Searching for the photograph for a day in the month of February in San Diego is a process of sorting, a sifting... The weather in February can bring snow to the mountain communities a few miles to the east and warm beach weather along the coast. A snug sweater comes in handy in the morning, and a swim suit can be a comfortable choice in the afternoon.

I came across some Monarch butterflies this afternoon. They’re the first ones I’ve seen this year. The monarchs are heading back up north to wherever it is they were born, the place where they will lay eggs on milkweed plants before dying. The eggs they lay will hatch into caterpillars after only a couple of weeks. Those caterpillars will munch on milkweed, growing fat for a couple of weeks until they harden and enter a 10-day stage which from the outside looks as if nothing is happening. In that ten days a metamorphosis occurs that seems like magic. In each chrysalis the caterpillar body parts change into a beautiful butterfly which breaks out of the chrysalis and flies around eating flowers. That generation of monarchs will lay eggs and die and another generation will emerge in May or June and that generation will lay eggs and die and a third generation will be born in July and August which will lay eggs and die and those eggs will emerge as a generation which has a much longer life span. The difference is that it doesn’t die after two to six weeks. That generation of butterflies, the great-great-great grandchildren of the butterflies we see heading north now, will make their way back to a place they’ve never seen in a warmer climate where they will live for six to eight months until it’s time to start the whole process over again. The butterfly in my picture for today is definitely a little less brilliant than it would have seemed to me had I seen it on its way to Mexico last fall. I appreciate its determination to do what it’s supposed to do.

The University of San Diego across the valley from Presidio Park.

I came across a guy with six month-old puppies... trying to find good homes for them.

The Presidio Museum designed by William Templeton Johnson on the hill above Old Town.