A batter gets ready to swing during the Labor Day Stickball Tournament in San Diego. Sixteen teams, including five from the East Coast, played over two days.
I watched some of the action today at the 2017 Labor Day Stickball Tournament in Little Italy. This annual San Diego tradition–which has been going on for 19 years now–includes West and East Coast stickball teams competing for glory. Even a slight drizzle couldn’t stop the intense street action!
I took some photos while enjoying a few of the games. A good crowd lined the sidewalks to watch play on three different street blocks in Little Italy. Stickball in San Diego seems to be growing in popularity–at least it appears that way to me!
Every year the event seems to grow. Many people were lining the sidewalks watching action-packed stickball games. The dog barked excitedly with every great play.Banner for the Nineteenth Annual Labor Day Stickball Tournament in Little Italy, sponsored by Mission Federal Credit Union.Cars head down the nearby street as a game is in progress. It rained a little bit today, as you can see.Running for home in front of the San Diego Firehouse Museum during the 2017 Labor Day Stickball Tournament.Playing hard with a smile. Good times, good people.A big grid of 16 teams this year for the stickball tournament. Just from personal observation, the event seems to grow every Labor Day weekend.A player stretches as a team huddles. The play on hard asphalt is blazing fast and fierce.Getting ready to be a stickball hero!
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Please forgive me. I’m taking it easy this weekend after all that wonderful Comic-Con insanity. So my walk today was slow and simple: meandering through Balboa Park.
I lingered a long while in the Casa del Prado, where the San Diego County Orchid Society is having their summer show and sale. (It continues on Sunday.)
I discovered amazing beauty everywhere.
Feeling lazy, I didn’t take notes. Just photos of a few blooms that caught my eye.
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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!
This weekend’s annual flower show in Balboa Park by Ikebana International features beautiful Japanese floral arrangements.
I know almost nothing about ikebana, the ancient art of Japanese flower arrangement. But I do recognize stunning beauty and appreciate human creativity!
Check out these photos of amazing works of art at the annual Ikebana International flower show in Balboa Park’s Casa del Prado. The show continues through the weekend!
Exquisite displays of ikebana–the art of Japanese flower arrangement–can be seen inside the Casa del Prado.One of many stunning works of floral art that one can see this weekend in Balboa Park.Freestyle arrangement by Mitsuko Takeya. Materials include fig branch, protea, palm leaves and leather fern.Arrangement by Noriko McDaniel. The Ohara School of Ikebana. Materials include magnolia, veronica, purple-crest aeonium, wisteria vine and philodendron.Freestyle arrangement by Patricia Fuchs. Sogetsu School of Ikebana. Materials include anthurium, dogwood, pom pom mum, Japanese rope.Landscape style arrangement by Cris Bugarin. Ohara School of Ikebana. Materials include forsythia, camellia, parsley, iris leaves.Freestyle arrangement by Judy Cliffton. Sogetsu School of Ikebana. Materials include red bud, white cherry, ranunculus.Freestyle arrangement by Sue Elsayeh. Ichiyo School of Ikebana. Materials include forsythia and daffodils.Freestyle tropical arrangement by Inge Johansen. Sogetsu School of Ikebana. Materials include heliconia, ginger, gladiolus, white orchid, variegated ti leaf.A beautiful, complex work of art composed entirely of horsetail by Hiroko Szechinski.Exquisitely arranged beauty, made from elements of the natural world.A delight to the eye. Gorgeous symmetry.A bouquet of delicate beauty.A small garden of colorful bursts and delights.Intertwining flowers and leaves like a small, magical arch.Many eyes at the annual ikebana show took delight in the perfect jewel-like creations.A pink arrangement that seems to have materialized from a fairy tale.Stunning colors and contrasts.A fantastic arrangement by Rumi Rice. Human creativity and natural materials combine to bring a dream to life.A spectacular arrangement by ikebana Grandmaster Akiko Bourland. Materials include loquat, rose, rush.Lavish beauty designed by Keiko Schneider, President of Ikebana International #119.A fine vase containing orchids, palm leaves and dry branch.A vertical style arrangement by Barbara Adams. Materials include Mediterranean fan palm and mums.Another work of great beauty, by ikebana instructor Debbie Garofalo.Pat Schneider combined a simple orchid, peacock feather and palm leaf.Tulips, like colorful fireworks!
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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!
I’ve written a very short story about delicate cherry blossoms, and the passage of time. It’s titled A Short Bloom. Click to read it!
Walking through a profusion of pink flowers at the Japanese Friendship Garden during the 2017 Cherry Blossom Festival in Balboa Park.
Wow! Here come photos of the amazing annual Cherry Blossom Festival, which is taking place this weekend at the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park.
