An Afternoon Stroll at The Huntington

May 28, 2023 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

Friday, I decided to look around at parts of The Huntington since I had not been there in a while. For one thing, I knew the roses would be in full bloom, and even though I had been there a number of times, I had never looked around the rose garden. They did not disappoint.

Find the bird among the roses.

The building is the newly reopened Tea Room.

This rose has perfume as part of its name and smells divine.

I left the rose area and strolled in the herb garden seen above. Then I found a new kind of artichoke, Opera Artichoke. See below.

Facing away from the rose garden I could see all the way to downtown Los Angeles.

This tree is labeled Naked Coral.

Then I strolled through the tropical garden area.

Fig trees.

After leaving the tropical area, I wandered around cactus and succulent gardens.

Another Day at The Huntington

August 5, 2022August 5, 2022 / Juliana Lightle / 2 Comments

Decades ago three of us attended the same two room elementary school, Clay Center, located at the corner of the intersection of two gravel, country roads, surrounded by rolling farmland in Northwest Missouri.

On Wednesday morning, we strolled though part of The Huntington Gardens and one of the art galleries there.

Ramona, the youngest one of us, is visiting her brother, Craig, who lives in Palm Springs. She loves succulents so we headed to that part of the gardens first.

Ramona and my daughter strolling along one of the wider pathways.

I have been here at least six times in the last six months. I see something new and fascinating every time.

After the succulent and cactus area, we headed to one of the art galleries. When I was here before Blue Boy was on loan. Yes, this is the genuine Blue Boy. Craig was so excited to see him and loved this gallery, all of it.

Ramona wanted to see the Chinese Gardens so we passed by this portion of the Japanese Gardens on the way.

The lake in the Chinese Garden was full of water lillies in bloom. Most were flat on the water but not these.

The three of us together for the first time in decades.

An Afternoon at Laguna Beach

May 9, 2022 / Juliana Lightle / 2 Comments

Every year Laguna Beach has a Garden Tour. We decided to take a look and celebrate Mother’s Day one day early–my daughter, grandson, his girlfriend, and I. To be honest the tour was a bit disappointing but Laguna Beach itself definitely was not. We enjoyed ourselves immensely and will return.

We decided to do the cardio tour–yes, that is what they called it. The shuttle drops everyone off at Garden 1, you follow a map, and walk the rest of the tour. The option is to take the shuttle just about everywhere. We did not do that. Here are a few photos I took along the way.

The rest of my family in front of me walking one of the cardio sections.

A door I loved in an alley along the way.

Laguna Beach is very hilly. Many houses are not only like those above but perched at the top of the hills.

The final street of the tour was the street closet to the ocean.

Looking through the gate at the side of one the elegant houses along the sea.

Some people apparently prefer more privacy.

I found this undulating grass quite fascinating.

This and the following photo are of Shaw’s Cove, a rather hidden public beach with waves crashing against rocks and only a few locals. There is a series of steps that lead down to the Cove.

The Huntington Gardens–Part Two

March 2, 2022 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

In the last six weeks I have travelled to these gardens five times, two alone and three with house guests. Amid all the turmoil in the world today this is a place where nature continues its grand display, instilling a sense of peace and quiet.

My son headed to the Chinese and Japanese gardens.

Earlier photos were the walk to arrive here at the Japanese Gardens.

Depending on how you walk through the gardens, you walk to Japanese first, then Chinese, then back to the Japanese Gardens. This and the following few photos are the Chinese Gardens.

The Chinese Garden is filled with various sizes of limestone that looks like sculptures but is natural. The next time I go, I am going to learn what is written on many of the pieces of limestone.

In many places you can see the San Gabriel Mountains which are not far away.

I sat on a bench and stared at this for a long time, wondering how they do this without messing any of it up. There are doze

And finally something European as we headed toward the parking area.

After five times, I have seen most of the gardens–next post will be some photos of the Australian area–and the two art galleries. Never made it to the library yet.

The Huntington–Gardens, Part One

February 16, 2022 / Juliana Lightle / 2 Comments

Where have I been? Entertaining my son whom I had not seen in more than two years. One of the things he wanted to do was visit The Huntington in Pasadena after seeing some photos I took on a visit in January. Unless you get there as soon as they open and stay all day, it is impossible to see everything in one day. I have been there four times and only seen the gardens. The library and art gallery await for another time. Here are the photos from the first excursion with my son, Erik.

