Travelogue: San Diego day four

Monday July 21 2008






Well, yes...it was comforting....although actually I woke up in the hotel where the murder game had been played, and Laura spent the night at her grandparents, and came by early the next morning to pick me up. She had to head to work, but before I left the hotel (which was built as a bank in the 1920's) I wanted to see "The Vault".

As in "The Bank Vault".

The vault is now used as a conference/meeting/party room.

I've got to admit it: It would be a swell place to hold a party if you had the $$$$$'s

Apparently when the bank sold the building to Marriott Hotels, some of the safety deposit box long time owners asked if they could keep the metal face from their box. The boxes with missing metal faces are the red squares on the walls.

I imagine some of the safety boxes had been used for a couple of generations to hold family jewels and whatnot. That would make for a very sentimental bit to own.

Laura made a point of finding the box numbered with her birth date.

Snooping around...

Oh hey, look! It's a paper clip!

Wonder if was from the 1920's too...or maybe it was a secret wink to Laura from her great great grandfather Cornelius Brosnan. (He held the original patent on the invention of the paperclip you know...)

The door to the vault.

Impressive!

Imagine how only bank personnel used to be the only ones who would ever be allowed through that massive door.

How clever of Marriott to leave it in place for the curious to enjoy.

(Wonder if you could pay them to lock you up in the vault...hmmmm...now there's an interesting romantic getaway idea. With a secret gift to be found in one of the drawers! How cool would that be?)

I think the upside down hearts on the iron work around the vault might have inspired that last idea.

The view looking up at the bank/Marriott hotel.

Don't old buildings from the 1920 have lovely style? Even the window ledges are beautiful.

And how about that blue blue sky (at last)?

I dropped Laura off at her work, and on a frontage road (which is something which is called a feeder road uniquely in Houston) beside the Highway 8, I spotted this pretty serpentine planting.

Yeah, had to park and get a few shots.

Impatients with droplets: must take macro shot of that!



The blue Lily-of-the-Nile.
I wonder if they really do bloom on the Nile River.

Even after the blue blossoms are done, the pod sphere is still pretty.

Over head on the hillside I noticed this unusual structure.

Maybe my folks will know what it is.

Maybe it is modern and recently built.

These days you can never tell.

Heading north on the 5.
Oleander shrubs make a colorful hedge as I whiz along.
Oleander smells lovely; that fact can not be appreciated at 65 miles per hour.

I got back home and filled my folks in on all the fun.

After a bit more, I decided to take another walk around the block.

This yellow flower is another "don't know" flower.

Dang. I used to know all the San Diego flowers.

I learned all their names back when I was a Blue Bird.

Oh well. It is a beautiful flower about the size of a quarter, and it grows in clusters on a wispy shrub.

I feel like I should know the name of this one too, but I don't.

Yikes, this is getting embarrassing. This is a smaller flower, about nickle sized, and was growing on a wall where the shrub had been shaped as a flat hedge.
The galaxy of stamen pollen is so dramatic when viewed up close; as a hedge I doubt anyone would notice it at all. I even think the velvety buds are pretty cool too.

And sometimes I wonder if I am the only person who goes around looking up close at little flowers on a hedge.

Back on La Jolla Shores Dr.
The land from the beach is basically flat, and then it rises up to form a hillside.
This hillside was my view from my bedroom window when I was growing up; until I was about six there was not a single house upon it.
One morning I woke up and the entire hill was in flames. The chaparral was being burned off and roads were graded into the face of the hill.
I still remember feeling so helpless as I watched it happen; I knew the area's natural beauty would never be the same.
And it never has been.
The view from those newly graded roads was spectacular.
Worthy of spectacular housing.
Spectacular housing that continues to be built even to today, with some of the original houses being torn down to make space for new mega home.

The rooftop that is almost hidden amidst the trees by the street sign belongs to an interesting family now.
When I was growing up it belonged to a family with three children. One kid became a judge, another a doctor and the third a real estate agent. We used to play over at their house all the time.
They sold, another family bought it (one with lots of antiques and an antique store if I remember right) and then maybe it was bought and sold a few more time until the current owners took possession.
For quite awhile, starting around 1984 that family operated a small business out of their garage.
They would mix grains into a cereal, package the mixture and shipped it out.
Later, after the cereal caught on, they sold their company to a giant cereal company.
For millions and millions and millions...... and then they remodeled their little house QUITE a bit.

Maybe you have eaten some of their cereal.
Ever had a bowl of "Kash*i" cereal? (Ignore the * for the correct spelling)
All I can say is I had a garage during that same time period. We always just used our garage for a place to park our cars and store our tools and junk . How about you?
Yeah, I thought so.
Oh well. Who needs that much money anyway.

