Santa Barbara- a bit of nature

We have been here in Santa Barbara since Tuesday. It had been so long since I have composed a post on my tablet that it took until tonight to re-figure out how to get the task done.

So instead of doing a series of chronological posts of what feels at this point like old news I will organize these photos and blogs posts vaguely thematically.

We left New York as the daffodils were beginning to bloom (followed by a quick but depressing snowfall). We got to Santa Barbara where nature seems to be on steroids. The blossom above grows on a tree that when it is on bloom looks like it is growing Muppets.

Birds of Paradise seem to sprout everywhere.

My sister- in-law and her husband live in a house landscaped with lots of citrus trees. There are two Meyer Lemon trees in the back yard. Near the Meyer Lemons is a mystery citrus tree that produces lumpy thick skinned sweet lemons with a really sweet rind.

The front yard has a group of Satsumas,a grapefruit tree and some orange trees. I have become an orange snob. Oranges picked today are just much better than oranges picked yesterday. Going backto supermarket oranges when we get home.

Everything is so lush here that these beautiful flowers were blooming outside of a public restroom.

There is something amazing about being in a place with such aggressively beautiful weather,especially having grown up in New England. I can understand a few hours in a day a couple of times a year yielding the perfect temperature for being outside without a coat, the right degree of humidity and a cloudless sky...but day after day of perfection is messing with my mind.