Flowers

Christmas Kitty

Reflection

Takeoff!

Christmas Break... San Diego Style

Enjoying The Holidays in San Diego

Merry Christmas!

Waiting for Santa

Smoke

These pictures are from the same location as the previous pictures - different day. You can see the thick smoke that is blanketing the city. In the shot below, you can see another by-product of the fires - news folks everywhere.

Still Fiery

So many pictures like this one the past few days. The fire looks like lava coming down the hills. The fire in these photos is the Witch Creek fire, the one most likely reach us if weather conditions worsened significantly. Fortunately, the weather looks to be getting better and we are in no danger. There has been a lot of destruction in Southern California - we are all grateful for the support and prayers received.

If you are interested in fire information, here are some resources:

http://sosdfireblog.blogspot.com/

http://www.kpbs.org/news/fires

and a great map - http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&ie=UTF8&om=1&msa=0&msid=114250687465160386813.00043d08ac31fe3357571&ll=32.990236,-116.732483&spn=1.105782,1.757813&z=9&mid=1193110631

San Diego Fires

These are two shots of some of the fires burning south of where we live. The city in the foreground is El Cajon. I believe that the fire you see burning behind the hills on the background is in the Dulzura are, southeast of downtown San Diego.

Our house is fine this evening and we are safe. We hope all of our SD blog community stays safe!

Not what you think...

Well, I suppose it is what you are thinking if you are thinking model yacht...

This was taken at the Mission Bay Model Yacht Pond, where model boaters while away many an hour.

October Theme Day - Cemeteries and Tombstones

Just in time for Halloween, October's Theme Day is Cemeteries and Tombstones. This is a shot of Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery on Point Loma at sunset. We are looking at what I call "the wives side" of the tombstones. Buried in many of the graves are men who fought and died for our country. Because we are low on cemetery space here in San Diego, their wives were foten buried in the same plot, with their names (sometimes even "His Wife") engraved on the back of the tombstone.



To see cemeteries and tombstones around the world, check out these blogs!

St. Louis (MO), USA - San Diego (CA), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - New York City (NY), USA - Boston (MA), USA - Mainz, Germany - Hyde, UK - Arlington (VA), USA - Cape Town, South Africa - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Toulouse, France - Arradon, France - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Ampang (Selangor), Malaysia - Joplin (MO), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Mexico (DF), Mexico - Seattle (WA), USA - Baziège, France - Baltimore (MD), USA - Chandler (AZ), USA - Sequim (WA), USA - Stayton (OR), USA - Stockholm, Sweden - Austin (TX), USA - Singapore, Singapore - Anderson (SC), USA - Orlando (FL), USA - Greenville (SC), USA - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Nashville (TN), USA - Tenerife, Spain - Manila, Philippines - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Jacksonville (FL), USA - River Falls (WI), USA - Chateaubriant, France - Quincy (MA), USA - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - Inverness (IL), usa - Lubbock (TX), USA - Phoenix (AZ), USA - Moscow, Russia - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - Crepy-en-Valois, France - Minneapolis (MN), USA - New Orleans (LA), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Toruń, Poland - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Christchurch, New Zealand - London, England - Paderborn, Germany - The Hague, Netherlands - Selma (AL), USA - Sunderland, UK - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Stavanger, Norway - Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA - Weston (FL), USA - Portland (OR), USA - Forks (WA), USA - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Boston (MA), USA - Sydney, Australia - Wellington, New Zealand - Montpellier, France - Jackson (MS), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Petaling Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia - Evry, France - Saarbrücken, Germany - New York City (NY), USA - Santa Fe (NM), USA - North Bay (ON), Canada - Melbourne, Australia - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Cypress (TX), USA - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Paris, France - San Diego (CA), USA - Wichita (Ks), USA - Haninge, Sweden - Prague, Czech Republic - Zurich, Switzerland - Budapest, Hungary - Paris, France - Saigon, Vietnam - Grenoble, France - Zurich, Switzerland - Port Angeles (WA), USA - Naples (FL), USA - Toronto (ON), Canada

Midway in the Background

Reflection

Another boat on the Bay.

Morning on the Big Bay

Not quite still enough to get a mirror reflection, but nevertheless, The Big Bay is always beautiful.

Palomar Mountain Observatory, Part 2

In 1947, Palomar Mountain Observatory shipped the current telescope mirror from Pasadena to Palomar Mountain. The concrete disk pictured above was used as a "dummy" mirror to test the structure and strength of the mirror. That mirror is big!

Palomar Mountain Observatory

We spent some time at the Palomar Mountain Observatory recently. Caltech built this observatory in the early 1900's and it is still a wonderful research facility today.

Rain!!

We haven't had appreciable rain at my house since last April. And while I might not call what we got this past weekend "appreciable," it was at least enough to see a sort of a puddle!

Air Races - Qualifiers Pt. 3

This is a final shot (well, actually there are a couple of hundred more.....) of the Red Bull Air Races. To complete the qualifying run, each pilot made two trips through the course. On race day, additional air acrobatics were required throughout the course.

