On the walls, outside.  Some low walls, some higher ones.  Pretty stuff, nice contrast with yesterday’s stone.  More tomorrow.  I think they did a lovely job with variation and color and texture.  I wonder what architectural firms do large condo design.  Probably lots of constraints and not too much opportunity for innovation.  Still, good job!

This building is really beautiful in a subtle way.  They used a variety of stone in the flooring, the walls, the columns.   It is quiet, not ostentatious, and quite lovely and harmonious.  I took several photos today; this is the flooring on the outside patio, near the pool and the entrance level.  More to come.  It is of its time, for sure, and probably not considered adventurous or particularly innovative.  But I like the effect, of quiet quality.  I think it is amazing that I get to live here — unearned privilege, to be sure.

Rooftop decks with palm trees?  Really?  Well, probably Hawaii and other tropical places…but it makes me want to remember to look up!

This was on my way to get my hair cut.  A pleasant walk.  And there’s a bicycle race/rally going on outside our window.   I mean, the route goes on the street below our windows.   And people in costumes.  Kids, too.  And a high-wheeler went by (I think that’s what it’s called?}  Urban living has its moments, for sure!

I love the funny time of day, not quite even dusk, when the light is soft and the shadows are velvety.  The city lends itself to focusing on shapes, especially when they are so nicely displayed in the evening sky.

This is just one view from the main entry terrace of our building.  The weather was perfect; we walked to the library and got our new/renewed cards, and walked back, in the middle of the afternoon when it was warm but breezy and not stifling like it’s been.  Maybe November will bring kinder weather to all…

Coronado beach.  I love the drama of the craggy rock border.  And the sun bleaching out the water and the horizon.  The beach at the Del never ceases to amaze, with its size, especially its depth, and its lovely sand.  Pizza supper afterwards, outdoors on one of the large patios.  A great way to start the weekend!

Sleek, with green.  It is strange to live in such a place of contrasts.  Huge.  Elegant.  A homeless problem.  San Diego is attempting to alleviate that but needs to do so much more.  Smack dab in the middle of downtown.   Plants.  People.  Noise.  quiet.

Ran into a friend at the grocery store across the street.  Didn’t think it would take too long for that to happen…we probably know at least 15 or 20 people who live downtown.

Sleek.  Green.

I can’t stop being amazed by the new botanical forms I find.  I wonder if this area is unusual in the number of species that seem to thrive.

Don’t know what this is, don’t know how to find out, and I don’t think that my ignorance takes away from the wonder of the color, the form, the contrast, the wheat-like shapes…however, if anyone knows, enlightenment is always good!

Urban architecture can be disorienting.  I enjoy the forced abstraction of pointing the camera at random exterior geometry and seeing what comes up.  Here, the surprise is the inserted column of green next to the roundly carved brick/stone.

This is a view from part of the condo complex we moved into three weeks ago today.  San Diego is a fairly green city — in terms of plantings.  My windows give me treetop views and commercial buildings and sidewalks and people.  There’s sky, too — the buildings aren’t all tall.  Were we on a higher floor, there would be harbor and water views as well.  We chose interior space, light, and airiness over a dramatic view.  It feels comfortable in a surprisingly uncrowded way.  It breathes.

You would think it’s spring.  This is blooming in the grounds of our condo complex.  Some sort of impatience (?) on a large, sprawling shrub.  “Impatience” is a great name for a flowering plant.  Whose impatience?  G-d’s?  The grower’s?  The plant’s?  The color is less than impatient, for sure.  Call it “vibrance,” perhaps?!

These soft and waxy blooms seem other-worldly in their swirled perfection.   An art friend’s suburban garden nearer our previous home flaunted these and other similarly dramatic flowers on this warm day near the end of October.  Six years ago, when we moved here, we needed hats, scarves, and parkas at this time of year.  Ha! (Not…)

No longer an ocean blog, but still a San Diego blog.  We moved to a downtown condo, and found this unusual specimen with its huge (10-12″ diameter) leaves on one of our first walks.

Walking is the definitive verb assoicaited with city living.  We have a view of treetops and the linear architecture of high-rises from our third-fourth floor home.   We hear street noise — muted.  The grocery store and pharmacy are across the street.  The second grocery store is in the next block.  The hardware store is four blocks away.  There are dozens of restaurants within a few blocks.  We can walk to the ballgame, the symphony, the library, the harbor, the maritime museums, and the train station.

We have downsized again — and it feels like a big step up!