Tag: events

Denise Cerro’s art: My Colors of Home.

I met a super cool artist today in Balboa Park!

Denise Cerro was working on a mixed media piece in Gallery 21, at the Spanish Village Art Center. With a great big smile she was greeting visitors to her solo exhibition My Colors of Home.

I looked at her artwork and immediately loved it. Denise tends to use the same color palette in her works–earthy colors that appeared to me like water, leafy green and the soil beneath our feet. She embraces the same palette in her house, dress and life. They are her colors of home.

To create art she utilizes all sorts of materials–from bits of wallpaper to newspaper and magazine clippings to other interesting found objects. She can find all sorts of odd little treasures at estate sales. The junkiest stuff is often best!

Denise loves to create art filled with flowers. She confided to me that after she produces an abstract piece, she feels compelled to return to flowers.

I learned Denise has her studio at Liberty Station in one of the old barracks. If you like what you see in my blog, you might want to pay a visit. Her website is here.

The exhibition My Colors of Home in Gallery 21 is about to conclude–it runs through tomorrow, June 3. I caught it just in time!

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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.

Young students perform on Spreckels Organ!

Wow! Did you hear the three young organ students in Balboa Park today?

American Guild of Organists Scholarship students from local San Diego schools received loud applause after playing difficult pieces on the Spreckels Organ.

Each young person strode onto the stage with poise, sat down at the imposing console and immediately dived into the music. They made playing a very complicated instrument look effortless. Each student has been training on organ for years.

The first young man was Yuhan Jackson, 11 years old, in 5th grade at Hawthorne Elementary School. He triumphantly played pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach and Gordon Young.

Next up came Elijah Prada, who brilliantly played complicated pieces by the same two composers. He’s 13 years old, a seventh grade student currently studying at the San Diego Piano Academy.

Then 17 year old Jonah Molina took the Spreckels Organ Pavilion stage. A student who attends Mission Bay High School, he also played pieces by Gordon Young and Johann Sebastian Bach. He was really great, too!

All three received gleaming trophies as the special Sunday organ concert concluded!

The concert was both excellent and inspirational. Organ students in San Diego are fortunate to have many outstanding local organists as mentors and teachers, including world-famous San Diego Civic Organist Raúl Prieto Ramírez!

Three more AGO Scholarship students will be performing next Sunday, June 9, 2024, at 2 pm. They’ll also play the majestic Spreckels Organ.

Do you love fine music? Do you want to cheer on very talented youth? Be there!

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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 X.

Beauty at the Cactus and Succulent Show.

The amazing beauty intrinsic to nature was highlighted this weekend at the San Diego Cactus and Succulent Show and Sale in Balboa Park.

I moseyed down the aisles in Room 101 of the Casa del Prado, gazing at prize-winning specimens of very different cacti and succulents.

Some of the entries had flowers. Some were tiny, like gems. Many of the plants tickled the eye with perfect symmetry or an interesting geometric shape. Others appeared oddly misshapen.

If you missed this year’s summer show, make sure to check it out next year. Until then, enjoy a few photographs…

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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 X.

Cool photo memories from June 2019.

Do you have a curious mind? Five years ago, during the month of June, Cool San Diego Sights featured a whole universe of photographs. Perhaps you might enjoy viewing colorful moments from the past!

From Escondido to La Jolla, from North Park to City Heights, from Barrio Logan to National City to Chula Vista, my camera recorded many places and events. I took so many photos, in fact, that I’ve had a hard time choosing which posts to share!

The upcoming links will take you back to June 2019. It was a fine time to take a walk. Summer events were underway. San Diego Comic-Con was on the way. Human creativity, activity and possibilities could be discovered everywhere!

To see many photographs, click the following links!

Neighbors gather to beautify a city park!

Exhibit shows Kumeyaay history in the South Bay.

Art and history around the Chula Vista Library.

Art by Canyon Crest Academy seniors in Balboa Park!

More cool art seen during a National City walk!

Lots of street art on Logan east of Chicano Park!

Here come the 2019 Comic-Con trolleys!

Dance, food and fun at the Greek Festival!

Cool new bird mural at Red Crow tattoo studio!

Wearable art at San Diego Pin and Patch Con!

Learning to dance on a ferry.

Good times at City Heights’ colorful Fair @ 44.

Walking up the Snake Path at UCSD.

Beautiful complexity at La Jolla’s Athenaeum.

Amazing walk at Scripps Institution of Oceanography!

The gigantic bronze leaves of Kit Carson Park.

Photos of Queen Califia’s Magical Circle!

Naoko creates a flower.

Creativity at a museum helps to mend lives.

A summer whale watching trip in San Diego!

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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 X.

Fun summer events in Old Town State Park!

A couple of fun, free, family-friendly events are coming up this summer in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park!

On Thursday, June 13, 2024, from 10 am to 4 pm, everyone can enjoy the Pastimes of Old Town San Diego. There will be wheelbarrow races, tug of war, sack races and more 19th century games on the grassy plaza at the center of the park. If you’ve ever been to Old Town State Park and seen these games, you know how fun they are! This particular event is part of California State Parks Week.

Then there’s the Fourth of July! The annual Independence Day event starts at 11 am with a flag raising ceremony in the plaza, and patriotic fun will continue until 3 pm. Visitors can enjoy live music, crafts, and more historical games.

If you love history, Americana or nostalgia, you’ll almost certainly love these events. You might think you’ve stepped back in time to the days of early San Diego.

Here are a few photographs that I took in past years…

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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 X.

San Diego Cactus and Succulent event this weekend!