I recommend a visit! You’ll see lots of jaw-dropping beauty, devour lots of yummy food, and enjoy many fun and fascinating aspects of Japanese culture.
If you shy away from crowds, it’s probably best to arrive in the morning just as the festival opens. This event becomes more and more popular every year!
Tomorrow–Sunday–the festival is open from 10am to 6pm.
The annual Cherry Blossom Festival takes place all weekend. If you’re in San Diego and you read this blog in time, make sure to go!Japanese art, gifts and crafts can be found all around the garden during the festival.Many people gravitate toward the covered patio near the koi pond.Colorful koi, symbols of longevity in Japan.Some attending the Cherry Blossom Festival try their hand at the ancient game of Go.The strategic game of Go originated in China over 2500 years ago. Boards for the Japanese version are often prized for their beauty.Some super smiles at this table!Gazing beyond the beautiful Light of Friendship at many vendor tents during the festival of cherry blossoms.Lots of fun Japanese stuff is for sale at the event.Yoshi’s Jams are completely organic! So was that smile!This cool guy had genuine samurai swords for sale.Some ladies at one table were demonstrating Japanese brush painting. A special exhibition in Balboa Park’s Casa del Prado will take place March 25 and 26.Exquisite Japanese artwork created by a careful, inspired hand.People head through the Charles C. Dail Memorial Gate and toward the Lower Garden, where most of the blossoming cherry trees await.We descend into beauty.Walking into heaven.Spring cherry blossoms line the walkways and the gentle stream that runs through the Lower Garden.A purple parasol and pink flowers.Lots of food could be found around the Inamori Pavilion. These guys were preparing Okonomiyaki–yummy Japanese pancakes.Inside the Inamori Pavilion, a variety of marionettes are on display. The Edo Marionettes will perform at the Japanese Friendship Garden on April 30.I was drawn to these tents in the sun-splashed garden, where there was even more food!Preparing Taiyaki–Japanese fish-shaped cakes.I’d never eaten Taiyaki before, and it was really good!But, of course, the Japanese cherry trees are the star of the show. Crowds walk through bursts of pink flowers and rest on the green grass.Visitors to the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park enjoy the annual Cherry Blossom Festival!
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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!
Monster Energy Supercross is in San Diego next weekend. Some trucks have already arrived for the event at Petco Park.
What a day! I walked like crazy! In the morning I headed down to the historic center of National City in San Diego’s South Bay. I have five blog posts coming this week about National City, featuring public art, some really cool street art, and a handsome collection of historic buildings. After my walk around National City, I took the trolley back to the 12th and Imperial station, and commenced a slow walk up the Embarcadero. I took my sweet time because the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Parade would be held farther up the Embarcadero later in the afternoon. Yes–I’m going to blog about the parade, too!
But first, here are some photos from my relaxing walk. During the winter months fewer people are about, and few boats are out on the bay. The air is a bit cooler, but the sun still likes to peek through. It’s San Diego.
The new Park 12 luxury apartment building is taking shape just east of Petco Park.Gazing down from the Harbor Drive pedestrian bridge at a long freight train and the edge of the trolley yard.If you live on the West Coast and eat bananas, they probably arrived on a Dole cargo ship at San Diego’s Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal.Engine powered articulating boom lifts in a row behind the San Diego Convention Center.The high masts of super yachts rise behind the convention center into the sky.People and birds can enjoy a view of the San Diego Bay from atop the convention center.Two basketball players and a bicyclist. It’s a fairly quiet day at Embarcadero Marina Park South.Railing creates patterns at the park’s gazebo. Picnic benches are empty this quiet winter Sunday.Pigeons on the pier are taking it easy.A fine day to bat at a ball.Or to catch a wayward ball.Or to just walk along.Or dangle.Visitors to San Diego check out a map of the Embarcadero.These guys must own a boat docked at the Marriott Marina.A couple enjoys outdoor conversation at Seaport Village’s San Pasqual Wine Tasting Room.Member of the Cat-illacs band chats with folks at Seaport Village’s East Plaza Gazebo.Colorful but weathered picnic table at Embarcadero Marina Park North is the remnant of public art from years ago.Several years ago–I forget how long exactly–the picnic benches near the water at Embarcadero Marina Park North were all decorated with colorful tile artwork. This is all that now remains.A quiet day on the bay. A good time to meditate, relax.Just kicking back.
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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!
Brown pelicans come in for a landing on a cliff near La Jolla Cove.
Yesterday I spent some time at one of the most beautiful places in San Diego. I walked along the cliffs near La Jolla Cove, just taking in the fresh ocean breeze, sunshine and scenery.
I managed to get several fun photographs of pelicans and gulls flying above the water and perched on the rocks.
