Tag: environment

Victorians, mud and birds in National City!

Did you know National City in San Diego’s South Bay has a Historic Railcar Plaza?

The small museum-like building is located at the intersection of Bay Marina Drive and Marina Way. A train track running through the building is home to old Passenger Coach No. 1.

I posted a blog about the National City Historic Railcar Plaza almost ten years ago, after peeking inside. You can revisit that past blog post here.

From outside, anyone can peer through windows into four small display rooms at each corner of the building. When I walked by several weeks ago, it seemed that displays in two of the corner windows had changed. So I took photos!

In one window, dummies of passengers in Victorian-era attire stand or sit on a bench, as if waiting for a train or streetcar.

In a second window I found a variety of educational displays. They’re mostly about protecting the wetlands in National City and around the San Diego region.

According to one sign, the public is invited to participate in Creek Day on the last Saturday of every month, from 8 am to noon. The address where people meet is 1815 Hoover Avenue.

You can check out the Facebook page of Paradise Creek Educational Park by clicking here. (Unfortunately, that page doesn’t seem very active right now.)

Another sign inside the Historic Railcar Plaza indicates: “Display rooms are available to nonprofits to showcase artifacts and interpretive exhibits relating to the early railroads and local history. Contact the Port of San Diego Public Art Department for program information.”

What might I see the next time I walk past?

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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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An artistic seed library in Barrio Logan!

A very cool seed library stands in Barrio Logan. The metal sculpture, resembling a growing plant, can be found on the sidewalk outside Libélula Books. I saw it the other day while walking around.

I spoke to someone at the bookstore. She didn’t know who placed the seed library here. Perhaps someone reading my blog knows.

This is definitely the most creative seed library I’ve ever found!

When stocked, community members can find seeds to plant in their yard or garden. It’s a great concept. Seed libraries promote food security, local biodiversity, and self-reliance.

Here’s proof they can double as a work of art, 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.

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Rest, strength and Lying Fallow in Logan Heights.

One gallery inside Bread and Salt in Logan Heights now contains an art installation titled Lying Fallow. Dried tall grasses rise from soil underfoot in an artificial indoor meadow. One can walk through the small “meadow” and rest on one of the seats, regathering strength.

I love the outdoors and being in nature. That’s where I feel the most healthy, alive. I know many other people feel the same way.

This installation, when I visited it, did remind me that a real meadow, outdoors, with its earthy smell and gentle movement in the wind, calms, restores, inspires, reconnects the mind, body and soul with something larger than ourselves.

But where in the gallery is the sky?

Everything about Lying Fallow is sincere. The artist Helena Westra has assembled something that is an important reminder: Quiet renewal helps us on life’s journey. It helps us to be newly creative.

But what sort of world have we created where we feel compelled to build a realistic natural landscape inside walls?

Are we so hurried and so trapped in artificial environments that “being in nature” is merely an exhibit that we experience for a moment or two?

Real meadows are still out there.

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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!

Join a free, fun Kayak Cleanup Event!

Would you like to help clean the wetlands of south San Diego Bay? Would you like to do so while kayaking on the beautiful water? Would you like to do so for free? YES!

No kayak, no problem. They’re provided. No experience kayaking, no problem. It’s easy going. Cleanup materials are provided, too.

Ocean Connectors organizes fun Kayak Cleanup Events that anyone can freely join. I happened to observe one such event today during my visit to Pepper Park in National City.

I spotted a sign concerning the event at the boat ramp, then wandered over to the parked Chula Vista Water Sports truck to ask all about it. Chula Vista Water Sports provides the kayaks. They partner with Ocean Connectors.

I saw the participating kayakers were busy across the Sweetwater River channel, removing bits of litter, cleaning our environment, cruising slowly, gently along. I think I might try this! Each event lasts 2 to 4 hours.

Check out this page to learn all about these Kayak Cleanup Events and book your future participation. Groups up to 15 can join. And yes, it’s all completely FREE!

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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!

Restoring native habitat by Paradise Creek.

I met a cool guy today!

As I walked along the Paradise Creek Trail in National City, I noticed someone in an orange vest moving about near the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge, in a shrubby area at the edge of Paradise Marsh. He was working just off the roadside trail, a little north of the Pier 32 Marina. I had to ask what he was up to.

I had met Rob of Tierra Data. His company is working with the Port of San Diego to restore habitat by removing Acacia cyclops, also called coastal wattle. He was using super precise GPS to mark where he found living stumps. The stumps need to be effectively removed.

Acacia cyclops is native to Australia. Like eucalyptus trees, it thrives in San Diego’s similar climate. The plant has invaded parts of California, growing in fragile wetland habitats and among riparian communities.

I asked Rob how he recognizes which stumps belong to Acacia cyclops. He explained how seed pods lying in the soil around the stump allow for identification.

I’m so glad I paused to talk for a moment or two. Rob was pleased to explain his activity. (And he described birds he has seen and studied, too!)

There’s always more to learn!

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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!

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!

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!

Pollinator Week and Balboa Park Garden Fair!

A free community Garden Fair was held today in Balboa Park celebrating Pollinator Week!

Local organizations that support our natural environment were lined up outside the San Diego Natural History Museum, providing the public with information about native plants and wildlife.

While pollinating bees and butterflies flitted about flowering plants in the Natural History Museum’s nearby nature trail, visitors to the park were learning about how they can help maintain a beautiful and healthy environment.

I walked around the museum to check things out…

Yes! Ecologik is included in a Women in STEM exhibit at the San Diego History Center!
There are well over 500 species of bees native to San Diego! They can detect tastes with their front feet!
Don’t we all love a clean San Diego? Of course we do!
Many informative displays concerning pollinators and our natural environment.
I see flowers and pollinators (including a bat) on this table!
The San Diego Chapter of the California Native Plant Society is a great resource. They welcome new members!
I didn’t know there’s a Paradise Hills Native Garden. I’ll have to check it out!
The San Diego River Park Foundation had a table with great information.
Volunteers with the San Diego Natural History Museum were providing a tour of their nature trail in Balboa Park.
More exhibitors on the museum’s Moreton Bay Fig tree side.
San Diego Canyonlands had some native pollinators on display.
Hello to the Master Gardener Association of San Diego County!
And hello to the San Diego Bird Alliance! They were demonstrating a native seed library. Create your own!
You can help save Monarch butterflies by planting milkweed seeds.
Endangered Concepts has repurposed unrecyclable plastic. The plastic fills decorative boulders! Clever idea!
Learning at the California Native Horticultural Foundation table.
Hey, NAT Garden Corps–this Garden Fair is a very cool event! That’s milkweed people can plant.

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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!

Create a native seed library for your neighborhood!

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.)

Here’s a map that shows the location of native seed libraries around San Diego. See if one is in your neighborhood!

(I learned all this today in Balboa Park. The San Diego Natural History Museum had a special outdoor event celebrating Pollinator Week!)

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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!

Pollinator pathway created in Old Town San Diego!

Parking Lot C in Old Town San Diego will soon attract bees, butterflies, birds and other beneficial insects. That’s because the bed of soil along the Twiggs Street sidewalk is newly planted with native vegetation suited to pollinators!

Three other beds at this parking lot will be planted, too, according to a sign that I saw while walking today. Not only will this newly created habitat benefit pollinators, but it will add natural beauty, help stabilize soil, save water and provide educational opportunities.

If you’d like to learn more, check out this webpage. It concerns the Old Town San Diego Chamber of Commerce’s Pollinator Pathways project. You’ll find there are various ways for you to help out!

(As you can see, I took these photos very early this morning before many cars arrived at the parking lot.)

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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!