You’ve probably seen those book lending libraries placed near the sidewalk in front of homes. The boxes are filled with books that anyone can borrow.
Well, did you know there are similar native seed libraries?
Native seed libraries like the one in my photographs provide free native plant seeds for community members to use in their gardens.
As we know, native plants in San Diego are drought resistant and attract pollinators such as butterflies and birds. They’re good for biodiversity and a healthy environment.
If creating your own native seed library is something you’d like to look into, or do, check out this webpage on the San Diego Bird Alliance website. They provide starter kits that include seeds, envelopes, labels, brochures, posters and other materials for your box. Building the structure is your own fun project! (Perhaps make them similar to one of these.)
The 2025 San Diego County Fair has a theme that’s close to the heart. It’s all about beloved pets.
Not surprisingly, a variety of non-profit organizations centered around animals are present at the big summer event in Del Mar. I stumbled upon several of these organizations. I’d like to draw your attention to what good people (and animals) are doing in their community.
The above dog and the next photograph represent an organization in Baja California, Mexico. La Manada Feliz rescues animals and provides them with a better life with loving people. Here’s their website.
La Manada Feliz operates a cage-free sanctuary where rescued dogs can receive medical care, learn social skills and heal. Their website says: Help us achieve our mission by adopting, supporting as a guardian and/or volunteering at our dog sanctuary in Valle de Guadalupe.
Next up, San Diego Spaniel Rescue does exactly what its name says. They are an all volunteer based non-profit organization dedicated to providing breed education, rescue, fostering, medical and adoption services for abused, abandoned and/or homeless Cocker Spaniels.
If you’d like to help them or would like to adopt a rescued spaniel, you can go to their website here.
More good work and smiles can be found at Pug Rescue San Diego County.
Here’s their website. Pug Rescue of San Diego County (PRSDC) is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to rescuing unwanted, neglected, abandoned, and relinquished Pugs and placing them into a new permanent home where they may live out their lives in a loving and caring environment.
Check out the friendly dogs in my next photo! They are part of Pawsitive Teams!
Pawsitive Teams was founded in 1997 with a desire to be a volunteer-inspired and volunteer-run organization designed to promote the use of well-trained dogs to improve the lives of San Diegans. Our volunteer service dog trainers spend two years with their canine charges prior to placement with individuals with limited mobility who can benefit from the skills of our specially trained dogs. Our therapy dog program is overseen by a steering committee of volunteers dedicated to using therapy dogs with a variety of populations such as at-risk teens, active-duty military, children testifying in court, and those with mobility or developmental disabilities. Our mission with the therapy dogs is to partner with community organizations and work together with professionals in accomplishing client-related goals.
To learn more, check out the Pawsitive Teams website by clicking here.
Need I say the San Diego Humane Society does many wonderful things for animals in our community? They were at the San Diego County Fair, too, encouraging people to adopt a loving pet. Not just dogs!
Find your fur-ever friend today!
There are many ways that you can help their good work. Here’s their website.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
The Meowseum of Fine A(rt) has brought a purrfectly wonderful exhibit to San Diego. Visitors to the San Diego County Fair have the rare opportunity to view amazing masterpieces inside the Pets Rock Live on Tour theme exhibit!
A sign near the famous paintings explains: In The Meowseum of Fine A(rt), explore a sweeping retrospective of feline creativity–from purr-impressionist masterpieces to post-litterbox minimalism. This groundbreaking exhibit showcases how cats have redefined the art world through disruption, lounging, and high-concept box installations. Each work captures the eternal struggle between the feline spirit and the constraints of the hooman-designed world.
Examples of the stunning artwork that visitors will gaze upon…
Girl with a Purrl Earring, by Johan Vermeower.Mewna Lisa, by Leanardough da Vinci.The Meow, by Ed-purred Meow-nch.Vincent Van Grrr (Self-Pawtrait)Cubist Cat Cuddles, by Pawblo Picatso.Sunpurrs, by Vincent Van Gough-Away-I’m-Napping.The Kibble Kiss, by Gustav Klimpt.
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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 X.
A popular attraction at the San Diego County Fair is the Exhibition of Fine Art on the first floor of Grandstand East. The fair’s theme in 2025 is our love for pets, so it isn’t surprising many of the fine art entries depict beloved animals.
The exhibition is extensive and broken up into many categories based on media and subject matter. Artists who’ve submitted their work, hoping for a blue ribbon, are from many walks of life all around San Diego County. When I checked out the exhibition, I couldn’t help noticing pets were a common subject, and not just dogs and cats. I saw rabbits, parrots and other critters!
There are pet portraits, pets painted humorously, pet abstracts! If you have a pet or simply love animals, the art will definitely put a smile on your face.