Erik took a lot of photos. This set is mostly in the desert garden section filled with cactus and succulents.

Yes, those are thorns sticking out of the trunk.

In many place in the gardens you can see the San Gabriel Mountains in the background.

I found the colors and texture of the trunk of this tree quite a contrast to many in the desert area. This photo and several that follow were taken in the Australian section.

Some of these trees are too huge to get all the tree in a photo.

On the way out. The rest had to wait for another day.

Italy–the Amalfi Coast

November 25, 2019 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

On one of our day trips from Sorrento, we headed down the Amalfi Coast. For years I have seen photos and told myself, “Wow”. No photo can do this coastline justice. The highway is excellent but narrow. On many of the turns, only one vehicle can proceed. A large bus cannot travel this highway. Even with the small ones we took, the driver would often honk as we turned a corner which we could not see around.

We stopped at one of the few turnoffs along the highway and took a short hike down to an overlook. This is the town of Positano. I took the following photos while at this overlook.

I love bougainvillea and all colors grew everywhere.

Looking across the Mediterranean.

The land is rugged with both new and ancient buildings hanging off mountainsides and cliffs.

A closer view of Positano.

Another view across the Mediterranean.

The highway, houses hanging off the edge, olive trees, lushness everywhere.

It was a stormy looking day. We kept thinking it would rain but luckily it did not.

The Amalfi Cathedral in the town of Almalfi. Its design is unique and shows the cultural influence of the Muslim world with whom the town was a major trading center for centuries–arches, gold and green.

A typical street in Amalfi. We walked all the way up this street to just below the school, found all sorts of delightful shops, and ate our favorite food of the entire trip. My favorite was spaghetti with a lemon creme sauce. Recipe comes later.

Near the sea looking up into the city. The large building up on the slopes is now a cemetery but used to be a monastery.

Same spot as previous photo, just looking the other direction.

We were supposed to take a little boat trip out into the sea but it was too rough. Ema, my daughter, walked all the way out to the end of the pier.

The water was so high I thought perhaps it was high tide. I was told it was not.

Today I asked my daughter and grandson what/where was their favorite in Italy. We all agree, Amalfi. I also loved Capri–more about there later.

Adventures in Argentina–Flora and Fauna Near Iguazu Falls

April 25, 2018 / Juliana Lightle / 4 Comments

Across the highway from the helicopter business, we visited a surprisedly large bird sanctuary, recommended by our taxi driver/guide. We did not expect anything as lovely as what we found. Most of the birds and flowers there are native to the area. However, a few rarer species from other parts of the world exist there as well.

Surprised, I recalled seeing these exact same flowers on my two trips to Costa Rica. In fact, I found another photo on an older blog post from one of my Costa Rica trips.

Endangered, many countries where these wonderful parrots live do everything they can to save them. They pair for life–we found the evidence amusing and enchanting.

Whenever we saw an uneven number together, we looked elsewhere and found the mate drinking or feeding.

Of course, there has to be toucans. Some even clowned for the tourists. People clustered all around to watch their antics.

Where you have flowers you have butterflies.

Butterflies love Gaston.

They landed on him, flew to his fingers, let him pick them up without flying away. I tried, but no luck.

A fabulous morning on the Brazilian side, starting with the helicopter ride and ending here with flowers, birds, and butterflies.

Costa Rica Adventure, Day Three–Part One

January 8, 2016 / Juliana Lightle / 3 Comments

After lunch at the National Theatre we headed to Monteverde, a small town with only one unpaved road in and out. One big change since I was there three years ago is the road. It has been widened considerably and apparently plans to pave it are in the works. The original reason for not paving was to prevent hoards of tourists from invading. Apparently, that failed; tourists came anyway.

This town’s origination grew out of Costa Rica’s decision to disband its military in 1948, a practice which continues today. Quakers from Canada moved here for that reason and created Monteverde, now famous for its cheese and, of course, the nearby Cloud Forest. The hotel, where I have now stayed twice, El Establo, is owned in part by Quakers and serves a favorite of mine, fried cheese.

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Nine buildings up and down the mountain house rooms. Previously, I stayed in one of the lower buildings; this time we were near the top way above this lake.