The San Diego Cactus and Succulent Society’s big annual Summer Show and Sale takes place this weekend!

Vendors and members of the society were setting up at the Casa del Prado in Balboa Park this afternoon. In addition to cacti and succulents, visitors this Saturday and Sunday can check out gardening information, art, crafts, and perhaps purchase something beautiful for their home!

I happened to be walking through the Casa del Prado’s outdoor courtyard when I saw the long tables full of potted plants that will be for sale. I then peeked into Room 101 where the show will take place.

To see the San Diego Cactus and Succulent Society’s web page concerning their 2024 Summer Show and Sale, click here!

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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 X.

A young boy at the Memorial Day ceremony.

A very young boy came with his family and sat in the plastic chair beside my own this morning. The family had arrived for the Memorial Day ceremony, held on the flight deck of the USS Midway.

The small child was very fidgety. As speakers spoke solemnly of the sacrifice of others, and of very serious things like honor, duty, courage and dedication, the little boy wiggled about at the edge of my vision.

Lt. Col. Lynda Hilliard, an Army nurse, gave the keynote speech. As she talked about two wars and the sacrifice of other nurses who desired only to heal, the little boy thrust his arm in front of my face.

I was immediately irritated. Oh, come on, I thought to myself.

The boy was pointing toward something off to the right.

Then I heard the bird chirping. (Did you hear it, too?) I had been concentrating on the powerful words of the speech.

A small bird, perched atop a nearby helicopter, was just visible to the eye. The young boy had heard and seen it, and was taking joy in pointing it out to the world.

The boy was happy, living without a care in a world where he was free.

And it occurred to me: that Security, Freedom and its Happiness, in this old world filled with everlasting trouble, is a gift from those who have unselfishly sacrificed.

I gazed in wonder at that small chirping bird for a few moments, too.

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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 X.

Powerful, true words for Memorial Day.

I hope somebody recorded them–those words spoken today by First Sergeant, US Army, Brian Bennett. They were eloquent. They were true.

After eating a hot dog in the San Diego sunshine, I sat listening to Brian’s speech during the Memorial Day event at Balboa Park’s International Cottages. He was the first of five distinguished speakers. They had served in the United States Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force or Coast Guard. All of the speakers were excellent.

Brian is a teacher at Mount Miguel High School. He confessed that he began to prepare his speech the way many of his students do their homework–by using AI. We in the audience laughed.

Brian, however, found that AI’s predictable answer about the meaning of Memorial Day wasn’t quite right. True–the holiday is about duty, dedication, courage and ultimate sacrifice—but the computed answer wasn’t complete.

A true understanding of Memorial Day, explained Brian, involves long years of service and often difficult experience. It’s only then that one can fully understand the great and meaningful sacrifice made by those who’ve fallen in service to their country. Ideals easily spoken of become real.

Ultimately, he explained, Memorial Day is about love.

Love for those in your life who are precious. Love for a country whose founding documents grant us a life of freedom. And love for those who’ve come before, sacrificing so that we may live this life.

Yes, I thought, a life where people from all walks can freely gather together and speak or listen to powerful words without fear.

I hope my few, poor words did Brian’s great speech justice.

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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 X.

The joyful Africa Day in Balboa Park!

Today was Africa Day at the International Cottages in Balboa Park! The event was presented by the House of USA.

The joyful program celebrated African culture with storytelling, drumming, song, dance and more. The nations of Ghana, Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Liberia, Uganda and Kenya were represented, with the 48th anniversary of San Diego’s sister city relationship with Tema, Ghana a special highlight.

When I arrived in the early afternoon the event was already underway. I was privileged to listen to a tale about the “upside-down” baobab tree from Linda Brown of the Black Storytellers of San Diego, then watch youthful dancers from the House of Somalia. Somalia is the first African nation with an official membership in Balboa Park’s International Cottages. Other nations are taking steps to join, as well!

The lawn at the International Cottages featured a table concerning San Diego sister city Tema, Ghana. It was filled with crafts and beautiful cultural artifacts.

Another table showed how the Rotary Club of El Cajon Sunset has worked to improve the life of villagers in Kenya by planting gardens and trees and training farmers, by building a community center with the help of paid youth, and by supplying wheel chairs, water tanks and other useful items.

I also learned how the organization My Chosen Vessels is uplifting Maasai communities in Kenya by delivering clean water through an indigenous women-led water bottling enterprise. Sales of jewelry hand made by Maasai women would benefit those communities, as well.

What I loved most was dancing that was joined by many in the audience. I believe it was an energetic dance that is popular in Ghana. Without hesitation, many joyfully dancing people came up onto the stage!

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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 X.

Demolition begins on San Diego’s Navy Pier.

Demolition has begun of the crumbling structure on the east end of Navy Pier. The old building is the last remnant of San Diego’s historic Naval Supply Depot, which grew over the years into a major complex. You can read the fascinating history here.

Over the next few years, the surface of Navy Pier, including the large parking lot next to the USS Midway, will be converted into beautiful Freedom Park! The project is a partnership between the Port of San Diego and the USS Midway Museum.

Today I learned from a museum employee that before the walls of the old headhouse are torn down, workers are busy removing asbestos and doing the preliminary things that are necessary.

You can visualize how Freedom Park at Navy Pier will appear when completed by visiting this web page. I was told the park, which will honor “ordinary” heroes, will likely be finished in 2027.

When I was a young man I observed dozens of Army tanks parked inside this building and lined up along the pier. I wish I’d taken photographs. I believe that was back in the 1980s.

UPDATE!

The exterior demolition had begun in August…

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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 X.