Dedicate each day to that purpose, that great good.
Uplift others. Propagate love. Oppose what is wrong. Discover truth. Create new beauty. Voice what is worthy. Share your gifts. Send ripples of generosity into the future. Do an unselfish thing.
Choose.
Once your purpose is found, think of little else.
You will gain everything.
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Spring is only a few days old and flowers are blooming everywhere. The gardens in Balboa Park are fairly exploding with dazzling color. This weekend my feet directed me through the bright, sprawling rose garden along Park Boulevard. Using my camera’s macro setting, I took some close up photographs that you might enjoy! The rose variety is shown in each caption.
The Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden contains hundreds of brightly colored blooms!On a sunny Spring Sunday, a couple walks slowly through south part of beautiful Balboa Park rose garden, next to Park Boulevard.Strike It RichRainbow SorbetKoko LokoShockwaveSheila’s PerfumeLove SongGold Medal
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Young ladies perform classical music in Balboa Park to raise money for a very worthy cause!
A group of talented young people in San Diego have a lofty ambition. They want to make our world a much better place!
This afternoon I was walking along when I happened upon two members of the Westview Music Outreach Club skillfully playing classical music. They had attracted a small crowd on El Prado in Balboa Park. Their sign really caught my attention:
Westview High School Music Outreach of San Diego has important plans! Its mission is to spread riches of music.
The club is already engaged in many positive activities! Check out their website.
I don’t see why the Westview High School Music Outreach can’t became an enormous success. With a little help anything is possible. Their (and your) generous musical gifts might touch and enrich thousands of lives! Can you help them succeed?
High School students actively working to change the world into a better place!
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Today is the International Day of Happiness! Happy thoughts and deeds were underway in downtown San Diego this morning, just outside Horton Plaza. I swung on by to check things out!
International Day of Happiness in San Diego at Horton Plaza.Early morning vows of how people will make the world a more happy place.Smiling at my kids more.Smiling and saying hi to everyone I pass by today.Sharing my lunch with someone less fortunate.Being a good father and role model.Help make the world a happier place!
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At the corner of Ash and Front Street, a San Diego firefighter volunteers to collect donations to assist burn victims.
If you’re driving about San Diego County today and you see a fireman standing at an intersection holding up a boot, throw lots of money in!
Today a small army of San Diego firefighters are volunteering to collect donations for the Burn Institute. The Burn Institute’s mission is to help the victims of severe burns recover from a devastating and very difficult situation. The organization has a strong focus on children. Be generous!
Television reporter and firemen spread the word about today’s Fill the Boot campaign throughout San Diego.Fill the Boot generously to help the Burn Institute help children who’ve suffered from critical burns.
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Brides, grooms and special guests approach County Administration Building on Valentine’s Day.
Today I took the trolley to Qualcomm Stadium to check out the very cool Lunar New Year Festival. Before catching the trolley at the Little Italy station, I walked around the nearby County Administration Building and its beautiful waterfront park. Every year on Valentine’s Day, hundreds of weddings are performed here. According to an article I read, this year 187 ceremonies were scheduled!
I didn’t stay long, and I kept a respectful distance from those who were tying the knot, but I did manage to get a few decent pics!
This happy soon-to-be-wed couple is interviewed by a television reporter.People enter and leave San Diego’s County Administration Center in bliss.The first ceremony takes places at the small wedding arbor in the waterfront park.Love is in the air, and across the street at the waiting taco shop.
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Participants in Susan G. Komen three day walk fighting breast cancer.
As usual, I ran into an unexpected cool sight during a walk. I was returning home from Balboa Park early this afternoon when I noticed a bunch of people wearing pink lining Park Boulevard. Sure enough! San Diego’s Susan G. Komen three day walk to raise money to fight breast cancer was underway. It was heading down the homestretch!
I took a bunch of pics as I continued home along the route of the walkers. They had roughly one more mile to go until the finish line at downtown’s Petco Park stadium.
