Day 28: The Mission Cemetery

This entrance leads to the oldest part of the Mission San Luis Rey Cemetery which nestles up to the eastern side of the church itself. Our dear friends, C and J, buried their daughter C here in the new section, so we now call The Mission San Luis Rey "C's Mission."

Day 27: The Mission Fountain

This photo courtesy of Guest Photographer Timothy (age 15)

This fountain at the Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside was where the Native American women came for the water they needed in their small houses which surrounded the Mission proper. It was also used by the friars who lived in the Mission. I can just imagine women gathering here for an early afternoon chat before returning to their homes to cook the evening meal....

Day 26: Still at the Mission....

The old mission arch at Mission San Luis Rey. Behind the arch are the rose gardens and the very first pepper tree in California. Apparently sailors who stayed at the Mission were charged "admission" in the form of a seedling from their travels around the world which were planted in the extensive gardens surrounding the Mission.

Day 7: At the Mission



Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside, CA



On the face of the Mission front....

Our family met our good friends the Cox family at the Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside so that B can do his mission report for his California History course at Class Day. This mission, about an hour and fifteen minutes from our home, is the largest of the 21 California Missions and is nicknamed "the King of the Missions."

I posted my two favorite photos here, one a side view of the mission, including the door to the old cemetery next door to the mission, and one of the statue on the outside face of the front of the mission. We had a lovely time with some lovely people!

Science Fair at Balboa

More photos from the Science Fair -- full story at Meditative Meanderings blog.


Botanical Garden at Balboa Park

Robot

IED Robot

Science Fair 2009

The boys and I spent Saturday afternoon in Balboa Park for the huge Science Fair. I was expecting crowds, but I was unprepared for spending as much time getting from the I-8 and 163 interchange to parking as I did getting from our mountain town 50 miles eastward to said interchange. But it was a gorgeous day to be outside, even if almost every family in San Diego was also present. In fact, when we first arrived, I could barely edge my electric scooter forward at all because of the crush of people. It thinned out during the afternoon, fortunately. I'll post more on Monday on my regular blog -- the boys had a great deal of fun with robotics, which is T's passion.

Above is the Casa del Prado Theatre, just as we were leaving the Science Fair in Balboa Park.

Day 38: Cabrillo Lighthouse

The old lighthouse at the end of Point Loma between storms -clouds and ocean lit by the sun.

California Tower, Balboa Park

The California Tower in Balboa Park is perhaps, besides the Pacific Ocean itself, the best-known landmark in San Diego. Almost all air flights pass by this beautiful tower, built for the Exposition in 1916. Family tradition states that my great-great grandfather help to design it; however, in my genealogical research, I have yet to corroborate that fact. But it's still a gorgeous landmark that now houses the Museum of Man right next to the magnificent Laurel Street Bridge that separates Balboa Park from downtown San Diego itself. I took this shot from the Skyfari in the San Diego Zoo -- a unique perspective that the boys and I very much enjoyed on our trip to the Zoo this week. See further photos from our Tuesday trip below.

Saturday: "Independence Hall"

Across the street from Knott's Berry Farm, Walter Knott built an exact replica of Independence Hall which includes a life-sized replica of the Liberty Bell as well as a replica of the room in which the Declaration was written and finally signed.



The six cousins pose in front of "Independence Hall."



A long shot of the front of "Independence Hall," with my mom on the left and my dad with the kids in the doorway. My brother was backing up with me to take the same shot with his camera.

After this last excursion in Buena Park, we drove south to Santa Ana to check out the Discovery Science Center.

Mini-Retreat

Sheri and I headed over to the Bible Camp this afternoon for a mini-retreat. We sat under the pines chatting to catch-up as we haven't had a good talk since before Christmas. Soon the sun disappeared behind the building and we were feeling a bit chilled even with jackets on, plus the campers this weekend were some wild college students from Point Loma Nazarene University (my alma mater and former employer as I used to teach there). So for warmth and quiet, we hiked up the hill to the 1970's-styled chapel which overlooks the grounds while also peering up into a nice bunch of pines. We made ourselves as comfortable as we could in the back pews and wrote in our journals, prayed, read our Bibles or other devotional books, and enjoyed relative peace as now the yells of the college students were mostly muffled. This was our view late in the afternoon. Very peaceful.

