Tag: Leica Q2

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 28, 20229:14 pm

What’s Not to Like?

I am not a car guy, but even poor pitifully mechanically-challenged me croons over this Land Cruiser. Anyone know the vintage? The color and styling beam classic. My wild, uninformed guess is a model from the 1980s.

On Oct. 21, 2022, I just happened to come upon the vehicle as it was being parked. I waited a bit, rushed back, and grabbed a single shot using Leica Q2. My intention was to get more vantage points. But I returned later to find that the owner had pulled over a protective cover. The off-red and beige beauty is still parked with fitted-tarp. Protection from the Southern sun prevents photo followups. Oh, well.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 26, 20229:21 pm

The Green No Deal

The most common consequence of new home ownership in my San Diego neighborhood is the obliteration of the green outdoor space. Perhaps the lawn is replaced with gravel, rocks, or sand. Shrubs and/or trees are chopped down, replaced by fence. The point: This is more typical occurrence than not, which strangely surprises.

For a community where liberal values reign and residents will rail about the dangers of fossil fuels escalating global warming, too little regard is given to the immense importance of grass, flowers, shrubs, and trees that temperate climate, remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and increase supply of breathable oxygen. Killing these things that grow and replacing them with cement, gravel, stone, or sand that absorb heat surely contributes to the problem the Green New Deal crowd claims to be concerned about. Can you say contradictory behavior?

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 24, 202210:04 pm

New Poster Child for the Pro-Choice Lobby

As Halloween approaches, decorations proliferate and some become quite elaborate. This caged kid in a tree had me chuckling, earlier today—for elaborate staging and opportunity for me to be snarky. Disclaimer: My sarcasm is sure to offend somebody. If that’s you, please accept my no apology.

Pro-lifers are giddy as a bear slopping honey from a fallen beehive, following the June 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v Wade. They aren’t too bothered by stings from swarming Pro-choicers, who are losing their minds over the 6-3 decision. Since they are absolutely crazy—uh, crazed—let’s pretend this shrieking girl is their marketing maven—warning about the horror show progeny that you could produce because you can’t legally have a doctor cut it out.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 20, 20227:53 pm

The Toes are Woes for Your Nose

Perhaps you recall, from January 2021, the impromptu, Italiano, unshelled peanut diner nearby the home of Bruce, Guido, and Little—all of which appear in my “Cats of University Heights” series? Today, after seeing Halloween signage on the tree, I stopped with Leica Q2 for a quickie.

Coming up the sidewalk, beautifully blurred, a squirrel approaches. The rodent cares nothing about stinky feet but the treat that waits above the skeleton. Go for it, buddy.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 19, 20228:26 pm

Urban Camping

Pop-up homeless shelters are increasingly common sights around San Diego, spurred by devastating rents (e.g., many people can’t afford them) and, on Sept. 30, 2022, the end of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19-era eviction moratoriums. Many encampments are hidden away—or, when not, part of a larger grouping; the idea being safety in numbers protects against law enforcement or outraged, eh, housed residents.

So I was surprised, on October 15, to find this publicly placed standalone habitat at Georgia and Howard in University Heights. Climb the brick wall to the right and you will come out in the Sprouts market parking lot. Public library is on the same block.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 17, 20229:11 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Oliver

This series started six years ago today, with Scruffy—a seemingly stray kitty seen once only. A few months earlier, I underwent cataracts surgery that replaced both my natural lenses, and, separately, a specialist treated Macular Edema in both my retinas. During the process of recovering my vision, I embarked into feline photography as visual therapy and to improve my skills with a camera.

In a neighborhood known for dogs, I expected to find maybe 30 cats—a month’s worth and then be done. Five-hundred-and-twelve profiles (including this one) later, I miscalculated. My shooting skills improved because of the project, and my eyes are healthier now; vision is better than normal in the left; that’s something to be grateful for. Hugely so.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 15, 202210:20 pm

Wow, 15 Years in San Diego

Fifteen years ago today, the Wilcox family moved to San Diego. Apart from an 18-month hiatus, my wife lived in the Washington, DC area for about a quarter century, which was most of her adult life in October 2007. I can claim about a decade less residence in and around the Beltway but still a little more time than California—but not much longer, if we don’t vamoose sometime soon.

The city seemed sleepily comfortable for our first 10 or so years here. But since 2016-17, dramatic changes started to accelerate, reaching shocking crescendo during the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 lockdowns—when, if nothing else, cost of housing (buying or renting) exploded upwards.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 11, 202210:22 pm

A Gift with Grit

What do they say about coincidence? On Oct. 7, 2022, my wife and I watched a live-streamed presentation from the “Save the Nation Conference“, where Leah Hoopes and Gregory Stenstrom detail their investigation into election fraud in Delaware County, Pa. during the 2020 election. What sets their effort apart from others built upon innuendo and supposition: Successful collection of actual evidence.

This afternoon, when returning from a walk, I found a book wrapped in a note on our doorstep. One of my neighbors left a copy of The Parallel Election: A Blueprint for Deception by Hoopes and Stenstrom. Huh? I can’t say who was more surprised: Me, that she left the tome, or her, later learning that I was familiar with the content and authors.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 6, 20227:47 pm

The Consequences of Deceit

My University Heights neighbors started putting out Halloween decorations weeks ago. From few, now many are everywhere. Along Texas Street, today, my wife and I passed by these seasonal tombstones that stand apart from the more traditional type for Dracula or infamous persons.

The theme of lying seems so appropriate for a time when truth is the one commodity truly lost in the supply chain. Pundits can’t babble enough about impending food shortages, and I share some of their concerns. But someone should state the more pressing problem: An overabundance of deceit/misinformation and lack of honesty.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 4, 20228:54 pm

Wee Bit of Urban Paradise

Keeping to my goal of posting something each day, I share an outtake and humbly ask your understanding. I haven’t felt well most of today—and that is quite unusual for me, being someone blessed with hearty constitution. I suppose that my problem could be SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19. But symptoms say otherwise. No fever or other markers manifest.

Please pardon my being brief on this fine Tuesday evening, therefore. The Featured Image comes from Leica Q2 on Aug. 5, 2022. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/60 sec, 28mm; 6:11 p.m. PDT.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 30, 20229:48 pm

The Innovative Urban Garden

Around front of the property where I observed “Carport Lettuce” in July 2020, the hydroponic operation has grown to include chickens. In August 2021, a trailer took the setup on the road. Somebody is an ambitious and clever urban farmer.

The Featured Image is for the birds, while the companion shows off some of the growing apparatus. Vitals, aperture manually set for both: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/250 sec, 28mm; 3:20 p.m. PDT. The other is same but two minutes later.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 29, 20228:35 pm

Oh No, Not Again

A week ago, price at the pump was 90 cents less than it is today at my local filling stations. This evening, in North Park, I passed a Chevron sign for $6.60 per gallon, regular unleaded. Oh my, what’s going on with gas going up the cost ladder again?

In the Featured Image, captured using Leica Q2, the Arco across Texas Street (at El Cajon Blvd) seemingly offers a deal for 10 cents a gallon less. But hours later, the station had matched Mobile Mart.