Sea birds fly along the water’s edge as the surf breaks. The cliffs of Torrey Pines stretch in the distance.A pelican and gull share a cliff above the turbulent, foaming Pacific Ocean.A seagull descends gracefully with outstretched wings.Photo of pelican standing on a dark rock provides interesting contrast.
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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!
Getting ready for the 2016 US Sand Sculpting Challenge and 3D Art Expo at the B Street Pier. A cool sand sculpture will soon appear here to welcome passing Labor Day crowds on the Embarcadero.
Two epic events are coming to San Diego’s Embarcadero this coming Labor Day weekend! The 2016 US Sand Sculpting Challenge and 3D Art Expo, which will take place near the Cruise Ship Terminal on the B Street Pier, and the 2016 Festival of Sail, which will take place at and around the Maritime Museum of San Diego!
I’ve blogged about both amazing annual events the past couple years. The sand sculptures, created by some of the best sand artists in the entire world, are utterly mind-blowing. The tall ships are a feast not only for the eyes, but for the senses once you step aboard.
I took a slow easy walk along the Embarcadero a short while ago and snapped a few pics of very early preparation for both events. If I feel well enough next weekend, expect to see lots of super cool photos from both epic Labor Day weekend events!
One of several U.S. Navy floating docks has been set in position near the Maritime Museum of San Diego, in preparation for visiting tall ships at the 2016 Festival of Sail.Californian, the official tall ship of California, will participate in the 2016 Festival of Sail this coming Labor Day weekend. Right now she is docked at the Maritime Museum, her home.Gaff-rigged topsail schooner Bill of Rights, based in South Bay’s Chula Vista, will be one of many amazing tall ships participating this year in the Festival of Sail. I spotted it cruising across San Diego Bay today.Visitor to the Maritime Museum of San Diego sits peacefully on a bench near the aft of the 1904 steam yacht Medea. Big crowds will arrive here on Labor Day weekend!The 2016 Festival of Sail takes place Labor Day weekend on the Embarcadero. If you are in San Diego and love historical ships, you must go!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
The finish at the MLB All-Star 5K Color Run this morning was a crazy scene! Different colored chalk was tossed and blown onto laughing, happy participants.
I walked a bit around downtown this weekend–both yesterday and today. Here are some fun photos that are (mostly) related to Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game Week here in San Diego. The whole city seems to have gone into party mode. I’m sorry to say I didn’t get photos of the Soul Pose All-Star Yoga event yesterday. But, as you’ll see, I did stumble upon a number of other events and cool sights!
A young person checks out an All-Star Fanfest decal on the sidewalk behind the San Diego Convention Center. Promotional graphics have been placed in many popular downtown walking spots.Yesterday, Santa was hanging out by a Seaport Village sign that advertises All-Star Game merchandise. He told me he was there to spread smiles. Sounds good to me!These music lovers were heading toward Embarcadero Marina Park South on Saturday. They would enjoy one of the three huge MLB All-Star Concerts!When I walked by on Saturday morning, the San Francisco Giants had the only National League flag flapping wildly at Petco Park. Oh, oh. It’s an even-numbered year. Another omen, possibly…This morning, the All-Star 5K Color Run appeared to be extremely popular. People covered with brightly colored chalk were all over downtown! I caught a bit of the finish near the County Administration Building.Yes, you guessed it. The Color Run is mostly about different colored chalk being launched every which way. Even during the post-race concert! Getting your shirt splashed with color is part of the fun.And then, when you’re done and ready to go home, a couple of air blower guys blast the harmless chalk right off you!Friends posing for a photo on surfboards at Waterfront Park after the MLB All-Star 5K Color Run.This All-Star belongs to the Maritime Museum of San Diego. It’s their Spanish galleon replica, San Salvador. Walking along the water, I spotted it heading out toward the bay’s entrance. I was told she’s out on her 3rd or 4th test run. They’re learning how to steer her with a rudder, just like they did centuries ago! I was also told she bobs up and down like a cork when out on the open ocean!Festive All-Star graphics adorn a large stage on the Broadway Pier. I was told there will be some sort of big Major League Baseball VIP party here.Of course, I had to swing by PLAY BALL PARK once again. There were so many kids out having fun playing baseball this Sunday morning I couldn’t believe it!Right next to Petco Park, every imaginable type of 2016 Major League Baseball All-Star Game merchandise was for sale. Lots of fans seemed interested.And finally, late this morning about an hour before it officially opened, I strolled down J Street where the All-Star Week Block Party would be held.Pepsi is the main sponsor of the block party, as far as I can tell. They had balloons all over the place.Here’s something you don’t see every day. A guy is putting an All-Star Game cover on a trashcan!Just walking down J Street, adjacent to the Park at the Park, while vendors prepare for the All-Star Game block party.Pink Padres pennants and small All-Star Game commemorative bats are placed on a vendor’s table.Kudos to COX for creating this unique sculpture made of baseballs. It was cool enough that I posted a photo of it on my silly blog!And finally, I spotted a huge All-Star Game banner today near the front door of Alamo Flags in Seaport Village!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of fun photos for you to enjoy!
