Two wise plaques overlook La Jolla beauty.

Two plaques can be found at an ocean overlook in La Jolla, midway between La Jolla Cove and the Children’s Pool.

After viewing the beautiful surf and rocks below, eyes might read the wise quotes on these plaques, which are embedded in the low stone and abalone shell wall.

Treat Earth well. It was not given to you by your parents. It was lent to you by your children. –Anonymous

We make a living by what we get but we make a life by what we give. –Winston Churchill

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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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Fun photos that celebrate Leap Day!

February 29 is Leap Day!

Leap Day comes around once every four years–usually. Here’s a description provided by Wikipedia: In the Gregorian calendar, the standard civil calendar used in most of the world, February 29 is added in each year that is an integer multiple of four unless it is evenly divisible by 100 but not by 400. For example, 1900 was not a leap year but 2000 was.

It’s 2024, so Leap Day will be adding one extra day to the year.

Here’s a fun celebration of Leap Day!

I’ve gone through my old blog posts and found photographs taken around San Diego that depict great leaps. So let’s jump to it…

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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

A painted memorial to Tibor in City Heights.

There’s a beautiful memorial to a cat named Tibor in City Heights. I noticed this painted rock beside the sidewalk as I walked with my camera last weekend. I was photographing the parade that preceded the Festival of Love.

The colorful stone honors the life of Tibor aka TT, a cat that was loved by the neighborhood.

I thought you might be touched by this small memorial.

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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

11 Short Stories About New Beginnings.

It’s true: time flies. Soon another New Year’s Day will have passed us by.

Every year, on January 1, many people vow to make positive changes in their life. Of course, every day, every hour, every moment provides us with a new beginning.

Cool San Diego Sights readers might know that I also write short fiction. Occasionally I’ll post a blog concerning stories that I’ve written. The approach of New Year’s Day provides an opportunity to share eleven inspiring short stories about new beginnings.

If you enjoy reading, you might explore the following links:

An Unexpected Sunflower is a short story about changing lives with generosity.

The Firefly is about friendship, hope and a moment of forgiveness.

One Strange, Shimmering Dream is a magical story about a dreamlike transformation.

A Half Dozen Odd Things concerns elements of a past life gifted to the future.

Night Walking is an odd tale about renewal.

The Wheel concerns creativity. Is there no end to beginnings?

The Hand of Fate is about mysterious human acts that change the world.

A Secret Junkyard is about the despair and hope of those who create.

The Ghost Ship is about unexpected bright moments that can change a life.

Every Butterfly is New shows a world that is always beginning.

Here We Go is full of eagerness for life ahead.

I hope you all have a Happy New Year!

Richard

Creating clouds full of energy in San Diego!

Inspired artist James Watts works in downtown San Diego. His studio is a fantasyland jammed wall to wall with amazing creativity. I like to swing on by occasionally to see what he’s up to!

Having finished his whittled fingers and toes project, James is now sewing together one hundred pillow-like clouds. Not ordinary clouds, mind you, but ones that gather and radiate orgone life energy like a battery!

James, whose creativity has no limit, intends to use the finished clouds to form a portal–an art installation on a wall where people can experience heavenly orgone energy. The carefully handsewn clouds are made of canvas, filled with steel wool and cotton, and painted in twenty shades of blue. It’s the same canvas the artist used for his fantastic Jekyll and Hyde project.

James explained that artists are like alchemists. They transform otherwise ordinary materials into things of immense value. Of course, he’s exactly right.

His unique visual art stirs up complex, subtle ideas. His surprising art inspires those who gaze upon it with an open heart and mind.

James Watts has also painted clouds–like ancient wisdom–on scrolls!

Check out his whittled fingers and toes, the cool project that preceded his clouds…

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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Ballet Folklorico group offers Gift of Dance.

I hope this series of photographs conveys the pure joy transmitted by a group of dancers at today’s Fall Back Festival in San Diego.

The group is called Ballet Folklorico – GIFT of DANCE. Their gift imparted to the audience was a love of life.

I’ve seen these same beaming smiles at other San Diego events. GIFT of DANCE teaches young people Mexican folklorico dancing. Check out their Facebook page here.

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 (formerly known as Twitter)!

Comic-Con craziness is back in full gear!

Look at these photographs! I took them this Friday afternoon! It’s obvious that the usual craziness outside Comic-Con is back in full gear! And it’s not even Saturday–typically the wildest day of all!

In 2020 and 2021 Comic-Con was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. In 2022 lingering worries about the pandemic reduced the crowds noticeably. But look at 2023! Even while the writers and actors in Hollywood are on strike, it’s apparent that the love for Comic-Con and all that it represents is as strong as ever. Stronger, perhaps?

I saw a passion for creativity and good-natured fun. I saw dreams made real. I saw sudden smiles and many people coming together.

I’m covering Comic-Con again this year. To see all my current and past blog posts concerning Comic-Con, click here and scroll down!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Subway stops at San Diego Museum of Art!

The subway has a new stop at the San Diego Museum of Art!

Until December 3, 2023, visitors walking through two San Diego Museum of Art galleries will experience the inside of a gritty subway. The New York subway in 1980, that is. Diverse passengers in close contact pass through dimly lit tunnels together in a photographic exhibition that can be interpreted as a metaphor for our life in this world.

The exhibition is titled Bruce Davidson: Subway. The artist, Bruce, spent a full year photographing people on the New York subway. He noted that close contact between strangers could result in surprisingly beautiful moments. Strangers find that they are alike in many ways, sympathize, laugh, learn about each other. Of course, these moments rely on strangers actually talking to one another.

Today, passengers staring at phones safely avoid eye contact on public transit. You can observe this on the San Diego Trolley. By tilting heads downward, passengers easily escape real world uncertainties and personal vulnerability. Does living inside a little screen make people more or less human?

Make Galleries 14/15 your destination at the San Diego Museum of Art. Enter these two free galleries from Panama 66 in the sculpture court. Look for the Subway sign!

Five years ago I wrote a short story titled One Thousand Likes. It’s about phone addiction and social isolation on a crowded light rail train. Unfortunately, the story resonates more than ever. You can read it and other thought-provoking stories by clicking here.

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 Twitter!

Winners finishing Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon!

Today thousands of runners competing in the 2023 Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon streamed into downtown. They were nearing the finish line of the 26.2 mile city street race course.

Signs were held by those on the sidelines, encouraging loved ones who were running the marathon. Cow bells and rock ‘n roll music helped to spike one last burst of adrenaline. Phones were raised taking videos to record and remember a great accomplishment.

I walked along Ash Street in downtown San Diego and watched the runners approaching the finish line–then triumphantly passing it. All the runners you see in these photographs are winners!

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 Twitter!

The life and death of a downtown mural.

Perhaps you remember the birth of an amazing mural in downtown San Diego’s East Village. Almost three years ago, a beautiful, smiling face was painted by artist Carly Ealey on the old Farkas Store Fixtures building, at the corner of G Street and Ninth Avenue. You can see photos of the mural’s debut by clicking here.

Well, it’s gone. The old building has been converted into a high-rise, and the street mural was painted over. These colorful bike and scooter murals have been painted over, too.

Street art is no different than you, or me, or a building, or any other element in a bustling city. We come into this world then depart.

Live every moment to the fullest.

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 Twitter!