I am surprised that anyone would want to fly a kite at Old Trolley Barn Park. Trees abound, making high the likelihood of entanglement. But as you can see from the Featured Image, someone attempted to get a kite meaningfully airborne on April 5, 2026. He didn’t succeed while I watched.
Nikon Zf and attached NIKKOR Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR lens captured the moment. Vitals: f/7.1, ISO 320, 1/500 sec, 145mm; 3:20 p.m.
We love the book sale room, which is open the third weekend every month at the University Heights branch of San Diego Public Library. Most hardcovers are a buck a piece. Paperbacks are a quarter or five for a dollar. Prefer movies? DVDs are $1 a piece and Blu-rays are two bucks.
But who can keep track of what he or she past-purchased? The five paperbacks in the Featured Image are duplicates on their way to some LittleFreeLibrary here in UH. For each, I later bought a copy in better condition, typically new or near new.
Well, that’s what Google Image search claims are the pinkish flowers. Also known as the chandelier plant, or Kalanchoe delagoensis, the succulent is native to Madagascar.
I used Nikon Zf and NIKKOR Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR lens to capture the Featured Image, on April 4, 2026. Vitals: f/6.7, ISO 140, 1/250 sec, 105mm; 1:04 p.m. PDT. Location: Panorama Drive, in San Diego neighborhood University Heights.
You may not like the Featured Image, but I do. On April 4, 2026, as I prepared to go out on a photo walk I pointed Nikon Zf with NIKKOR Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR lens attached towards the Kit-Cat to check the battery level. The moody lighting unexpectedly appealed to me, so I clicked the shutter button.
The clock hangs to the left of the Casabelle Mail Center that I purchased from Pier 1 Imports 17 years ago. The retailer went out of business during the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 lockdowns, closing the last stores in October 2020. But the desk remains and is back in full service. Our daughter is staying with us, and I abandoned my home office for her to use as a bedroom. Cluttered and cramped best describes our 772-square-foot apartment right now. But we’re glad to have her here, and using the Casabelle is small sacrifice.
For Easter Sunday, let’s use modern tech to compare and contrast. Today is supposed to be the celebration of Jesus Christ’s resurrection and the hope human beings can receive spiritual salvation. Physical redemption is the responsibility of the Second Coming.
Easter also celebrates the bunny—a rapidly breeding animal that aligns more with ancient, pagan fertility rights. Candy and sweets are all about enjoyment of the flesh, as is the worship of fertility practices of the gods of Spring. Christian teaching emphasizes the spirit and dominion over the flesh. Materialistic cultures and religions promote physical joy, from simple pleasures to hedonism.
The questions: Why now? Who benefits?
For as long as I can remember, a massage parlor has quietly beckoned customers from the corner of Adams and Georgia here in the otherwise quaint village of University Heights. My wife and I have occasionally discussed its odd presence, with the presumption being the place peddles sex as much as massage.
Here’s a simple photo for a Good Friday evening that has nothing to do with the commemoration. The celebration of Jesus Christ’s brutal murder—execution as insurrectionist (He claimed to be a king)—never feels right to me. Let’s talk about meaning, and what matters about his life and death, on Easter Sunday. The resurrection is by far more meaningful, although it was purchased at incredible cost.
As for Sonny’s Pizza, the place first opened for business around the time I shot the Featured Image, May 6, 2025. The eatery is located where was Florabella, on Madison just off Park Blvd, here in the village of University Heights. The florist closed at the end of June 2018 in response to tripling of the rent. Maybe the landlord was hasty and greedy, because the retail space stayed mostly unoccupied for nearly 7 years.
I should have known. San Diego Zoo names its animals. But I wouldn’t expect identifying tags. As you can see from the Featured Image, this Penguin is Malloy. In a less-than-clear, unpublished photo, one of his companions is Mac. I wonder: Do they all these birds have “M” names, or is it a coincidence?
I used Nikon Zf and NIKKOR Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 VR lens for this one, which is close-cropped. Vitals: f/6.3, ISO 110, 1/500 sec, 200mm; 10:20 a.m. PDT. I chose the Zf for many reasons, and effective resolution is one of them: 24.5 megapixels, which is the sweet spot, in my humble opinion. File sizes aren’t overly large and burdensome, while the sharp 6048 x 4032 photos can be cropped to effectively enlarge the subject.
Cats are full of surprises. As I opened a package of CAT-branded straps purchased at Costo, Cali noodled her way into the activity, eventually settling onto the empty box; May 5, 2025. She used it as a bed for the next four or five days, until she put her attention elsewhere; then I removed the box from the dining table.
The Featured Image displays the unusual photographic opportunity: A living cat sleeping on a CAT box with a stuffed cat behind. I couldn’t have set up the shot any better than what naturally occurred. Vitals: f/6.3, ISO 3200, 1/80 sec, 98mm; 3:22 p.m. PDT.
Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “Queen for a day”. This afternoon, I met a woman known up and down Adams Avenue, where Normal Heights and North Park meet, simply as Queen. She and her husband sold their home, after raising a family there, and rented an apartment in one of the newer buildings erected during the past few years. Children gone away, the house was too roomy.
I made Queen’s acquaintance when walking to the auto shop, where our Honda Fit had been dropped off to repair the strangest problem: Something had dislodged the splash shield under the engine, and it frequently scraped the ground.
Ten years ago, I struggled to see normally. Cataracts clouded my eyes’ natural lenses, and macular edema leaked fluid into both retinas. In July and August 2016, John Bokosky (Eye Care of San Diego) performed the surgery that gave me artificial lenses and partially renewed vision. Fane Robinson (San Diego Retina Associates) treated my retinas to health over a period of six years. Dramatically changing my diet—for starters, reducing carbs and mostly eliminating added sugar—played an important role, too.
Dr. Robinson retired on Aug. 30, 2024. Dr. Bokosky passed away, suddenly, on Oct. 22, 2025. My last appointment with him, for an annual checkup, was two weeks earlier. His death stunned me, and I am not alone. He was highly respected and amazingly competent. The doctor that other doctors see for treatment is a professional’s professional. I saw several of them coming in for appointments during that final visit.
Along Monroe, on March 22, 2026, I saw in the distance a shorthair presumed to be Ash. But upon looking at the Featured Image, at home, on Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra, I could see my mistake. Fur color pattern is different, and this wounded warrior is missing an eye. From another photo, the cat appears to have something of a hump on its upper back that could be from an injury.
Nevertheless, the beastie was spry as it and a chunky black beastie chased one another down the street and into an alley. They were playful rather than combative or territorial. I hadn’t seen either before the day before yesterday, so they are presumably newcomers to the neighborhood and come from the same household.