Two cringe worthy traffic moments

I had been intending to concentrate this blog more on my photography, but obviously have not been doing that so much.

So, wanted to write about two traffic moments that occurred today.

First, this morning: I was on the way to church, and was stopped at an intersection a little ways before getting on the freeway. So, I got the green light and started to move into the intersection. But the next moment a horn goes off on my left and keeps going. Which was enough to make me stop. And the next thing I know a vehicle making a left turn through the intersection passes in front of me. If the driver next to me hadn't realized this left turn was occurring and hit his horn, I might have been broadsided. Good grief!

Lesson learned: try to be alert when I get green lights to vehicles that might be coming into the intersection from other directions.

Second, a little earlier this afternoon. I was driving down a freeway when all lanes started to come to a stop. A little later I saw in my rear view mirror a fire engine coming down the left shoulder. And a little after that saw the fire engine had stopped in middle lanes and a CHP car was coming down the right shoulder. When I passed the scene, I was able to make out just enough of the scene to see CPR was being administered to someone laying on the pavement. Yikes!

So, two of the more cringe worthy traffic moments I've had in a long time, all on the same day.

Visiting Marian R. Bear Memorial Park

For years I have been vaguely aware of a large park in San Diego that I had never visited before today: Marian R. Bear Memorial Park.

This Park is in San Diego's San Clemente Canyon, which runs east and west roughly between Interstate 5 and Interstate 805. State Route 52 runs in the northern portion of the canyon between those two freeways (and continues eastward), while the Park is in the southern portion of the Canyon, paralleling Route 52. The two formal entrances to the park are located off surface streets that north and south through the Canyon, Genesee Road and Regents Road.

Today I finally decided to make a visit to the Park, using the entrance at Genesee Road. One of the first features of the Park I came upon was a shallow, very slowly moving stream. Lots of rocks had been placed across the stream, so getting across with dry shoes was no problem.

Continuing on the path, I was quickly struck by what an attractive area this is. When I took this photo,
I was becoming aware that though I could still hear traffic on Route 52, but by that point the view of the highway was entirely obscured by the Park's trees; very nice. That view remained obscured for my the rest of my walk into the Park.

Continuing on and taking many photos, I quickly appreciated that many trees were growing over the path to some degree, thus creating much shade. Though the temperature was moderate, there were no clouds today, so that shade was very nice.

After I turned around to go back to my car, I noticed a very interesting scene. A large log (presumably the trunk of a downed tree that the branches had been removed from) that had been left in place to allow it to be naturally reclaimed. The evidence for this was that it was well underway to being covered by fungi.

All in all, I was very pleased with the Park, and have every intention of doing more exploring of it, as there is much I did not get to.

A peacock at the Zoo

Two angles: a peacock, a photo by jeffwc00 on Flickr.

I have been very glad I purchased a San Diego Zoological Society membership late last year. Being able to (basically) just walk in when I have the time has been great. I'm definitely getting value for the cost.

Yesterday I decided to make another visit for possible photo taking. Right after entering I noticed a small crowd standing around something and found they were looking at a peacock that was in full display of his tail feathers. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get into position for a unobstructed view before he dropped the feathers to non-display position and wandered off into nearby foliage.

Now, you may wonder why a peacock was out in the open. I can't seem to find anything about online, but I am recalling I learned at some point in the past that the zoo keeps a population of peafowl that are allowed to wander the grounds. This is because they eat lots of insects, and so are a big help in keeping that potential problem under control.

Later during this visit I came upon (presumably) another peacock wandering around just outside the rhinoceros display. This was good because there were much fewer people around, so I was able to get into much better position for photos of this bird. He wasn't feeling the need to display his tail feathers, but I was pleased with photos I did get. Thus this diptych.

Pleased to announce

Holga goes to Kobey's Swap Meet
Originally uploaded by jeffwc00

I have been invited to place up to three prints in a show being put on next month by the arts programs at UCSD Extension.

The story:

Last month the coordinator of those programs sent email to the photography instructors with preliminary details about the photography portion of the show, and inviting them to forward it to any former/current students of theirs they thought worthy to be in the show.

And one of my instructors did so. I responded to the coordinator that yes, I was interested in being included.

She wrote back at beginning of this month with details of what would be needed for each print.

I decided to go with two of my Holga camera photos: the one shown here, and this one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffwc00/4836939359/in/set-72157624473390957/

This will be the first time I've been invited to place prints of my work in a show, so I am very much looking forward to it.

G is for Globe Willow triptych

G is for Globe Willow triptych
Originally uploaded by jeffwc00

Sunday, January 16, 2011. Decided in the afternoon to use my San Diego Zoological Society membership and visit the San Diego Zoo to get in some photos.

Which I should have realized before leaving was a pretty dumb idea: A Sunday, really nice weather, of course the place was slammed. When I arrived I quickly realized every parking lot within reasonable distance of the Zoo appeared full, and an overflow lot had been opened.

Obviously there were going to be mammoth crowds inside the Zoo. So I decided that was a no go, even though I could see there was still some space in the overflow lot.

I decided to instead go to the Park West area, the narrow strip of Balboa Park immediately west of highway 163. Even on the busiest days in the rest of the Park, I'm usually able to find a decent parking spot and get in a good walk and possibly some photos.

So, having gotten there, I found this Globe willow in the Trees for Health Garden. I looked it up and down and realized: AH HA, that's my next alphabet series entry AND a nice new triptych. Viola!