The Action Never Ends

It is feast or famine around this blog. Long day out again. I was interested in hearing a speaker this evening who would be at Balboa Park. I was undecided until about 1pm today and then figured I should get to San Diego early and have another look see in my quest to decide where I want to live when I eventually move to SD County again.

Today's tour was OB (Ocean Beach) and Pt. Loma. Of course where I want to move and where I end up may be two different things but I decided to see if I can keep riding my bizarre luck van and point my compass somewhere good.

OB is OB. A spit of land in San Diego's farthest western corner that is a pain in the ass to get to, overcrowded and too traffic-y but it is home to Sunset Cliffs, dog beach and People's Food so it can't be all bad. It is as laid back as it gets here, and that is pretty dang laid back.

Living on the edge - an ongoing problem that often results in death or injury to those who ignore the warnings


The Channel 10 van and car did not seem to be doing anything. I figured maybe they keep one out there to be ready for the next downed hiker.

To get to the water, the surfers in the area have to climb down this cliff.

One of the ubiquitous surfers. I only learned ubiquitous in recent years. I search for ways to use it.

I found my way over the hill and back down to Pt Loma, which I love. I have had many good times there and even though the memories are bittersweet at this point, it could not dampen my pleasure at being there. This view is obviously of San Diego from Pt Loma.


I believe this is supposed to be depicting waves but to me it looks like a Sponge Bob character showing his muscles. A sad commentary on me that I know who Sponge Bob is.

The fountain at Balboa Park in front of the Reuben H Fleet Science Center (Not to be confused with the San Diego Air and Space Museum, which is not that hard to do oddly enough)

The meeting was in the Casa del Prado which is one of the gorgeous park buildings originally built for the 1915-1916 Panama-California Exposition.

The speaker I came to see was Mel Bartholomew who is the author and creator of Square Foot Gardening (SFG) which is the gardening method I follow and the only one that has allowed me to have a successful vegetable garden. There is a link to the forum and from there the main website at the top left of this page.

I did not think I would learn much but I was pleasantly surprised. Mel, a former civil engineer turned crazy logical gardener, is here in San Diego on sabbatical and has started several projects including working with St. Vincent de Paul (the center, not the actual saint) with the homeless and with the city of SD trying to get some SFGs included on the roof of the new convention center. They already have 4 rooftop acres in which they plan to plant grass and Mel is trying to get a half acre of that.

His theme for San Diego is rooftop gardens. I think he got the idea as he was landing and got a close up of the rooftops as he was coming in.

Mel and his CEO Vicky. She recently got nabbed by Columbia, SC to develop SFGs in the poorest parts of the city and has been very successful feeding 2000 people from the gardens.

Mel green with envy over this broccoli grown in a local SFG