Tag: beautiful

Beautiful new Foodshed mural in City Heights!

Enjoy several photographs of the beautiful mural at Foodshed’s new location in City Heights. It was painted by Rachel Venancio (@rachelmurals) earlier this summer. It’s dedicated to female farmers and mothers everywhere.

Foodshed is a small farm cooperative. They provide underserved neighborhoods with fresh, healthful and affordable food from over 40 farms.

They have a market open here at 4089 Fairmount Avenue on Saturdays from 9 am to 12 pm. It’s called the City Heights Food Farmacy.

Foodshed also offers Farm Box Subscriptions with food pickup locations around San Diego County, or delivered to your home or place of work.

A Farm 2 School program is coming soon.

Learn all about Foodshed’s programs at their website 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.

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Knotted fiber art is Tied at Liberty Station!

The old Barracks 5 at Liberty Station might seem abandoned and lifeless if it weren’t for beautiful fiber art decorating a row of screened windows.

Tied is the title of this public art.

Fashioned from 550 knotted cords in 2022, the colorful patterns were created by Cat Chiu Phillips of San Diego, spouse of a USMC veteran. You can see a description of Tied and other current works of public art at Liberty Station by clicking here.

Tied blends traditional rigging and knotting techniques with various fiber art techniques as a nod to US Navy’s seamanship training. It pays honor to the Naval Training Center’s historical significance…

Many years ago I documented more artwork created by Cat Chiu Phillips. That art was on display in downtown San Diego at Horton Plaza before the shopping mall was shut down. See 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.

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Community volunteers beautify City Heights!

Many members of the City Heights community came together today for a special event. After arriving at Officer Jeremy Henwood Memorial Park, the volunteers would spread out along University Avenue to clean and beautify their neighborhood. The event was called Beautify the Block!

A large number of people showed up! Some would pick up litter; others would paint sidewalk trashcans, planters or storefronts; and artists would paint utility boxes. Many of the volunteers represented SDG&E.

This was the first ever Beautify the Block event, and it’s hoped that it will grow and become an annual undertaking!

After reminding the volunteers to do their work safely, all were were given important encouragement. They would be showing the community that they care, and that the community matters.

This inspiring, super positive event was created by the City Heights Business Improvement District and the Maintenance Assessment District in partnership with local businesses and community members.

Every volunteer is a hero.

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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.

Feel free to share!

Thorny shrub protects beautiful Sunset Cliffs.

The California Box Thorn might appear scraggly and unremarkable, but it helps protect the bluffs of beautiful Sunset Cliffs from erosion.

Several of these plants are protected at the north end of Sunset Cliffs Natural Park in Point Loma. A nearby sign explains how the California Box Thorn (Lycium californicum) is native to the coasts and islands of Southern California.

If the shrub looks dead, it probably isn’t. It’s simply dry. After a rain, the tiny leaves turn green and you might notice white bell-shaped flowers and red berries. Birds love the berries!

It’s summer. The protected plants that I photographed are green and obviously watered.

If you’d like to become one of the Friends of Sunset Cliffs, check out my final photograph of information in the nearby kiosk. You’ll see an email address.

And yes, Sunset Cliffs with its rugged sandstone bluffs is one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline in San Diego!

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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.

Feel free to share!

Lemon Grove’s Parsonage Museum made more beautiful!

A major project to modernize and beautify Lemon Grove’s Parsonage Museum was recently completed. The home of the Lemon Grove Historical Society has a brand new paint job! And new interior lighting!

You might recall how the exterior of the historic structure used to be almost entirely the same yellow. The new paint job tastefully adds a bit of texture and Victorian personality, with the addition of different yellows (including one that seemed to me slightly lime green), and small green highlights. (Appropriately for historically agricultural Lemon Grove, the colors of citrus fruit!) You can see for yourself in my photographs, which were taken today.

LED lighting has also been installed in the ceiling of both floors of the museum, providing much more light (particularly upstairs) with, importantly, no damaging ultraviolet output.

If you’ve never visited the Parsonage Museum, you really should. The old house’s history in Lemon Grove (it began in 1897 as the community’s first church) is on display, as well as exhibits concerning notable people, places and events in Lemon Grove.

Soon, I was told, a new exhibit will be installed concerning the 2012 Lemon Grove Little League Senior Division’s amazing run all the way to the Senior League World Series, where they won the West Region Tournament!