Our family doesn't hang out with them.
They have no interest in us peons.
But we do enjoy looking at their now beautifully landscaped front yard and watching the two gardeners tending it every day.

Some of the houses on the hill are occupied only a few weeks a year.
Some are owned by middle eastern families that fly in with their multiple wives for a summer get away. Those monster sized houses are for them just little beach bungalows really.

It is really strange to consider what "my home town" was like then, and what it is like now. My parents met on the seawall on the beach down the street by our house. Bernie and I had our first date there too.
When my great aunt got the property during the Great Depression, La Jolla Shores was just that: a beach, a shore, and a windy road down the hillside.
Wow has everything changed since then.

Back inside the house my dad is taking it easy with his juvenile delinquent cat.
The cat is the love of his life right now. Rufus stays with dad all the time.
A few months ago my dad slipped on some loose sand while crossing a street, fell and tore his shoulder.
It has been a long and painful healing process.
Dad has also been having various surgeries as part of an ongoing battle with skin cancer. Like many So Cal boys, he grew up playing in the sun, and like a lot of WWII men, he served on aboard ship on the deck without a dab of sunscreen to protect him.
Years later that sun damage turns cancerous, and it seems that every few months another place needs to be removed.
I am so thankful for recent development in skin cancer surgeries to minimize the damage inherent in the procedures.
I'm just so sorry he has to keep going through them.
And that torn shoulders take so long heal.
And am glad that Rufus is there for him all the time.
I was pretty pooped out after all that partying the day before, so I was happy to just kick back and read and rest with both of them and Mom for the rest of the day.

(Up next: Now that Laura has finished saying farewell to her twenties, next up is her
birthday celebration, on July 22, the day she finally turned 30!)

Travelogue: San Diego day 3

Sunday July 20, 2008
The day began quietly.
The skies were overcast, as usual, and coming down the hallway, I could see my dad out in the yard, reading the paper while he had a cup of coffee and watched his cat.

It is good to be retired and to enjoy a relaxed start to each day. It is especially good to be able to enjoy time in the garden with Dad, starting the day together over our coffee and newspaper articles.
That morning, while Dad read, I peeked around the garden to see what I could see.

The tomatoes were coming along nicely.

A few late blooming larkspur showed off a lovely color scheme.

An up close look revealed a soft fur like edge to the inner petals.
My MIL has grown billows of larkspur lately, and passed along the seeds to my dad. Since it is July's birth flower, it is especially nice to have blooming around Laura's birthday.

Dad's flame point Siamese cat Rufus is quite a handful. He looks all mild and innocent, but he will jump a fence in a heart beat. This tendency has given Dad a mission in life: to put up wire fencing around the top of the wooden fence, and to chop down plants that Rufus might use in his escapes. The cat laughs at this....and is found up on the neighbor's roof anyway.

A few berries are still ripening. They are more of a late June treat.
But it is always worthwhile to peer thorough the brambly vines to chance upon a late comer.

Rufus rolls in the strawberry patch, squirming and getting completely covered in dirt.

Up close a lobelia blossom's fleur de lis glows like a sapphire garden gem.
The morning is soft and quiet, and a drowsy sort of soft coolness lulled me into quiet revere.

I think I began to dream.

Somehow it became the 1920's...

There were old biplanes....

And a convict....and I was wearing a flapper dress!

Men dressed like gangsters were hanging around....

Women in fishnet stockings....

With feather boas and long cigarette holders. Even the phones were old fashioned.

And there was a birthday cake...

And a boardwalk.

Some of the dream was in color.
Where ever did I get that huge snow cone?
And why?
Dreams are so strange at times...

You find yourself doing things in dreams that you know you would NEVER do in real life....

It was such an amazing dream.

Laura was in it, and my folks, and a whole bunch of other people.

And people kept saying Laura was turning thirty, and that she was saying good bye to her 20's.

That's how I knew it was all a dream.

I mean really, everyone knows I am much too young to have a daughter is who thirty years old!

(You can see the rest of Laura's Farewell to the Twenties party at this previous post.)

Travel Journal: San Diego day two

July18, 2008 San Diego California

A slightly overcast Saturday morning.
I want to go to the beach.
Laura had spent the night with me at my parent's house; following breakfast and some dilly dallying, we headed north to find an uncrowded beach.

Fletcher Cove, in the little coastal town of Solana Beach, seemed like a good place to go.

It is a tiny little beach park, down a long driveway.

A very classy beach...even the outside shower has interesting art to enjoy.

The driveway divided the beach crescent into two, with the water lapping close to shore.
We chose the beach on the left and set up our beach chairs next to a few other families. There was perhaps twenty of us on the beach. Maybe no one wanted to risk being bonked on the head by the active bluff failures?

