New twist on propellar beanies

So help me, I so wanted to take this picture from the side, but given what this guy had on his head I was concerned about him launching some napalm he'd saved since 'nam.

I took this picture downtown after work yesterday. He was not out of place. A fairly young homeless fellow was sitting just outside the Albertson's, perched on a recess of the building near the door. He had a yogi bear style hand muppet, which casually asked me if I had any spare huckleberries. So help me, if I had, I'd have been tempted to give him a few.

This one's for Fr. Mildew

IIRC Father Mildew really likes trains. I shot this video from the San Diego Trolley this afternoon. This section of track comes out of downtown and does a 180 turn around the Santa Fe Depot.




At least I was channeling the "Great one" instead of merely "the won" unless it was imagining him tied to the track.

The perfect cruise ship for someone who gets seasick

Right in here in "America's Finest."

Assumption - and Change can be Good!

Here is about a 10 minute clip of this morning's Mass for the Assumption at St. Anne's Church, San Diego. St. Anne's is a personal parish which is solely dedicated to offering the Mass in the Extraordinary Form.



The video covers from the incensation just before the Lavabo (washing of the hands) to just before the "Nobis quoque peccatoribus..." in the canon. If you're new to the EF I highly recommend sitting in the same approximate seat I was, because you can see the priest's motions quite well with his blessings over the chalice etc. I have no idea how the people way the heck at the back left are in more than "ballpark." It was a missa Cantata. Half way between a low Mass and a High Mass. No subdeacon or deacon. But singing, and a fairly full completement of servers, incense and singing. The have a very good choir, it was nice to hear O Sanctissima towards the end of Mass.

I did notice one thing in particular, the Propers for the Mass, i.e. changeable parts, were completely different from the 1920s & 1940s to the ones given in the '62 Missal. For instance, the gospel reading in the 1920s was the story of Martha and Mary, and today's Mass had the gospel reading for the Visitation. [Every other proper, save the preface, was different too.] So sometimes these tweaks were for the better.

And WHAT IS WITH THE US Bishops saying today was NOT a Holy Day of Obligation? Either these bozos are serious about holy days, or they're not. Which is it? Then they act surprised when people don't show up for Holy Days. Is it any wonder people don't show up if the bishops take the attitude "oh, deary me, we'd be expecting them to show up for Mass two whole days in a ROW." It was my understanding that they would NOT muck around with Dec. 8th and Aug. 15th. Sucks to them.

The "Amazing Fr. G." [aka Fr. Carl Gismondi], also gave a very nice sermon, saying that the Assumption was the completion of her Conception. From her first moment of existence she was saved in a special way by God from the stain of sin, and her body did not become corrupt in death. She challenges us to keep to our own baptismal purity from stain of sin.

Fr. Luis Jayme, Martyr

Not too many martyrs in California, but he was martyred at San Diego Mission de Alcala. This cross about marks the spot where he died. He was killed by Indians.

There is a sign regards his martyrdom which reads:

"Born Melchior Jayme on October 18, 1740 in the farming village of San Juan, Majorca, Spain. In 1760 he was received into the Franciscan Order and chose "Luis" as his religious name. Padre Jayme became pastor of the Mission San Diego in 1771 and was instrumental in moving the Mission inland from the Presidio to the present site in August of 1774. By December of that year, a number of adobe and thatch buildings were constructed. Crops were planted and many natives joined the Christian life and were baptized.

Progress was being made until the early hours of Novemeber 5, 1775 when hundreds of natives from surrounding rancheras set fire to Mission buildings, pillaged the church, and cruely murdered Fr. Jayme as he met them with his usual greeting 'Amar a Dios hijos - Love God, my children.'

Fr. Jayme became the first California martyr, because of his self-sacrifice, devotion, faith, and love. His remains are buried in the sanctuary of the church at Mission San Diego de Alcala."

Below is a picture of the Mission, the first in a chain of over 20 all up and down the California coast.

