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July 23, 2018

Street Art in San Diego

I am a visual person. I hate to say I am an “art lover” because that sort of implies that I love visiting museums and looking at a bunch of classic paintings and stuff. Museums are fun in small doses, but I much prefer moving through the world looking at stuff that catches my fancy than spending hours in a dark building looking at pieces other people think I really should love and want to see.

I have really come to enjoy street art/murals. But what exactly is “street art”? A fancy name for graffiti? If you really want to know, click here. As an article about ten of the best places to find street art in SD on the SanDiego.org website says, “Muralists and street artists are the tricksters of public art. They play with scale, making familiar objects giant. They slip in visual puns and sly references, simultaneously secret and bold as a howl. They create monuments to people and moments they deem heroic.”

In my opinion, street art is fun. It’s colorful. It can really liven-up run-down areas and add visual interest to an otherwise hum-drum scene. It’s a creative way to grab attention as an alternative to an ordinary sign, e.g., for businesses.

On previous visits to the area, I noticed that there seemed to be a lot of street art in San Diego (SD). Hubby doesn’t share my appreciation for the medium, so I figured my extended solo visit would be a great time to explore the art of SD in addition to the local beer and street taco establishments. And that’s exactly what I did.

I visited many different areas in and around the city. I captured hundreds of images during that time, many of which I shared on Facebook and Instagram. The focus on street art was a departure from the type of travel pics I usually share. Later, one of my friends said she hadn’t enjoyed my SD posts as much as she’d likes pics I’d shared from visits to other places because she doesn’t like “graffiti” and stuff as much as I do. That comment tickled me. I wasn’t offended because I know that art, like beauty, really is in the eye of the beholder. Travel photos are art, too, right?

San Diego is a big place. Rather than just wander around aimlessly, hoping to get lucky, I figured I’d do a bit of research to find concentrations of art in the city. One of the areas I chose to visit was Chicano Park in Barrio Logan. According to the SanDiego.org website, “The park is home to the largest concentration of Chicano murals in the world with more than 80 paintings on seven acres dotted with sculpture, gardens, picnic tables and playgrounds.” That website can give you a very succinct and explanation of the history and cultural significance of Chicano Park.

If you’d like to know more about this very unique spot, I encourage you to visit this website, which “…supports MAS 350B: Mexican American Studies – Chicano History at San Diego State University. This class involves the study of the history of Chicanos since 1848, using Chicano Park as a point of departure for research and study. The main emphasis of the class will be to survey the major themes of Chicano history that are suggested by the murals of Chicano Park in Barrio Logan San Diego, and to do research on the park in order to contribute to its preservation by revealing the rich artistic and cultural legacy its embodies.”

If you are interested in the meaning behind the murals, this page has links to explanations for key murals in Chicano Park.

I’m glad I visited Chicano Park and Barrio Logan without any human companions. It really gave me the opportunity to meander aimlessly around the park and surrounding neighborhood, lingering as long as I liked. That’s important as there was so very much to see.

I have so many images from that day, I decided to create a slideshow for sharing. One blog post is just not the right place to share 100+ images. I’ve posted my top-10 favorites within this post. The rest can be seen in the slideshow embedded at the end.

A Google map is embedded below so you can see all of the ramps leading to/from the bridge. The map will help you better appreciate the number of different support pylons photographed.

My slideshow and collection of photos is not all-inclusive. It really is an impressive site. If you ever visit SD and like street art, I encourage you to visit, allowing a few hours to take in the sights.

This guy gave me an extra hand with Jasper.

We probably spent several hours just moseying around.

Cute house with a yard full of fun kitsch.

I love the way this image looks with the foreground of stony ground.

I share this next image more for the story behind the recent controversy surrounding the mural than for the mural itself. Although I DO love this shot for its multiple murals and interesting angles. You can read the full story of the controversy if you like.

In a nutshell, many people who don’t know the history of the area misinterpret the meaning of “yonkes” and are offended. It’s a prime example of Americans whining about ridiculous stuff AND displaying their language ignorance at the same time.

Yonkes is a Spanish slang term. It does not mean “yankees” (referring to white people) or “honkies” (again, referring to white people). Just because it kind of resembles yankees and honkies, those are English words. Yonkes is local-ish Spanish slang that means junkyards.