Oh well...life is after all just a calculated series of risks anyway.

I could spend hours shooting pictures of beached kelp and seaweed, the "flowers" of the underwater world.

More childhood memories: Popping the golden kelp pods with a sharp snap, and using the rope like strands for all sorts of imaginary play.

The translucent golden leaves were used to peer through, to see the world change color to a blurry gold.

And of course all of it was useful for dressing mermaids sculpted in the sand.

The tiny sea life that grows on the kelp reminds me of bead work on elegant fabric.

Even a random stone becomes a Zen like composition against the textures of kelp and sand.

The lights and darks of the wet sand add natural highlights and low lights to this God created composition, eons in the making.

There are so many types of sea weed!

Oh, this would be perfect for a mermaid's lace collar, don't you think?

Overhead the bluffs held together. The wall like edges take on their own painterly designs from moisture and vegetation.

On the other side of the driveway was an even smaller crowd of people.

I envy the owners of the house overhead, and wonder if they wonder when their house will at last tumble into the sea.

Four people with a beach all to themselves!

I'm itching to paint this...

Laura was also scampering about shooting pictures in the area.
I am always amazed at how we can be so close to one another and yet find different things to photograph.

Nice surf. For some reason I didn't go in....

Now I remember why I didn't go in: The water temperature was fine, but sting rays are in the water???

Uh...I'll stick to sitting on the beach today, thanks anyway.

(I have gone swimming with giant sting rays off the Grand Caymen Islands. It absolutely gave me the willies, and that was a few years before the tragic death of the Steve Irving, the croc hunter. I've too many memories of seeing people in agony after getting "hit" by a sting ray over the years. Including Mr. B.)

Overhead an old fashion prop plane skimmed along the coast line, seemingly hinting about the upcoming Twenties party for Laura, which was to happen the next day.

This baby tank was right in front of us; he had love handles over the top of his diaper! We just kept laughing at him as he crawled and dug and got totally covered with sand from head to toe, beaming with glee while his folks enjoyed the water.

These two little girls arrived at the beach in pristine white robes. They shed their robes, but retained their hats, little ladies mindful of their complexions.

Polka dots and ruffles: just the perfect combination for fun on little girl's swim wear.

The cliffs continued to hold up, and a few more folks arrived.

The yellow sandstone cliffs are always shedding a bit of sand and creating new patterns to enjoy.

After awhile we decided to head back to the car and find a place to have lunch. As I walked up the driveway I noticed the "pickle weed" (so named for the pickle spear like leaves) succulents that were mostly finished blooming, (and mostly of the lavender colored variety), but this one yellow blossom, (roughly the size of the palm of your hand) glowed like a sun landed upon earth in the morning.

When I stare at the picture, I swear the petals move!
And oh do I love that stamen.

More interesting plants. Several tourists were photographing this black beauty, so I felt like I should too, even though it is a rather common plant in local landscaping.

Another common succulent with gorgeously colored fleshy leaves. What a wonderful color combination!

I can't help but wonder who talked the City of Solana Beach into having bronze details added to the beach park curbing. It is a visual treat that I appreciate.

Solana Beach...with surprisingly little traffic.

They sure have interesting art every where, even art to be enjoyed at a stop light.

We headed to VG donuts, (short for VERY GOOD DOUGHNUTS) for a sweet nostalgic treat, but were TOO LATE to get any!!!

Drat!

Our family used to camp on the beach across from the shop, and a morning VG run was part of the pleasure of beach camping.

So today instead we got fish tacos at the beach restaurant next door.


I noticed the bags of water suspended in front of each window. Even though I was pretty sure what they were for, I had to ask.


Seem there is an old wives tale/folk medicine/traditional cure that flies will not fly under waster, so if a bag of water is suspended in a window flies will not come in.

The restaurant worker sheepishly admitted that they wanted to give it a try, to be more "natural and ecologically friendly" but it actually doesn't work at all.

There were flies everywhere.

I had a suggestion for him: Try installing some window screens instead!

The geraniums were spectacular in the coastal area.

Laura and I amused ourselves next by going to open houses in Encinitas and Solana Beach.

All you need is around a mill (plus another million...or two...) for a house west of Highway Five, but you could definitely snap up a bargain on a house two miles inland for $750,000.

Whew...so good to see prices coming down. Southern California housing is affordable at last!

(yeah, right.)

A very unusual hibiscus.

And a WHITE passion flower!

How absolutely elegant!

So different from the typical purple passion flowers that I usually see.

What a visual treat.

What a lovely day it was, and tomorrow there would be even more fun to be had....

(To be continued tomorrow.)