A very special Sunday organ concert in Balboa Park. Today ordinary residents of San Diego and random visitors from around the world joined together to sing Christmas carols!
I wish you could have been there. At the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, this afternoon at 2:00. Your heart would’ve been warmed by the most amazing spectacle.
Young and old, residents of San Diego and random tourists visiting Balboa Park from around the world–all came together spontaneously to sing beloved Christmas carols. Right up on the stage, all together, as one.
What a sight. What a wonderful yearly tradition.
There is hope for this old world.
The holiday season at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion includes candy canes, Christmas cookies and gingerbread men.The free organ concert in Balboa Park this afternoon began with classical and unique organ music composed over the years for Christmas.Spreckels Organ Curator Dale Sorenson smiles as he turns pages for San Diego Civic Organist Emeritus Robert Plimpton.The more fancy organ playing is over. Time for the public to come up on stage to sing familiar Christmas carols!A crowd heads up onto the Spreckels Organ Pavilion stage. Anybody could join in the happy singing.A heartwarming San Diego tradition in Balboa Park. Young and old, everyone and anyone–together people sing many beloved Christmas songs.Ross Porter, Executive Director of the Spreckels Organ Society, leads the proceedings with unabashed zest.A small random sample of humanity singing Christmas carols with joy.
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I wish you all Happy Holidays and best wishes in this coming New Year!
Many people in San Diego County, unfortunately, are hungry. Food collected during this special holiday food drive will be distributed to soup kitchens, pantries, shelters and schools.
If you’re in or around La Jolla, today I learned about a holiday food drive with nearby drop-off locations. The Heart to Hands Food Drive San Diego is run by Candi DeMoura, who has raised 2776 pounds of food in the past 3 years. Wow!
Please visit her San Diego Food Drive website. It lists the types of food that are accepted. There are several places to drop off food, including the La Jolla Farmers Market and Coldwell Banker on Prospect Street.
Together we can work to beat hunger in San Diego!
Heart to Hands Food Drive San Diego supports people in need. You can help! Visit the website to learn how! (Click this image to enlarge the flyer so that you can read it.)
What are you grateful for? Random people in Balboa Park write their thoughts. They are grateful for life, family, school, warm socks, waking up to sunrises, and people who smile for no reason.
I stumbled upon a heartwarming sight in Balboa Park–just a few days before Thanksgiving.
A couple named Gratitude Gal and Gratitude Guy were greeting people who were walking down El Prado. The smiling pair carried a dry-erase board. People were invited to write down a few things in life for which they were grateful. Many of those random people did.
Thanksgiving is three days away. But it seems to me that every single day is an appropriate time to give thanks. Happiness is a choice.
A random person walking along happily writes down a few reasons why they are thankful.Gratitude Gal and Gratitude Guy collect messages of thanksgiving on a dry erase board in Balboa Park.
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A large memorial remains in Chicano Park, almost four weeks after a tragic accident here took the lives of four people.
Almost a month after a tragic accident in Chicano Park, a large, spontaneously created memorial remains. It was created by many hands and hearts in the Barrio Logan community.
The memorial contains flowers, candles and other tokens of love, along with photographs of the deceased. Four were killed on October 14 when an automobile driven by a drunk driver plummeted from the Coronado Bay Bridge. Remembered are Annamarie Contreras, Cruz Elias Contreras, Andre Christopher Banks and Francine Denise Jimenez. Also remembered is Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez, who recently passed away. He was a beloved musician and inspiring leader in the local Chicano community.
Many candles are kept lit.
Candles, flowers and other powerful expressions of love stand beside a Chicano Park mural. They memorialize Annamarie Contreras, Cruz Elias Contreras, Andre Christopher Banks, Francine Denise Jimenez and Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez.Traditional symbols of love, grief and memory.
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A challenge for every person, both young and old. It is very simply: Be kind! (Click this image to read the poster!)
Have you heard of the Great Kindness Challenge? I hadn’t, until today.
The Great Kindness Challenge is put on by Kids For Peace, and I learned about it while I walked this morning through the International Non-Profits Fair in Balboa Park. (I’ll blog a little about this inspiring event shortly.) I was really struck by a thoughtful Kids For Peace poster challenging school students to engage in acts of kindness.
What an excellent idea! It seems this reminder to be compassionate, helpful and polite might apply to people of all ages. Sometimes we adults, during our hectic, numbing day-to-day routines, might benefit from a little lesson about the importance of having a warm heart and positive outlook!
Here are just a few of the 50 challenges. These are appropriate for both young and old…
Two people made of sunlit plastic wrap sit on a bench beneath rainbow balloons in Hillcrest. Yes, I did a double take! Then I took some quick photos!
Check out this crazy sight! A couple of months ago I was riding home on the Route 120 bus when I spotted something unusual outside the window. Some fun art had materialized on University Avenue just east of Fourth Avenue! Fortunately the bus window was open a bit so I could snap a few good photos.
I filed the photos away on my computer hoping to learn or see something more about these unique plastic wrap lovers. When I passed the same spot a week or so later, the artwork was gone!
