NEIGHBORHOOD WALK

While Paul was here in March 2020 we enjoyed a neighborhood walk during the early phase of the Coronavirus  (COVID-19) pandemic. Most pubic places were closed including museums, the zoo, theaters etc.  Everyone was asked to self quarantine to avoid contact with others so we took a walk up and down Pacifica Drive on a sunny Spring day.  Paul took photos of some of the gardens and flowers in bloom along with views of the mountains and water views.  The atmosphere was clear due to rainfall the previous day

A good view of the Coronado Islands in the distance

The view of the San Diego county mountains from Pacifica Drive.

                                     Storm clouds over the mountains

Spring bloom

WINTER - LA JOLLA COAST

Seals and gulls take over Children's Pool beach 

La Jolla coast at low tide

Afternoon nap

Cormorants rule these rocks

BOUGUEREAU ART AT SAN DIEGO ART MUSEUM

Art by Bouguereau at the San Diego Art museum

William-Adolphe Bouguereau enjoyed a remarkable popularity in the United States, particularly during the late 1800s through the early 20th century. Lauded and laureled by the French artistic establishment, and a dominant presence at the Parisian Salons, Bouguereau’s canvases offered American collectors the chance to bring Gallic sophistication and worldly elegance to their own galleries and drawing rooms. The master’s idealized, polished images—of chastely sensual classical maidens, Raphaelesque Madonnas, and impossibly pristine peasant children—embodied the tastes of the American Victorian age, and of his Gilded Age patrons. Bouguereau canvases at one time were de rigueur for every collector and arts institution from the late 1860s to the early 1900s in America.

As art turned towards Impressionism throughout much of the 20th century, artists rejected Bouguereau’s conventional treatment of paint and form while they explored abstraction, color field painting, and investigated alternative forms of art and representation. Ostracized for nearly 80 years, his portrayals of peasants and feminine beauty during his time were strongly embraced by his contemporary academic circle but reviled as the Realist movement in visual arts and literature took hold and gave way to Modernism.

 This exhibition also includes a long time favorite by Bouguereau at The San Diego Museum of Art – The Young Shepherdess, 1885. 

GRANDSON'S WEDDING

My grandson Tim was married to Kim on Sept. 28 in Aptos, CA at Sand Rock Farm in a lovely glen in the woods.

Tim and Kim with Betsy and Ray

Steven sharing a toast to the bride and groom

HORN BLOWER CRUISE-SAN DIEGO BAY

We enjoyed a cruise around the north bay of San Diego that highlighted the Star of India, sea lions, Point Loma, Shelter Island Cabrillo National park and North Island Naval Air Station. 

The Star of India

An aircraft carrier at the North Island Navel Station

LA JOLLA COASTAL WALK

Views of La Jolla coast near the Children's Pool.

Children's Pool area

Fishing day boat

The Difference Between Sea Lions and Seals

Sea lions hang out more at the cove, the harbor seals at Children’s Pool (1o-minutes south of the cove). You can tell a sea lion from a seal by recognizing some distinct features:

• sea lions have visible, outer ear flaps
• sea lions bark
• sea lions use their flippers to move on land, seals tend to wriggle on their bellies since theirs are smaller
• harbor seals tend to have darker, speckled skin

Swimmers at La Jolla Cove with sea lion

THE GOLDEN AGE OF SPAIN

Apparition of Saint Michael on Mount Gargano by Sebastian de Arteaga

The San Diego Museum of Art explored Spain’s Golden Age with an ambitious exhibition of more than 100 objects primarily from the 17^th century. The museum already has one of the biggest permanent collections of art from that era in the United States. “Art & Empire: The Golden Age of Spain,” which took four years of planning to expand on that collection to take a global view of that period in art history

The art of Spain and the San Diego Museum of Art are inextricably connected. Full-size statues of Spanish masters Diego Velázquez, Bartolomé Estebán Murillo and Francisco de Zurbarán stand sentry in the façade over the main entrance of the Balboa Park museum. Busts of Jusepe de Ribera and El Greco, set in medallions, flank the three.

                  The five painters are masters from the Spanish Golden Age, when Spain laid claim to land around the world, including vast swaths of North and South America, parts of Italy and the Netherlands, as well as the Philippines. Spain’s global expansion that began around 1500 brought a shift in the world order with the conquest of land, subjugation of people and the demise of many societies. But there was also a broadening of culture that led to a brilliant era in the arts, producing what are still considered among the finest works of art in history.

Kitchen Maid by Diego Velazquez

Allegory of Eternity, the Succession of Popes by Ruben

Museum of Art with statues of Velazquez, Murillo and Zurbaran above the entrance

Kitchen Maid by Diego Velazquez

FOOD TRUCK FRIDAYS

    

Kick off your summer weekends in style every Friday evening at Balboa Park’s hottest after-hours event. Visitors of all ages can enjoy live entertainment by talented local performers while eating gourmet dishes from a rotating selection of more than a dozen food trucks parked on the Plaza de Panama and El Prado walkway. Now in its fourth year, Food Truck Fridays is a program of the Balboa Park Conservancy in partnership with the City of San Diego Park and Recreation Department.

Food Truck Fridays gives thousands of park visitors and families a unique opportunity to sample a diverse, rotating selection of gourmet food trucks, serving everything from appetizers and main courses to desserts and specialty beverages, all in one convenient location. In addition to exceptional food options, Food Truck Fridays presents a full slate of family-friendly fun: Different musical acts perform each night in the Plaza de Panama. The Plaza’s “living room” setup is rolled out, along with giant family game sets. Various Balboa Park cultural institutions and community partners offer hands-on activity and crafts booths for kids. And participating park museums host special evening hours and programs on Fridays. 

PATAGONIA EXPLORER-CHILE

PATAGONIA EXPLORER-THE BEST OF CHILE

Paul and I were part of a group from Cal Alumnae on a trip with Odysseys Unlimited. 

There were 21 members in the group led by Alex Maureira from Puerto Varas in Chile.

We started the trip in Puerto Varas at the Radisson Hotel overlooking the lake with a view of Osorno Volcano.  

On our first full day we took a walk  in Vicente Rosales National Park that included Petrohue Falls

 Later we  visited a working ranch where we saw cowboys demonstrate some rodeo maneuvers.

The next day we visited Calbuco,  a small fishing village. We visited an outdoor market and had lunch with a local family.

Our group is looking at mussel farming before lunch at a home

Lunch included steamed mussels, barnacles, sausage and steamed bread.

We visited an estancia in Punta Arenas to see a sheep-shearing demonstration.  Lunch at the estancia featured BBQ lamb.

In Puerto Natales we boarded a boat for Magdalena Island to see the Magellanic penguins.

Another boat trip in the same area featured the Serrano and Balmaceda Glaciers.

The highlight of the trip was Torres del Paine National Park with jagged mountain peaks, turquoise lakes, rivers and wildlife.

We saw Guanacos seen here along with  foxes and a variety of birds.

We finished the trip in the modern city of Santiago.

Santiago had many high rise buildings.

Santiago highlights included a tour of the central area and visits to the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino and the Santa Rita winery.