Surprised I hadn't posted about this earlier. I've lived so close to it for so long, I tend to take it for granted. I met a friend for Mass there last night, and thought it might be something my readers would enjoy.

BTW, Abe Lincoln, was a friend of the Missions. The Mexicans had confiscated them in the early 1800s, I believe, and they were allowed to go to ruin, and used as storehouses and all such things by the anticlerical Mexican government. Later on when this land, after it became part of the US, was given back to the church by Abraham Lincoln. [Abe gave back all the mission lands. I know up in San Juan Capistrano, there's a nice plaque mentioning his role.]

Midway Visit and Harbor Cruise

My cousin and her husband are still visiting so we took the opportunity to do a Harbor Cruise (like I did last year) and went on the Aircraft Carrier Midway.

Panoramic View from the USS Midway:





We lucked out, although they have a nice brochure and headset and guided tour, it doesn't have the immediacy of talking to someone actually serving on such a ship. But when we were down in the engine room, by chance also was a visiting enlisted man who is serving on another carrier who works in the engine room, who was touring his own family and friends around. He said on his detail there's 12 guys, and you work your way up by learning each position -- starting with the poor schlep who has to note all the reading on the gages and communicate them to the "powers that be" upstairs. The engine room is hotter than hades as it is under normal ops but in the Gulf it can get to well over 100 degrees down there.

Here's a picture of a little bit of the engine room.



This youngster here isn't all that much younger than the average crew member. The average serving crew member on a carrier is aged 19. Car insurance companies seldom rent cars to someone that young, but the US Government trains them and trusts them to do all manner of things on a carrier including being an integral part of launching and recovering fighters off the decks of carriers. The enlisted man says that on average it takes about 7 months or so for the average fellow in the engine room to be comfortable with being able to man any of the 12 positions down there on his crew.

About half the crew on a carrier "Runs the ship" and about half are involved with carrier ops. Those handling aircraft topside all wear color coded jersies. The one is "yellow" on the flight deck plays BOSS. Everyone on deck goes on his/her command. Those in red handle ordinance, etc. "KISS" -- "Keep it simple, stupid."

I did see one potential problem. It seems to me the berths in the brig are more commodious and less claustrophobic than the ones for the enlisted men! In "real life" they do have sheets! And the enlisted men's buncks have little curtains. The little "shelf" under each bunks is the small bit of room the crewman has to store his gear. There is a bit of locker space for such larger items like pea-coats, but it's hard to be a "pack rat" on a ship. BTW, the JUNIOR officers have only two bunks for each "rack" and a few extra inches of mattress! I didn't bother going up to "officer's country" but by comparision IIRC they live in the lap of luxury, with probably a chair and a little table! I expect the captain has a jacuzzi. :-D No wet bar though. Thanks, Josephus Daniels, you tee-totaling, racist, newspaper hack, friend of Woodrow "delusional" Wilson, and spoil sport extraordinaire! So no rum ration. Offically, anyway.

Enlisted men's sleeping quarters:



Brig:



There's a lot of different type of aircraft to see on board. Here is an "Avenger" the type George H.W. Bush flew towards the end of WWII.

Afterwards we were famished and ate at Anthony's -- generous portions at reasonable prices. We opted to eat outside, quicker and cheaper. We baby sat a really friendly fellow, Jake, while "mom" ordered and picked up. His "mom" informed us that Jake LOVED to find dropped French fries. He'd found one from me, and I was his bestest friend for that particular half minute.


Along the harbor are a number of statuary. Nothing too tripy, more whimsical, the kind I usually like. I like this squid:


On the other side of the Midway, the powers that be "went big."


History buffs will note the inspiration was from a famous Life Magazine photo. [The statue guy is a little less of a wolf than the real life guy. Given the "real life" guy had his hand on her butt! So he was cleaned up a bit for public consumption.)

Later on we did something really novel. We went out to Sunset Cliffs to watch...the sunset.

Hellllo Gorgeous!!!

