Ebooks’ popularity are not the end for traditionally paper-bound reads—if the number of little lending libraries around San Diego are any indication. I see them scattered about many neighborhoods, and they are surprisingly plentiful here […]
What’s Not Upside Down in California?
While walking along Monroe, approaching Utah, in San Diego’s North Park neighborhood, a street sign beckoned my attention. Consider the Featured Image, captured using Leica Q2, as a metaphor for all things unimaginably crackers about the Golden State. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/2, ISO 100, 1/5000 sec, 28mm; 2:54 p.m. PST, Feb. 10, 2021.
We could start with the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 lockdowns that have devastated California’s economy; compelled tens of thousands of businesses to permanently close; put millions of people out of work and unable to pay either rent or mortgage; prevented landlords and lenders from collecting the aforementioned and prohibited them from evicting tenants and homeowners; forced families or individuals into homelessness; kept kids out of school for 11 months and counting; opened the prisons, releasing potentially dangerous individuals into the population (many of these former inmates become homeless); and—hell, that’s long-enough list of misery.
The Cats of University Heights: Champagne
With a backlog of photographed but unpublished kitties, I shouldn’t skip a fresh feline to the front of the line. But I am too satisfied with the Featured Image and companion, both captured today using Leica Q2. Vitals for each, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100. 1/125 sec, 28mm; 11:58 a.m. PST.
Nicknamed Champagne, for fur color, he appeared along Louisiana not far from where Gracie lived (she has passed away from old age). My wife, who first spotted the tan shorthair, also observed Ash lurking nearby; I assume the cats regarded one another—as he and Nelson often do.
Imperfect Bouquet
Highly recommended: Avoid making Macro-shots of hanging-flowers when windy. Pixel-peeping the Featured Image reveals what happens when the breeze blows the vine after the shooter focuses but before he (or she) clicks the shutter. I […]
Before Meade’s Traffic Circles
I continue to review past photos of San Diego’s University Heights neighborhood for their personal, nostalgic value. Many were edited around the time captured—like the Featured Image, using Leica M10 and Summarit-M 1:2.4/50 lens—but not published. Until now. Vitals, aperture unknown: ISO 100, 1/2000 sec, 50mm; 5:08 p.m. PDT, May 26, 2018.
The view is from cross-street Georgia; Florida is at the bottom of the hill. Beyond is Alabama, where currently there is a so-called “traffic calming measure” (e.g. circle), supporting the forthcoming regional bikeway. Mississippi follows, then Louisiana (where three years later there is another calming measure). At the stoplight is Texas, where across starts North Park, which name is rudely etched into the two circles on the UH side. That’s but one of the obstructions’ unintended consequences.
Schwinn Time
This afternoon, I walked home through the San Diego neighborhood of Hillcrest, where waits one of the many artifacts of the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 lockdowns. Schwinn stationary bikes are available for those locals looking to exercise outdoors, which is a periodic requirement depending on which way the stay-at-home order blows; sometimes indoor gyms are allowed to open, oftentimes not.
I have seen souls pedaling together during tandem instruction. But nobody rode the road to nowhere when I happened to pass by. Unfortunately, I carried along Leica Q2 Monochrom, which was supposed to effuse magnificent ambience in my nibble hands. But the scene was overly cluttered; in black and white the compositions are too busy, with little comfortable place for the eyes to naturally go.
The Cats of University Heights: Buff
The backlog of kitties takes a sudden, unexpected, fortuitous turn with a lightly-toned ginger photographed anew. Our first encounter was March 3, 2020, but the shorthair was too far away and its face obscured by […]
The Halloween House
Continuing the walk down nostalgia lane, in my San Diego neighborhood, we go out of season—back before SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 lockdowns tempered some holiday decorating. I used Leica Q to capture […]
Be Blue, Bel Air
Because my days living in San Diego’s University Heights neighborhood may sometime soon come to an end, I am going through older photos for their nostalgia—like this classic Chevy, which location seen is now a […]
A Calico Moves On
One of the earliest kitties photographed for my “Cats of University Heights” series (Oct. 29, 2016), but not featured until March 24, 2017, is Veruca. She is gone now; her family left the neighborhood. I […]
The Cats of University Heights: Blueberry
Looking out onto an alley, this fine feline lives in the same apartment on which balcony sat Spur in September 2020. Because the building stretches out to Alabama, where also is the front-gated entrance, the kitty counts for that street—bringing the total to fifty-eight out of the 377 profiles posted since the series started in October 2016. Mao dwells in the same multi-unit residence and maybe Dizzy, whom I haven’t seen for more than a year. Fifty meters (165 feet) down the alley, but on the Florida side, Chancy regularly suns on a second-floor railing.
Fifty-ninth seen behind door or window, the tabby earns nickname Blueberry—inspired in part by the hue of the curtains behind. I used iPhone XS to capture the Featured Image on Jan. 25, 2021. Vitals: f/2.4, ISO 16, 1/615 sec, 52mm (film equivalent); 12:32 p.m PST.
She’s a Patriot
Bessie is home after spending Inauguration Day—more like weeks away—at another neighbor’s place. I understand that soon she will dress up for Valentine’s Day. But for now, flag flying, she sticks to the Americana theme. […]