The one chance we may ever have to shoot a lunar eclipse during blue hour and over city lights and it was cloudy here! Earlier in the evening, a lady came up to me and asked me where the eclipse was. I said, 'It's in this direction and behind the clouds.' She asked me, 'Do you know when are they going to make the clouds go away?' I said, 'I'll ask.' The Moon finally did make an appearance...

This is a composite of three shots taken last night from the same spot.

✽

Aboutme

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohIPGrbnwYc

Seen in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles.

In Explore, Number 7 On 02/09/23. The View Of The San Fernando Valley Where I Grow Up.

Saint Nicholas Church on Ventura Blvd in Encino, Los Angeles.

In the heart of Encino, California, on Ventura Blvd.

Olive Ave in Burbank, south-east end of the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles.

Looking toward Disney-ABC Television building in Burbank, California.

Update: the consensus is they are snowy egrets.

Another shot from the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Refuge in the valley in LA. I believe these are herons of some type, but not blue herons. Or maybe egrets?

Yikes, I'm about to go to LA again in a couple weeks and I still have a huge backlog of photos from last time that I didn't post! I don't think I'll ever catch up now that I've decided to no longer ever post dozens of photos at once.

A cottage in Studio City's Tujunga Village (the residential side is sometimes called Woodbridge Park, after the area's small park), Los Angeles.

Facade.

At Plaza Del Valle, Van Nuys Blvd and Chase Street in Panorama City, Los Angeles.

Administration Building at Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC).

Above the city of San Fernando, on Lopez Canyon Road, Los Angeles.

(concrete confluence)

Looking toward Simi Valley on Santa Susana Pass Road in NW Los Angeles. Seasonal-rain greenery will soon give way to a dry & rocky landscape.

At Reefinary Cannabis shop in Van Nuys, Los Angeles.

Sepulveda Dam, completed 1941, in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles.

I was visiting the Sherman Oakes Galleria in the San Fernando Valley when I saw these absolutely gorgeous flowers in the window. The person who designed this window display "back lit" the flowers and it really made them glow and they look almost 3D. I don’t know much about flowers, but these definitely got my attention.

Above Beverly Glen Blvd in Sherman Oaks, California.

Recuerdos (Memories) by Levi Ponce on Pacoima's Mural Mile, Los Angeles.

In the Town Center area of Burbank, California.

Sepulveda Dam, completed 1941 in the San Fernando Valley, to withhold winter flood waters along the Los Angeles River.

The Sepulveda Pass, connecting West L.A. to The Valley (on a hazy day).

At Plaza Del Valle, Van Nuys Blvd and Chase Street in Panorama City, Los Angeles.

Aloe tree overlooking the San Fernando Valley from Topanga.

Deer Lake Ranch, new housing development west of Porter Ranch, Los Angeles.

At Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles.

A main north-south artery in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley, Van Nuys Blvd had a popular car-cruising scene in the 1960's & 70's.

On Mulholland Drive above the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles.

Carney's Restaurant on Ventura Blvd in Studio City, Los Angeles.

At Plaza Del Valle, Van Nuys Blvd and Chase Street in Panorama City, Los Angeles.

At Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles.

On Mulholland Drive above the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles.

"Pacoima Trejo," mural of actor Danny Trejo, by Levi Ponce & volunteers. On Pacoima's Mural Mile, Los Angeles.

Sepulveda Dam in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles.

San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles.

Bob's Big Boy restaurant chain, founded 1936 in Southern California, once had over 240 locations throughout the nation. Of the five remaining, this 1949 landmark on Riverside Drive in Burbank is the oldest.

Residential community in the Santa Susana Pass, between Simi Valley and Los Angeles.

The Woolsey Fire's destruction is widespread and sobering. But, the slow recovery has already begun as evidenced by the wisps of grass that have sprouted throughout the burn area.

There is our time.

There is geologic time.

Then there is the time the Earth takes to heal after a fire. It falls somewhere between the two extremes but it surely comes more slowly than we would like.

It will be interesting to be a witness to the recovery...to see what species come back the most quickly and in greatest number and density.

Nature is stubborn and clever and I look forward to seeing her work in these areas I know so well.

"Born in East Valley, with Cheech Marin," by Levi Ponce in 2012. On Van Nuys Blvd in Pacoima, Los Angeles.

In the West Hills community of L.A.'s San Fernando Valley.

View from a residential community in the Santa Susana Pass, between Simi Valley and Los Angeles.

Pacoimeras (Pacoima Neighborhood Mural) by Levi Ponce in 2013, on a laundromat rear wall, Los Angeles.

Los Angeles River in the San Fernando Valley flood control basin & recreation center.