that I forgot to record its name...

Sunset from the Pier at Ventura, California, on July 3rd...

Finally, the new Epiphyllum oxypetalum, thanks to Don at Epiphyllum World, who was a pleasure to deal with. This one won't be left out in subfreezing weather...

Cereus paintings

2007-06-28T23:30:00.000-07:00

Artist Rafe Terry painted two of my cereus photographs, reproductions of which are shown below. Larger images can be seen at his website.

The originals used for inspiration are included in the slide show at my "Night Blooming Cereus" page.

Things lost and found

2007-06-23T19:39:00.000-07:00

Something lost: the night blooming cereus I have been photographing died last January, a victim of several consecutive nights with subfreezing temperatures. That can happen here in Southern California, particularly because I live in an inland valley that is subject to cold air drainage at night. In addition, the spiky cereus I have posted about perished, as did three Bougainvilleas and a few other assorted plants. One surprise: the guava tree survived, despite having been planted in probably the coldest part of the yard (against a block wall, facing the mountains, where cold air would collect).

Something found, quite accidentally: I was Googling for Epiphyllum oxypetalum cuttings last night so I can start over (*sigh*) and saw one of my pictures served up on Google Images... but attributed to someone else's site. My photo was deliberately if clumsily altered to remove my copyright notice. The image below zooms in on the lower left corner of the purloined and original images, and the red circle indicates where the erasure occurred. I boosted the shadows in Photoshop to help shed light on the dirty deed.

I frequently receive requests to use my pictures -- in books, newsletters, paintings, etc. -- and as of at this writing have always granted permission. Some correspondents have been stunned to discover I don't charge for using my photos other than to request a sample of the work using my picture and a recognition of my copyright. I have gained much from this wonderful web of ours and am happy to share what I have in return, but also understand that a copyright undefended is a copyright lost. (Besides, I'm an academic; what do I know about money?) In my opinion, this is the nicest rendition to date of one of my images.

[This page was edited on June 8, 2008, after receiving an apology from the individual who defaced my picture. The exchange between us is in the comments of this post.]

Miscellaneous pictures (January to April 2007)

2007-04-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

While I have been too busy to update this weblog very often, we have been managing to get out and about and visit various places. In January, we visited Pismo Beach State Park while the Monarch butterflies were swarming. There were literally thousands of butterflies -- perhaps millions -- in the park, many content to hang on the many eucalyptus trees.

Two relatively close-up pictures of the butterflies.

From whence they came...

On to Death Valley National Park for these pictures, taken April, 2007. The first two show charcoal kilns near Wildrose, in the Panamint Range looking away from Death Valley. These 10 igloo-shaped kilns were used when silver mining was active in the area.

The picture below was taken near sunset at the sand dunes just east of Stovepipe Wells.

Finally, Death Valley itself is seen in the background, from Zabriskie Point.

The view from my backyard (1-22-07)

2007-01-22T22:17:00.000-08:00

On 22 January 2007, a fire started in Thousand Oaks, CA, aided and abetted by Santa Ana winds. It spread to the hills behind my house, affording a rather uncomfortably close view of our very talented firefighters at work.

7:02 PM (PST). At first, the fire seemed content to remain beyond the housing development up on the aforementioned hill.

8:10 PM. Water-dropping helicopters repeatedly swooped over the blaze and, for awhile, the fire seemed to lie down.

8:36 PM. However, the fire rapidly progressed to the south, behind and around those houses, reaching the hill beyond my house shown below. Soon thereafter, the flames came over the ridge and onto our side of the hill.

8:38 PM. The tree at left in the picture below had just burst into flame a minute earlier.

8:57 PM. Weirdest thing? The spectators who came to look at the fire. People parked their cars in and across my (private)driveway, blocking it.

9:17 PM. The firefighters made a firebreak across the hill, and lit backfires to contain the blaze.

10:17 PM. Only embers remain now. We've had a number of fires nearby in recent years, but this was the closest of all. Another bullet dodged.

October flowers and Griffith Observatory

2006-12-23T13:39:00.000-08:00

The cereus had twenty blooms in the span of a couple days. But, none of them appear to have opened fully before starting to wilt, and many (if not most) of them opened during daylight. Perhaps the plant was overburdened; it never had to deal with this many flowers in such a short time before. But, maybe it was the time of year. In the past, October behavior has been very erratic, even when only one or two flowers were produced at a time. Eight of the spent flowers are seen in the picture below.