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The views from all the rooms provide a vista all the way to Nocoya Bay. After we put luggage in our rooms, we headed out for a night walk in the forest, the reason we had been instructed to bring flashlights on the tour. We saw spiders, birds sleeping, a mouse, all sorts of insects, but nothing too exciting. Probably some of the group members were too scared and too noisy.

The next day breakfast occurred at 7 just before we took off for the Cloud Forest and a hike to the Continental Divide–all six miles or so. I had hiked here before but on a different trail and in a huge downpour. Luckily, it rained only a little. However, if you are in the clouds, you get wet.

Lush does not even begin to describe the Cloud Forest, a huge reserve with numerous indigenous species of everything from hummingbirds to insects to all sort of plants that exist nowhere else on earth.

Every tree, branch, every living things is covered with other living things. This must be botanist heaven.

Looking up into the branches of a tree fern. Yes, that is a fern. So much to see, it is hard to keep up with the guide, a native Quaker whose father was one of the founders of Monteverde.

It is difficult to know what photos to take; everything holds some kind of fascination and lots of beauty.

Another tree fern right by the trail.

In the clouds at the Continental Divide it’s incredibly windy yet the clouds stay and you get wetter and wetter even though it is not raining. Water dripped off my slicker, the trail oozed mud and water, it was hard to keep my footing on slopes.

On the way back we crossed several streams. Everywhere in Costa Rica signs in both Spanish and English instruct people to save water. They made me chuckle. Streams run everywhere in much of the country, especially on the Caribbean side. Here I live in a semi-arid environment where I see wasted water running down streets in town and in Costa Rica they conserve water and recycle things I did not even know were recyclable. Hotels provide recycling bins and some even turn off lights automatically when you are not in the room.

The name for this flower translates from Spanish as hot lips.

This looks like a tree but it is not. A giant, parasitic fig plant surrounded the tree, eventually killed it, and this is the result.

After we finished the hike, we walked over to a shop that feeds hummingbirds, hundreds of species of which live in Costa Rica, many only in the Cloud Forest. Took a video of them, but it refuses to upload here. Some were incredibly iridescent and much larger than any I had ever previously seen.

My Ethiopian Adventure–the Beginning

July 25, 2014July 25, 2014 / Juliana Lightle / 2 Comments

After leaving the US on July 2, flying 14 hours to Dubai, spending a day there, I finally made it to Addis Ababa (also spelled Abeba) on the 4th. I remained in Ethiopia until this past Monday when I left Addis late in the afternoon. Blog posting from Ethiopia was limited because wifi is available only in certain areas and places and there is no 2,3, or 4G anywhere. For those of you who saw my four posts from Ethiopia, some photos and a few details may be repeated. My plan is to post photos and detailed information now that I am back which will require a number of posts because not only did we go on a ten day road trip, we also spent time in Addis Ababa and Adama (Nasret).

I went on this trip with two friends, a couple. Dino is from Ethiopia, having grown up in Dire Dawa. His parents now live in Adama where his father owns and runs a printing press. Two of his sisters and one brother live in Addis. We spent the first few days before our road trip in Addis, staying with his sister, Anna, who owns a painting company. She imports the paint from Italy and her clients include individuals and businesses. Her company also paints cars. Of course, she painted her own house with this paint. I loved the colors and textures.

The front of Anna’s lovely house. It is the rainy season and flowers grow everywhere.

The translation for these orange flowers, which I had never seen before, is flowers of the sun.

One afternoon four of us decided to take a drive around Addis to see some of the more beautiful spots which mainly included the Addis Hilton Hotel and the Sheraton, which is a five star. Carlo, Dino’s father drove. What a remarkable man, in his 80s and still getting to work at 6, driving everywhere. The Hilton is the older of the two. The grounds of both display lush greenery.

Zuriash and I enjoying the grandeur.

Papyrus by the pool at the Sheraton.

The swimming pool at the Sheraton. You cannot use it unless you are staying there. However, the pool at the Hilton is available on a membership basis–you do not have to stay there to use it.

The rooms at the Sheraton overlooking the gardens and pool. Dino and Carlo, son and father, walking down the path to the pool area. Apparently, many visiting dignitaries stay here. Inside walls are filled with excellent local art.

And then there is Addis traffic. Approximately six million people live there. In five or so days, riding here and there all over the city, I saw only two traffic lights, neither of which worked. Most large intersections contain a traffic circle and around and around you go trying to wiggle into a space and get across the intersection. Take a look.