Air Races - Qualifiers Pt. 2

Another shot of the qualifying races. This is a shot of the Red Bull plane. Each pilot did a qualifying run, with the 8 fastest racing on race day.

Air Races - Qualifiers

Wow - to say that these pilots were impressive doesn't even begin to tell the story. This is a shot of one of the pilots in the Red Bull Air Races doing a qualifying run. They fly upwards of 200 miles an hour 10 - 20 feet above the water. Really fast! Looked like a lot of fun too!

Air Races!

This weekend San Diego is host to the Red Bull Air Races! These air races are a sort of acrobatic obstacle course race for airplanes. They are being held over San Diego Bay, which should make a fantastic backdrop for photos.

The Coast Guard has restricted much of the Bay to boat traffic because of the planes flying over the Bay (safety first) but if you had a boat, the unrestricted areas are certainly the best views of these races. We'll be trying to get some shots this afternoon... maybe I'll have something to post tomorrow! If not, here's a shot from Wednesday's practice from "Photographs of San Diego".

Happy Anniversary Sweetie!

These are the beautiful roses that my favorite guy sent to me today for our anniversary.

(I couldn't do justice to the flowers with the camera I was using and the inadequate lighting, and my inability to hold the camera just right.... but they are just gorgeous)

This is a shot of a chandelier at Marina Village, a place that hold meetings, training, conferences, weddings.... anything that needs rooms. I was wandering around there the other day, waiting for an event to finish, and liked the way this looked.

Where there's smoke...

This is smoke rising from the recent Pine Fire. The fire, in eastern San Diego county, burned close to 2,200 acres and burned for 5 days before it was 100% contained. The cause of the fire was determined to be an illegal campfire, cost approximately $1.3 million.

Here in Southern California, we are always hyper-aware of fire danger. This year, a particularly dry year, we are holding our collective breaths that we don't have a repeat of the 2003 fires.

"Miss Budweiser"

Here's a look at how big these boats are - this is "Miss Budweiser," a frequent visitor when the races were sponsored by Budwesier. These days, though there is always a large audience, sponsors seem to be hard to come by.

This photo was taken on our wedding day, four years ago this coming Thursday. :-)

More Thunderboats

Today we find out who is the fastest! The Thunderboat Regatta in the past was sponsored by Budweiser. Tomorrow I'll show you a picture of their famous boat.

San Diego Thunderboat Regatta

This is one of the super-fast boats that is racing around Mission Bay this weekend in the San Diego Thuderboat Regatta. I used to live across the Bay from the races and the roar of the engines is something to hear.

Almost four years ago, my husband and I were married on Thunderboat weekend. Unexpected coincidence - we aren't racing fans and chose the date and place before we realized that there was a huge event in virtually the same place as were having our wedding. Our biggest problems turned out to be pretty small in the grand scheme - traffic was messy and though we were concerned that the races would obscure our vows during our outdoor ceremony, the races ended an hour before our ceremony started. And the races provided an interesting photo-op for us! More on that next week.

Mission Bay Sights

Fishermen at low tide in Mission Bay....

Peaceful Day on the Bay

This Great Egret enjoys the peace of Mission Bay this morning. This weekend will be much different.

Symbol of Southern California?

Felicia pointed out a few days ago that it is hard to get a landscape shot in San Diego without a palm tree in it - and she was right!

And now a little plam tree trivia - although the palm tree has come to be symbolic of Southern California, the only truly native palm is the California or Washington palm (Washingtonia filifera). All other varieties were originally imported. Southern California saw a huge surge in palm plantings during the 1920s and 1930s, many of which still line Southern California streets today.

After the sunset...

... comes the moonrise!

Sunset...

... and the silhouette of palm trees....

Point Loma Sunrise

Point Loma sparkles in the rising sun.

Sunrise Downtown

I've always enjoyed San Diego harbor ("The Big Bay") in the morning. The water is calm and everything is quiet and fresh.

Cruise Ship Dock

This is a shot of the folks who work the cruise ship docks. I took this last May when we docked from our (amazing!) Panama Canal Transit cruise. We're looking forward to seeing this sight again next spring as we just booked our next cruise!

Golden sunshine on waves

Hard to go wrong with sun and beach...

Moon in Black and White

Dry dry dry

So I know this is a black and white shot, but honestly, it is so dry, that the landscape is monochromatic anyway. We have not had appreciable rain in a very long time. Someone remind me that I said "I miss the rain" sometime next February when I am whining about how wet and grey it is! ;-)

Another view of the pink sky

Can you tell I liked the colors of the sunset on this day?

Surfing and Sailing at Twilight

Two of San Diego's very popular pastimes.. surfing and sailing.

Sunset

I love this time of day... colors are so incredible...

Walking in the Pink Sunset

Is there anything better than watching the sunset over the ocean? (Actually, it was better a few minutes later when my husband was beside me instead of behind the camera!)

Honeybird

This hummingbird is feeding from our alovera plant in our backyard. The Boy (6 years old) used to call them "honeybirds" - and the name stuck. Here are a couple of other shots...