Los Angeles' Griffith Observatory has reopened after a four-year renovation. The picture below shows the front door of the Observatory presents a rather muddled message:

Once inside, the first thing you see is the Foucault pendulum, shown here:

The Observatory is perched on a mountain overlooking the LA basin:

September 25, 2006 - the spiky cereus blooms

2006-09-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

Since 2000, when the flat-leaved cereus (the Epiphyllum) whose pictures dominate this and the companion site started producing flowers, it bloomed every September 25th, which is my birthday. Actually, the plant missed one of those dates, but no flowers appeared at all during that particular year. This year, the cereus missed by birthday. It has many growing buds, but they're several weeks away from blossoming.

Instead, the cereus with the spiky leaves, mentioned farther below, managed to bloom last night and this morning! This plant was acquired last year, and this is only its third flower (the second this summer) in our custody. It's flower resembles that of the Epiphyllum, but is smaller and has a greenish cast. It's also a short-lived night bloomer, but its flowers appear able to persist longer after sunrise. But it's a cereus, too -- so the tradition of Sept. 25th blooms, somewhat modified, continues!

September 3, 2006 - a sample of eight flowers

2006-09-05T18:37:00.000-07:00

Eight flowers opened on the night of September 3rd, including five off a single leaf, four of which can be seen in this picture:

Here are two of those blooms, from a different angle...

Of this unusually productive (for this plant) batch, only one bud remains. It will probably open tonight.

September 2, 2006 - two entangled blooms

2006-09-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

Last night, five flowers opened, including this entangled pair. My first thought: Romeo and Juliet.

September 1, 2006 blooms - and a new site

2006-09-02T12:10:00.000-07:00

Three of the cereus' buds flowered last night; here are some pictures.

I am occasionally asked by people to make enlargements and reproductions of the pictures from my main cereus site for them. Personally, I'm not set up to handle these requests. As a trial, I have created a website where reprints and enlargements can be ordered, called cereus.exposuremanager.com.

The site is subdivided into three galleries, based on the resolution of the camera used to make the shots. Many of my personal favorite pictures, those shown on the main cereus site, are 2 megapixel photographs. Those won't likely enlarge well beyond 8x10, so I strongly discourage you from doing that. Unfortunately, I see no way of preventing people from ordering massive enlargements of those pictures.

A reminder: Please feel free to leave comments on any post on this site, but if you do so anonymously, I won't be able to respond to you.

New blooms coming... and other pictures

2006-08-27T18:33:00.000-07:00

My Epiphyllum oxypetalum has bloomed only once this summer, for a total production of three blossoms... and they opened while I was out of town. However, it presently sports 21 developments, five of which can be seen in this picture...

Two more are growing from the same point in their parent leaf...

This is what this pair looked like 16 days earlier...

From my webpage that chronicles the growth of a single bloom, I estimate that some of these buds are a little more than a week away from blooming. Unfortunately, not all of the buds that occurred earlier this month were able to develop as far...

I did manage to catch the bloom of our other night-blooming cereus, pictured below. This plant's leaves are tubular and festooned with thin, sharp spikes -- more like what you'd expect from a cactus -- but apart from a general greenish tinge, its blossom resembles that of the Epiphyllum oxypetalum.

The last picture below was taken two days earlier. Unlike the Epiphyllum oxypetalum, this cereus gives less prior warning that it's about to bloom.

Spring flowers - May, 2006

2006-05-07T21:17:00.000-07:00

This Southern California winter started out dry, but rains after New Years have contributed to a pretty fair wildflower season. Here are some pictures from Venura and western Los Angeles County. This area is alive with these small yellow flowers; although these are a springtime staple, there seems to be more of them than in recent years...

Two close-ups of this flower...

Meanwhile, Old Agoura Park is festooned with very healthy-looking poppies...

Yosemite in winter - January, 2006

2006-01-17T20:31:00.000-08:00

...sort of, that is, because something very important was largely absent -- snow! Yosemite has received a sizable amount of precipitation thus far this winter, but it's been mainly been liquid, and the little snow seen on the Valley floor was received only just before arrival. Still, Yosemite is nice in winter, and we managed to dash in for a few very nice days in between the storms.