Players prepare to go to bat during a stickball tournament in San Diego’s Little Italy.
A stickball tournament was held today in San Diego’s Little Italy. I watched one game between the Sidewalk Slammers and Street Rookies, and was able to snap a bunch of action photos. Sometimes these tournaments include teams from New York, but I was told that the five teams today were all local. Stickball has become a very cool downtown San Diego tradition!
Young player on the Sidewalk Slammers team takes a swing during the early innings of a fungo-style stickball game.A teammate is ready to strike the bounced rubber ball with a taped wooden broom handle. Lots of people were watching on either side of Columbia Street.Stickball fans watch the action while seated or standing. Music, drink and good times on the sidewalk in front of The Firehouse Museum in Little Italy.Halfway through the 3rd inning and the Sidewalk Slammers trail the Street Rookies.Members of the Street Rookies, in yellow shirts, watch as their offense tries to score more runs.He calls himself a Street Rookie? This guy hits the ball really hard. A line drive far down the long city block.A runner scores by touching the chalk home plate, and the Street Rookies extend their lead.The next batter prepares to bounce the rubber ball before swinging. I learned that self-pitching the ball is technically called fungo.Another hit! Fans go wild! A downtown San Diego street makes for a very unusual stadium.Time out! A car is pulling out of a parking garage and into the asphalt outfield. During the action, pedestrians, dogs and onlookers are sometimes in the field of play.Three teammates take the field at the top of a new inning. A great game is underway.An athletic move and lightning fast throw. If I recall, the play was very close and the runner was nearly tagged out.Another defensive play. A Sidewalk Slammers runner has safely made second base.Another time out! The KUSI television van is leaving the scene. They had several live shots of the local stickball tournament this morning.Someone watches the game from high up on their balcony. I believe hitting a fly into a building is considered a foul. Unlike baseball, a foul or a strike is called out. Tough rules.Some fielding action on the sidewalk right in front of me! Fortunately, I didn’t manage to get in the way.Chasing the ball! A game played primarily in the Northeastern United States is being enjoyed several thousand miles away!Encouragement and friendship on the not-so-mean streets of San Diego.This game is over. The members of both teams exchange high fives. Good sportsmanship and fun. That’s San Diego style!The Sidewalk Slammers get a team photo. Five local teams are competing in this tournament.And here is the final score. Sidewalk Slammers 5. Street Rookies 12.People enjoy watching a Memorial Day weekend game of stickball in Little Italy.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of fun photos for you to enjoy!
Artwork hung near entrance of the Balboa Park Club depicts Greek folk dancers.
A great event is going on this weekend in Balboa Park! If you happen to be in San Diego, you might like to check it out!
The International Folk Dance Spring Festival is being held in the very beautiful Balboa Park Club building, and everyone is invited. The fun event is put on by the International Dance Association of San Diego County.
Anyone who attended the festival today could learn how to Greek dance! Tomorrow, Sunday, you’ll have the opportunity to learn and observe other styles of folk dancing. It’s easy to participate and lots of fun! And it’s a great social activity that provides healthy exercise!
I learned that the International Dance Association of San Diego County is eager to welcome new members. Do you enjoy folk dancing? Do you wish to learn? Are you merely curious and would like to read some more interesting information? Then click here to check out their website! They have numerous classes and special dances throughout the year!
Curious visitors enter the Balboa Park Club building, to enjoy the 2016 International Folk Dance Spring Festival.Costumes are a fun aspect of authentic folk dancing. But you don’t need one to participate! Come as you are!People get ready to perform a social dance in the amazing 13,000 square feet ballroom inside the Balboa Park Club.Ordinary people at the International Folk Dance Spring Festival in Balboa Park learn Greek dancing!Life is beautiful. Indeed, it is!The stunning, historic grand foyer of the Balboa Park Club is decorated for spring. Buy stuff here during the festival to support the International Dance Association of San Diego County.International Folk Dancing in Balboa Park is celebrating 69 years! Recreational folk dance is taught, demonstrated and performed for free in a stylish, air-conditioned ballroom!The Balboa Park Club is the site of a San Diego folk dance festival, running this weekend. Go check it out! Or, better yet, go and learn how to folk dance! Why not?
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
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