It's Jacaranda time. For about 46 weeks of the year, these trees look non-descript and unremarkable. But for about 6 weeks or so they are in all their glory. We're having a particularly particular "May gray" season this year - but these lovelies are a welcome vision. They start "turning" end of April, and are in full swing right now. Though some of them, depending where they are, blah, blah, are in that "half-state" with the green already coming back.

They were introduced to San Diego by Kate Sessions, a noted horticulturalist. Kate is considered the "mother" of Balboa Park. She brought well over 100 different kinds of species of trees to San Diego. The Jacaranda is the city's official "Ornamental tree." The city also has a park and elementary school named for her. She lived from 1857-1940. She was a San Francisco native, and one of the first women graduates from Berkeley. Her work will be appreciated by generations of San Diegans and visitors to come.

I didn't shrink the picture before I uploaded, so if you click on it you can see an enlargement.

Ascension Vigil Videos

Last night the Brothers of the San Diego Oratory visited St. Anne's, and assisted at a sung vigil and benediction. It was very nice. I'd been to vespers before, but never an EF vespers. Fr. Gismondi was the principle celebrant assisted by Deacon Jose Zapeda and MC Carl. I got some nice video at the end of the litanies and Benediction. I've broken it up into 3 parts so youtube doesn't have a fit. Total is about 23 minutes. Nice reception afterwards. They are also interested in encouraging many parishes to do evening vigils. If you get in touch with them via their website, they'd be happy assist celebrants who wish to do vespers. They have materials for the congregants in both English and Spanish.

1st Part - Litany and Agnus Dei:



2nd Part - Benediction



3rd Part - The rest



Group photo:

The Brothers of the Little Oratory in San Diego have many events coming up. You can check their website here. This Sunday, May 24th at 3 p.m. they will be giving a concert at St. Joseph's Cathedral in San Diego.

In da 'hood

Haven't done many posts about San Diego lately, but the neighborhood I frequent for weekday Masses is, shall I say, one of the older ones. It's just on the east side of the 5 where the entrance to the Coronado bridge is. It's seen "Better days" but something about these older neighborhoods is somewhat refreshing[?] in that one sees the odd thing here and there that one wouldn't normally see in the more anti-septic neighborhoods.

I have to say the guy [I'm assuming it's a guy with a tolerant wife, or equal Charger fanatic] that he must have a set of big brass ones. You know all the guys are thinking "Wow, how did his wife/old lady/girl friend let him paint the house like that?" And the women are thinking "if my husband/old man/boy friend painted the house like that it would be a 9/11 call." This house is a couple of blocks down from the Church.

This next house is interesting.

There were actually more roosters in the back, and wandering along the sidewalk, but something about it made me sense "cock fight gone awry" so I didn't get out and take the optimal shot 'cuz I was chicken. I'll mess with St. Paul, but not I'm not taking a chance just in case it's not Mamacita making a little money on the side keeping roosters to get their feathers to adorn hats- but Paco running a cock fighting ring. I didn't even know you could keep fowl in the city! [And something tells me "uh-uh" I bet no one is late for work, though. These guys are around the other side of the long block from the church, but I only saw them loose the one day after Mass. Some of them look like fine specimens!

Many of the houses were built in the 20s-40s I'd guess. I'd have loved to have seen the hood in its heyday.

Lessons and Carols

The other night I went to a really lovely service of Lessons and Carols held at University of San Diego in Founder's Hall. The chapel is quite large and serves the student body, along with the Immaculata Church which is also on the grounds.

I got there very early and took a still photo of the altar, which you see here.

Then I bagged a seat at the front against the wall. This Chapel is unusual in the US in that there are traditional choir stalls along the side walls on a slightly raised platform which runs the entire length of the chapel. By the time the service started, it was packed.

Most of the music was very traditional, beginning with a 13 minute Magnificat by Pergolesi, followed by a processional Personent Hodie (On this day the earth shall sing.) There were more than 20 in the orchestra, so there was full and rich accompaniment to most of the songs.

