52: Scenes from San Diego

(Is this one of the Happy Cows of California??)

Most of these photos were taken in Mission Beach or Pacific Beach.  I might mix in a few from the city, depending on where I go with this.  (I almost never know where a blog post will take me.)  The cow pictured above was on the porch of one of the houses/condos on the bay side.  I have seen similar cows in Ohio but never expected to see one here in a beach setting.  It just goes to show you that there may be some truth in advertising.  The cows of the Midwest really are trying to move to sunny California.

(A Pacific Beach mermaid.)

It’s another gorgeous day.  I hear I have Christina to thank for that.  She ordered in a week’s worth of lovely weather just for us.  We’ll be getting together on Wednesday so I can thank her in person.  In the meantime, thank you so much, Christina, for the mild Santa Ana winds that are making this perfect beach weather.

(Beachfront fortress.)

We had dinner last night at The Fish Market and lunch today with the parents of a friend at the Souplantation.  I wish (I wish!  I wish!) they would open up a Souplantation in our area.  They have such a wide variety of veggies to choose from on their salad bar, the soups are always delicious, and the Focaccia breads are freshly baked.

(Bird of Paradise)

This morning we went to Point Loma for a parade.

The parade took place on the Avenida de Portugal.  It was the 7th Annual Festival Das Bandas (Festival of Bands).  14 bands playing Portuguese music marched down the Avenida de Portugal to the United Portuguese Hall where they held a concert.  It was a short parade route.  Only 2 blocks long.

In case you’re wondering, neither of us are Portuguese or know anything about Portuguese music.  We just thought it would be interesting and fun.

We were a little under-dressed for the occasion.  Almost everyone there was dressed as if for church or some other important event (women in dresses and high heels, many of the men in suits or, at the least, dress slacks, shirt and tie).

This is one of my favorite shots from the parade:

See those little guys lying on the platform?  Here’s a close-up:

The one guy in front looks so serious!

M has gone to the conference he’s here to attend.  I went out to the beach for a little while.  I took a book but didn’t do much reading.  I was busy watching the surfers and boogie boarders and just enjoying the sun and surf.

Maybe next time I’ll be able to take those surf lessons.  If not, it might be time to go boogie boarding.

That’s something I’m sure I can do.  It’s only a matter of getting up the nerve to put on a wet suit.  The Pacific Ocean is cold.