I’m assuming these sunlit sculptures sitting on a bench were made out of plastic wrap and tape. All I have to go on is my photos. I know absolutely nothing about them. If you happen to know anything, feel free to leave a comment!
A surprising sight met my eyes during a bus ride. These two plastic wrap sculptures were sitting mysteriously along a city sidewalk like lovers.
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Art is alive (with growing strawberry plants) at The Garden Project!
Whenever I mosey down the Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade, I spy something new.
This morning I noticed that some fun art has sprung up near the New Children’s Museum, in both The Garden Project and the playground. Someone created beautiful chalk artwork on the playground’s concrete wall, and strawberries have been planted art-fully in the public garden! It reminds me that spring is coming!
(I increased the contrast of my third photograph so the chalk artwork could be more easily seen.)
Kids created this fun strawberry art.And young people created this chalk drawing on a playground wall. A heart encompasses the Earth and a puppy dog. Love is powerful.
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Smiles, hearts and yummy pastries await on Valentine’s Day in the House of Sweden.
I often meander about Balboa Park on Sunday. Today being Valentine’s Day, I naturally had to take photographs depicting love, and love of life in Balboa Park. Here they are!
I spotted these heart-shaped treats inside the House of France at Balboa Park’s International Cottages.The San Diego Bonsai Club was listening to a lecture about their beloved hobby inside a meeting room in the Casa del Prado.Some bonsai plants and other related items were on display during the club meeting, as well.A couple walks hand-in-hand down El Prado and into the Plaza de Panama on Valentine’s Day.Young people were watching a lady artist paint a lovely scene in Balboa Park.A BE MINE heart banner welcomes people at the door of the Balboa Park Visitors Center.An International Dance Festival was underway in the Balboa Park Club. These folks were dancing happily to a fiddle.Hearts were placed on the sculpture at the center of the Balboa Park Club’s indoor fountain.A couple peruses colorful paintings for sale by local artists.Close-up photo of tender Mother and Daughter Seated, by Francisco Zuniga, 1971. Part of the San Diego Museum of Art’s new outdoor exhibition Art of the Open Air.A mysterious hand reaches for some Viva Pops!A romantic banner advertises In Your Arms, a production last year of the Old Globe Theatre.Someone wrote Will You Marry Me in chalk near where people walk down El Prado. I wonder what the answer was?A loving pair holds hands as they enter Balboa Park on Valentine’s Day.
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Mitchell, an incredible musician, plays one of his didgeridoos in Balboa Park on a beautiful San Diego day.
Please meet Mitchell, the self-named Didgeridude! For many years I’ve seen him playing his collection of cool didgeridoos in public around San Diego. I’ve often walked past him performing in Balboa Park or Seaport Village, and have paused to listen to his incredible, resonating music. But I’d never spoken to him at length until last weekend.
Mitchell is not only a really great musician, but he’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever be pleased to meet. His spirit is a big as the universe; perhaps that’s why his music sounds like emanations and echoes from a place deep in the heart of the cosmos.
It brought a smile to my face when I heard he first took an interest in the didgeridoo after watching the movie Crocodile Dundee. This ancient musical instrument of the Australian Aborigines requires a special circular breathing technique, and it’s plain to see that playing the didgeridoo continuously is a labor of love that requires dedication and great effort. Mitchell told me he loses about a pound on those days he comes out to perform in public.
Check out his cool website, which is called Didjetellus. “Did I tell you” that his website has cool samples of didgeridoo music and MP3 files you can download? Mitchell does school presentations and can be booked for private concerts.
Mitchell has given me so much pleasure over the years, I feel privileged to have finally met him. If you want to hear something really cool and unusual, click the many MP3 samples on his website!
The Didgeridude is one very cool dude!This didgeridoo features a snake! Mitchell told me it would be fun if he could somehow devise a way to make a mechanical tongue come out of the snake.
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The Aliens, an award-winning play by Annie Baker, is now playing at the Ion Theatre in San Diego.
Yesterday evening I experienced something completely unexpected. Out of the blue I received a powerful jolt, as if struck to the core by a hammer.
What happened? I went to see The Aliens at the Ion Theatre. The Ion Theatre Company produces cutting edge live theater in San Diego’s Hillcrest neighborhood. The Aliens is a very unusual and surprising play that won the 2010 Obie Award for Best New American Play. It was written by Annie Baker.
I wasn’t expecting such power.
The Aliens is well performed by three great actors: Brian Butler, Tyler Oakley and Reed Willard. The characters they portray are absolutely human–slightly absurd and terribly broken. They are troubled in ways that are disturbing, heart-wrenching. They are frustrated, uncertain, in pain, alienated, almost hopeless.
But they aren’t hopeless.
Each character possesses awkward warmth and connection. And humor.
Then, like a bolt from the blue, at the very end, the emotional hammer strikes. I won’t tell you what happens. You’ll have to find out for yourselves.
Here’s a hint. In everyone there is unique genius. And while some people might not go far in this world, that genius–that yearning outflow from each individual heart–never stops. Life’s path might be unexpectedly short, but genius does not die.
Thoughtful adults should see this play. Check out the Ion Theatre’s website. The Aliens runs through December 12.
