Winter beauty, a new waterfall and future weddings!

The Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park is always beautiful. Even between winter showers.

As I walked down into the Lower Garden today, I noticed great progress has been made on JFG’s big new waterfall.

I spied other construction, too! A special space is now being built where outdoor weddings can be held among all the natural beauty.

Expert, artistic pruning in the Upper Garden.

Naked branches during winter. Grays among greens.

Today is JFG’s “free entry for residents” third Tuesday. Several folks were setting up on the patio, including the garden’s long-time beekeeper! She showed me this wood home constructed for native bees.

Heading into the Lower Garden a few minutes after the Japanese Friendship Garden opened.

Looking across the canyon, I could see how the big new waterfall appears just about finished.

Walking down one of the garden’s special paths.

I was surprised to see a new area under construction. A worker told me this little plaza will be for outdoor weddings.

This path leading up to the new waterfall is still closed.

A structure near the new waterfall. I was told special events will be held up there.

I can’t wait for the new waterfall to be activated!

These stairs will allow visitors to climb toward the top of the waterfall.

Beauty is abundant down in the Lower Garden.

A rain chain at one corner of the Inamori Pavilion is dripping! After taking this photo, I hurriedly put my camera under my jacket.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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Civic Center fountain recalls Oceanside’s founder.

The beautiful fountain splashing in the Oceanside Civic Center plaza has special symbolism that is revealed on a nearby plaque. The plaque, commemorating Andrew Jackson Myers, founder of Oceanside, can be found on a wall just north of the fountain, near the entrance to the Civic Center library.

As the plaque explains, not only was Andrew Jackson Myers the founder of Oceanside, but he created the Oceanside Water Company, critical to the city’s early development. And the fountain where water flows and splashes is the site of his homestead!

The colorful tiles leading down to the fountain represent the San Luis Rey River, which was the original source of Oceanside’s water supply.

(Here’s a great article concerning Oceanside’s water history.)

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Smiles before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade!

Look at all the smiles! They could be seen everywhere before the start of San Diego’s big 41st Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade!

MLK Day is tomorrow, so today was a fine day to celebrate the legacy of the great civil rights leader. The rain even paused for the parade and a bit of sun peeked through!

But the sun couldn’t outshine the bright smiles I saw on Harbor Drive!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Filipino Artists of South Bay exhibition.

An exhibition by Filipino artists who reside in the South Bay is now on display in Chula Vista. Their works can be viewed inside Chula Vista’s two libraries and the City Hall lobby.

Yesterday I enjoyed looking at some of these pieces while visiting the Chula Vista Public Library Civic Center Branch.

I found the artwork on several library walls. Many of the beautiful creations seemed like glimpses of larger stories, emerging from an artist’s memory and heart.

Filipino Artists of South Bay continues through January 2023.

These photos provide an example of what you might see…

Family Dinner, Primo Gallanosa.
the luckiest cat, Nadine Tan Saldaña.
The Kiddos, Vince Alvendia.
Pag-uwi (Returning Home), Clarissa Tong.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Filipinos of South Bay Exhibit in Chula Vista.

The current exhibition at the Chula Vista Heritage Museum celebrates the life and history of Filipinos in the South Bay.

Display cases are positively overflowing with photographs and ephemera. Moments large and small are collectively remembered. You see the hopes, struggles, victories, family life. There are memories of community gatherings and festivals.

Words and images tell what it was like as a Filipino to go to school or church, run a business, serve in the military, or work to improve the life of the community. Perhaps you share these experiences.

I peered into the display cases and found so much life.

You can see that life, too, throughout 2023. Visit the Chula Vista Heritage Museum, which is located inside the Chula Vista Public Library Civic Center Branch.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Learning to prune roses in Balboa Park!

A small army of rose lovers converged on Balboa Park this morning. The Balboa Park Rose Garden Corps and members of the San Diego Rose Society demonstrated to the public how to prune roses!

As I walked through the award-winning Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden, I saw enthusiastic volunteers who are dedicated to gardening and beauty. And I was grateful to them.

A couple of experts told me no other rose garden in San Diego can compare with our treasured one in Balboa Park.

If you want to help maintain Balboa Park’s incomparable rose garden, check out the next photo, or click that first link!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Flowers along Secret Stairs in Valencia Park!

Did you know there are Secret Stairs in Valencia Park, a community in southeast San Diego?

The neighborhood stairs span two blocks, from Churchward Street to Las Alturas Terrace. (Google the stairs and you’ll see their location on Google Maps.)

A year ago four artists came together to beautify the somewhat neglected stairs. They embellished them with colorfully painted flowers and insects, plus a mural!

This article explains all about the Secret Stairs of Valencia Park and their new artwork. Herbert Delong, Shannon White, Isabel Garcia and Shirish Villaseñor were the artists. You’ve seen the work of Isabel and Shirish elsewhere on my blog. Together they call themselves Arte Atolondrada.

In the upcoming photos, I walked the Secret Stairs from south to north. If the steps seem a bit dirty and leafy, keep in mind San Diego has been experiencing winter storms.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Balancing high in the sky above San Diego!

I never tire of tall ships.

When crew members are working aloft, I have to stop and stare.

That was the case this afternoon at the Maritime Museum of San Diego.

Up in the rigging of visiting tall ship Exy Johnson, members of her crew balanced high in the sky, like circus performers, unfurling sails.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

All People Touch the Earth in Normal Heights!

Thirty-year-old public art in Normal Heights still shines with wisdom and love.

All People Touch the Earth is a 310-foot-long entryway and seating wall north of the Adams Elementary joint-use park, at the corner of School Street and Mansfield Street. It was created in 1992 with the help of over 900 community members, including school children, parents, and staff from John Adams Elementary School.

Hand prints and bits of tile and other objects that were placed in wet concrete accompany wise quotes. All float among the planets of our solar system!

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.

People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

Love your neighbor as thyself.

He who travels slowly to his destiny arrives whole.

Good Fortune

The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil.

Locks and keys are not made for honest fingers.

All the sounds of earth are like music.

Music is the universal language of mankind.

Colors speak all languages.

Hitch your wagon to a star.

It is there that our hearts are set. In the expanse of the heavens.

He who seeks to understand the universe understands nothing.

For every person who has ever lived there shines a star.

One can see the universe in a grain of sand.

Live long and prosper.

It takes a whole village to educate a child.

Talk does not cook the rice.

It is good to warm one’s self by another’s fire.

Three years old habit lasts till eighty years old.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Big shark mural in University Heights!

This large shark mural in University Heights was painted many years ago. But every time I’ve walked by it in the past, taking photographs was problematic. (Here’s one instance.)

A couple days ago I finally captured the entire mural! (Well, almost all of it.)

The artist is Cinzah, who hails from New Zealand. He painted this wall for the 2016 Sea Walls Festival organized by PangeaSeed Foundation. He wanted to increase awareness of a severe threat to shark populations: the act of finning. Around 100,000,000 sharks are killed every year for their fins, sharply reducing their numbers. The mural is titled 100 Million.

You can see this cool mural from the Park Boulevard sidewalk, to the east, half a block south of Monroe Avenue.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!