Tag: San Diego

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 20, 202410:02 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Gummy

Not only is the backlog of kitties backed up, but I ignored the series‘ eighth anniversary on October 17. Yeah, 2016. I started a few months after underdoing eye surgery for one ailment, while still being treated for another. Cat photography presented opportunity to break in my ocular implants and to improve sense of composition (okay, so the latter is awash).

This fine feline is the five-hundred-ninety-third profile and one-hundred-thirty-fourth found behind door or window. I used Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra to capture the Featured Image, on Sept. 10, 2024. Vitals: f/3.4, ISO 32, 1/160 sec, (synthetic) 230mm (digital and optical zoom); 8:22 a.m. PDT. Nickname: Gummy. Because, why not?

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 15, 202411:02 pm

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.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 13, 20247:55 pm

To Think You Worry About Illegal Alien Criminals

The sign in the Featured Image speaks for itself: There are other risks around the canyons of San Diego—perhaps more worrisome than foreign troublemakers hiding in them and coming out to assault, rob, or murder the locales. My SoCal county is one of the throughways by which illegals cross into the United States, and they are frequent enough topic on the local news or social media to scare some residents.

But coyotes—and I don’t mean smugglers sneaking immigrants across the border—present problems you might not consider. Sure, residents should keep cats and smaller dogs inside, but these coyotes could carry dynamite or drop anvils from hot-air balloons. Drones are a pitting nuisance, by comparison.

Photo by Joe WilcoxOct 5, 20247:56 pm

Witchy Women

As I walked along Louisiana Street from El Cajon Blvd, today, a lady dressed in full witch regalia—black with red accents—turned the corner from Meade. We passed and I wondered where she could be going 26 days before Halloween.

An answer approached after I crossed onto the next block: Two more witches walked my way. So, I stopped them and inquired, explaining about the other costume dresser. Some of the local ladies were off to University Heights neighborhood bar Gilly’s, which recently changed ownership and partially its name.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 29, 20249:25 pm

Would You Want to Live Here?

As explained three days ago, apartment landlords are taking away tenant garages and converting them into residential rentals. The practice is rampant across San Diego County, including my neighborhood of University Heights.

Unsurprisingly, the alleys separating streets fill with parked cars, particularly late day into the evening hours. You lost your garage and can’t find a legal space, so you make do and hope to move before the parking police blast by writing tickets.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 28, 20249:33 pm

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”.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 18, 20248:44 pm

The Cats of University Heights: Oliver (the Fourth)

Finally, we start to seriously address the backlog, and this fine feline is by no means farthest back in the queue. Meet Oliver—and, yes, that’s his real name, which is surprisingly popular; three other Olivers precede him. Another distinction: He is the one-hundred-fourth kitty seen along Alabama Street, somewhere between boundaries Adams and Lincoln, since the series‘ start in October 2016; that’s out of 592 profiles, including this one.

I used Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra to capture the Featured Image, on April 11, 2024. Vitals: f/3.4, ISO 64, 1/60 sec, 115mm (film equivalent); 3:27 p.m. PDT.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 6, 202410:12 pm

Heatwave Reading

The Summer’s hot days have finally arrived in San Diego. Official high yesterday, according to my phone: 34 Celsius (94 Fahrenheit)—although the thermometer in the apartment complex’s courtyard read 38 C (100 F). Well, all the cement makes quite the heat island, so that is unsurprising.

This morning, the mercury touched 33 C (91 F) before thin, high clouds provided some relief. Forecasted high for tomorrow is about the same and scorching like yesterday for Sunday. We don’t have air conditioning, by the way. Fans provide plenty of relief, as long as breeze outside blows indoors. Unfortunately, winds are light, and air is muggy.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 4, 202410:20 pm

When No One Helps You

This morning, as my wife and I waited to cross Mississippi at University Avenue in North Park, we heard arguing and shouting. We both turned back to see some kind of disagreement between a man and woman near the distant bus stop on the opposite side of the street.

The dude looked to be stealing, or trying to steal, the lady’s bicycle. Shirtless, he was clearly homeless; she was well-dressed. Taller than her, he was racially white but so sunburned to be almost black; dirty, my guess, too. We weren’t sure what to do, being older folks, but we decided to walk down the block nevertheless. She needed help.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 25, 20249:33 pm

She Gives Good Advice

San Diego alleys can be treacherous for pedestrians and vehicles, particularly where they meet main streets. If the driver turns too quickly and sharply into or out of the alley, an accident could occur.

The young woman in the Featured Image gives good advice. Meade Ave. is busier than ever, with traffic circles placed every few blocks and the street being designated as the major bike thruway from North Park to Mid-City—about 5.6 km (3.5 miles)—and part of a larger 21-km (13-mile) route.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 23, 20248:40 pm

Sunflower Surprise

For the third time in three years, we present another sunflower seen in the same location on Mississippi in my San Diego neighborhood of University Heights (see previous posts from 2022 and 2023). I passed by the beauty today while talking on the phone with one of my sisters.

I pulled out Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, set to Portrait mode, and captured the Featured Image, which is composed as shot and not otherwise altered (e.g. no edits). Vitals: f/1.7, ISO 12, 1/800 sec, 23mm (film equivalent); 3:42 p.m. PDT.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 22, 20247:59 pm

When is a Donkey a Jackass?

The Democrats’ convention ends today (finally). Like last month’s Republican event, I bothered not to watch the speeches. My disinterest is all the greater for this week’s political powwow in Chicago—if for no other reason than Joseph Biden’s virtual assassination. As previously stated, it was clear to me weeks before his disastrous debate performance on June 27, 2024 that he was being set up.

I still can’t reckon why Biden and his team chose to take on Trump before the convention, or delegates’ virtual role call beforehand. Debates are always held in September and October, after candidates are formally chosen. Who voted for Kamala Harris? Nobody. Biden’s ouster removed the democratically chosen candidate during the primary voting process. Stated differently, at least for this election cycle, Democrats have proven to be undemocratic.