This first picture shows Half Dome, sporting a little snow, looming large over a near-ground fog layer. This picture was partially desaturated in Photoshop...

A close-up of El Capitan, much less white than usual for this time of year...

Downstream from Bridalveil Falls, a time exposure...

Crepuscular rays, formed by filtering sunlight through trees, near the Ahwahnee Hotel...

Finally, a shot of the Valley from the west. I partially desaturated this image, too...

University of Illinois 9-17-2005

2005-10-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

Last month, I returned to my Alma Mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to give a seminar and visit my old stomping grounds. The campus looks much better than when I left it -- but that was during the horrible drought of 1988, which caused trees to drop their leaves and turned grass the color of straw. The first picture shows the Illini Union building from the southeast.

Up until the 1950s, the quadrangle walkways were lined by majestic Dutch Elms, but they succumbed to disease. Their replacements are finally filling out. The latter picture isn't very good; I need to learn how to handle an overly bright sky.

Here is Altgeld Hall and its belltower, situated on the northwest side of the quadrangle. That's where my math classes were, and I used to study in the library.

The Alma Mater, situated between the Illini Union and Altgeld, welcomes students and visitors to campus; its inscription reads: "To thy happy children of the future, those of the past send greetings." When I was on campus, the legend was the woman with the outstretched arms would seat herself in the chair behind her should a virgin walk by. The statue proved fodder for practical jokers; in one memorable incident during my freshman year, some wag placed a beer can and a frisbee into her hands. Another creative person turned the figures into the Coneheads, a staple of Saturday Night Live at the time.

Finally, the apartment in which my wife and I used to live. Her vegetable garden is gone, replaced with grass.

A surprise bloom 10-15-2005

2005-10-15T09:51:00.000-07:00

The cereus plant appears to have forgotten which time zone it is in. Last night (10/14), I checked the plant before going to sleep, and judged that one of the two remaining developments would bloom on the evening of the 15th. I was up shortly after sunrise this morning, and looked at the plant again. No bloom during the night. I happened to look out again about two hours later, and to my surprise saw a fully opened flower! This flower opened after sunrise. Here is a picture of it...

This may have happened before. Several times, I have checked the plant before midnight when I suspected a bloom was imminent, only to judge the flower would open the following night. I'd look again the next afternoon, however, only to find an already spent flower. Obviously, the flower opened in the interim, well after midnight. Perhaps it even waited until after daybreak. I recall this was more likely to happen late in the season... like this time of year.

Blooms after sunrise 9-06 and 9-07-2005

2005-09-07T11:11:00.000-07:00

The cereus plant has bloomed the last two nights (Sept. 5th and 6th). Since this plant started blooming in June, 2000, most of the flowers have closed prior to sunrise. However, September blooms seem to persist longer, at least with this plant. The first picture below was taken this morning (Sept. 7th), just as the rising sun was able to peek over the house next door and reach the flower.

The previous night, three buds opened, two of which are shown below, again shortly after sunrise.

The third flower was situated beneath the two seen in the picture, which blocked the obscured bloom from opening fully during the night.

Further cereus development 9-03-2005

2005-09-03T16:05:00.000-07:00

Fourteen days ago, I posted some pictures of the many new buds that formed on our cereus plant. The buds continued to appear at a blistering pace; one day, we decided to stop after counting 80 of them. There are fewer now; the mortality rate for buds is pretty high, at least on my plant. The picture below shows the progress made by two of the buds I previously displayed; others on the same leaf failed to continue growing.

Based on my photographic record created from a single bud, the three larger developments are only a few days away from blooming. Still, numerous buds remain, in various stages of development. There are at least 17 incipient blooms shown in the picture below:

Unrealistic expectations regarding hurricane forecasts

2005-09-03T15:43:00.000-07:00

The post below demonstrates my increasing intolerance for the silly TV reporters who find the need to stand out in the rain and high winds to report from the scene of hurricane landfalls. I'm also progressively more irritated by unrealistic comments and demands regarding hurricane forecasts. Hurricane forecasting is a science, but certainly an inexact one. On 2 September 2005, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit reported comments found on another site that I decided deserved a response. Here is my take, a portion of which was posted by Prof. Reynolds on this page:

From where I sit, there are too many unrealistic expectations regarding hurricane track forecasting.