I got lucky with this next shot, as I took it EXACTLY when the official photographer took hers, so I benefitted from HER flash. Serendipity.

The carols between the lessons inluded Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel, Do you Hear What I hear? Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming (my favorite which is in the video below.) There was a Celtic Alleluia, followed by a well executed but Beauty-and-the-Beastlike incongruous "The Lord is With You" - a well meaning but wonky song between "Gabriel," "Mary," and "Joseph." Okay, if you like that sort of thing. I don't.

Joy to the World was sung, along with Angels We Have Heard On High, and What Child is This? [If I am at Mass at Christmas and they DON'T sing this I am extremely dissapointed. Okay, it's probably just me, but "Silent Night" can take a flying leap as far as I'm concerned. I've always hated it.] Somewhere in the mix was "Little Drummer Boy."

The concluding song was "The Virgin Mary had a Baby Boy" which was also incongruous, but EXTREMELY (and unexpectedly to my taste, I thought) DELIGHTFUL. It is a traditional[?!] West Indian Christmas song. I hadn't heard it before. Something about the maracca and the bongo made me want to reach for a Mai-Tai. But somehow, it was very dignified to boot! Go figure. Too bad I ran out of room for the video for that.

Below is a video clip* of Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming from the concert. There are a few people with stupid "hangings" on a pole that were in the enterance/recessional and gospel processions who pass by in front. The only *other* thing I didn't like about this service. Everything was cool except for this Bishop Brom-like feature.

[Did I tell you the man has bad taste with these tacky processional "things?" I use the word "things" in place of what I really want to call them! A thurible I understand. A crucifer and two candlebearers I understand. Weird stuff hanging on poles? Maybe it's because they couldn't do puppets. Whatever. I still don't know what they were supposed to "represent."]

I happened to be at a rehearsal a few days prior and got an up close and personal look at the actual poles. 10-1 says they were the original poles used for torches used in a high Mass given the hook I saw on one of them! At least they were a minor distraction given all the other eye candy in Founder's Hall Chapel that night.



There is one more performance left at 2p.m. on Sunday. It is FREE! A performance has been taped and will be broadcast on San Diego's Cox Cable Channel 4 on Dec 14 at 8 p.m., Dec. 19 at 8:30, Dec. 20 at 9:00 p.m., Dec 23 at 8:30 p.m. and Dec. 25 at 6 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.

Well worth watching if you can get the channel.

[* The video was shot by my little Vivitar camera. No, I wasn't annoying as I "guessed" where the action would be as I held it right next to my thigh so it wouldn't be obvious I was taking a few video clips. So if it's a little off center -- too bad!!]

Thunder and Rainbows

...that's what I drove to work in this AM. How cool (the rainbow) and scary (the lightening) at the same time with us coming into fire season. Not much rain during those lightening hits either, which is why it was scary - though I should be grateful, traffic was hellish enough with people even THINKING it might be a downpour. Trust me, first heavy rain of the season, smart San Diegans call in sick. to avoid the hell on the roads. Lest you think we are sissies:

Take 9 months without any appreciable rain fall. +
9 months of oil and grease build up on all freeways +
A lot of people who don't "get" basic physics and why you should not tailgate, particularly in wet weather when grease has had a chance to build up that long.

Do the math. Stay home. Or go in at 3 am or 10:30 am, after they've cleared all the fender benders.

I like to think the weather was St. Michael's doing - having a battle out in the heavens.

Hope my two cousins Michael S. and Michael K. had happy feast days.

A Blessed Dormition to you All

I usually don't get to attend Holy Angels Byzantine Catholic Church too often. Normally my work schedule conflicts with the Mass times there during the week - and Sunday I go to my regular parish. But today I was able to make it. This photo is taken of the royal doors just after Mass.


There is a beautiful custom of blessing flowers and plants that people have brought to church after the Mass. There is a table set up in church at the front to the right of the iconostasis. My own flowers were the ones on the far right corner.