People really can be so narrow-minded and stupid. I must admit, I love it when their narrow-mindedness makes them look even more ignorant than they already are.

Finally, one of the things I also loved about the art in and around the park is that it isn’t all expertly rendered. Some pieces are artistically superior to others by far. There are quite a few that are downright bad. Some were clearly done by children. But they’re still there, because this is a place that’s for the people of the neighborhood. All of the people. Even folks that are less artistically talented than others have a right to express themselves and be heard.

I really do like that the works encompass the full spectrum of skill levels, however, some of the pieces made me chuckle. Like the family of three in this next image. That family, which is painted on a wood cut-out positioned on the ground behind those plants, looks like a family of zombies to me. The kids more so that the man. In my opinion.

If you’d like to see the slideshow images more closely, I also created a Google Photos album to share.

July 20, 2018

More on Imperial Beach

While digging up the pics I used in my previous post about ART, I found a bunch of pics from my favorite San Diego beach that I wanted to share.

Lifeguard stations are serious business in California.

This East Coast native found the lifeguard stations quite impressive in San Diego. There are actual large structures, with vehicles and everything, at various locations along the beach. Sort of like a municipal firehouse, but on the beach, and without firetrucks. They do have little trucks, Jeeps, and other rescue vehicles. There are the little lifeguard shacks, too. But even those are different than what we have on the Atlantic beaches, which really are nothing more than tall, wooden chairs.

Delicious Street Tacos

Imperial Beach was my favorite for several reasons. Street tacos are one of those reasons.

I encountered too many incomplete or inaccurate descriptions of street tacos to give y’all a definitive explanation of street taco vs. Americanized (think Taco Bell) tacos. Basically, street tacos are small, simple, inexpensive, and eaten in multiples. They typically have very fresh ingredients, a few complementary toppings, and are served open-faced, sometimes atop two soft corn tortillas. One thing I learned today is that the second tortilla is so you can redistribute half of the fillings to make two neater “packets” of deliciousness. I ate a lot of tacos in SD, but IB Street tacos was the best of what I tried, in my opinion. Click on their logo above to go to their website and read their menu.

This Wikipedia thread has a nice description of Mexican street food , if you’re interested.

Dog-friendly Beach

Not all beaches welcome dogs. Not wanting to leave Jasper home, especially since he was the reason I had extended my stay in SD, I had to find a dog-friendly one. The thought of long, leisurely strolls along a beach without being nagged by guilt for abandoning my little friend were just too appealing.

At first, while Shannon and Chris were still at home, Jasper didn’t want a whole lot to do with me.

“Don’t even think about getting between me and Mom,” Jasper appears to be thinking here.

As they prepared to leave on their honeymoon, Jasper and I became more-acquainted with one another.

“Wait, what? YOU are supposed to take me for a walk?” he seemed to be thinking.

Once they left, he was all like, “Cool. What fun thing are we going to do now?”

“Okay, Babysitter Lady, where are we going this time?” he seems to be thinking.

I sort of made a game of it. If you’re on Instagram, look for #adventureswithjasperkirkman.

For the Birds!

There are lots of birding opportunities in and around IB. Click here to learn more. I like birds, but am not a serious birder by any stretch of the imagination. Jasper likes birds, too, but for different reasons. I like to look at them and he likes to chase them.

Looking inland from the beach across the estuary/slough.

You can sort of see mountains in the distance through the haze.

I forgot to mention that it was unseasonably hot most of the time while I was in SD. Inland temps were in the mid-90s, which was another good reason to head for the beach!

Interesting Patterns in the Sand

I never did figure out why there’s so much black sand mixed-in with the regular sand at IB, but I do know that it made for some very visually interesting patterns.

Patterns in the Sand (almost looks like a quilt!)

We spent many long, lazy hours at IB.

Rocks, Shells, and Stuff

There were not always a lot of rocks, shells, and such to see, I guess it depended on what was happening offshore, erosion, etc. But it was fun to see how objects on the beach impacted the patterns.

Shell amidst interesting visual pattern.

Maybe I’m crazy, but I think that makes for a nice photo.

Rocks, shells, and such leaving their mark.

One day, there were a bezillion coquina clams on the beach.