The Kaus emailer wanted 72 h warning on Katrina's landfall; "that would have been prescient." It's also too much to hope for, for most storms anyway, for a lot of good reasons. 72 hours out, Katrina had not yet even made landfall in Florida. Hurricanes typically progress through environments with little steering, permitting their movements to be erratic, even capricious. The official forecasts made at that time predicted a second landfall in the Florida panhandle. But Katrina took an unforseen southwestern jog over the Florida mainland, and took a slightly more westerly and southerly course than expected. These were relatively small shifts that can - and did - make a big difference even over a short period of time. It made a big difference for New Orleans, that much is certain.

To see an animation of how the official NHC forecast track evolved, see this page. Click the "5-day" button to see the longest range forecast.

But while it's always a good thing to remind people to check their emergency provisions and plans, predicting danger for a specific place, that far in advance, that far removed from the present storm location, seems like a Cassandra wail. At the time the NHC (forget "the media") was predicting a panhandle landfall, it's safe to say that a large stretch of the Gulf coast, as far away as Texas and eastern Mexico, were as likely ultimate targets as New Orleans and Gulfport. Hurricane track forecast skill has improved markedly in recent years, but it simply isn't that good yet, and the forecasters will be the first to admit it.

But 48 hours out, the NHC forecast was spot on. And it took some amount of faith to put stock in it, for they were calling for a northward turn in the track that had not yet materialized. At that time, Katrina was still moving west (indeed, slightly south of west).

The problem is didn't many -- too many -- people in New Orleans ignored the hurricane warnings when they came because they dismissed them as "hype" and recalled previous forecasts that were didn't pan out. Were 48 hours notice enough to evacuate a large area? No amount of time is enough if warnings are not heeded when they come. But the warnings won't be heeded if they are made too rashly, and if the uncertainties they come packaged with are excised in the media hype.

I've never been to New Orleans. It's a shame that the closest I've been to that city is the Lego version at Legoland, where I took this picture:

Hurricane coverage on TV

2005-08-29T19:26:00.000-07:00

Even if I weren't a meteorologist, I probably would have paid a lot of attention to Hurricane Katrina, and while I have access to all sorts of weather data on my own computers, I still watch hurricane coverage on TV. But I've finally had it with the silly practice of planting a reporter outside in the storm, just so we can see him (is it ever a her?) potentially get... unplanted. The final straw may have been on Sunday night, when a reporter hysterically declared that a piece of some structure's roof landed nearby, nearly striking him. I'm not sure which reporter it was; they all look the same when soaking wet.

I don't object to sound and video from the landfall scene. I don't object to journalists reporting from dangerous spots, so we can get the story; that's their job. I just think it's superficial guff for them to deliberately put themselves in harm's way, when it's for no discernable legitimate reason. They must believe that we want and need to see this. Do we?

So, I was flipping channels among CNN, Fox News, the Weather Channel and MSNBC, and I decided to turn away from a channel just as soon as they cut to their intrepid outdoor reporter out in the wind and cold. At one point, as Katrina neared landfall, all four stations were showing their interpid outdoor reporters, simultaneously!

It's like those annoying "Sit 'n Sleep" radio commercials in Los Angeles. You simply can't escape.

Recent development 8-20-2005

2005-08-20T17:08:00.000-07:00

The epyphyllum plant has entered a growth phase of unprecedented vigor and activity, pushing out new leaves, two new stems (that will eventually support leaves) and many new buds. The leaves are a welcome sight, because the more new ones the plant gets, the less guilty we will feel about pruning away the old, terribly ratty leaves. The picture below shows a mottled older leaf beneath a nice, shiny and green new leaf.

Here is one of the new stems. Growing furiously, it is at present over 27" long.

Finally, one of the many new buds covering the plant. Most of these new growths fail to progress beyond the size shown. Typically, if they survive to the size shown in the second picture below, they'll culminate in a bloom.

Yosemite 7-26-05 to 7-29-05

2005-07-31T18:13:00.000-07:00

We have an Ansel Adams photograph -- a winter shot of Yosemite Valley, including El Capitan, taken from the west -- hanging on our wall. In all our visits to Yosemite, we never managed to stop at the location where Adams may have taken that famous picture. It's an unsigned parking area along the Merced River, marked on the park map as "Valley View". (Adams probably set up a little east of this spot, on the same side of the Merced.) That's where the picture below was taken on July 27th.