San Diego walkers cheered by pink-wearing supporters on Park Boulevard.Mile 59. Just one mile to go to the Petco Park finish!Lots of fun pink stuff greeted the walkers along their route.Guy helping with traffic wears pink and lots of pins and buttons.Encouraging signs were everywhere along this beautiful section of the San Diego route.Someone stenciled LOVE on the sidewalk.Hydration station awaits some oncoming anti-breast cancer walkers.Cars coming down the street honked and featured optimistic messages.San Diego police officer wears pink for the special occasion.Someone wrote a personal encouraging note in chalk on the sidewalk.This cool bystander guy has a pink mohawk!U GO GIRL
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Homeless by trolley tracks between San Diego Convention Center and Petco Park.
Living downtown, every day I see many people on the streets of San Diego who are homeless. When I take my “cool pics” I often consciously or unconsciously aim my camera lens away from less pleasant images. But the reality is, there are many urban neighbors who are in a desperate life situation. Whatever their story is, they need our help and compassion.
I’ve been walking throughout downtown for about 14 years now, and it has been a ritual of mine to reward street performers with a bit of money as I wander about. A fair number of these performers are homeless, or very needy. It just seems like a positive thing to do. When I talk a bit and get to know those who are homeless better, I realize that many are not so different than me, or anyone else. Life at times presents us all with extraordinary, seemingly impossible difficulties. A helping hand is often appreciated.
If you’ve thought of providing a helping hand to the homeless, or those at risk for homelessness, here’s a list of organizations in San Diego that could use your assistance. Check each website for opportunities to volunteer or provide a donation. Forgive me if I’ve overlooked anyone. If you can think of additions to this list, leave a comment!
Someone lies face down on the grass in Embarcadero Marina Park North.
Alpha Project provides the homeless with affordable housing, substance abuse treatment, basic and emergency services, transportation assistance, mental health counseling, employment training and placement, emergency shelter and more.
Urban Angels‘ mission is to nourish and provide food for the homeless of San Diego. They run the kitchen at Connections Housing, a new, state-of-the-art homeless facility.
San Diego Rescue Mission provides shelter, food, education, work training, rehabilitation and long-term care programs for the homeless.
StandUP for Kids provides assistance to homeless and at-risk youth throughout San Diego County.
Veterans Village provides homeless veterans with a safe place to live, care for Post Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury, help in overcoming addiction, and employment assistance.
The Salvation Army serves the homeless, low income individuals, and those facing difficult life challenges. Volunteers serve the homeless downtown with Thanksgiving and Christmas meals.
Father Joe’s Villages is the largest one-stop center in the region offering housing and services for the homeless. They help families with children, single women, and single men including chronically homeless individuals, veterans and people living with addiction and/or mental illness.
Interfaith Community Services empowers people in need to stabilize and improve their lives through comprehensive programs, in partnership with diverse faith communities and people of compassion.
Make Change Count meters in downtown San Diego raise money to help the homeless.
Monarch School‘s mission is to educate students impacted by homelessness and to help them develop hope for the future with the necessary skills and experiences for personal success.
San Diego Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief organization in San Diego County.
1st Saturdays are ordinary San Diegans who collect money, clothes, bedding, and other items that help those in need, to be distributed the first Saturday of every month.
Just Call Us Volunteers collaborates with other non-profits to serve free healthy meals in San Diego and teach cooking using fresh and nutritious ingredients.
Catholic Charities provides a safe, supportive, sober environment and opportunities for those with few or no resources to gather, begin, and continue self-help efforts.
PATH is a family of agencies working together to end homelessness for individuals, families, and communities throughout Southern California.
Family Health Centers of San Diego is dedicated to providing healthcare services to medically underserved persons, including homeless children and adults.
YWCA has programs that support victims of domestic violence and homeless women in their journey from homelessness to stable housing.
