It was one of the wettest winters on record in southern California this year, and having moved to Florida last fall (just in time to be hit by two hurricanes), I missed it. All the rain has apparently made for a fantastic bloom of wildflowers there, particularly up in the Golden Poppy Reserve in the hills west of the Antelope Valley. Transterrestrial web designer Bill Simon took a trip up there this weekend, and this is a sample of what he shot.

I liked this one, too:

The rest of the images can be found here.

Pretty flower, marred by an ugly yellowjacket. I don't know why the Lord made those horrible wasps.

You should see Texas right now. Primroses and bluebonnets to the horizon...

Hmmm, I think it's a garden-variety honeybee, myself. Wouldn't a yellowjacket would have a more, er, waspish waist?

Nope, it's a wasp. Note the elongated body (bees are stockier, more raisin-shaped), the bright yellow color (bees are more of a burnt orange) and the lack of fuzz on the tail cone -- that's a dead giveaway. Wasps have a hard-shell finish back there, not a soft, fuzzy body like a bee. For more info, see:

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/How-to-tell-bees-from-wasps

B

Rand,

I took this picture along hwy 395 just north of hwy 58 back on march 13th. The flowers in the desert were just starting to get stunning and we had a week of cold temps and high winds. But the flowers are starting to recover. The next couple weekends should be pretty.

http://ridgecrest.blogspot.com/2005/03/desert-flowers-are-back.html