A fairy puppet and smiling puppeteer pose for my camera in San Diego’s wonder-filled Balboa Park.
I made a magical discovery today during my walk through wonder-filled Balboa Park!
This nice lady was passing by the House of Hospitality with a large fairy puppet, testing it for reactions from kids! I learned her daughter, Julie Otto, creator of Julie’s Puppet Creations, is going to have experimental, larger-than-life puppets featured at the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater!
The production is called Whispers of the Forest, and it will be showing at the theater for a two week span, beginning the week before Earth Day. Fun marionettes will be featured, in addition to a 9-foot-tall talking tree, and it sounded to me as if it’s going to be great!
San Diego’s Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater in Balboa Park has showtimes at 11, 1 and 2:30, Wednesday through Sunday.The Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater is a place of magic and fun for kids and warmhearted adults alike!
Flags, palm trees and early morning fog on Cortez Hill in San Diego.
My walk early this morning was a real treat. Magical, mysterious fog had crept during the night into the very heart of downtown San Diego, where I live. High skyscrapers disappeared into the gray. Please enjoy a few photos…
The historic El Cortez Hotel building seems to vanish into the gray morning fog.Many seagulls were enjoying the fog, and were circling over the city streets everywhere I walked.Skyscrapers aren’t scraping so much this morning. They are being softly engulfed by the elements!Looking up into the unusually thick fog past a San Diego Symphony banner downtown.An Orange Line trolley heads down a quiet C Street.Cranes and construction next to several high towers, in a San Diego fog.The magical, mysterious fog made the forms of buildings appear like abstract shapes emerging from some other world.Looking down Kettner Boulevard past Santa Fe Depot and America Plaza into the distant fog.An unusual fog made downtown San Diego appear very atmospheric and mysterious this morning. I loved walking through it!
Three magic benches are visible in this photo. Can you spot them?
I discovered three magic benches during my walk through Balboa Park this afternoon! All three are situated in front of the Old Globe Theatre, one of San Diego’s great cultural treasures.
How do I know these benches are magic? It’s very easy to see! Just examine the following photos, and read the captions!
The first bench is dedicated to that magical playwright Shakespeare! As you might recall, the Bard is associated with the original Globe Theatre, which was in London.The iconic face of William Shakespeare on the side of a fantastic public bench in Balboa Park’s Old Globe Courtyard. Sit here and be inspired!A jolly character from the Shakespeare comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor.A famous scene from Hamlet. Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy…The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego is where you want to see Shakespeare’s famous plays, including the tragedy Julius Caesar.Here’s the second magic bench. Looks ordinary? Don’t be deceived! Sit or lie here, and you might mysteriously be transported far away!And finally, the magic piano bench. Anybody can sit here and play music through January, courtesy of the San Diego Symphony’s PLAY ME: Pianos In Public Spaces event!
To learn more about the ten public pianos that have been placed around San Diego, check out my previous blog post!
To experience magic in wonderful Balboa Park, head over to the courtyard in front of the world famous Old Globe Theatre!The Old Globe has another great lineup for 2016. World-class entertainment in amazing Balboa Park!
Finn, heroic character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, holds a lightsaber. Cool spray paint art by William J. Dorsett.
Check out these super cool Star Wars images! They were created by a talented guy named William J. Dorsett. He’s a great spray paint artist and busker who is frequently seen on San Diego’s Embarcadero, in front of Anthony’s Fish Grotto.
William also happens to be a really nice guy. I’ve seen him working his magic for years during my walks. Not only does he create very unique spray paint artwork, but he also fashions amazing small works of sculpture using corn husks.
And, as you can plainly see, he’s a huge fan of Star Wars!
William loves to demonstrate his unbounded creativity, and did so recently at a local school for excited students. Check out his website to learn more!
William J. Dorsett is a talented busker who often displays his cool artwork on San Diego’s Embarcadero. In this photo he’s handing a corn husk rose to a passerby!Small, colorful spray paint images include a Darth Vader helmet, an Imperial Stormtrooper, R2-D2 and Yoda.It’s Chewbacca with his Bowcaster blaster under a distant galaxy’s stars and a colorful planet.More cosmic, bold spray paint artwork depicts popular Star Wars characters.C-3PO and Han Solo in classic Star Wars poses! Awesome!
