Year: 2013

Torrey Pines

While in San Diego, Lori and took a nice long hike along the beach and through the hills of Torrey Pines State Reserve. The cliffs right along the beach were really cool - I definitely dug the erosion of the sandstone, and all the interesting forms that would create.



Little Buddy

This seagull hung out with Lori on the balcony for a while. I think he was hoping she'd give him something to eat. These same seagulls also hung out on the rooftop terrace where they serve breakfast. On several occasions I saw seagulls steal food right off of peoples' plates. They were pretty brave about it, too.


Sea World San Diego

We checked out Sea World while in San Diego, as well. It was ok, but overly commercialized for my taste. It was more rides and games than animals, and even then every single animal exhibit forced you to walk through a gift shop on the way out. But the show we saw we saw with the seals was pretty entertaining.


Bonsai Trees

While at the SD Wild Animal Park we came upon an exhibit of Bonsai trees. These were pretty amazing. Some of them looked incredibly old, and they were all less than a few feet high. I've always been fascinated by these trees and the skill and time that goes into training them to grow this way. I had a small one as a teenager and promptly killed it. Someday - maybe in retirement - I'd like to give it another go.



SD Wild Animal Park

While out in San Diego Lori and I checked out the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park out near Escondido. It's not the zoo proper - it's where they do a lot of their breeding and that sort of stuff for both the zoo and for reintroducing endangered animals back into the wild. They said that decades ago when the facility wasn't open to the public people used to hop the fences and sneak in at night, so for safety's sake they decided to make a real park of it. It's pretty cool - big portions of the park are just giant fenced in areas where lots of animals commingle and roam free.



Scenes from La Jolla

We were on vacation last week, in San Diego. Lori and I have never gone away together just the two of us, so it was almost like a second honeymoon. We had such a good time. Here are a few scenes from around town, near our hotel in La Jolla.





Three More Ukes

After building the first uke earlier this year, I decided to build a few more. And as more than half the time in building a uke is lost in settings up the machines, it's not really that much harder to build more than one at a time - so I decided to build three. One if for my father for his birthday - the first one in the photo, with back and sides of zebrawood. The second one is for me, with curly maple back and sides. And the last one is cherry - but I haven't decided what to do with it yet. I think a tenor size is up next - these things are just too much fun to build!

Sketches

As a teenager I used to sketch a lot, but not really at all since. But lately I've been thinking about starting again. On our trip - and since then, too - I've been sketching in a little pocket-sized notebook. Below are a few recent sketches - two are buildings near our hotel in La Jolla, and the last is a plant in our living room.




Sketch Box

Before our trip I made myself this little sketch box so I could sketch while walking around town. It's made from black walnut and has room for a pencil, pen, and waterbrush in the top section, and a set of whittled-down sections of watercolor pencil in the bottom half - which is a lot easier than carting around a whole full-size set of pencils. Turned out to be pretty useful, too.