Flora – hike.wander.wonder

Friendly Friday: Up Close and Macro

Things have been extremely dry here in California this year, so I was excited on Monday to wake up to a wet city and the beautiful scent of fresh rain. Here’s my photo, an attempt to capture the droplets of water on one of the plants in my front yard.

Focusing on the Beauty

Keeping healthy and sane with local daily hikes and neighborhood walks during this period of social distancing….

Autumn: Bishop Ranch Regional Preserve

Autumn: Bishop Ranch Regional Preserve, San Ramon, CA

Rainy Day: Angles

More images of plants in my front yard… Sunlight: After the Rain Photography 101: The Natural World *** The challenge? WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Angles

Sunlight: After the Rain

Just as I hit the publish button on my last post (Photography 101: Warmth), the sun burned through the clouds and lit up the plants in my front yard, giving me an opportunity to capture the sunlight on this overcast day. The challenge? WordPress Photography 101: Warmth

Photography 101: Warmth

It’s a beautiful, much-needed, rainy, overcast day here. I’ll keep my eye out today for an opening in the clouds to capture an image for this challenge, which is to “head outside and capture an image of warmth, using the sun as your source.” In the meantime, here’s an unpublished photo from my archives. TheContinue reading “Photography 101: Warmth”

Photography 101: The Natural World

Playing with vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines… Our Front Yard Photos taken November 12th, 2014 The challenge? WordPress Photography 101: The Natural World

Photography 101: Connect

The challenge? WordPress Photography 101: Connect

Photography 101: Bliss

Bliss: complete happiness, great joy, paradise, or heaven. The challenge? WordPress Photography 101: Bliss

Floral Friday: California Poppies

As promised, more California Poppy photos… Photos taken April 2nd, 2014 Dublin, California

Silent Saturday: Spring…

Photos taken February 15th, 2014 Redwood Bowl, Oakland, California

Silent Saturday: Happy Flowers

Photos taken January 4th, 2014 UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley

Floral Friday: Together and Alone

Photos taken January 4th, 2014 UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley

Weekly Photo Challenge: Beginning

Photo taken January 4th, 2014 UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley *** WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Beginning

On Happiness: Myths Debunked

Ah, the pursuit of happiness. Isn’t that an inherent right of all Americans? Yet the majority of Americans seem to be searching for happiness in all the wrong places… striving for that next promotion at work, purchasing a larger home, buying a nicer car, thinking that marriage will provide lasting happiness, or planning the perfectContinue reading “On Happiness: Myths Debunked”

Want to be Happier? Take a Walk in Nature

Within moments of beginning my walk around the grounds of the UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley this morning, I began to experience that wonderful feeling of peace and calmness that washes over me me when I’m out in nature. Whenever I begin to feel stressed, overwhelmed, quick to anger, or anxious, I’ve learned the bestContinue reading “Want to be Happier? Take a Walk in Nature”