Tag: Leica Q2

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A Burst of Orange

Forgive my Gazania obsession, please. The flower observed languishing on April 29, 2023 has turned to fluff (can you say seedlings) and new buds burst in its place. You must understand that these orange lovelies took root on their own; they were not planted by the apartment complex’s gardener/landscaper. I am delighted by their presence.

I used Leica Q2 to capture the Featured Image, today. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/320 sec, 28mm; 3:22 p.m. PDT. A second shot, using the camera’s dedicated Macro mode, misplaces the focal point; otherwise, I would have shared that one instead.

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An Urban Moment

The eye doesn’t know where to look in this Featured Image close-cropped from an original taken on May 8 using Leica Q2. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/8, ISO 100, 1/200 sec, 28mm; 11:47 a.m. PDT. The view is along Florida Street towards the intersection at El Cajon Blvd.

The companion photo, composed as shot, is more dynamic—if for no other reason than more to see. To the left is BLVD North Park, which as a reminder is actually located in University Heights. Real Estate is all about location, and when your building isn’t in the trendier neighborhood you pretend that it is.

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Squatter Villas

The never-ending pattern of eviction, renovation, or teardown and rebuild provides temporary residences for San Diego’s homeless. I had wondered why encampments suddenly vanished along either El Cajon Blvd or Florida Street here in University Heights. The so-called unhoused moved into unoccupied flats.

What a sad, tragic state of affairs across from Kindred Hospital on Georgia Street. Around the beginning of the year, a woman living in a charming Craftsman-like house had to leave, because the property had been sold for redevelopment. I once chatted with her about renovictions and calico Rosie. Renters of the apartments next door were forced out some months later. I had photographed ginger kitty Harvey there in June 2021. Both animals appear in my “Cats of University Heights” series.

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Where Green is Good

East of Park Blvd in my neighborhood of University Heights, San Diego homeowners clearcut backyards to put up  so-called Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs); developers level stately houses, which are replaced by apartment or condominium buildings; contractors relandscape grass, flowers, and trees with cement, stone, and succulents. The pillaging of property character and green growing spaces is relentless.

But some streets seem almost immune to the obsessive drive to increase population density and thus decrease the amount of earth where no structure sits. Wealth might be a reason—collective consciousness could be another (e.g., where homeowners take cues from what their neighbors do or don’t). Zoning is another consideration, as is geography. Some or all of these apply, methinks, to Panorama Drive.

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Ahoy Mateys

Thermometer touched 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) on this fine Sunday but constant sunlight made for much warmer experience. Unsurprisingly, walkers were everywhere—with dogs or other people—while the occasional biker or runner breezed by.

Naturally, here in University Heights, Old Trolley Barn Park attracted adults and kids of all ages. One gathering specifically caught the attention of my wife and me, too. In what ranks as the largest private event moon bounce that I have seen, a pirate ship inflated for the kiddies.

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Take it All

Early evening, I hoofed outside to top off my walking for the day. Thirteen minutes before sunset, at 7:21 p.m. PDT, I came upon the contents of the Featured Image along the University Heights side of Texas Street—somewhere between cross-streets Madison and Meade (Monroe is between them).

What an odd assortment: bottle (empty), candle, doormat, planter, potted plant, Purell, straws, table, take-out containers, white-board cleaner, and a few other oddities that I can’t identify. I’ve seen a lot of unexpected freebees along San Diego alleys and streets. Some of the more memorable sightings: Antique dresser; blue and white PowerMac G3 (circa 1999); first furnishings; LC Smith typewriter (vintage, rusted); living room set; 1970’s era gas stove; and  Vitamaster Slendercycle, among other things.

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Bye Bye Books

You would think with so many LittleFreeLibrary boxes about the neighborhood that the owner of these books could deposit them in one. That person is learned, presumably at a local college, or pretends to be. Maybe smarty sees that the extra energy to walk a few blocks is wasted when curb depositing is quicker. Dunno and don’t really care but gotta speculate.

What a collection of titles, too. Let’s start with “how to use Tarot spreads” for “effective crisis communication”. Or “I’ll grant you that” “what happens on campus stays on YouTube”. Use “pre-sausion” and “the culture map” to locate “the CEO next door”.

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All The Time (Zones) in the World

What do you make of this? The area along the Kindred Hospital property in San Diego village of University Heights is a bit of a homeless campsite. Makeshift tents tucked behind utility boxes or covered bodies stretched out on grass are commonly seen. Shopping carts chock full of junk—eh, personal belongings— are navigational hazards. Weave as you walk!

A lone cart containing a time-zone map of the world made an impression for seeming so out of place by any measure. Who did it belong to? Why did he or she abandon it? Was the wall hanging free for the taking? Discarded? Forgotten? You know, the shopping cart got left behind—accidentally detached from several carts strung together.

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Power Outage!

Quite literally, as I hit the button to post about cats Firecracker and Dynamite, lights flickered and went out. That was 6:41 a.m. PDT today. Power would remain out for us and others in portions of San Diego neighborhoods Hillcrest, Normal Heights, and (here) in University Heights until 5 p.m. sharp.

The SDGE outage alert in my customer portal at first estimated utility restoration at 8 a.m., then 9 a.m., then 2 p.m., then 3 p.m., and finally 6 p.m. We prepared for an evening in darkness and possible food spoilage in the refrigerator and freezer.

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Sigh, Everything Dies

The second shot from my then new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, on Feb. 16, 2023, was a lone, bright orange flower in our apartment courtyard. Even a couple days ago, the thing appeared to be vital. But today, when leaving for a walk, I saw something surprising. Well, you can see from the portrait pair.

The Featured Image comes from the S23 Ultra. Vitals: f/1.7, ISO 10, 1/800 sec, 23mm (film equivalent); 1:57 p.m. PDT. The photo is cropped 3:2 but not otherwise altered. Color, dynamic range, white balance, etc. are as shot. I used the smartphone’s Portrait mode, which blurred the background. Does that look natural enough to you?

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Uh-oh, Busted Band But, Hey, the Watch is Okay

Gasp. Look what happened to the band on my wife’s Luminox Leatherback Sea Turtle Giant 0323 Dive Watch, which I bought for her as a Christmas present on Nov. 30, 2021; we grabbed the timepiece on a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale—and what savings, too. The manufacturer currently sells the wristwear for 68 percent more than we paid nearly 17 months ago.

Broken was yesterday, when I captured the Featured Image, incidentally. Today, we have an exact replacement band that I purchased through one of Amazon’s third-party sellers. I couldn’t find the correct Polyurethane strap on the Luminox website. But what we got looks legit and appears to be exactly like the one the watch came with.

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Men @Work

During any typical weekday, between the hours of about 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., I am likely to see more men (and some women) wearing hard hats and yellow vests than I do encounter local residents. That’s a brash statement, considering constant movement of folks walking dogs.

Welcome to the whiles of living in a close-in San Diego neighborhood, where the mantra is more bike lanes, fewer parking spaces, and increase of population destiny (by way of replacing single-family homes, lush green spaces, or commercial properties with multi-unit residential buildings).