The priest, in this case Fr. Robert Pipta, also anoints foreheads with oil after Mass - a bit of olive oil and rose admixture. Couldn't quite get the shot, as I'd waited until the end, but Father "paints" the sign of the cross on you after dipping the small brush in the oil. Who says blue isn't a liturgical color? :-D


The also had Matins before the Mass, which I didn't attend, but I caught the tail end. The video is taken after Mass. And I put it here just so you can see the full beauty of this small church.



There are many more "entrances" and processions and blessing during the liturgy than in the Latin Rite. And the Eastern rites have it all over their western cousins regards the use of incense. There's a lot of chanting by the people as well. They used the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom today. I particularly enjoyed this bit:

"Priest: It is proper and just to sing hymns to You, to bless You, to praise You, to thank You, to worship You in every place of Your kingdom; for You are God ineffable inconceivable, invisible, incomprehensible, ever existing, yet ever the same, You, and Your only-begotten Son, and Your Holy Spirit; You brought us forth from non-existence into being, and raised us up again when we had fallen, and left nothing undone, until You brought us to heaven and bestowed upon us Your future kingdom. For all this we give thanks to You, and to Your only-begotten Son, and to Your Holy Spirit, for all that we know and that we do not know, the manifest and the hidden benefits bestowed upon us. We thank You also for this ministry, which You have willed to accept from our hands, even though there stand before You thousands of archangels, myriads of angels, Cherubim and Seraphim, six winged, many-eyed, soaring aloft on their wings."

In some places the priest says the prayer quietly - not so this parish. Not one person reeled away saying "what does 'ineffable' mean?" :-D [Mahony should catch a clue, huh?] And I've always loved the references to that myriad of angels, six winged, many-eyed, soaring aloft of their wings. Probably a tad too "triumphalistic" for the likes of some! Suits me fine. As long as I get to hear it, and the priest doesn't keep it to himself!

Here is a better picture of Fr. Pipta after Mass.



This particular parish also makes many eastern European goodies. The guys will be making up some kielbasa tomorrow. And they usually stock perogies, halupkies, home made bread and butter lambs (in Easter for the latter.) Their parish social hall is beneath the church, and if you go there on a Mon., Tues, Fri, or Sat. between 10-2 you should be able to score some goodies of some kind at a reasonable price. I'd call ahead to the number given on the website to the social hall though to be on the safe side before you go. The parish website is here.

This church is quite centrally located in San Diego, just on the northeastern hill where the 805 crosses the 8 - you can easily see it from the 805 as you head north just after you cross over the 8 - it's the white church with the onion domes. As you go north on the 805, hang a right on Murray Ridge, then the 1st right, and another right and go down to the end of the street...and left into the parking lot. Plenty of parking and a great view of Mission Valley. Sunday Divine Liturgy at 9 a.m. So if you're in the area, and want a break from "Fr. Overly Creative" this is a refreshing break. And you may find a home!

Harbor Cruise

I took a Harbor Cruise on Friday. Fr. Sean and his friend from Oxford were going to go too, but last minute got pressed into service at an unexpected singing rehearsal for the wedding he went to on Saturday. But I went anyway, tix having been "comped." It was pretty overcast, and the sun only finally broke free late afternoon.

The dayboat cruise ship "Lord Hornblower" is below.


The skyline of downtown San Diego has certainly changed a lot since I moved here in 1971. Back then there were a handful of really high rise buildings downtown. You could clearly see the El Cortez hotel from the Harbor, which was the first building to ever have an elevator on the *outside* of a building. Below is a picture taken of the downtown skyline from on board.


As you pull out of the slip, you can see the USS Midway CV-41 off the starboard bow. Tourists may now go onboard. I'd recommend setting aside a half day, and wear comfy shoes. You'll do a LOT of walking!


