Exploring pays off!

On the first Sunday of each month, I drive 226 miles round-trip up to Long Beach to attend the monthly meeting of the Long Beach Cactus Club. I guess you could say I’m dedicated to this cactus thing.

I have an intermediate stop at the La Costa Park & Ride to pick up Annie Morgan, Program Chair (and more!) of the Palomar Cactus & Succulent Society in Escondido, California.

Usually I get there a couple of minutes later than my ETA because traffic conditions just are not consistent in large metroplexes. This past Sunday, though, I got there 30 minutes early, and it’s only a 40-minute drive. I did not speed. Believe me.

Whenever I get somewhere early, I make it a point to walk around and explore, never knowing what I might find. This past Sunday I found this pretty little flower:

Exploring paid off! That picture will make a nice puzzle or something, especially if I can find out the name of the plant.

I have no idea what the plant is. It was bare of leaves but with many dozens of half-inch pink flowers, looking very beautiful in the dry heat where I found it.

X marks the spot

Raindrops on not-roses

According to the great and all-knowing Microsoft Excel, this is my best selling raindrops picture and my #9 best-selling picture overall.

It might rank higher but it hasn’t been available as long as the other best-sellers.

I think it will make a great (that is, difficult) 1,014-piece, 30″ x 20″ puzzle. Yes?

Surprisingly, I have never entered it in either a cactus & succulent show (the plant is an aeonium, one of my favorite succulent species) or a photography show.

I think I shall have to do something about that next year.

Flower pictures that don’t look quite so picturery

I got so involved cataloging pictures from the last year and photoshopping some of them that the weekend suddenly has disappeared. Where did it go?

Ah, well, since it’s gone, following are a few flowers that I photoshopped using Topaz Glow, an awesome program if you want to create some really interesting pictures that don’t look like pictures anymore. All of these flowers were growing in one yard. They saw me out their living room window taking pictures and came out to talk to me.

Zinnia, Zinnia, Sunflower daisy, Passionflower.

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Fletcher Cove Park & Overlook Park in Solana Beach

San Diego County has over 70 miles of coastline.

The first time I made it to San Diego, in 1973, two friends and I were on a timeline, created by yours truly, for visiting the national parks, national forests, national monuments, and cities with a population of more than 100,000 west of the Mississippi River, all in a little over three months.

So we skipped the beaches, preferring the San Diego Zoo as our San Diego attraction.

My second visit to San Diego County was in May 1992. I drove the Pacific Coast Highway from San Diego to Monterey. At the first vista point, I thought to myself, “I could live here some day.”

Eleven months later I was back in San Diego, to stay.

During my first year living in San Diego, I made it a point to visit all the named beaches in the County.

When Staycations became fashionable with the Great Recession, I decided to revisit San Diego County beaches. One that I visited recently is Fletcher Cove.

As you’ll notice, Fletcher Cove Park was not there until 2007. I suspect there was a little beach, as there still is, but this illustrates why it is always worthwhile to go again to somewhere you’ve already been.

The park also is known as Pillbox because of its history as a gunnery installation during World War II.

According to sources, “the beach gets wider at low tide but pretty much disappears at high tide.”

It’s easy to get to the beach from the park because you simply walk down a sloping ramp, much better than some beaches where you have to play like you’re a goat and traverse the sandstone cliffs that are 200 feet high.

There are public showers and restroom facilities as well as picnic tables and a basketball court located on top of the bluffs next to the Marine Safety Department Headquarters. There also is a nice community center in Overlook Park which is right next door to Fletcher Cove Park. Only an ugly chain link fence separates the two but that is of little consequence since the picnic tables and walkways are full of mosaic beauty; you’ll never notice the fence.

A train station for the Coaster is three blocks away, Pacific Coast Highway and downtown Solana Beach are a block away.

Lifeguards are on duty year round, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. during the winter months, and from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. during the summer months.

The parking lot serving both Fletcher Cove Park and Overlook Park is at 111 S. Sierra Avenue in Solana Beach.

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Where do you get YOUR mail?

I was born and raised in the small farming and ranching community of Kingsville, Texas, population 25,000, give or take.

In front of our house, at the street curb, was a mailbox. I used to wait for the mail carrier to raise the red flag to indicate that we had mail, at which point I’d rush out to get it.

Here in the city, we have cluster boxes. They aren’t nearly as much fun as a curbside mail box.

Fortunately, San Diego County has a great many rural areas, so when I do a home inspection out in those boondocks, I often get to see great mailboxes, like these two:

If you come to San Diego for a visit, don’t neglect the boondocks! There are a lot of great, historic sites to see beginning with State Route 94.

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Happy National Cat Day from Zoey the Cool Cat!

Today is National Cat Day.

Here to help us celebrate is the one and only Zoey the Cool Cat.

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Advice from a tree

Moving is like archaeology in that you discover old things that were thought to be lost to history.

When Jim and I moved in May, I found many things that I thought were gone. One of them was a poster that I bought in 1976 at a forestry event. It’s all folded and crumpled but not to worry because all I have to do is take the thought and create something in Photoshop.

I’m creating a set of seven Photographic Art based on the poster, of which this is the first one:

For each succeeding artwork, the text being illustrated will be in dark blue with all other text in light gray.

The main reason why I am making these is because I have a commission to do so. My Client intends on hanging these on the walls of her new office.

Each of these is a Photoshop file, so I’ll be able to change anything that the Client wants changed. The brushed aluminum frame I used here is just for illustration purposes. My final work will not be digitally framed.

Contact me
 for unique, custom artwork
for your home or office,
or to give as a gift
to family, friends, or business associates.

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Fall, football, fleet week, festival of sail—It all starts today!

The unofficial start of the Festival of Sail at the Maritime Museum of San Diego begins today with the Parade of Sail at 3:00 p.m. For most of us here, that means it’s also the unofficial start of Fall, football, and Fleet Week (a misnomer since the “week” lasts from September 8 to October 4).

The Parade of Sail features tall ships from around the world and is, for me, one of the best events occurring each year in San Diego.

Here’s a selection of tall ships, some making San Diego their home, others visiting during the year, and still others visiting specifically for the Festival of Sail:

The Californian, official tall ship of the State of California

Most significant today is that the San Salvador, the recently completed full-size replica of the galleon that sailed into San Diego bay in 1542, will make its debut. While it is not expected to be under sail today, it will lead the Parade of Sail using its propellers, also known as “iron wind.”

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The most southwestern point in the continental United States

When the real estate bubble burst around 2008 and everyone decided to stay home on staycations, I decided to stay, too.

I set out to explore everything that San Diego County had to offer.

That was when I first discovered the most southwestern point in the continental United States.

It’s called Border Field State Park.

Border Field State Park makes the local headlines quite often because it is the only place where U.S. and Mexican families that are separated by fences and walls can go say hello to each other…. But only during certain times, and when those times are announced, headlines are made!

Road and safety conditions change frequently, and the vehicle gate is closed Monday through Friday. Other weird things…. Here is a great gateway web site to Border Field State Park.

On a recent trip to Border Field, I found a new fence. Looks like this (click on picture for a huger version):

The dohickeys hanging on the fence are mosaics created by schoolchildren throughout the area and feature wildlife that can be found at Border Field State Park. Here are some close-ups of the mosaics:

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There are a great number of horse rental businesses in the area, and I can highly recommend a horse ride to the beach where you can actually ride the horse ON the beach, the only place in San Diego County where you can do that.

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