Been busy, but managed to get some photography and short video clips, joined three together into a short silent video (standard stabilization artefacts apply), two clips of giant white poppies, probably Romneya or Matilija poppies which are native to California, and one clip of bees foraging in lavender.
I like the floppy petals of the poppies. The lavender and bees seem to be an all year feature – when one lavender bed withers, another seems to begin to bloom somewhere else, if not immediately, then soon.
Not all flowers are showy – here is Plantago (I don’t know the species, but it’s not Plantago major based on the narrow .leaves). I would love to process some day a photo of a Plantago flower from close up, they are quite funky to look at but difficult to photograph so as to show it.
While walking with intention to snap photos of urban vegetation, I noticed a skipper butterfly within videoing distance. Quickly, a clip before it flies away! It did not. I took a second clip. The butterfly had slightly shifted. I waited and took three more clips in case the butterfly would do something interesting. It id not. It was mostly concentrating on florettes. Eventually, I continued my walk and left the butterfly at it.
A bit of a slow paced video, but maybe somebody will find it ASMR despite the stabilization errors. Maybe I should invest on gimbal, but that would be one extra thing to carry for a rare moment (that will without gimbal be shaky or distorted depending on whether the original or the stabilized clips are used.)
Sucking nectar. Occasionally shifting position.
Some yellow flowers from July 10th, 2026, image cropped and colors adjusted brighter.
Testing variations on a photo of tree bark (2026, June 2nd). I was thinking about uploading this or a shorter version to Etsy under my shop profile as an enticement for people to look at my designs. Also to Pinterest, if the video is short enough, and a higher resolution version into YouTube (as of June 28th, 2026, my previous art video about yellow flowers had had massive 7 views total – popularity eludes me.)
Decided instead to make an art video illustrating some variations in a theme, based on a photograph of some yellow flowers (looks like they are related to agaves or aloes) taken in Berkeley, CA, June 2nd, 2026. Just as a demonstration of the types of designs I have so far usually used for PlanktonPunkt Designs.
I am planning to make more of these, occasionally (the next one will probably be about tree bark), and post them here, Pinterest and/or YouTube.
Nearly slipped by me – apparently it is no longer 24th of June (6 months from Christmas Eve, on St. John’s Day) but by government edict on Saturday closest to Summer Solstice. So, this year Friday, 19th of June is Juhannusaatto, a Midsummer Eve’s celebration in that peculiar country.
An example of June 19th flowers in Berkeley, CA
National traditions of Midsummer Eve include retreat to country cottage, preferably along lake or sea shore, having a barbeque (hot dogs and chicken are popular, pork and fish, and more rarely beef work, too), having a communal bonfire party and/or more private sauna are also typical, as is getting drunk. Government typically publishes PSAs warning about traffic accidents (due to the massive exodus emptying cities to summer cottages, some drivers already under influence) and boating accidents or other forms of drowning (don’t drink and boat, or drink and swim.)
My photos today are from urban California, so the Finnish lake video with swaying birch branches and sunlight glimmering on water (taken on late May, not on Midsummer Eve) is from last year.
It has been some time since my last jigsaw puzzles, so I thought I should add a couple.
A photo of tree bark, manipulated for color saturation, tone, brightness and contrast. It is amazing how colorful some trees are once properly appreciated. 80 pieces.
And here is a lily. I like the metallic shine of the Plastic wrap filter but I don’t think this can be easily converted into good looking physical item. 117 pieces.
Selected and edited from video clips taken 2026 May 09.
Purple flowers in wind
Birch branches swaying in wind.
May 9th 2026 was an average day with some wind and sunshine. And flowers. And insects. And birds. I did not get much done but got some video clips I checked tonight, and photos I am working on to see which ones I can convert into something useful and/or fun, if I have time.
P.S. I am having some weirdness with video editor – hopefully the birch branches will be visible to all, once I have published this post.
Despite lots of No Kings-signs, monarch butterflies continue to flit around Berkeley, CA. This one was filmed perching on a flowering tree on April 15th, 2026.
Another, smaller insect makes an appearance at about 9 seconds into the video.
The wisteria season is going out. This post was meant to be out earlier, but my internet started acting up so finishing it got delayed. In any case, redbuds are done, but new flowers are showing up. There were within nearby blocks weird, fluffy white flowered, presumably fruit trees that I have loved to observe for a couple of years already but this year I have been busy and missed the start of their blooming.
The spring was very warm and quick, and it feels like a summer here, though some plants did not get the memo and are still without leaves or flowers. Also, I partially missed spring posting because of internet issues – for some unknown reason my home internet again allowed me to blog dashboard again yesterday. The Liquidambar are full of new leaves and many have new small ‘spiky balls’ growing, light green like the new leaves. The balls began to grow despite many trees had many of their last year’s dark and hardened ‘spiky balls’ hanging, too. Some Liquidambar even had last year’s leaves left among the new growth. Confused about seasons or insufficient winter storms?
Insects had been active, and birds were still singing when I began to draft this post (now the chorus has quieted, presumably they are busy with chicks.) Multiple species of butterflies, not just the wintering monarchs, were flitting around and in flowers. As a testimony of warm weather, I even saw a skipper butterfly, though I do not have photographic evidence – the little beast was too fast.
That was on my walk to a shop and back to get 10lb elbow macaroni. I bought cans of corned beef last weekend and failed to buy canned sprats. By my estimates (based on empirical experience on how many times I can eat the same meal before I lose appetite), I can eat max 1-2lb macaroni boiled with a couple of cans of meat a week (preferably less often than more) thus cutting my grocery bills, should the food situation worsen, either through supply shock (geopolitics), through reduced income (read unemployment) or through inflation (economic collapse.) Adding fresh greens and fruits to stored food to balance the diet should stretch the supplies meant to be a buffer for temporary shocks. There should be at least lemons in Berkeley, CA, barring the most exceptional circumstances. I got 10 more macaroni on my next shopping trip, also keeping my eyes peeled for cheap sprats (protein + fatty acids) and more corned beef or other non-perishable meat products (protein). If the situation lasts over three months, I’ll be in trouble. But then, so will be everyone else.
For the people who are surprised at 3 month preps, rather than a homestead with doomsday bunker, most of the SHTF events are either short term (storms, blips in supply system, specialized economical events) or personal (accidents, injuries, corporate lay-offs) so it makes sense to invest some resources on stuff that might realistically happen to anyone that to invest a lot in case an extremely long tail event like a total thermonuclear war happens.
Remembering the collapse of the Soviet Union, a definite SHTF event for the Soviets, the society remained largely intact, bureaucracies existed, and economy muddled on, as did the regular people. I am expecting similar circumstances in United States, the Obama years reminded me of Brezhnev Era, Biden years of the Andropov/Chernenko years at the twilight of the Soviet Union. I expected Trump to be the Gorbachev of the United States, overseeing the economic collapse and centrifugal tendencies of increasingly assertive states overriding the Federal legislation and enforcement, but apparently our trajectory of failure will resemble more the end of the British Empire, that died by Suez Canal. Meanwhile, canned fish is getting expensive.
But the wisterias were pretty this spring, and I’m happy that I got some pictures.
Wisterias from 2026, March 21. Better late than never.
PlanktonPunkt 