iPhone Photo of the Day: Afternoon Walk

Loveland Reservoir, just a few miles down the road from me. The temp was in the 70s today here in southern CA.

iPhone Photo of the Day: Pacific Sunset

Torrey Pines, La Jolla, CA.

iPhone Photo of the Day: New Zealand Fish and Chips Shop

Island Bay, Wellington, NZ.

iPhone Photo of the Day: Mountain Bloom

East County, outside San Diego, 3,500 feet up.

iPhone Photo of the Day: Little House on the Prairie

I shot this yesterday, just outside Manhattan, Kansas. Today, a new Kansas buddy and I drove 40 miles to Abilene to visit the Eisenhower Library and Museum (much more in a future blog). Tomorrow I'm keynoting the DBSA Kansas State Conference. I'm back in my hotel, where I spent the evening going over the two talks I will be presenting.

Big day tomorrow. To bed ...

iPhone Photo of the Day: Prairie Sky

This was shot this afternoon from the passenger seat headed west toward Manhattan, Kansas. I'll be keynoting the DBSA Kansas State Conference on Saturday.

iPhone Photo of the Day - Spring!

Look what rain can do. I shot this manzanita bush on my walk in the mountains about a mile from my home. The high winter rainfall here bodes well for spectacular desert flowers in the Anza Borrego Desert about 50 miles from where I live. One more week, and the canyons and hillsides should be carpeted in color. (For an appreciation of what I mean, check out this post from last year.)

iPhone Photos of the Day - Model Trains

Today I took a mental health break from cranking out DSM-5 blogs and checked out the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park, which has the world's largest indoor display.

Above: Santa Fe station, circa 1950s. For a modern real-life contrast, check out this recent iPhone piece.

Below: Through the forbidding mountain terrain coming out of the Imperial Valley. For an idea of the moonscape east of San Diego, check out these Saturday drive shots.

 

iPhone Photo of the Day - Optional Snow

The bad weather is gone. The sun is out. All is good. I shot this earlier today several miles from my home as the crow flies and at least several hundred feet higher in altitude. This is the way it should be - you go to the snow, not the snow to you.

iPhone Photo of the Day - CA Pizza

Here in southern CA, we like our pizzas with palm trees. You gotta problem wit' dat?

iPhone Photo of the Day - This Just Ain't Right!

That's SNOW in my backyard! What's wrong with this picture? I live in southern CA, about 15 miles from the Mexican border, that's what. Granted, I'm 3,500 feet up, but still, this is a clear case of climate oppositional defiant behavior.

One week ago, my nephew and I were in our T-shirts, drinking root beer floats outside at the San Diego Zoo.

What has the world come to? I'm in denial. This is NOT snow. It CAN'T possibly be snow. No way.

Someone call my psychiatrist.

iPhone Photo of the Day - One Determined Acorn

No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. You are looking at an oak tree growing out of a boulder. I caught this out of the corner of my eye as I was treating out-of-town visitors to a tour of the far reaches of San Diego County's back country, 60 miles east of downtown and a mile or two from the Mexican border.

I quickly backed up the car and we got out, scrambling for a closer look. Indeed, a massive tree was growing out of solid rock. Its trunk and root system were literally splitting the boulder apart - the oak was eating the boulder for lunch. Draw any lessons you want, but never underestimate the mighty acorn.

iPhone Photo of the Day - Gorilla

Yesterday, I took my out-of-town visitors to the San Diego Zoo and led them straight to the gorilla enclosure. These guys have to be my favorite animals.

iPhone Photo of the Day - The Taco Stand From Nowhere

I shot this close to the town of Campo, a few miles from the Mexican border, about 60 miles east of San Diego. That's a '38 Buick out front. My beef taco was delicious.

iPhone Photo of the Day - Point of View

Forbidding obstacles or opening to a limitless horizon? Depends on how you look at it. I shot this from the crest of Mount Laguna, 6,000 feet up, about 50 miles east of San Diego.

iPhone Photo of the Day - I Almost Saw a Whale

Instead, I got this great shot of Point Loma.

iPhone Photo of the Day - Tribute to the Sun

I shot this today on a walk in the mountains near my home in southern CA. I can't emphasize enough what these walks do for my recovery.

iPhone Bonus Photo of the Day - In the Valley of the Pines

I shot this today on a country walk in Pine Valley, about ten miles from home.

iPhone Photo of the Day - New Year's Resolutions

I love it when people and organizations really mean what they say, right down to the non-maintained road sign. I shot this on my iPhone today on a country walk in Pine Valley, part of San Diego County.

If only we could show the same commitment with our New Year's resolutions. But this time I have inspiration going for me. So, in the spirit of San Diego County's show of strength, here are my New Year's resolutions. Make no mistake - I'm not backing down. No matter what, read my lips, these I fully intend to keep:

1. No more making my bed.
2. No more doing today what I can put off till tomorrow.
3. No more allowing irrelevancies such as duties and responsibilities to interrupt a meaningful sleep.
4. No more resisting temptation.

Yes, I know: These are exceptionally high standards I have set for myself. But I am motivated, first,  by the naysayers who would love nothing better than to see me fail, and, second, by my true friends and supporters who see my success as their success.

Cue up the "Rocky" theme music ...

iPhone Photo of the Day - Trees in the Sky

Today I was walking through a pine forest on the crest of Mt Laguna, 6,000 feet above sea level, about 10 miles from my home.