The waterfall visible on the right side is Bridalveil Falls; here is a closer view:

Two more novel things for us about this trip: this was the closest we had ever gotten to a bear and a deer. The young bear shown below was nosing around Tenaya Lake, in the northeast part of the park.

We've seen many deer, but none this nonchalant and unafraid. The deer shown below sauntered along a crowded stretch of riverside near Swinging Bridge, seemingly oblivious to the attention it attracted from numerous children... and more than one photographer.

This flower was photographed at May Lake. I'm not sure what it is, but it grew in abundance around that lake.

On the 28th, storm clouds brewed over Lembert Dome, in the northeast part of the park. Although not visible on the picture below, a solitary climber was ascending the dome's face, about halfway up at the time of the picture. Not the best day to go climbing...

All of these pictures were taken with my recently acquired Canon Digital Rebel XT. I have mixed feelings about this camera. It feels good in my hands, can share my old Canon EOS film camera's lenses, and being an SLR is easier to use to compose pictures than my old Olympus 4040 and 2000 rangefinder digicams. However, too many of my pictures have come out improperly focused, an issue with the autofocus. It's fumbled some easy shots the Olympus cameras never would have missed. But, eight megapixels and the RAW format are nice... and the first Yosemite picture shown above will hopefully look great when enlarged and hung on the wall, next to the Ansel Adams.

New cereus blooms (7-11-05)

2005-07-12T19:25:00.000-07:00

At this writing, three of the four buds I recently wrote about have bloomed (the fourth will open this evening). I was greatly looking forward to these blooms so I could try out my new digital camera, an 8 MP Canon Digital Rebel XT. Two flowers opened on the 9th, but my pictures suffered owing to lack of familiarity with the new camera. I fared better with the solo bloom last night (the 11th). Two lessons learned: how to restrict the autofocus to a single point (important for extreme closeups), and the degree of sharpening needed. Compared to my Olympus 4040Z, the Canon pictures are consistently fuzzier out of the box, and need a relatively larger amount of sharpening in Photoshop.

This is my first experience with RAW images, and I really like the additional control over the white balance this format affords. The Canon software includes a tool for selecting the white point, and the image's color shifts about this point. Most of the cereus flower is nearly pure white, but always comes out with a sickly yellow cast owing to the harsh tungsten/halogen lighting I use. I've had reasonable success in the past recovering a true white in Photoshop but I think the Canon RAW Image Task white point tool affords even more precise control. The two plots below show before and after shots.

The Canon-supplied software has two serious flaws: it's as slow as molasses, and Canon ImageBrowser keeps on updating the modification dates of every file in a folder each time I open a folder -- whether I actively modify any of the files or not. Since I never alter originals, I expect their file dates to remain the same -- indicating when I took the shot. That must change.

Further bud development...

2005-07-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

Only four of the buds I posted on 6/16 about continued to develop... which I take as a good thing. Based on last year's experience, I was worried that if the plant had too many buds and blooms to support that each individual one might be shortchanged. For all the plant's blooming activity late last summer, few if any of the blooms ever opened all the way. Maybe the plant was exhausted from handling so much growth at the same time...

Anyway, here are pictures of the most advanced development from last Friday (July 1) and today (July 4). These pictures were taken with a new Canon Digital Rebel XT, an 8 megapixel camera. Hopefully, this camera will give me very high resolution shots of the eventual bloom. Based on my own photographic record of a development from bud to bloom, I would judge the blooming event at about 7 days away.

Earthquake weather?

2005-06-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

From Althouse I see that my hometown newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, has quoted a local resident saying, "They say there is no such thing as earthquake weather, but there is." I almost admire the certainty of the LA resident who confidently stated that there is such a thing as earthquake weather. But the LA Times should know better than to propagate legends like this.

With a little research, one can find claims of an association between hot, calm weather and quakes. Look a bit harder to find persons certain that hot and windy conditions are the key, like during our famous Santa Ana episodes. However, others claim that cold and humid is the recipe, and they're quite sure of it, except when the quakes occur when it's cold and dry.

The true answer is, of course, there is no such thing as "earthquake weather". If one claims causation, one had better provide a physical linkage. With respect to weather, what would that be? Quakes usually start far underground.

