Journeys›Photograph

Dragons, Peacocks, and Christmas Lights at Home

·Lake San Marcos, California·#winter#San Diego#home-life#holidays#christmas-lights
A large inflatable green dragon with a Santa hat holds a white mug with marshmallows, with a small dog sitting below.

The inflatable dragon is up in the entryway — Santa hat, mug of cocoa, wings spread wide enough to block the hallway. The dog is unconvinced. That was the morning's contribution to the season.

Later we walked the old adobe ranch grounds near Lake San Marcos. The euphorbia along the path has gotten enormous, whole columns of it well over our heads, and the prickly pear by the white outbuilding is more trunk than pad at this point. Wreaths on the pool house, birds of paradise blooming around the pool, the windmill with a ring of lights wired partway up the tower. A peacock was picking through a broken hay bale near the path and did not care that we were there — dragging that whole tail through the straw like it was nothing.

After dark, the street with the lights strung house to house across the road had them all lit, five or six lines sagging overhead, the whole block done up underneath.

Tall, green cactus plants with ribbed stems and small dark spots rise against a bright blue sky.A backyard swimming pool next to a white cabana, surrounded by lush vegetation, bird of paradise flowers, and hills.A rustic building with a red tile roof, peeling white paint on brick walls, a blue door, and a stone patio.A tall windmill and palm tree stand against a blue sky, with a bladed rotor and a barbed wire ring.A large prickly pear cactus partially obscures a white brick house with blue shutters and a deer skull and antlers.A peacock with vibrant blue and green plumage stands on dry, straw-covered ground.A street at night with houses illuminated by colorful holiday lights and multiple light strings spanning overhead.Colorful string lights stretch across a dark night sky above a residential street with illuminated houses and a parked car.

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