In need of a fresh batch of flora photos, I motored down to the El Dorado Nature Center in Long Beach, California on 3/6/07 to see what I could come up with. Hadn't been there in decades. The nature center is just one section of a huge park, right off the 605 freeway. I was hoping to track down a beautiful clump of pampas grass I had spotted around there last November, but no luck on that quest. All visitors are restricted to the trails marked out for them, and there are lots of roped off areas and chain link fences around to enforce that confinement. Considering the general condition of the nature center, it's definitely a good proviso. Even though the park as a whole is really a beautiful spot, the quality of this particular nature center is way below par. I would charitably give it a grade of C-. It makes Descanso Gardens look like heaven above. The center is a vast snarl of colorless desiccated trees, branches, twigs, with tons of dead leaves littering the ground. Of course, there are those that see beauty in all this; if you're into gothic stuff I suppose it would be. I did observe some creatures scurrying about; lizards, squirrels, and some turtles sunning themselves. Actually, the only redeeming features of the place were two sizeable lakes, and a couple of power line supports, which were good subjects for the camera. Anyway, I took 155 photos in and around the area. I wasn't about to drive that distance and have nothing to show for it. The shot above is about the only flower I found of any substance. They were growing and thriving on bushes. I took scads of shots of some pretty sorry trees and plants, but, surprisingly, in their own way they do display some rugged, tormented, weird textures, worthy of analysis, so I'll be dropping them in the old RR slot periodically, along with other captures of interest. Thanks for the look-see, and happy surfing!