If you are still a believer, consider these dates: In California, the Northridge (1994) and Fort Tejon (1857) quakes occurred in January. Landers/Big Bear (1992) was in June. The Loma Prieta (1989) and Whitter Narrows (1987) events were in October while Long Beach (1933) was in March. The famous 1906 San Francisco quake was in April.

The only thing these quakes have in common is they occurred on days ending with the letter "y".

New buds! 6-16-05

2005-06-16T20:47:00.000-07:00

As of today, our cereus has a number of new buds, including these pictured below. The three most important words regarding these buds are fertilizer, fertilizer and fertilizer :-)

WWDC San Francisco 6-05

2005-06-11T12:29:00.000-07:00

I attended my first Apple World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC), which was held in the Moscone West conference center in San Francisco. Here are a few mainly exterior shots taken around the conference site. Owing to my schedule, I managed to miss both the Steve Jobs keynote (in which the Intel switch bomb was dropped) and the Apple campus tour. Maybe another time...

In one of the sessions. We weren't supposed to take pictures during the presentations, but a shot of the setup seemed harmless.

I took the cable car to Fishermans' Wharf. At the end of the line, the two operators have to get out and push the car around on the turntable. How quaint!

Lake Tahoe 3/31-4/2/05

2005-04-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken at Lake Tahoe over spring break. This first one was taken on March 31st, at Sand Harbor State Park on the east side of the lake. This is on the Nevada side and there was a nice short hike there.

While I really like this next picture, the sunrise on April Fool's Day was actually far more reddish than my Olympus C-4040Z camera is able to record. I also photographed this scene with 100 speed Fuji and 400 speed Kodak film.

Later that same day, we observed lenticular clouds hovering over the lake. These lens-shaped, often layered clouds are associated with flow over mountains.

Finally, a sunset shot showing the pier at Zephyr Cove, again on the lake's east side.

Joshua Tree NP 3/25/05

2005-03-26T21:37:00.000-08:00

The 2005 desert flower season trek took us to Joshua Tree National Park (JTNP), where at this writing wildflowers are in bloom in the southern (lower elevation) section of the park. The flower display is most dramatic along the stretch of road between the Cottonwood Visitor Center and Interstate 10, the site where most of the following pictures were taken. I've tried to name some of the flowers I've photographed, but I'm not a botanist and my identifications come without guarantee or warranty.

The most ubiquitous flower along the road is probably the desert-dandelion, pictured below,
.

followed closely by brittlebrush, ostensibly the favorite flower of the butterflies:
.

Driving can be quite a challenge during the daylight hours, as butterfiles abound (and continually collide with your vehicle).

The picture below appears to be a dwarf relative of the California poppy, more yellowish in appearance and not nearly as fetching a flower
.

The next two photos are of the beavertail cactus, which is very common in the park but not yet in bloom... except for this one example seen near Cottonwood

I've heard of Jimson weed, but have never seen it -- until this trip. I didn't find it particularly attractive

This time, we found the ocotillo in bloom, indicated by the reddish flowers emanating from their spiny branches

Here is a closeup view of the ocotillo bloom

JTNP is famous for its rock formations. The next picture shows off one of the formations, rising above a small reservoir called Barker Dam

Finally, consider this tree which found itself growing alongside a huge boulder. The word this image evokes is pertinacity.

Mojave desert 3/13/05

2005-03-13T19:30:00.000-08:00

We drove out to the western Mojave desert today (3/13) to see if the expected spectacular desert flower season had started yet in this portion of Southern California. The first two pictures were taken near the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve and showcase a very nice cluster of golden poppy blooms. It's still early in the season for the high desert, and the best may be yet to come.

The next two pictures show Joshua trees and were taken a few miles farther west. The Joshuas are (ostensibly) flowering; the last picture shows a closeup of its white bloom.

Prospects for this desert flower season

2005-03-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

Most of the year -- and this is unfortunately true of most full years as well -- the deserts surrounding Los Angeles are well described by the title of Raymond Chandler's quintessential LA novel, The Big Sleep, at least as far as flowering plants are concerned. Occasionally, however, we get spectacular desert flower displays during March and April, as transpired in 1992, 1998 and 2003, for example. Precipitation alone is not sufficient, but this year's abundant rains have raised hopes for a spectacular desert flower season.