Cool Frames...

B and I stopped by a really cool store in downtown La Mesa called Mostly Mission. I love the Craftsman style and was drawn by the beautiful furniture just outside the door. Inside the store was some of the most gorgeous stained glass lampshades and photo frames plus great Craftsman furniture. I was impressed with the picture frames especially, and asked the owner if I could take a few photos myself. The kids are wanting to do some stained glass work themselves now that Keith has his stained glass shop organized and ready to work on a huge window project, and making frames similar to these will be a great project for them (and a good way to use up glass scraps!).

Tuesday: A Sunset Silhouette

I was to busy teaching my kiddos and attending meetings to take any photos yesterday, so here's a sunset shot from yesterday in Balboa Park of the California Tower which my great-great-grandfather helped design.

There. All caught up at last. It's been a very busy week, so my sincere apologies for not posting for almost a week -- life has been more than busy; it's been outta control.

The Church on the Hill

On our way home from church in La Mesa and as we were beginning to ascend into Alpine, Keith informed me that he would pull over to the side of the freeway so I could capture this shot. I had tried it from the passenger seat from the van as we sailed up the hill (he drives faster than I do), and even when he has slowed down, I've never captured it. Today he thought that the clouds would add interest, which they do.

This church is where I first met Father Acker over three years ago when B and I first started attending Friday morning services. He left this beautiful little church behind when half of the church elected to leave the San Diego diocese, and the Anglican church now meets in an elementary school auditorium. But this church building still beckons to me, especially after spending over a year attending. It's such a lovely little mission-style church with its lovely blue cupola and cross and its stained glass windows depicting the life of Christ. But church is more than a building; it's God's people who gather to praise and worship. I'll gladly leave this pretty little church that I see from the freeway several times each week in order to worship in spirit and in truth in the tiny chapel Father Acker built in his garage.

Catching Up: Wednesday

We went back to the lovely Botanical Gardens in Balboa Park for sketching and photography. This is one of my favorite places in the world.



More lovely Balboa architecture, recently renovated from the original 1915 Exposition.



Purple coneflower, also known as echinacea, inside the Botanical Building.



A lilypad from the reflecting pool in front of the Botanical Gardens.

Memories...

Yesterday as we drove away from Balboa Park, we drove by our old house, which is only three miles from the park by road but only a mile away "as the crow flies." Quite often we could hear the park's bell tower chiming away from our front yard.

We spent ten years restoring this 1914 Craftsman, and this is where we brought home all four of our babies. Keith did such a wonderful restoration job: matching new oak floors to match 50-year-old floors in the front of the home (I miss wood floors!), adding a new master bedroom and bath, totally gutting and restoring the kitchen (oh, how I miss that stunning kitchen!). I had planted some of the flowers in the yard here, but most were planted by the new owners (second owners after ourselves). We were surprised to see T's old tire swing, a gift for his third birthday nine years ago, still hanging from the branches of the camphor tree in the front yard.

The newest owners also repainted the home from the gray, white, and burgundy we had it to the bright colors you see here. As we were painting the house in order to sell it, we didn't dare paint it so colorfully, but Keith and I both really like it, even though our former neighbors HATE the new paint job. What do you think?

A San Diego Landmark

If you've ever been to San Diego, this landmark is extremely familiar to you. The Museum of Man in Balboa Park was constructed for the 1915 Panama-California Exhibition. The California Tower can be seen from most west-bound airplanes just before landing at Lindbergh Field. My great-great grandfather, Edward Quayle, reportedly aided in the design of this Tower, although I have not yet confirmed that fact in my genealogical research. I have discovered that his firm (Quayle Brothers) did design another building for the Exposition, among many other architectural landmarks in San Diego since they arrived in this area in 1906. San Diego natives are few and far between in this city.

For two other San Diego landmarks of personal interest to me and Vera, please see the my 365 Extras Blog at the top of the sidebar.