Regional Task Force on the Homeless conducts a physical count of the homeless in San Diego. They can always use more volunteers for the annual census. Information gathered during WeAllCount helps determine which services and programs can do the most good.
Wheels of Change provides employment for homeless people who are staying in shelters. Those who’d like to participate earn wages for work cleaning up communities–picking up trash, pulling weeds, etc. The program would appreciate your help.
Small work of art I bought from a friendly gentleman walking down the street. He was in a difficult life situation.
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Selling very special edition Union-Tribune newspapers during Kids’ NewsDay!
Smiling volunteers could be seen throughout San Diego this morning selling special edition newspapers! Today was the 25th anniversary of Kids’ NewsDay, a much-anticipated yearly event whose purpose is to benefit Rady Children’s Hospital.
Over the years, thousands of children and families have been helped by the money raised by generous people who purchase this inspiring edition of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Since the first Kids’ NewsDay in 1990, about 30,000 volunteers have sold over a million papers, raising nearly 3 million dollars! That’s amazing! The featured section of the newspaper is filled with stories of kids overcoming extremely difficult situations, many with rare or life-threatening diseases. The stories are filled with optimism, and the most inspiring stories are written by children themselves!
If you would like to make a donation to Rady Children’s Hospital, please click this link!
Kid’s NewsDay helps raise funds for Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego.
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Sculpture of Bum, San Diego’s town dog, in a grassy Gaslamp pocket park.
One of San Diego’s most famous celebrities had four legs and a tail. His name was Bum.
Bum the dog made San Diego his home in the late 19th century. He arrived in town in 1886 by stowing away on the Santa Rosa, a steamship from San Francisco. Soon thereafter, he became the well known town mascot.
Everyone was proud to be Bum’s pal. San Diegans young and old gladly provided food, friendship and their front porches for his sleeping place. Bum helped firemen hurry to fires, led parades, and protected the town’s children. We know this today because James Edward Friend, a journalist, wrote about Bum’s life and famous exploits.
Bum was so popular that one local restaurant put up a sign that read Bum Eats Here. When the city of San Diego passed a law requiring dog licenses, Bum’s picture was featured on the license.
Bum was a free spirit. Nobody owned him. But he had a claim on everybody’s heart. He was given free fare on trains, whenever he decided to come or go. He was given special medical attention when one foreleg became badly mangled in a train accident. He was even given a home at the County Hospital by the Board of Supervisors when his arthritis made it hard to get around. Bum was buried on the hospital grounds after his death in 1898.
Bum’s life has come to represent a small chapter of San Diego’s history, back when today’s downtown competed with Old Town and was called New Town. A bronze sculpture of the famous town dog now occupies a shady pocket park in downtown’s Gaslamp District. You can find the exact likeness of the St. Bernard-Spaniel mix lying on the grass not far from the William Heath Davis House, which is a small museum and the oldest wooden structure in the Gaslamp.
Plaque remembers history of Bum in early San Diego and his legendary exploits.
The nearby plaque reads:
Bum
San Diego’s Official Town Dog
Died November 10, 1898 – Aged 12 Years
Loved by everyone – owned by no one. His name suited him because he arrived as a town stowaway, befriended everyone and “bummed” quality food from the local eateries. As a young dog he survived a scuffle with another dog on the Santa Fe train tracks. Though he lost a foreleg and part of his tail, his spirit was unbroken. He guarded the children, led the parades and fire trucks, and had many adventures. So admired was Bum that the City Council awarded him a lifetime dog license. When he died, children collected pennies for a proper burial.
Bum waits faithfully downtown next to the William Heath Davis House museum.Historical photograph shows Bum among his many San Diegan human friends.Greyfriars Bobby, town dog of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Another dog sculpture perched on a nearby bench is of Greyfriars Bobby, the official town dog of Edinburgh, Scotland. The love and loyalty of both legendary dogs is the reason San Diego and Edinburgh are sister cities.
Bum sculpture recalls another rich chapter of San Diego’s history.
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Cool San Diego Sights! 