Showing posts with label Balboa Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Balboa Park. Show all posts

Friday, June 26, 2009

Tap Along with My Favorite Tap Dance Guru--Eli Newsom


My sister and I have been taking tap dance classes through San Diego Civic Dance Arts in Balboa Park with the very talented Leslie Padilla for close to a year now. In between those classes, we enjoy working with the DVD's produced by the equally awesome Eli Newsom of "Tap
Dance Made Easy". Eli has podcasts as well as DVD's and usually every month there is a freebie sample to tap along with. Here is one of my recent favorites. Have fun!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Angel Trumpet (Brugmansia) in Alcazar Garden, Balboa Park, San Diego,

My sister and I had lunch together on Monday and then visited the spectacular spring display in the Alcazar Garden in Balboa Park, San Diego, California.

The delphinium, foxglove, and lavender were resplendent and these glowing angel trumpets were eye-catching as well. While we were there, the carillon chimed six o'clock--a haunting sound that I recorded.

Hope you are enjoying the bursts of color everywhere this spring!

Alcazar Garden, Balboa Park, San Diego, California
Foxglove Blooming in Alcazar Garden, Balboa Park, San Diego, California


Monday, April 7, 2008

Red Rose in the Marston House Gardens, San Diego, California

On an excursion to the Balboa Park area in San Diego yesterday afternoon, my sister and I encountered this perfect fragrant red rose along one of the garden paths at the historic Marston House.

It was such a lovely harbinger of spring (along with two cotton-tail rabbits), I had to share it with you.

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may!

GatherYe Rosebuds

Monday, May 7, 2007

Kate Sessions, the Mother of Balboa Park, and My Mother and Grandmothers


Kate Sessions Statue, originally uploaded by confections.

Today I am featuring a photo of a statue of Kate Sessions, the “Mother of Balboa Park”, in San Diego, California. My sister and I visited the park this Saturday to photograph two of her quilts (more on those lovelies later this week) and we captured sweet Kate as well.

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, I’m busy getting my Mom’s package of goodies ready to send. This particular statue of Kate Sessions reminds my Mother of her own mother, whom I never knew except through photos and my Mother’s recollections of her. I’ll include a series of photos of Kate-who-reminds-my-mother-of-her-mother in my Mom’s gift box.

In my genealogical research this month, I located my Mother’s grandmother’s birthplace in Germany, a tiny village called Thaleischweiler in the Rhineland-Palatinate area. The only clues I had to guide me were supposed roots in Aachen, but my Aunt Margaret remembered some of the old-timers in her youth speaking of Pirmasens.

Once I had a positive hit on my grandmother’s name and birthdate on the International Genealogical Index, and discovered that the town was in the Pirmasens region, I knew I had hit genealogical paydirt. I was able to go back two further generations as well. This is heady stuff for a budding genealogist, finding these links after many trials and tribulations. I will find a special way to honor these newly discovered grandmothers this Mother’s Day.


Kate Sessions Plaque
Kate Sessions Sculpture (Hens and Chicks)
Kate Sessions Sculpture (Hen in Hand)
Flowering Plant in Balboa Park