Also in the harbor were the USS George Washington CVN-73(left), which for the time being is in port undergoing repairs due to a recent fire aboard. On the right is the USS Nimitz CVN-68 undergoing routine maintenance, having returned from a long deployment. The Nimitz's "sail" is masked, because it is undergoing paint striping and the wrap is to prevent all the chips, etc. going in the bay. It is hard to tell from the picture below but the flight decks of these carriers are close to 1100 feet long and if one stood them on end would be 2.5 times as tall as the tallest building on the San Diego downtown skyline!


The USS Reagan CV-76 is normally home ported here too, but it, along with its battle group, is currently on deployment to the middle east. Normally about 41 ships are home ported here, San Diego is the largest port in the US after Norfolk, Va. These ships are tied up off the north end of NAS (Naval Air Station) North Island (which is technically a peninsula,. Don't ask.) Want a tour? See your naval recruiting office!

Below is a google earth shot of San Diego Bay. It is considered one of the finest natural harbors in the world.


The Bay is home to many critters, not the least of which are Sea Lions and Harbor Seals. Fr. Sean had a hard time telling them apart. But it's easy. The dark ones are the Sea Lions, and the brownish ones are the Harbor Seals. One of them can climb on the red buoys in the bay and the other one can't.


These fellas can be pretty inert, because they have their lazy carcasses hanging out where the fishing boats pull up and load up on anchovies and other bait. They don't have the "weight problem" the 1800 pound manatees have who eat 300 pounds of lettuce a day and the occasional apple or carrot. Talk about sitting around the house, getting high and watching the tube. The original "couch potatoes."



By chance we also saw the USS New Orleans (LPD-18) - an amphibious transport dock - one of the newest ships in the fleet, just commissioned last year. Its profile was designed to make it appear much smaller on radar. It's well over 600 feet in length and the nearby sailboat gives good perspective. It's also covered with "stuff" (highly technical term -- actually it's "Ram") which confuses enemy radar. We later turned and came back up the harbor and followed it...giving it a WIDE berth and sole occupancy (except for the idiots in sail boats who didn't "notice" a 600+ foot ship bearing down on them) of the deepest part of the channel.


When I got home and blew up the pictures I noticed the signal flags on the New Orleans. The letters spell out "NOLA" which is the radio "call sign" of this vessel. You can see the close up below.


Here is a picture I took this past Memorial Day weekend of the bay from the vantage point of Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery, which I wrote about before. The sub base is in the closest part of the bay. You can see the protective ring.


The hangars below are on North Island, not far from the Aircraft Carriers. When we were out we were treated to an F-18 practicing a "touch and go" on North Island. (It has two run ways not far from San Diego's commercial Lindbergh field. Named for Charles Lindbergh. Spirit of St. Louis was built in San Diego.

File photo below of one of the Navy's hottest toys. The Navy, IMO, has the neatest toys.



For those not in the know, a "touch and go" is what a pilot has to do if his tail hook has missed one of the arresting cables on the carrier. You miss? Throttle like hell and hope you have enough oomph to get you back up off that carrier and not off the side. Every landing is a "controlled crash." Somewhere I read where one pilot described it "like having sex in a car crash." I'll take his word for it.

Early parachute test from aircraft were also conducted on North Island, and a lady, Georgia Broadwick, was the first user to jump from a military plane into the water...the men apparently being too chicken. That or "ladies first." Whatever.

A little more of the San Diego Skyline is below. Seaport village and the embarcadero is in front. Lots of little shops and restaurants. There are often concerts by the bay in the summertime.


This nifty bridge, The Coronado Bridge, links San Diego to Coronado, which is at the southern end of North "Island." It has an 80 degree bend in it, because when it was built back in the 60s a bridge needed to be at least 2 miles long to have the feds kick in some funding. Your tax dollars at work. The modern carriers can't pass beneath it, but then they don't "live" on the southeast side of the bay and have no need to go under it. There's a whole bunch of ships that are normally home ported down at the 32nd street Naval Station south of this bridge, but few were in port Friday, many of them having gone off with the Reagan Battle group.


