37°18’54.35″N 122°11’17.22″W
On Russian Ridge in the morning sun.

37°19’11.87″N 122° 9’45.51″W
On the Bella Vista Trail in the Monte Bello Open Space Preserve.

37°18’54.54″N 122°11’16.90″W
Taken at 9am this morning as the sun was just coming over the hills up on Russian Ridge. There were dozens of dew glistening webs like this by the parking lot. The spider in the middle is almost 2″ in diameter.

I tried to get some great macro shots, but without a tripod I couldn’t hold still enough – in fact even this shot is shaky. I’ll head up there more prepared on another morning.

More “frozen” water. This was shot outside at night using just the camera’s flash. The strong highlight on the left comes from the bottom of a dog bowl that I was using as a reflector.

37°16’34.55″N 122° 9’7.03″W
I came across this coyote carcass on my mountain bike ride this morning, once again in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The spine was right on the property line of the Jikoji Zen Temple and Retreat Center. Despite their peaceful name, I’m not messing with those guys.

I didn’t know what kind of animal it was when I was up there, but the spine was almost 3 feet long from the hipbone (left) to where the skull would attach (right), so clearly a large animal. The thin ribcage and tall dorsal bones made it easy to identify online.

37°19’17.21″N 122°12’12.95″W
Another visit to Russian Ridge to go biking. The trail cuts through the grasses high above the valley fog.

As I was reviewing pictures I took today I found an odd theme – most of what I shot was round. Two flowers, a palm tree and a bunch of feathers. Any amateur psychiatrists out there?

This shadow fell naturally onto another leaf in surprising alignment.

37°19’3.00″N 122°11’47.44″W
A small buckeye tree on Russian Ridge. Seen during a beautiful morning mountain bike ride.

37°28’14.26″N 122°13’25.89″W
Taken in the reptile department at Petco using my small Olympus pressed up against the glass.