Tag: reading

Beautiful butterfly arrives at San Diego Museum of Art!

A large, very beautiful butterfly has fluttered into the San Diego Museum of Art’s library. It has spread its welcoming wings on the floor, inviting children to take a seat during the SDMA’s monthly Storytime in the Library!

This sculptural multi-piece rug, if I can call it that, arrived at the museum a couple weeks ago. It made its official debut today. I just happened to see a sign pointing the way!

The interdisciplinary Chicana artist artist who created this amazing fabric artwork is Katie Ruiz. Ring a bell? She’s the artist behind the Pompom Project. I blogged about one of her installations at Civic Center Plaza back in 2023. You can see those photographs by clicking here.

This new many-colored butterfly is a cozy place for kids to sit while listening to readings of fun art-inspired children’s books. It sort of feels like sitting in a (p)lush, flowery garden. You can see a video of its creation on the San Diego Museum of Art’s Instagram by clicking here.

Do you have children who’d like to enjoy Storytime in the Library. It’s free, every second Thursday of each month. Readings are at 10:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.

The San Diego Museum of Art’s library can be found by walking through the museum’s sculpture court and Panama 66. Look around–you will find it! You’ll also find the big, beautiful butterfly that now makes the art library home!

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

San Diego Library’s new book bicycles!

Two very unique bicycle-driven libraries debuted in San Diego this weekend!

The San Diego Public Library was demonstrating their new “libraries on wheels” for the first time at the San Diego Lunar New Year Festival in City Heights!

Is ice cream in there? No, something better! Books!

I learned these bikes that transport books will be utilized for increased community engagement. All those cool books will also encourage people to sign up for a free library card.

This “Access in Motion” project has been supported by the California State Library, and their statewide Stronger Together: Improving Library Access program.

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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.

Thank you for sharing!

Cool photo memories from August 2019.

Summer in San Diego is moving along. August has arrived!

As usual, a new month means it’s time to revisit blog posts from five years ago. During August 2019, Cool San Diego Sights featured some very unique and amazing stuff.

My photographs from back then include an epic mural depicting San Diego that few people see, an exhibition of very weird architecture inspired by UFOs, and jaw-dropping sand sculptures created by world-class artists!

Here come eight links to past blog posts that you might explore.

Click the following links to view photographs from five years ago:

Student posters celebrate Freedom of Speech.

Mural at Civita celebrates San Diego!

Great writing, reading celebrated at TwainFest!

Architecture inspired by nature . . . and UFOs!

Readers, writers gather for Festival of Books!

Cool new mural at 7-Eleven in City Heights!

Photos of 2019 Labor Day Stickball Tournament!

Amazing art at U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge!

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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.

Comic-Con at San Diego public libraries!

Do you live in San Diego, but can’t make it downtown for Comic-Con this week? Why not celebrate Comic-Con 2024 at your local library!

Walking through San Diego’s Central Library yesterday, I saw a display of graphic novels. When I checked out the library’s website, I discovered that all sorts of creative activities can be enjoyed at many San Diego branch libraries that correspond with the phenomenon that is Comic-Con!

Many of these events are coming up in a day or two, so make sure to check out the website right away by clicking here.

At the Point Loma/Hervey Library, there’s Your Life as a Graphic Novel Memoir: Take-Home Art Journaling Kits.

At the College-Rolando Library, there’s Mini Comic-Con (adapted for adults with ASD).

At Oak Park Library, there’s Anime Club for Young Adults.

Sketch Night: Comic Con Edition is a virtual event on Zoom, by the San Diego County Parks and Recreation Department in conjunction with staff from SDPL.

At the Valencia Park/Malcolm X Library, there’s Super Hero Workshop with ClicBitz San Diego.

At the Rancho Bernardo Library, there’s Kids Craft: Paper Superheroes.

At the Clairemont Library, there’s Superhero Preschool Storytime at the Library.

And, finally, at Pacific Beach Library, there’s Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever.

Click here to learn all the details!

And by the way, the Central Library will have their 4th floor IDEA Lab open during Comic-Con, where cosplayers can make repairs to their costumes. There will also be comic-theme makes and photo ops according to this sign that I spotted nearby!

There’s more! If you’d like to score a cool collectible, come down to the Central Library to get your 2024 Commemorative Comic-Con Library Card! It was designed by John Jennings, author, graphic novelist, New York Times Bestseller and 2018 Eisner Winner!

During Comic-Con, you can also obtain this year’s commemorative library card at the San Diego Public Library’s booth in the San Diego Convention Center. They’ll be at Booth 5523!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

Beautiful new mural at Lemon Grove Library!

This very beautiful new mural was painted in April near the main entrance to the Lemon Grove Library. It’s titled Today for Tomorrow.

Positive messages conveyed by the mural include a love for family, the natural environment and reading. The extraordinary mural is the product of a partnership between the ArtReach Mural Program and the Lemon Grove Public Library. The lead mural artist was Mexican-American artist and designer Josué Baltézar.

