On Dec. 20, 2025, I dropped by a Christmas card to the house of a friend, who the next day would fly off to Pennsylvania to spend 10 days with family. The Featured Image and […]
Tag: decor
Better Off Dead
I am a big fan of repurposing. Take that thing and use it another way. Even when buying something new, I look first for multi-purpose uses. What else can this thang be used for?
But I don’t know about this! I see the rationale, though, and can’t argue with it. One of my neighbors repurposed his Halloween decorations for Christmas. The Featured Image and companion tell the story.
Something Sweet Before the Sour Comes
Two weeks to Christmas, time comes to start spreading holiday cheer—decorations, too—and pledge to keep the spirit alive all through the upcoming year. My wife and I dispatched holiday cards today, for the first time in a couple of ages (yeah, too long a time). A final batch goes in the mail tomorrow—followed by, during the coming days, distribution to local friends and neighbors.
The candy canes come courtesy of San Diego Zoo, where we saw them on Nov. 10, 2025. Yeah, Christmas starts early there but means less this year because of the big bah, humbug coming on January 5. Parking will no longer be free for everyone at the zoo, nor in adjoining Balboa Park.
Larger Than Life
Halloween may be over—and Day of the Dead with it—but I have one seasonal yard decoration to share, as you can see from the Featured Image and companion. There is no optical illusion here. The skeleton really is giant size.
Both photos come from Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra on Oct. 30, 2025. Vitals, first: f/2.4, ISO 50, 1/1600 sec. 70mm (film equivalent); 10 a.m. PDT. Vitals, other: f/1.7, ISO 50, 1/500 sec, 115mm (film equivalent); 10:01 a.m.
The Things That Pop Out of Hedges
Around the village of University Heights, one can see logos, murals, paintings, signs, and statues all depicting ostriches. At the turn of the last century, Bentley Ostrich Farm relocated to the neighborhood—and it brought visitors from across Southern California.
But the place closed in 1929. The feathers were less in demand as a luxury, and economic crisis began its grip on the nation. Many, but not all, of the birds were relocated to San Diego Zoo.
Happy New Year!
What is the meaning of the Featured Image? Simply stated: 2025 is a gift, and it’s a gift we should share with other people. Opportunity abounds, if we let it. The first, and very vital, step: Embarking from day one with a positive attitude.
We can make this year one of the most remarkable in human history, and honestly—given some of the chaos around the globe—we don’t have much other choice.
Sore loser or Wishful Thinker?
More than two weeks after the November 5th election, emotions among my neighbors range from anger to disbelief to resistance (a polite way of saying revenge). I see more Harris-Walz signs on lawns than before Americans voted.
Lemme see, the five stages of grief are (correct me if mistaken): Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I would guess the majority of University Heights residents are stuck in the first two stages. Acceptance? You can forget that. Defiance is more likely, as the plethora of signs suggest.
The Incident on Halloween
The two photos have absolutely nothing to do with the content of this post—other than timing: Halloween. I had already planned to use them, and nothing better is available for appropriate illustration.
For many adults and kids looking for a good candy haul or costume party, the day is trick rather than treat. Fast-moving canyon brushfire erupted, around 1:40 p.m. PDT today in College Area, which is a neighborhood that includes San Diego State University.
San Diego is Scary Now
Seventeen years ago today, the Wilcox family relocated to San Diego from the Washington, DC-metro area. We came to care for my father-in-law, who would live another decade and pass away—age 95—in his own bed. He likely would have gone sooner and/or been confined to a nursing home otherwise.
My wife and I should have fled Communist California—and the slave mentality induced here—in 2017, soon after her dad died. But ongoing concerns about our only child kept us here longer. Our daughter’s brain injury, in March 2023, justified the financial hardship of staying. She survived—something unlikely had we, from a long distance, taken doctors’ advice to end life support rather than by being present choose to continue it.
Simply Scary
Some moments are humbling. Today, my wife and I walked across the Spruce Street Suspension Bridge—and not since Spring 2021. I have always been sure-footed, even as the thing wildly swayed. But not today. I was clumsy, dizzy, off-balance, uncertain. I wasn’t prepared for the dramatic, and wildly changed, reaction.
Gasp. We don’t necessarily see the effects of aging, because the diminishing capacity isn’t sudden but result of a long process. I joked with Annie about a what-if: joining a volleyball game and waking in the hospital, following a dig to save the ball. Muscle memory may be there, but not the physical agility or stamina. “Well, Mr. Wilcox, you have a broken arm, three cracked ribs, and a fractured collar bone”.
That’s Nothing to Brag About
I hope my neighbor doesn’t see this post; no offense is intended, but she surely will be offended. The sentiment expressed in her lawn sign responds to Republican Vice-Presidential candidate JD Vance and comments that he made during a 2021 interview about Democrat “childless cat ladies“. Looking around my neighborhood, dogs would be even more applicable.
San Diego, like most of California, is largely liberal and relatively young. Median age is 35.8 years. I see plenty of couples going about, but rather than push baby carriages or walk with youngsters, the majority pull leashed dogs—often two or three. I loathe the commonly used euphemism “pet parents”, but it punctuates the point Vance tried to make in that interview.
Ring, Ring
What do you make of this? Because I’m baffled. On Aug. 2, 2024, my wife and I came upon this classic, British phone both along Madison Avenue in our San Diego neighborhood of University Heights.
As you can see from the Featured Image, the thing rests on the slim median separating sidewalk and street. Payphones are so rarely seen that what a find had this one turned out to be active. It’s just decoration and empty inside.