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PICTURE OF THE MOMENT
According to those in the know (not necessarily me!), San Diego has one of the world’s best Naturist beaches. Naturist doesn’t mean there are wildlife here, there, and everywhere. It means that people like to play on the beach and in the water without any clothes on. None whatsoever. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Naked as a jaybird. Naked as the day they were born.
The funny thing is that the beach, Blacks Beach, is located in La Jolla, an upscale community of the overly wealthy. Blacks Beach is an asset (so to speak) that they don’t advertise. So I was a little surprised (a little? Ha!) last week when I was walking along the main drag (Girard Avenue) and saw this interesting T-shirt in a store window:
To even find in La Jolla such a low-class item as a T-shirt is a little unusual in and of itself, but to find that one, I suspect, makes the La Jolla Natives a little uneasy.
Many years ago some La Jolla Natives started a petition to try to make it illegal for anyone to sit on a bench more than 30 minutes or something like that. They thought that would help solve their homeless problem — by forcing the homeless out of La Jolla, most of us thought. Alas, the extraordinarily bad publicity caused clearer minds to prevail and the petition failed.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County? I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor with Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re just looking for a home inspector,
I can highly recommend Russel Ray; that’s me!
Who knew there was so much life in a cemetery?
My home inspection yesterday was across the street from a huge cemetery. Cemeteries are rare here in San Diego, certainly much rarer than in my home state of Texas where I think there were just as many cemeteries as there were churches.
Although we used to play in the cemeteries in Kingsville, Texas, when I was growing up, and they have tours of cemeteries in New Orleans, I had not been in a cemetery in 20 or 25 years.
I took 357 pictures in the cemetery in a little over two hours. Here are fourteen of my favorites:
Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
How long you gonna watch me?
I wonder if he has friends. Better check over here....
....and over here....
....and behind me.
Now that nobody's looking
Let it all hang out
See ya later!
The cemetery was actually quite relaxing, and I wasn’t the only one who thought that:
Mallards, a snow goose, and turtles
Squirrels were frolicking everywhere but were wary of me:
Where'd you come from?
Squirrel on a eucalyptus tree
I saved the best for last. I don’t know if the gal in this picture is a coyote or fox. I’m thinking it’s too big and too light to be a fox. Anyone?
Coyote or fox?
I was at Mt. Hope Cemetery, a municipal cemetery for the City of San Diego. Two other cemeteries are nearby: Holy Cross Cemetery, a Catholic cemetery; and Greenwood Memorial Park, an endowed care cemetery, which means you have to pay big bucks to be buried there.
Me?
Cremate me, scatter my ashes one-third at Blacks Beach in San Diego; one-third under the Century Oak at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas; and one-third on the railroad tracks at the Union Pacific Railroad yard in Omaha, Nebraska. Then forget about me and get back to enjoying life.
Oh, by the way. Ask me how many living people I saw in the cemetery in two hours.
YOU: Russel, how many living people did you see in the cemetery while you were there?
ME: Three. A San Diego Gas & Electric employee was hiding out in his company truck parked under a tree. He was sleeping. Probably wore himself out at the Padres game the day before when we beat the dastardly Dodgers 8-4. A groundskeeper was mowing the lawns. A lady was pulling weeds from around the headstone at the grave she was visiting, obviously not happy with the job the cemetery was doing.
This post approved by
The Sun God of the University of California San Diego
This post is dedicated to Robert Gilbert, a real estate agent with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate in Katy, Texas. I have known Robert for a few years through a real estate professional networking site. I highly recommend Robert for anyone needing real estate services in Katy, Texas, just west of Houston.
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
When I did a post on March 2 about Dr. Seuss and the Geisel Library at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), I was reminded that there are lots of picture-taking opportunities on the UCSD campus. Off I went yesterday, and my next few posts will be of some of them.
UCSD is a rather young university, having been founded in 1958. In the ensuing 50+ years it has risen to be a major public university, particularly strong in the sciences, particularly engineering and the health sciences, and annually ranking in the Top 10 of research universities ranked by research funds that the University brings in from outside sources.
Its 2,141-acre campus was built in the midst of a eucalyptus grove overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Blacks Beach, a world-renowned Naturist beach. Unfortunately (in my view), much of the eucalyptus grove has been destroyed over the years in the name of progress, i.e., constructing more buildings on campus to meet the needs of a population comprising 1,205 faculty members, including six Nobel Laureates, and 29,000+ students.
There are many unique buildings on campus, as well as many works of public art, of which the best known is the Sun God:
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
Sun God, by Niki de Sant Phalle of Paris, France, was the first sculpture commissioned for the campus by the Stuart Collection. It was installed on the campus on January 27, 1983. The sculpture itself is 14 feet tall, constructed of fiberglass, and sits on top of a concrete arched base that is 15 feet tall. No public monies were spent on the sculpture; it was funded entirely by the Stuart Foundation of San Francisco.
According to then-Stuart Collection Director Mary Beebe, “[Sun God] appears to have just landed there out of some fantasy world. It’s a friendly and embracing bird, with mythological and primordial overtones. ‘Sun God’ is very colorful, exuberant and certainly joyous, but with a slightly awesome edge.”
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
Related posts:
» The Geisel Library at the University of California San Diego
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
All pictures taken by Russel Ray using a Canon 550D camera and a Canon 55-250mm lens. Picture frames from Corel PaintShop Pro X4.
