Tag: life

So many colorful events today in Balboa Park!

What is a photographer to do? There were so many colorful events going on today in Balboa Park, I drained my camera’s battery trying to capture it all!

I’ve already blogged about the San Diego Heart & Stroke Walk, the Master Gardeners Plant Sale, art activities at the Exchange Pavilion, and a performance by San Diego Yosakoi!

I have yet to share my photos of today’s CleanUp Kitsune event, and classes provided by the San Diego Museum of Art. Stay tuned for that!

But what should I do with various photographs of other events? I’ll share them now!

These first few photos were taken at the International Cottages. Balboa Park’s four Latin Houses (House of Colombia, House of Mexico, House of Panama and House of Spain) would celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with a colorful lawn program.

I walked through before the event began in earnest…

When I walked past the Old Globe theatre complex, I noticed people were setting up for this evening’s Globe Gala 2024…

Over at the Municipal Gymnasium, the San Diego Senior Games were underway! Food awaited the athletes outside. Inside, the basketballs were flying!

The weekly Saturday greyhound walk passed by…

Some friendly guys dressed as superheroes were participating in the CleanUp Kitsune parkwide litter pick up activity. I’m hoping to receive additional photographs. I’ll blog about it tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, Balboa Park’s usual cultural wonderfulness was to be seen everywhere!

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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.

Man of the Crowd at San Diego Museum of Art.

Extraordinary photographs by preeminent mid-20th century photographer Garry Winogrand are currently on display at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park.

Images of people in the act of being very human line the walls of the museum’s free-to-the-public Galleries 14 and 15. The exhibition is titled Garry Winogrand: Man of the Crowd.

Yes, there are photographs of celebrities and social activism, but images of ordinary people on the street are perhaps more interesting. Moments captured spontaneously in different settings show unexpected contrasts, humor, pathos, and quirks of human nature. These often surprising photos reveal truths about life and living.

Nowadays, in our brave new world of social media and smartphones, most photos seem taken to gain self-centered attention. It’s refreshing to view extraordinary photographs that are dedicated to investigating this captivating world that is all around us.

I took my own photos from a video in the exhibition, where Garry Winogrand provides his thoughts on photography. (That explains the subtitles.)

Garry Winogrand: Man of the Crowd will be on view through January 12, 2025. The free exhibition can be accessed through a door next to Panama 66 that leads to museum restrooms. Look for the following sign:

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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.

Survivors of Suicide Loss provides comfort, hope.

An important event was held today in Balboa Park. The Survivors of Suicide Loss San Diego held a Walk in Remembrance With Hope.

As I entered Balboa Park for a late Sunday morning stroll, I noticed tents and a stage coming down on the grass near Sixth Avenue. I then spoke to smiling people who had worked to organize the event.

When I was told about the Walk in Remembrance With Hope, I wanted to help in a small way with my blog.

The walk was a memorable way to celebrate the lives of loved ones lost to suicide
& to raise awareness about suicide prevention. Funds raised stay in San Diego County for suicide outreach & prevention and survivor support services.

If you’d like to read more about the organization, find comfort, or help spread human compassion, please visit the Survivors of Suicide Loss San Diego website by clicking 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.

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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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)!

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…

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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 (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.

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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 (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…

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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 (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.

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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 (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.

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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!