Houses and Other Land Stuff

Seacoast Drive (I think), which parallels the beach.

I really like the way the clouds looked in that image.

IB pier with downtown San Diego in the background.

Walking to Mexico

We never did make it to Mexico, but we were close. Less than a mile away, in fact.

“Come on, Babysitter Lady. I hear the bitches in Tijuana are really hot!”

Tijuana is on that rise of land in the distance.

Jasper liked watching stuff float past, moved by the river’s surprisingly swift current.

Funny story… I carefully calculated how much time we would need to get from the car to Mexico and back. Shannon and Chris were due home that day, and my plan was to get home with Jasper shortly after their arrival. During my stay, every time we’d get home from one of our adventures, big or small, he’d excitedly run around the house looking for his people. I figured he’d be super-excited to actually find them.

I’d looked at their scheduled arrival time and planned around it. We were about 100 yards from that river when I got a call from Shannon saying they’d landed early. Doh! “Okay, but we’re almost in Mexico!” I told her. 🙂

The timing actually worked just fine as they were detained at the airport. They got to that house maybe ten minutes before we did.

As it turns out, Jasper was a little freaked-out. They both hid in their bedroom with the door slightly ajar. He could tell someone or some thing was in there, so his hackles went up and he started barking! But once he realized who it was, he was thrilled.

Maybe I’ll get to walk to Mexico next time.

It’s good that we left the beach that day when we did. Fog was rolling in. I’m not sure, but it looks to me like a marine layer. Either way, I prefer blue skies AND we were both ready to get home to see our people.

July 18, 2018July 18, 2018

It’s All About Perspective

I’ve always been a glass-half-full type of person. The older I get, the more I appreciate things for what they are, realizing it could always be worse. I’m currently jobless, but hopeful. Hubby and I are the financially responsible types, so we have that in-case-of-emergency cushion, which means I can take my time and look for the right job, not just any one that comes along.

I’ve actually been enjoying the job hunt. I’ve been , reconnecting with former colleagues as well as people I’d never met. I’ve had some really good conversations and have come across a couple of very interesting folks. Plus, having to sell myself again forces me to look closely at how much I have learned and accomplished over the years. And I’ve had time for blogging. 🙂

Life really is all about how you look at things. Something that’s changed for me as the years have passed is the amount of patience I have for people who bitch and complain about stuff, but do little or nothing to improve or at least change the way they look at their situation. I am an empathetic soul by nature. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt, ponder how things must look from their perspective, and try not to judge. But some sort of conclusion, positive or negative, is inevitable. One cannot help people who can’t or won’t help themselves.

Anyhoo… I did not intend for this post to become a philosophical discussion about life. I meant for this post to be about ART, specifically a rather cool artwork I stumbled across at Imperial Beach in San Diego.

Understanding and appreciating art, visual and written, really does depend on how one looks at things. Some art can only be appreciated if you look at it from a specific angle. Look at it from the wrong angle and all you see might be a jumbled mess. It may still be pleasing to your eye, but you might not be seeing what the artist intended for you to see. It’s a complex idea, I know, which is why I am not going to try and explain it. Here’s a Wikipedia post that does a pretty good job, if you’re into reading that sort of thing.

One of the things I enjoyed while dog-sitting in SD last year was visiting some of the MANY beaches the county has to offer. I have no idea exactly how many beaches there are in SD–you can read about the top-15 here–but I visited quite a few. It was a very relaxing way to get Jasper (the dog) out of the house. Not all of the beaches are dog-friendly. Of those that are, I liked Imperial Beach (IB) the best.

IB is the southernmost beach in SD. It’s adjacent to a wetland nature space and is just a couple of miles from the US/Mexico border, which means you could literally walk to Mexico if you wanted to.

Like many places in SD, it’s pretty artsy, too. I hadn’t done much research on the place before going, so I was surprised and delighted to see just how artsy.

There were municipal works like the IB sign in the first image and the crushed glass/concrete surfboard as well as other shapes embedded in various spots along the sidewalk. There were also colorful storefronts, murals/street art, interesting houses, funky souvenir shops, you name it. And there was this weird-looking red thing.

I’m pretty sure I said “that’s weird” aloud to Jasper when I saw the tall, red, metal squiggles. He was unphased. The more I looked at it, the more I liked it.