I photographed random examples that I really like…
Look who I met as I left the fine art exhibit. Woof and Meow!
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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 X.
I recently walked past Dog Beach in Del Mar and was surprised to see the Dog Memorial Garden and its hundreds of painted rocks had vanished.
Today I learned what happened to the special memorial garden, which is also called Gwen’s Garden. It was relocated to the Del Mar Fairgrounds, and now occupies the space in front of the Del Mar Historical Society’s Alvarado House!
I was told the Dog Beach Memorial Garden was moved because construction work is slated to begin on the nearby bridge.
If you’re going to the San Diego County Fair this year, make sure to visit the Alvarado House. The historic beach cottage is located to one side of the outdoor Paul Ecke Jr. Garden Show.
When you walk up the ramp to the Alvarado House, you’ll see many heartwarming photographs of the beloved rock garden at Dog Beach, before everything was moved.
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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 X.
Three panels of awesome chalk art welcome people arriving at Grandstand East during the 2025 San Diego County Fair. The theme of the fair this year is “Summer Pet-Tacular” and images of dogs, cats and other non-human friends are all over the Del Mar Fairgrounds!
Stay tuned for the next day or two. I’ll be sharing fun photos of pet art that I found and like! Other stuff, too!
First, check out this incredible chalk art!
Three dogs ride a roller coaster at the San Diego County Fair. Chalk art by Meg and Toni Canilang.A party hat cat! Chalk art by Katie Bush.Two friends among flowers. Chalk art by Maribeth McFaul.
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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 X.
The positive energy was off the charts this afternoon at the Juneteenth Block Party in North Park!
From all around San Diego a big crowd converged on the street in front of North Park restaurant Louisiana Purchase, eager to join in the Juneteenth celebration: a vibrant tribute to Black excellence, music, and food!
Everyone was mingling, smiling, enjoying barbeque, unique vendors, community organizations, live mural painting, fashion, and even a tiny basketball court!
When the dancing began at two o’clock, everyone made their way to the stage to cheer on joyful, high energy performances!
I hope my photographs capture some of the vibes…
It’s time to introduce the youthful dancers!
First up, representing the Lincoln Emeralds…
Next up, Somethin’ Creative Dance Team! (They teach kids who simply love to dance, and perform at special events and compete regionally!)
Some older dance team members come onto the stage…
Another new trolley wrap has appeared for San Diego Comic-Con 2025! This one promotes Gachiakuta, a Japanese anime television series that will premiere on Crunchyroll on July 6.
Back in 2022 during Comic-Con, Crunchyroll wrapped San Diego city buses with all sorts of cool graphics from their shows. You can find those photos here!
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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 X.
The newly opened Sweetwater Park on Chula Vista’s bayfront has a very unique architectural feature.
At one end of the public restrooms a sheltering roof contains an oculus. What’s an oculus? It’s a circular opening that allows natural sunlight to shine through.
During the day, the oculus casts a circle of light on bands in the concrete underfoot. You can see those curving bands in the above photograph.
By observing the light’s movement along the bands, Earth’s rotation can be tracked, as the sun “rises” in the east and “sets” in the west. Depending on the season of year, and the angle of the sun’s path through the sky, the projected light will follow a particular band.
On the wall is an explanation…
The Theory of the Seasons.
The Earth’s rotation axis is tilted by 23.5 degrees with respect to the ecliptic and is always pointed to the celestial poles as the Earth moves around the Sun. Sometimes the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun and the Sun’s rays hit the Northern Hemisphere at a shallow angle.
The Summer Solstice marks the beginning of Summer and is the longest day of the year, just as the Winter Solstice marks the beginning of Winter and is the shortest day of the year.
The Equinoxes; Equi meaning Equal, and Nox meaning Night, telling you that the day and the night are of equal length. This occurs when the Sun is directly over the Equator, in between the two Tropics and occurs around March 21st and September 23rd marking the beginning of Spring and Autumn.
If this sounds like a whole bunch of mumbo-jumbo, fortunately there’s an illustration to help one visualize the concept…
Now consider my next photograph.
On June 21, as the summer begins, the sun will be at its highest in San Diego, here in the Northern Hemisphere.
Because of this, the sun’s light projected through the oculus will come from a high angle, and follow the lower band as Earth turns and the day progresses.
It just so happened that I visited Sweetwater Park on June 18. I arrived at the oculus a little after noon.
You can see the circle of light is almost atop the June 21 band, and is now to the right of the central drain, past the 12 PM mark.
The light would continue to move right along the same band as the sun descends in the sky toward the horizon.
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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 X.
Cool San Diego Sights! 