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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.

Feel free to share!

Memorial plaque at Dave’s Beach in Carlsbad.

Dave’s Beach in Carlsbad is a scenic spot that is popular with radio-controlled glider pilots. Small model aircraft are launched by hand above the bluffs beside the Pacific Ocean. The slope provides excellent uplift to keep gliders aloft. Learn more about Dave’s Beach here.

When I walked this way in 2023, I found a lot of gliding activity. See those photographs here. I also discovered a memorial plaque dedicated to Dave Kellogg.

I failed, however, to notice a second nearby plaque. I discovered it yesterday.

The shadow of a chain link fence is visible in my photograph…

In Loving Memory of Our Friend

ORAN “ORANATOR” BLOODSWORTH

Whose spirit will soar on here forever

Feb. 10, 1965 – Sep. 23, 2019

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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.

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Monarch butterflies find food, shelter in Balboa Park.

Few people visit the northeast corner of vast Balboa Park, a quiet area bordering 28th Street in North Park. This is the home of Bird Park with its picnic benches, playgrounds, and expanses of green grass. It is also the home of a lush Monarch Waystation.

West of 28th Street, south of Thorn Street, the beautiful Monarch Waystation includes winding paths through milkweeds and nectar sources that shelter and sustain monarch butterflies as they migrate through San Diego.

When I walked the paths about a week ago, I noticed many monarch butterflies flitting here and there, and I attempted to capture them with my camera–but to no avail. I did take these photographs, however. They show what a fine, tranquil garden this is. No wonder. It has been adopted by the California Native Plant Society.

If you’d like to learn more about the Monarch Waystation Program, or would like information on how you can support butterfly populations, click this link.

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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.

Feel free to share!

Wildlife on the streets of National City!

During my last couple walks in National City, I noticed many electrical boxes have been beautifully painted with native flora and fauna. It’s almost as if wildlife has joined me on the sidewalk!

These photos were taken on National City Boulevard, a little south of 8th Street. I’ve observed boxes like these elsewhere in National City.

It appears many of these electrical boxes were painted last year by artist Laura Green (@lauragreenstudio). It’s part of the National City Utility Box Project.

Some of the boxes also specify the names or species of the painted subject.

What a great way to beautify an urban environment! One can learn to recognize our wild neighbors, too!

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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.

Feel free to share!

Preparing the Entry Garden in Balboa Park!

San Diego’s beautiful Balboa Park is undergoing a transformation. Gardens are being created around the newly renovated Botanical Building and the Lily Pond.

Phase 2 of the Botanical Building and Gardens revitalization project includes the creation of a new Entry Garden along either side of the long Lily Pond. New plants will be introduced where thin strips of grass now stretch along the water’s edge.

Today I observed workers digging up the grass on the west side of the Lily Pond.

This article explains that the Entry Garden will greet visitors along the Lily Pond with bold, high-contrast plantings in pink and lime green, including Agave Blue Flame.

One effect of this change, I suppose, is the pond will be more protected from human encroachment. The ducks might appreciate this. So, too, might parents with young children teetering at the water’s edge.

I look forward to seeing the result of this transformation. More gardens around the Botanical Building will likely mean more beauty!

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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.

Feel free to share!

Miss Mary Project’s amazing piano in Oceanside!

Look what I discovered today in Oceanside!

I was walking along Coast Highway after the big Oceanside Independence Parade when I noticed an absolutely amazing piano in front of the Sunshine Brooks Theater building. I had stumbled upon the Miss Mary Project!

The piano, named Miss Mary, was recently painted by artist and arts advocate BJ Lane. Its new permanent home is the Sunshine Brooks Theater, home of the Oceanside Theatre Company.

Anybody walking along the sidewalk was invited to play the beautiful piano. How could anyone possibly resist?

The Miss Mary Project was initiated by the daughter-in-law of the piano’s beloved namesake, whose spirit lives on. You can find more about the project by reading various blog posts here.

You’ll learn that BJ Lane, as she carefully painted, was thinking about movement, music, and the energy of the performers that will eventually emerge on Miss Mary’s panels.

Also: At its heart, The Miss Mary Project is more than a painted piano. It’s a gathering place for purpose, restoration, and connection.

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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.

Feel free to share!