Trying to drive to Guiseppe’s house, Anna driving, we were stuck here. The big trucks would not let us through. Finally, a guy in another car, got out, stopped the trucks and waved us on. It took us 1 1/2 hours to get there. A couple of days later, he came to Anna’s in twenty minutes.

In front of Guiseppe’s house. A typical residential street, sometimes like this one with gates on each end. People hire someone to watch the gates. You honk and they are opened and then closed.

On the last evening before we began our ten day road trip, Anna took us to a cultural restaurant to eat traditional food and watch the dancing from different parts of the country. I expected it to be just a tourist spot, but no, many locals were there. During the dancing, locals competed with the professionals to see who could dance the best.

This dance requires almost no motion except a lot of shoulder action. I attempted to do it myself when the man behind the girl in white came over and asked me to dance. I tried but would have to practice forever to get this one right.

The young men in the background competing.

Anna and I in front of her house. She is wearing a traditional Ethiopia dress.

Costa Rica 6: Adventures and Views

July 15, 2012 / Juliana Lightle / Leave a comment

Without a doubt Costa Rica holds my vote for most photogenic and greenest country. From the Caribbean and Pacific rain forests to the high mountain town of Monteverde, the words lush, exotic, verdant do not even begin to describe how incredibly rich the landscape is. One of the first spectacular views lay before me across the parking lot from a combination restaurant and souvenir shop where we stopped for snacks.

I did not expect to see multiple mountain streams like in the Rockies, but it seemed we were crossing one nearly constantly. This abundance of water explains their nearly total dependence on hydroelectric power with a little help from wind and thermal energy.

Several of my traveling companions decided to raft this river with class 4 rapids. Something told me I should not do this. After flipping over several times, banged up and bruised, they decided to hike out. In the meantime, I experienced my own adventure, eating a raw turtle egg in salsa at a family restaurant on the top of a nearby mountain.

Beautiful mountain scenery seems endless. I kept 00hing and awing.

This view shows the Bay of Nicoya in the distance from my hotel room in Monteverde. The following photos all show views in the mountains near this little remote town. There is only one road in and out and it is not paved and it is narrow. The town was originally settled by Quakers from Canada who still believe a paved road will ruin the peaceful lifestyle. Both the Quakers and the town are famous for their cheese which was served both plain and fried for breakfast.

This area provides both zip lining and horseback riding for tourists. I elected to ride. However, these horses did not seem well fed and certainly did not want to go very fast. Although I saw a lot of horses in Costa Rica, these were by far the thinest.

The guy who lead us did not ride one of these. He was riding a fancy, prancing, grey Paso Fino.

Look closely and you can see someone zip lining across the forested canyon hundreds of feet below.

When I asked about this tree, I was told it is related to cacao, but not eaten, not by humans anyway.

We traveled down the mountain on another dirt road to visit this elementary school. It housed grades 1-6 with one teacher who is also the principal. The literacy rate in Costa Rica is 98.5.

Playing soccer with the students.

A port on the Pacific on the way to the surfing town of Jaco. Costa Rica exports many agricultural products from both its Pacific and Caribbean ports. This includes bananas, pineapples, hearts of palms, and many tropical flowers.

While many beaches remain unsafe for swimming due to a strong undertow, the beaches at Manuel Antonio National Park are perfect.

To get into Manuel Antonio you have to walk and no parking exists really close. Hiking out we crossed an area where the water rushed around our knees and the sign said, “No Swimming, Crocodiles”.

As a farmer, I like to look at and photograph crops. With all the rain and heat, Costa Rica is the perfect climate for many tropical fruits and rice. On the way back from Manuel Antonio we passed miles of rice fields and Aftican palms which produce palm oil.

Rice.

Coffee, the main export of Costa Rica. In the highlands, coffee grows everywhere even along the berms in places so steep I wondered how the person picking the beans did not fall over. Of course, I wondered the same thing about the dairy cattle grazing on the mountain slopes.

We did stop in Sarchi, the town famous for its furniture and oxcart industry. Oxcarts remain the national symbol of Costa Rica. Because of the mountainous terrain, when Costa Rican coffee initially became famous and its most successful crop, the only way to get the coffee to the coasts for export was to use oxcarts.

We spent very little time in cities. However, as we left San Jose near the end of the trip and headed for the Caribbean side, I took some hurried photographs out the window.