My favorite film series on environmentalism is “ The Toxic Avenger “ lol. But seriously it is. In film 3 what’s funny is that it turns out Satan is trying to destroy the world by messing up the environment. With that said, these films are not family friendly at all. They are supposed to be coming out with a new one, it’s in post production for over a year now. Has Peter Dinklage as the Avenger in it. ( he’s one of the more popular actors with dwarfism.
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I’d probably still be watching the Friendly Giant today, if it were still on.
Awww. Look! He’s still pulling up chairs for us kids, SkovandOfMitaze!
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Took a walk with my wife above the steam trains in Tilden park, Berkeley today. I’m afraid I don’t know the names of most of them. A very well loved trail.
Of course this one I know, our state flower the poppy.
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Looks like a really nice trail. In a few years I’m hoping to take a week or two off each year and hit up different ecotype trails that are further away. Hoping to also take another week or so off and hit up somewhere in another country. I tend to travel cheap. Don’t even get hotels. Just bring a small tent and stay outside tucked away at random places. Bring a small books to do translations and buy a charger for that country before heading out. I often use CoCs “ churches of christ “ in other places as a network before leaving.
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As nice as this one is for a couple of elderly, it would disappoint you. But I remember seeing spring bloom in Anzo Barrego desert east of San Diego several years ago. Very special. If you catch it after a big rainy season many places in California can rival those of Texas and South Africa with super blooms. Naturally you’d be welcome to tea in my suburban garden too and I could try to hook you up with some other private garden visits too if you like.
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I am sure I would still enjoy it. I post just a fraction of the pics I take. I have over 40k nature pics on my phone now. Sometimes I’ll spend hours at a single tree or within the same 20x20 wildflower spot. I’ve went and checked literally thousands of pitcher plant tops noting how many had caterpillars in them before.
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Your pictures remind me of the milk thistle that showed up in my garden a couple years back. I surely shared it here. I thought the foliage was striking but I excommunicated it as soon as the first flower opened. It got large and enjoyed show. Huh I didn’t find it in searching here I’ll post it later if I can track it down.
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It reminds me of our “ horrid thistle “ with its spiny leaves. Often they will turn yellow as they mature. I have always liked them, but I get why others don’t. They can really hurt if you step on them , especially barefooted in their first year state.
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Oh, the Friendly Giant memories! I don’t recall ever being moved to tears, but I loved Rusty the Rooster…
Did you get “Mr. Dressup” from across the border too?
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YES! But I wasn’t so interested in him. I was a tall kid, stuck out like a sore thumb. The Friendly Giant made me feel normal, even a little special.
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Mark, I think that second photo is Purple Loosestrife. Pretty, but invasive in Michigan.
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Pretty sure it is a Columbine. Here is a more detailed photo.
Note the leaf along the lower right lower edge just in from the corner. Blurry but very like other Lupines. Acquilegia is the botanical name of a varied tribe of popular garden plants that go by many popular names.
Here is a prettier but hard to obtain cultivar, Cob Mountain lupine. Compare the leaves. I’ll grow that again anytime it becomes available.
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Yes! Detail makes a lot of difference, now doesn’t it?
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The other is from quite a distance. Sorry I threw you off. I think I took a chance on Loosestrife at one point and it didn’t like me well enough to take over. 
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I was there last late July. Somehow, the golf resort hotels in the area are pretty cheap then. Also somehow, there’s no one else around. Nor when it’s 109 and humid at the south end of the Salton Sea.
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Beautiful if less fertile country. Did you spot any rusting metal dinosaurs or big horn sheep?
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A few other interesting thing besides dinosaurs as well. As to interesting, this is between Anza-Borrego and the Salton Sea:
It’s part of the micronation of Slowjamastan, i.e., “A radio DJ bought 11 acres of desert and named it for his show.”
Not there. We saw a few from 74 between Lake Hemet and Pinyon Pines.
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Trillium my daughter found near our house, and a fruit tree bloom in the Manistee forest, left over from a failed farm, I think.
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I think your often super dry climate requires a special kind of plant. Loosestife often grows in standing water, like at the edges of small lakes and ponds — in the water. By you, it lacks the resources to be an invader. Supply lines have been cut off.
Same as your ostrich leaf ferns.
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