A handout available inside the library explains: The ArtReach Mural Program Team led over 50 community members in design ideation and painting through out design-input workshops and Community Paint Day…This piece highlights the library as an uplifting and beautiful community space, welcoming and accepting of all people. Books are featured predominantly to mark the importance of learning, reading, curiosity, and imagination. The focal point of the lemon tree represents the community of Lemon Grove while also signifying growth and new beginnings. The figures placed in the books show that we all have our own stories to tell and create while also touching on family resilience, hope, kindness, caregiving and neighborhood unity…

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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.

12 Short Stories inspired by Balboa Park.

Gigantic bubbles form like magic in the Plaza de Balboa.

A pleasant day in Balboa Park, sitting, walking, daydreaming. Sudden inspiration.

That’s how certain stories were born in my mind before taking life on paper.

As a writer of short fiction, I occasionally share some of these stories. If you’re a reader, you might enjoy clicking the following links:

The Highest Seat was inspired by my friend Mitchell who plays didgeridoo in Balboa Park. He once worked in the planetarium at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.

A Heart That Would Not End is a short story also inspired by Mitchell and his didgeridoo.

A Song for Old Warriors came directly from a Memorial Day ceremony that I observed outside The Veterans Museum at Balboa Park.

A Wise Man was inspired while attending a December Nights concert at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.

Here We Go is based in part on families riding the Balboa Park Miniature Railroad.

A Crown Above All came to me as I sat on a bench watching people near the Bea Evenson Fountain.

A Dog’s Tail also came to me as I sat on a bench in the park.

A Short Bloom flowered in my mind during a Cherry Blossom Festival at the Japanese Friendship Garden.

The Child and the Koi came to me while peering into the Japanese Friendship Garden’s koi pond.

Waterfall Tears is a third short story whose setting was inspired by the beautiful Japanese Friendship Garden.

A Small Fountain in Green Park is loosely based on Balboa Park and other similar places I’ve known.

One Magic Bubble rose in my mind on a breezy day in Balboa Park as I watched a street performer with his looping string and bucket of soapy water.

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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.

A philosophical short story for Arbor Day.

Wooden footbridge along 26th Street leads to a little-used trail through USS Bennington Memorial Oak Grove in Balboa Park.

Today is Arbor Day. It’s a day when we think about the future and plant trees.

Early last year I published a very short story that mentions Arbor Day. Dale’s Tree is the title. You might enjoy this touching, slightly philosophical tale.

To read Dale’s Tree, click here.

Have an excellent weekend, and stay tuned for more photographs from walks all around San Diego!

(The above photograph was taken in Balboa Park, as I walked down a path from Golden Hill into the Bennington Memorial Oak Grove. The place inspired my story.)

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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

More treasure inside La Jolla’s Athenaeum!

The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla is like a friendly palace filled with endless treasure. Step through its front door and you’re surrounded by jewels.

Shelves filled with knowledge and beauty. Works of art on the walls, around corners, in nooks and crannies. Comfy places to sit, read, listen, write and fill oneself with wonder.

I headed to La Jolla and stepped through the Athenaeum’s front door yesterday.

In addition to works of art that I hadn’t previously seen, I enjoyed looking at the newest exhibitions in the library’s galleries.

Here are a few of the jewels that I discovered…

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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 big thank you on World Teachers’ Day!

In the one room Mason Street School in Old Town San Diego, younger and older children sat together before the teacher and learned their letters.

Today is World Teachers’ Day!

What would the world be like without teachers? Very poor and very dull.

You probably remember some of your teachers fondly, how they inspired you to learn, grow, expand your horizons, become confident.

Today would be a great day to convey your gratitude!

To help pay for my own indebtedness, I’d like to pass along some information that teachers in San Diego might find very useful.

Write Out Loud offers a variety of inspirational programs that encourage reading and writing. Teachers can make free use of them.

Here they are:

Let Your Voice Be Heard is a poetry contest open to San Diego County students in grades K – 12. Learn about it here.

READ-IMAGINE-CREATE is a contest where Middle and High School Students will READ either the full book, or selections from CIRCE by Madeline Miller or MYTHOLOGY by Edith Hamilton.. Students will RE-IMAGINE the images, themes, or characters and then CREATE a project in a medium important to them. Learn about it here.

Poetry Out Loud is a FREE program for High School students. Students select poems from the National Poetry Foundation Anthology, and memorize, interpret, and recite their poems in a competition at the entry level. Two winners from each competition advance to the Regional Competition and one Regional winner advances to the State Competition. Learn about it here.

“Ripples from Walden Pond” is a 55-minute one-person play written by Richard Platt appropriate for Middle and High School Literature and History Students. Performances are followed by a talk-back with the actor, Steve Smith. Study Guide is provided. This program is provided without cost, through the generosity of passionate private donors. Learn about it here.

Do you know a teacher in San Diego? Let them know these great programs are available!

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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)!