I’m not sure why it repeatedly drew my attention as we strolled along the beach, but it did.

It even created interesting shadows!

Cool, right? It gets better.

It wasn’t until later, after we’d made our first failed attempt to walk to Mexico, that I realized just how cool the thing is.

It looks different, depending on how you look at it. More specifically, WHERE you are standing when you look at it. That point dawned on me when I saw this…

At first, I thought someone was being a smart-ass. Until I stood on that spot and looked up.

How cool is that? It’s probably cooler in person, especially if you don’t know about the piece as I hadn’t.

Look familiar? The artist, John Banks, has installed similar works in other locations.

I’m curious to know if others have stumbled across and been similarly impressed by this sort of art.

July 15, 2018July 15, 2018

Motoring Along

In case anyone is wondering, Hubby and I are still riding together. It’s just that it is summertime, which means it gets hot. It’s worse for Hubby on his big-ass Victory with it’s 1,740-cc engine. I’m usually fine up until the thermometer his 85 degrees (~29.4 C), then I start to get really uncomfortable.

The other day, Thursday (?) maybe, I needed a prescription from Costco. The store closest to us (Manassas) didn’t have the med in stock. The next-closest stores are in places like Chantilly, Fairfax, Woodbridge, and other places in the dreaded Northern Virginia metropolis (one giant, heavily populated suburb of Washington, DC). Since I have spare time on my hands, I chose to go to the Winchester store because I knew it would make for a much-nicer ride. Plus, it would make it super-convenient to visit the unlisted LOVEwork I’d recently driven past on I-81 southbound near Clear Brook.

It actually made for a very nice ride. I didn’t leave early enough, though, because it started getting hot during the ride back. By the time I got into our garage, I was READY to get all that gear off. So ready, in fact, that I didn’t fully extend the kickstand. That meant that, when I got off of the bike, it fell over. It didn’t fall all of the way to the floor, it just leaned right up against Hubby’s pretty red Victory. Due to the angle, I could not get the thing standing up, so I had to ask Hubby for help.

It was embarrassing, but he didn’t give me a hard time. Luckily, it didn’t even scratch the Victory.

Yesterday, Saturday, we went for a nice little loop ride together. I planned a route to include four LOVEworks, so now I’m up to 81 visited!

Stanardsville is in Greene County. Within about the last year, a barn quilt trail was established there, which is why the LOVEwork has a quilt theme. One day, when we both have time, my friend Kelly and I are going to spend a day following the Blue Ridge Barn Quilt Tour. At the time of this writing, there are 59 barn quilts listed in the brochure! That’s a lot. Trails usually start small, maybe 10-20 barn quilts, and then slowly grow. To have that many so soon after establishing the trail is quite impressive! You can read more about it here.

The Stanardsville site was the last on the list. Temps were hovering around 80 at that point, so I adjusted the route on the fly and we headed home. Just in time, too. It was 83.3 degrees (28.5 C) when I pulled into the garage.

I made absolutely sure the kickstand was fully extended before I got off of the bike.

July 14, 2018

Still Catching Up

I realize there have been an odd variety of posts here lately. That’s because I am still playing catch-up, and I am not necessarily doing so in any particular order. When I come across something or things I meant to share, I share them. Hopefully that’s not frustrating or annoying.

Bird Interestingness

Did you know that Chimney Swifts like our town of Warrenton, Virginia? That’s because there are lots of old buildings with masonry chimneys in which they can roost. In Fall, when the birds gather in large flocks in preparation for migration, sometimes hundreds will roost in one chimney.

I happened to catch this flock settling down at day’s end while walking my dogs on October 11, 2017. I’d only seen it one other time.

Early in the video, you’ll see one or two birds dipping into the chimney if you watch closely. Then, about two-thirds of the way through, you’ll clearly see more entering the chimney.

If you’d like, you can read a bit more about Chimney Swifts here.

A Different Kind of Bike Ride

Early in 2017, Hubby bought himself a nice new bicycle to use for exercise. He rides pretty much every day, often before daylight. There’s a trail very close to our house, so he doesn’t spend much time on the street.

Late last year, he tuned-up my bicycle so I could join him on some rides. Not for exercise, but for fun.