This picture was taken in March, 2003, in the western section of the Mojave Desert, just east of the Grapevine. The photo looks north, towards the Tehachapi Mountains that separate the Mojave from the Central Valley. A carpet of bright orange poppies can be seen, stretching as far as the eye can see. These poppies bloomed vigorously for a few weeks, and then vanished.

Here is a closer view of the California golden poppy, our state flower:

And finally a side view, showing some of the flower's inner structure behind the petal:

A backlit bloom

2005-02-27T08:30:00.000-08:00

The picture below was taken on 2 August 2000, representing the third time the cereus plant had bloomed -- both in that summer and during its existence. (The first bloom appeared during June, a story related in my cereus FAQ here, in the third question.) I was experimenting with backlighting, trying for an eerie effect. Since that time I have become slightly more proficient with Photoshop, resulting in a somewhat improved picture, thanks in part to an online tutorial entitled "Instant Photoshop". I have a gentleman named Al Moller from tne National Weather Service to thank for that; Al presents wonderful slideshows of his photographs (not all concerning weather phenomena) at Severe Storms conferences.

Heavy rains in this so-called desert

2005-02-21T12:24:00.000-08:00

We experienced several episodes of heavy rains here in Los Angeles, particularly in the mountains north and west of the city. In the Thousand Oaks area where I live the rains last night and this morning (21 February) were exceptionally persistent and intense. The image below shows radar-estimated precipitation accumulation for this storm, as of 20 UTC on 21 February (12 noon PDT). The estimate is as high as over 9" north of Los Angeles. I live close to one of the 6-7" blobs seen on the image.

The cereus plant suffers always from some kind of infection or other ailment that causes its older leaves to rot away. It is worst in the winter season, and may perhaps result from exposure to cold weather. (The plant remains outdoors year round, and we characteristically do get several incidents of frost per winter as well.) Here are some pictures, taken today. I would like to know what causes this problem and how it might be avoided.

Luckily, the affliction has not affected all of the plant's leaves, and has not kept it from growing and blooming.

Joshua Tree National Park

2005-02-16T20:49:00.000-08:00

So, I created this cereus-inspired blog and by the second post already wander afield. Here are a few recent pictures from Joshua Tree National Park (JTMP), a world's end kind of place located in the desert east of Los Angeles. It's named for the ubiquitous Joshua Tree, so named by the Mormons and a (decidedly overgrown) relative of the lily (if memory serves). The rock band U2 released an album entitled "The Joshua Tree" some years ago.

Joshua Tree National Park holds interest for me owing to the fact that it straddles two distinct deserts, the Mojave (or high) desert and the Colorado (or low) desert. The difference between the deserts is striking; it's amazing the effect that several thousand feet of altitude can have. The Mojave desert is located at a higher elevation and is far from the barren wasteland one usually associates with the word "desert". Indeed, the Mojave comes alive with wildflowers in the spring, especially when conditions favor massive blooms of the state flower, the California Golden Poppy. In contrast, the Colorado desert south of the park is more desolate, being substantially hotter in the summertime owing in part to its lower elevation. South of JTMP is an area where General Patton's tank brigade trained prior to deployment. It is said the tank treads are still visible.

JTNP is bisected by a northwest-to-southeast road that gradually descends from the Mojave to the Colorado deserts. At its start, there are plenty of Joshua trees. Along the road, however, one notices the Joshuas becoming both scrawnier and more scarce. Yucca and ocotillo appear as the Joshuas fade away. Along the road is the Cholla cactus garden, home to some very interesting succulents.

Here is a picture of Joshua trees at sunset:

A Joshua tree near sunrise:

From the Cholla cactus garden:

Ocotillo from the low desert:

More of my photographs from Joshua Tree National Park at this link.

Welcome to "Are you cereus?"

2005-02-14T20:31:00.000-08:00

I've made this page as a companion to my website concerning photographs of the Epiphyllum oxypetalum, one of the cacti popularly known as "night blooming cereus". The site draws many visitors, particularly during (Northern Hemisphere) summer, and generates a fair amount of email. Some of my emailers describe (or show) their own plants or impart growing advice, while others pose questions I cannot answer. A weblog might provide a useful avenue for sharing comments, questions and pictures from other cereus owners, and those interested in this special plant.

I'll probably also include pictures that, for whatever reason, didn't make it to the cereus website. Here's one to start off the blog. It was taken on 27 September 2004, in my backyard like all the others.

Thanks for visiting, and please feel free to leave a comment!