Looking north at steps that lead down from the quiet, stately Balboa Park Administrative Courtyard.
A few weeks ago I meandered about Inspiration Point in Balboa Park. Walking slowly, pausing often, going nowhere in particular. Just seeing what I might see.
At the south edge of the Balboa Park Administrative Courtyard, I stood and gazed down the hill toward a corner of downtown San Diego. You might remember my blog about the courtyard. It’s a place that very few people know about. It’s peaceful, green, a bit of heaven. A place of solitude.
As I stood, I glanced down some steps leading toward a seemingly unremarkable patch of trees. A dusty lot next to the trees contained dozens of parked city Park and Recreation trucks. I wondered to myself if the public was permitted to walk down those steps, into what appeared to be a city work area.
This mysterious path seems to lead to a jumble of trees and a dusty parking lot full of city Park and Recreation trucks.
Then I saw the blue among the trees. Was that water?
No sign indicated I couldn’t investigate. So I did.
And what I found took my breath away.
Beautiful Bird of Paradise in a section of Balboa Park where the public almost never goes.Entering a magical hollow in the trees, where a shining blue pool and small fountain await.
The trees seemed a forgotten oasis. At their center shined a lonely pool and a small fountain in the form of a child. The cherub seemed to be holding open the mouth of a carp, or perhaps reading a book–I don’t know.
The strange fountain appeared to occupy a magical place, entirely removed from the surrounding world.
What was it?
An email to the Friends of Balboa Park, an organization whose office is in the nearby Balboa Park Administration Building, provided a bit of information.
The person who replied parks her car in the lot not far from the pool and fountain, and she was completely amazed. She’d didn’t know of its existence.
Ranger Kim, who also works in the building, and who knows volumes about the history of Balboa Park, indicated that the fountain was left over from the 1920’s when the U.S. Navy built a large hospital campus in the immediate area.
In the 1980’s, the land was given to the city in exchange for acreage in Florida Canyon, where the new Naval Medical Center San Diego was built. The buildings from the 1920’s were eventually demolished, except for a Navy chapel, the administration building and its stately courtyard, and a nearby medical library and auditorium building. Today the chapel contains the Veterans Museum and Memorial Center; the administration building contains Balboa Park’s headquarters.
And, of course, magic remains where very few people go: a small fountain that healed spirits at the old Navy complex. A beautiful, hidden fountain forgotten by time.
The lonely fountain is in the form of a child. A few empty benches surround the tiled pool.This fountain is left over from the Navy hospital campus built in this area in the 1920’s.The figure seems to be holding open the jaws of a fish, or perhaps reading a book.A beautiful, hidden fountain forgotten by time.
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It’s a beautiful day by the ocean in La Jolla. Some kayakers have noticed the entrance to a sea cave in the sandstone. Curious eyes spot them from above and watch the unfolding drama.
Please forgive me for this imaginative little story. It’s hot today and perhaps my brain overheated.
The summer heat is why I went down to La Jolla this morning. By the water it was thankfully a few degrees cooler. While I walked along the Pacific Ocean near La Jolla Cove, I watched some kayaks enter the nearby sea cave.
Upon studying my photographs, this short story emerged. For the exciting conclusion, please read the captions, beginning with the above first photo…
The kayakers can’t resist a strong impulse to enter the cave. They turn carefully to peer into the darkness deep within the earth. There seems to be a strange blue light shimmering inside.The mysterious glow lures them into vast blackness and possible danger. As their kayaks start to fade, the weird light intensifies…Drawn forward into the unknown, the courageous kayakers paddle along the dancing beam of light. They are explorers. Life is a great adventure.Beyond darkness lies the magical source of shining blue. They soon vanish–passing from one amazing world into another.
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With love and (what seems) magic we can actually change the entire world. I’m absolutely serious.
Here’s a very short story I wrote a couple months ago. It seems to affect people deeply. I’m going to reblog the story just this once. Perhaps you might enjoy reading it. The story is titled An Unexpected Sunflower. Simply click the link. As you will see, you can truly change the world.