One November day, we drove north to Leesburg to ride a portion of the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Railroad trail. It’s a paved, 45-mile route along the former roadbed of the W&OD Railroad, which runs through the urban heartland and into the Virginia countryside. There’s even an adjacent 32-mile gravel horse trail. Nifty, eh?

It was a fabulous Fall day, as you’ll see in the pics below.

Cows reflected in a pond. How could I resist?

My favorite artsy capture from that day is below.

I did move the turtle off the path after I finished exploiting her or him for my own selfish amusement.

We hope to do some more bicycle riding soon. That probably won’t be until later in the year when temperatures cool back down.

Mini-LOVE in Warrenton

I was happy to get my log page of Virginia LOVEworks updated yesterday. That was LONG overdue. But I forgot to add this pic from right here in town.

That mini LOVEwork is at Ciao Bella Celebrations on Ashby Street.

Fun in San Diego

I really do have lots of fun pics from San Diego to share. Here are just a few…

That’s it for now. We’re about to embark on a motorcycle ride, before it gets hot. Temps are supposed to be around 90 today.

More later!

July 13, 2018

Looking for LOVE, Still

Those of you who follow me on Instagram may have periodically seen LOVEwork images popping up on my feed. Even though I haven’t been posting as regularly here on the blog, I have still been looking for LOVE signs. In fact, I visited some on my impromptu getaway back in June.

When I came up with the idea of visiting LOVEworks around Virginia, one of the “rules” I set for myself was that a picture was required. Not just any picture, an image I captured myself, or that someone else captured with me in the shot.

A couple of years ago, during one of my solo excursions, I went far out of my way to capture a shot of the Gate City LOVEwork. That’s in FAR southwestern Virginia, a five-and-a-half hour drive from here (highway driving). On the same day, I also stopped in Abingdon to capture a picture of their LOVEwork. I stopped at two places in Bristol, Virginia, too. It was HOT that day, like in the 90s (F). And I was on my bike, all suited-up, sweating my rear-end off. I was really unhappy to discover that the Gate City sign had been temporarily removed, not sure why, and that the Abingdon sign had been damaged and carted off to be repaired.

That first experience going to sites only to find the LOVEwork missing left a mark. I faced a similar dilemma last year, when I was on my way home from down south. I’d seen a LOVEwork listed at FloydFest in Patrick County. I had no idea what FloydFest was or where it was, but Google maps got me there. It’s actually a big outdoor music venue sort of adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway, not far from the town of Floyd.

I think there’s only one festival a year, in late-July, but it’s a big one, spanning multiple days. I was there in early May. The place looked and felt a bit deserted, but the gate across the driveway was open, so I went in and puttered around the very empty place, looking for LOVE, to no avail. I saw a man at the edge of the property, near one of the buildings, so I motored over to him. He gave me one of those “are you a deranged alien” looks and asked if he could help me. Once I explained my mission, he said the sign had recently been unloaded from a truck after being moved.

“Can I see it anyway?” I asked, explaining that I’d been driving all over the state taking pictures of the things.

“Sure,” he said. “It’s way over there behind the bandstand. You were bold enough to come in here, you might as well go back there, too!”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that, saying, “The gate was open!” in reply.

He laughed back and I went on my way.

That’s how I managed to capture what I like to call “Scrambled LOVE.”

The large building in the distance with the green roof is where I encountered the man. I think we both ended that day with a semi-interesting story to tell our friends.

Here are pics from some of the other LOVEworks I’v captured over the last year or so…

Lynchburg LOVEwork (one of at least three in that town)

LOVEwork in Marion (near the southern end of VA-16, the Back of the Dragon)

Highland County LOVEwork in Monterey (they have an amazing barn quilt trail, too)

LOVEwork in Narrows (by the community’s duck pond)

VA Welcome Center LOVEwork at Rocky Gap (southbound I-77)

Smith Mountain Lake LOVEwork (one of my favorites)

If you wanna see all of the pictures I have captured to date, you can go directly to my LOVEwork Log Page or click the “LOVE in Virginia” link in the navigation bar at the top of this page and follow the link provided in the All of the LOVE in One Spot section.

I think it’s kind of fun to see all the different signs in one big list. I’ll be adding more soon, I hope!