Miles and Miles

Good Morning -

What a Virgen we have here. There are a couple of things going on, both of which created important lessons for me.

The first lesson is that if I intend to use plant matter for a Virgen, I need to slice it so that it lays flat. I had found these great long pine branch-type things yesterday as I walked around Balboa Park and thought that they would make a delightful border. They looked great, but weren't laying flat, so I created a press to mash them down until the caulking dried.

Which brings us to our second lesson - caulking takes a long time to dry in humid, humid San Diego and it certainly won't ever dry if it's sealed inside a press - thus the still wet caulking. When I saw that it was still wet this morning, I got grumpy and removed the pine-type branches. It's still drying, but I wanted to get posted and get going with my day, so you get to see a Virgen in process.

And what's going on with that Virgen? The green sticker on the right is from Extraordinary Desserts, where we bought a post-lunch lemon meringue cupcake to eat at Balboa Park. The Sushi image is from the chopsticks of the sushi place where we had some lovely salmon and California rolls (in California, no less) for dinner. Behind the Virgen is a magnolia leaf, which is a beautiful tree that I haven't seen in its proper glory since I moved from San Antonio.

It was a great day, yesterday. I had three hours in the morning while my partner presented, so I set a course for myself. Our hotel is on Harbor Drive and, from a map, it looked like Balboa Park was walkable, so I set out to see the neighborhoods, the city, and the park.

For those who like maps as much as I do, you can plot my course - Harbor Drive to Kettner, Kettner to Broadway, Broadway to 6th, 6th up to and alongside the park until Upas, Upas across to Park Blvd, Park Blvd down to Market (where Park is called 12th), and Market back to Harbor Dr. It was fantastic.

I love being able to get past the turista hotels and see where the locals go. There were some great neighborhoods between here and the Park. Not ever having been to California before, I thought that the whole steep-hilly-streets-with-sudden-views-of-the-bay thing was San Francisco's gig - I had no idea that San Diego also had big hills and sudden views of the water between Victorian houses.

If I lived here (I'd have to invent a personal, portable humidifier for that to be a choice), I think I'd live in one of those old, Victorian houses (if financially possible) because they can clearly withstand earthquake impact if they've survived this long. Earthquakes are totally on my brain here and everywhere I look, I think, "I wonder what that would do in an earthquake?"

I had to cross over I-5 twice yesterday in my excursion and each time as I walked over the overpass, I wondered what would happen if, in that very moment, an earthquake happened. That made me think about the last big earthquake San Diego had (in the 90's, I think - oh, it's so due for one...) and how, just as life goes, there were all sorts of things going on in the moment that the earthquake hit - someone was dying, someone was giving birth, a plane was landing, people were having sex, someone was in an elevator, etc., etc.

It's amazing to think of. Sometimes I have very, very, realistic, full-sensory dreams that end up coming true later. Ten or so years ago, I had such a dream in which I was in a tall skyscraper (kind of like this hotel) and an earthquake happened. I was looking out the big window and I could see the land and the buildings on the land rolling and swaying to the tremor. Nothing bad happened (that I remember), and I don't even know if that's what an earthquake would look like, but it is amazing to think of.

To wrap up yesterday's adventure - after I met back up with my partner at noon, we headed back the way I had come (Broadway to 1st) to eat at Hob Nob Hill, then around the park, free trolley rides through parts, a visit to Zoro's butterfly garden (where a friend and his partner got married a few years ago), a foot soak in the fountain while watching kids splash around (one boy yelled to his younger brother, "Who is brave enough to go into the middle (of the fountain where the water was splashing forcefully)?", and he responded, "I am!" - I have to imagine that they get each other in trouble a lot - one suggesting the adventure and the other acting on that suggestion...)), a walk back down towards the water, pausing for sushi, and then wrapped up by a stroll down to the water. Wonderful.

Today? We'll see. I have another 3 hour adventure while my partner presents today and then we'll strike out for some joint fun.