We also saw some Navy teams in the harbor training dolphins (they also train sea lions) in mine detection and "other stuff." I swiped the picture below with the one immediately above from wiki. (We weren't quite close enough for a picture to come out, but we could see them from 1/2 mile away.) Interesting article here about the program.


I know. Long post, but I haven't done a San Diego one in a while. BTW, the first European sighting of the harbor was done by Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo in the mid 1500s, a Portugese flying under the Spanish flag.

Sea World Clips

I put a few of these together. We could have sat in the "splash zone" but an inner voice said "are you nuts?!" AND YOU PROBABLY WANT TO TURN YOUR VOLUME DOWN UNLESS YOU ARE DEAF.



I must say for all my camera complained about "low battery" it had just enough to get me through Sea World and a Harbor Cruise. Oh, and someone got some outstanding video here. It's well worth clicking on a few of the vids that come up when this one is over.

By hook or by crook

...funny the things you recall. The U.S. Golf Open this year is being played at Torrey Pines in San Diego. It's a beautiful course just north of the campus of UCSD. It's a public course, and San Diego is a golfer's paradise.

35 years ago this spring I was taking the honors course in US history from the legendary Father Earl LaRiviere (aka Fr. LaRiv) at University High. We'd all been paired up and given a class assignment to do one project on San Diego - something for which there were no source books. Two classmates, Dan C. and Peter H. were links rats ... always playing a round of golf somewhere. So naturally, they decided to do their report on "A history of San Diego Golf Courses."

Fortunately for them, Fr. LaRiv (a Jesuit who brooked no nonsense) was recovering from back surgery at the time Dan gave the oral report. Brother James was substituting for Fr. LaRiv and Dan was less than verbose. So brother started quizzing him.

Bro. James: What's your favorite course?
Dan: Torrey Pines
Bro. James: What are the green fees?
Dan: No idea, we just sneak on about the third hole or so.

Brother was speechless. I'd love to know what Fr. LaRiv would have said. I can guarantee he wouldn't have been speechless! I *think* Dan and Peter should be safe, the statute of limitations having worn off by now. Incidentally, Phil Mickelson attended the same high school some years later. The golf coach must have had the dream team that year!

Memorial Day Weekend, 2008

All gave some.



Some gave all.


This Sunday afternoon, in anticipation of Memorial Day, I decided a visit to Fort Rosecrans cemetery would be most fitting. There were a number of people out placing flowers on the graves of their loved ones, including a young co-worker. In a big city, one is always surprised to run into people you know, and I'd forgotten this woman's dad had died in the last few years. I think we were meant to meet!

The monument in the top photograph is to commemorate the USS Bennington accident which took place in the San Diego Harbor in July of 1905, few know about it today, but the ship's boiler had overheated and exploded, killing dozens of men, many of whom are buried here. Fr. Ubach, the first pastor of my own church, participated in the services. A number of Congressional Medal of Honor recipients are also buried here. The cemetery straddles the top spine of Point Loma, and you can see either the bay or the ocean.

The biblical reference on the young man above's headstone. 1 Timothy 4:12, reads " Let no one have contempt for your youth, but set an example for those who believe, in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity."

Where do we get such fine young men and women? Look around you.

Out and About

.
Nice doggie .... staaaaaaaaaay ..... and when papa comes back he'll take you for a treat.



This well behaved labradorable was outside O'Connor's religious supply and bookstore. He made up for the fact, that once again, O'Connor's is absolutely useless, except for holy cards, rosaries and medals, and the odd cruet or two. Oh, 25 years ago or so, they had book stock worth looking at, but not anymore. This doggie parked out back made up for it.

I hate shopping with a purple passion. HOWEVER, the only two kinds of stores I enjoy are bookstores and CD/DVDs stores. The grocery store is tolerable, but other than that I'm not really "contributing to the economy." Then I went perusing a few used bookstores to see if I could find a nice clean hardbound of something I wanted, rather than just a paperback. Much more successful.

