Sunflower Surprise

For the third time in three years, we present another sunflower seen in the same location on Mississippi in my San Diego neighborhood of University Heights (see previous posts from 2022 and 2023). I passed by the beauty today while talking on the phone with one of my sisters.

I pulled out Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, set to Portrait mode, and captured the Featured Image, which is composed as shot and not otherwise altered (e.g. no edits). Vitals: f/1.7, ISO 12, 1/800 sec, 23mm (film equivalent); 3:42 p.m. PDT.

As I walked past the adjacent apartment building, a woman watering grass thanked me for taking a photo of her sunflower. I (kinda rudely) interrupted my sister to chat with the neighbor. She plants sunflowers in the same location several times a year, she said. I mentioned seeing them cut down, and she confessed doing so. Whew, what a relief; I had assumed someone stole them; nope.

I praised her T-Shirt motif—several lively, and colorful, skeletons. She explained: Besides being a gardener, she is an X-Ray technician. Well, there you go.