People gather on a July evening to listen to the amazing, magical Spreckels Organ in Balboa Park.
Tonight I walked through Balboa Park. I lingered for a bit at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion to enjoy the beginning of a special concert. This year, in honor of Balboa Park’s centennial, the annual International Summer Organ Festival is featuring an incredible lineup of the world’s finest organists. Concerts are held Monday evenings through the end of August.
The concert tonight was performed by Aaron David Miller. Here are some pics of the magic…
Tonight at 7:30, composer and concert organist Aaron David Miller performed at the Centennial International Summer Organ Festival.These Spreckels Organ Society volunteers smiled for my camera at one entrance to the free public concert.San Diegans filter into the Spreckels Organ Pavilion as evening progresses and daylight fades.Treats and beverages were served near one entrance.Preparing for the concert on the shadowed stage The sun’s horizontal rays strike one end of the beautiful colonnade.The metal benches are filling up and lights turn on as night descends and the time for music nears.At night, many small lights turn the Spreckels Organ Pavilion into a truly magical place.Pan plays his pipes. Soon a world-class organist will join him.Aaron David Miller begins with Festival Overture, by Felix Mendelssohn.
Walking on the beach north of the Imperial Beach pier.
Nothing feels more perfect than a long walk. A long, easy walk to anywhere.
No matter which path feet follow, which direction your head turns, to walk is to feel refreshingly alive.
With every step, the world’s infinite complexity is revealed page by page. When eyes are open and the mind is keen, the strides are through endless wonder.
That first step. That deep, expansive breath of new air. The stretching out of limbs. A touch of warmth or chill on your face. Eyes lifted to the horizon, expectant.
Joy mounting with every stride as senses register a million familiar proofs of the world’s essential beauty.
The smells from near and far. Mown grass, the salty ocean, rain-wet asphalt, piney hills, a jasmine bush on a corner, sun-baked dirt, perfume from a cafe.
Kaleidoscope visions through which you simply, happily flow. The infinite detail of reflected light, dazzling your eyes. Patterns of leaves. Patterns of shadow. Patterns of neighbors and bustle and streets. The patterns of humanity.
And every gradation of daylight. Every blue and every green that nature supplies. A complete riot of color on painted things. Rainbows on buildings, signs, cars, jackets, socks. The whole spectrum of color, if only you see it. A trillion, trillion buzzing atoms encompass you, if only you see them. The awesome visual geometry of angles, form and depth. It’s all before and around you.
The smallest object encountered during a thoughtful walk is a self-contained universe. Even a lone bit of windblown trash is beautiful, in perhaps a thousand different ways. With a microscope you couldn’t unravel its potent mysteries. Who made it? How was it made? Where did it come from, and where’s it headed? For a moment the walker shares the world closely with surprising and mysterious companions: a bird, a grasshopper, a motorist, another walker. We all travel alone but together, encountering our own unique wonders, creating through sheer muscle and chance our historic voyages of discovery.
I want to go exploring today. I suppose I’ll just start out my door.
Got to put on my shoes… Bye!
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New bride and groom hustle through the heart of Balboa Park.
Please enjoy these random pics of happy visions seen on various occasions in Balboa Park. Every day in this special place is magical!
Wedding party walks down elegant El Prado, a frequent sight in Balboa Park.Getting ready to make a music video near reflecting pool flowers.Classic automobile cruises over San Diego’s scenic Cabrillo Bridge.Someone poses for a photo by Rolls Royce limo standing by in Balboa Park.An enthusiastic greeting from tourist passing in a GoCar rental.Ice cream truck parked by children’s playground on Park Boulevard.Artfully trimmed shrub elephant in front of San Diego Zoo.Taking a floating creation out to the big Balboa Park fountain.Kid tows handmade boat over cloudy water in the circular fountain basin.A caricature artist at work on El Prado as folks watch.Playing a horn, trying to draw a crowd.Musician plays didgeridoo that looks like a snake!This cool didgeridoo guy can also be occasionally seen at Seaport Village.
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