Those of you who followed my San Diego Fire saga last October might remember me mentioning we only get 9 or so inches of rain a year. Unfortunately, it tends to come mostly in a six week period. One sure way to cure a drought is to take your car to the car wash. These two dorks did this today (perhaps we should thank them?) thereby providing the city and county of San Diego with a public service. Guys, perhaps next time you can do this in the summer when we really need the rain...and not wait until it has actually started to drizzle? Just a thought.

.

Thanks Be To God, it only Gets Lighter From Here on Out

Except for you poor schlubs "down under." ) The one thing I Hate, HAte, HATe, HATE about winter is it gets so DARK. At my latitude as you can see from the picture, Sunrise was about 6:46, sunset 4:46. It only will get better. I think I finally have a clue why my English ancestors left blighty sometime between 1850 and arrived here sometime before 1860. I hazard a guess that given that my great-granddad was a miner, and his father...presumably HIS immigrant granddad was also a miner. Given the latitude up there, they would have gone down the mines before sunrise and come up after sunset this time a year. I think they must have moved here just to see some chance of seeing a bit of daylight in the winter months.

Update 5:43 a.m., Saturday 22:



What's with this 39 degrees stuff? Jeez, a little precipitation, 7 degrees lower, and there could be white stuff on the ground! About 40 years ago it snowed out in El Cajon. It's not unusual to get snow in our mountains in north county if conditions are "just so" but not in town. Supposed to go up to 67 degrees though later today. No wonder half the county is trying to give their colds to the other half of the county. Let's just say, that in my time here I have seen people wear long bermuda shorts and a sleeveless shell skiing vest. No one bats an eye. Though even today might be too cold for those shorts.


Update noon 12/22/07:

There now, that's better. For anyone wishing to visit San Diego, our best month is often April, IMO. The daytime and nighttime temps are pleasant, the nighttime temps don't require much of anything other than a light zip up jacket. If you wait just a little later you'll get "May Gray/June Gloom" phenomenon. Temps are fine, but the marine layer hangs around too long and doesn't really burn off until almost afternoon then rolls in again along the coast at 5ish. July and August see crowded "everything." September and October can be fire season. Nice, but......

We don't get many skies like this

but we did yesterday afternoon. Usually, here when there are dark clouds, it often doesn't rain ... and you can say "anywhere else but here, and this would be a rain cloud for sure." When we DO get some real rain clouds, they're not usually accompanied by a lot of little white alto clouds. That's a REAL rain cloud splashed across the bottom of the photo and for a little while a significant portion of the sky was filled with row on row of little clouds. For those of you who've been praying for us to get some rain after all the fires in October, I thank you. December has had a pretty good sprinkling. There's actually bright green stuff growing on my lawn. The light is almost the purest in December after a rain.

There's something decadent

about just kicking it


on a Wednesday afternoon. Everyone else in town is at work in the salt mine or slaving under the lashes of the schoolmasters, and you are taking a "ditch day." In this case "the bosses" decided it would be a bit of a morale lift to kick it this afternoon for an office picnic. The weather was perfect - just the tonic as the days are getting shorter. What say we to busting out the burgers, dogs, potato salad, "beverages" and a little "friendly" game of touch football?

Forgot to bring my camera to work this morning - it's amazing enough I get myself to work in one piece. No matter, this google earth pic is just about exactly what we experienced - even the lack of crowds. At the top of this picture is the Pacific Ocean, and this oasis of a park the park is the SW corner of Mission Bay Park. The inlet is the Mission Bay Channel. Mission Bay Park is the largest man-made aquatic park in the country, consisting of 4,235 acres, approximately 46% land and 54% water.

Maybe it's me, but there's something slightly intoxicating about the smell of clothing, hair and skin imbued with smoke from the grill, sunshine and just a little sand and grit. It's the Chanel of nature.
.