Walking through beauty in Palm Canyon.

Balboa Park’s shady Palm Canyon contains several dirt trails. Select one, then descend into beauty.

Sunlight shines mysteriously through translucent green palm fronds and leaves. Magical light touches your path in unexpected places.

Walk slowly. Look up and all around…

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can enjoy even more Cool San Diego Sights by following me on Facebook or Twitter!

Poetic words deepen Balboa Park’s beauty.

Time – Becomes meaningless in the face of Creativity

Life’s abundant riches fill Balboa Park.

Walking about, you might happen to encounter a few poetic words. Words that express and deepen the beauty of this very special place . . .

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Enjoy the beauty of this day; this moment.

Many people enter our lives for just a little while– others pause and plant flowers in our hearts that continue to bloom forever.

My Beautiful Sweet Pea – If I had a rose for every time you made me smile and laugh I’d have a garden to walk in forever. You are the sunshine in my life.

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can enjoy even more Cool San Diego Sights by following me on Facebook or Twitter!

Do you like to read original, thought-provoking fiction? To read a few stories I’ve written, click Short Stories by Richard.

Glimpses of beauty in the Zoro Garden.

Someone rests beside butterfly murals in Balboa Park’s beautiful Zoro Garden.

Today I tried to photograph butterflies in the Zoro Garden. My efforts were mostly in vain.

Flitting butterflies are sudden.

One blink–they’re gone.

So much beauty surrounds us that we miss. So I fill my eyes when I can.

A sudden butterfly . . . a moment not seen.

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can enjoy even more Cool San Diego Sights by following me on Facebook or Twitter!

A new stream in the Japanese Friendship Garden!

A new stream is now under construction at the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park!

For several months I’ve been watching with growing excitement as the channel of a new stream takes form in the Japanese Friendship Garden!

Water is a vital element in a Japanese garden, and the beautiful new waterway will add even more life to an already wonderful place. The gently bending stream will run down into the Lower Garden through some shady trees, bubble under a bridge and small observation deck, and join the existing stream along the canyon’s bottom.

Here are some photos to get an idea of what is coming. I was told the project should be completed in several months.

If you’ve never visited the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park, you’re missing out on one of the most beautiful spots in all of San Diego. Become a member, and you can freely visit any day that you please!

The existing stream runs over small stones through tranquil beauty in the Lower Garden’s canyon.

Photo taken as I approach the place where running water will sparkle, bubble and come to life.

The new waterway will course down beneath a newly built bridge and observation platform, to join the existing stream.

I can’t wait until this project is finished. Another spot to enjoy this most exquisite Japanese garden.

The new stream will run down into the canyon between shady trees. The project is expected to be completed in September, 2018.

UPDATE!

Here are some photos of the construction progress that I took in mid-August 2018. Many stones now line the new stream’s channel. I was told by a docent that the brown tarp covering an object near the waterway’s source is protecting an historic Great Buddha statue donated to the garden that will also make its debut very soon.

BIG UPDATE!

It’s all finished!

In late December, 2018 the stream bubbled with life and the new statue was unveiled. It isn’t a Great Buddha, but a massive, nearly 300 year old bronze Kannon statue.

You can see everything on my Cool San Diego Sights website by clicking here!

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can enjoy even more Cool San Diego Sights by following me on Facebook or Twitter!

Viewing life from a Balboa Park bench.

Late this afternoon I headed into Balboa Park.

I walked down El Prado, found a quiet bench across from the San Diego Natural History Museum, and sat down to write.

Every so often I felt compelled to look up.

My eyes were drawn to magic.

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If you’d like to read a few thoughtful words about life, visit my website Short Stories by Richard.

A most wonderful place.

Smiling dancers perform at the International Cottages during the House of India lawn program.

The older I get, the more in love I become with Balboa Park. It’s a most wonderful place.

I took a long, random walk around the park today.

Here are a few photos…

A lone gentlemen sits at a cafe table outside the House of Italy in Balboa Park.

Many enjoy sitting in sunshine at the San Diego Museum of Art’s May S. Marcy Sculpture Garden.

Elegantly dressed visitors to Balboa Park pose for a photo by a fountain.

A street performer on El Prado wraps a snake over the shoulders of a delighted man.

A friendly psychic is ready to assist anyone passing by.

Another beautiful San Diego day along El Prado.

Ranger Kim provides a Sunday tour. A large group has paused to learn about the history of nearby buildings.

People have collected near the south end of the picturesque reflecting pool, or Lily Pond.

There are always lots of treats to choose from in Balboa Park!

A most wonderful place.

Two bicyclists pass each other in the Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden. It’s winter, not yet spring.

Looking from the Desert Garden across Florida Canyon toward Morley Field.

Kids play near Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park.

A Bob Marley banner has been hung on the colorful side of the WorldBeat Cultural Center.

The flag atop the Balboa Park Administration Building is at half staff. The world is troubled. Balboa Park is a refuge, filled with peace and happiness.

Beauty and sunshine are abundant in Balboa Park.

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can enjoy even more Cool San Diego Sights by following me on Facebook or Twitter!

Beautiful succulents near Natural History Museum.

This afternoon I was walking along the parking lot near the San Diego Natural History Museum when my eyes were arrested by beauty.

Many of the small succulents in planters next to the museum were simply shining. They were suffused with glorious light.

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can enjoy even more Cool San Diego Sights by following me on Facebook or Twitter!

Do you love beautiful things? Visit my photography blog which I call A Small World Full of Beauty.

A beautiful, magical walk between buildings.

Visitors to Balboa Park walk down a short pathway between the Casa de Balboa and the House of Hospitality.

My walk through Balboa Park today included a few restful moments in a magical place.

Between the Casa de Balboa and the House of Hospitality you will discover a space filled with beauty, strange wonder and peace. A dreamlike place where the soul can find nourishment.

A family making their way to the colorful tile fountain at one end of the walkway.

Looking back toward the arched colonnade that connects two sunlit buildings.

Photo through the elegant colonnade. On the other side of El Prado you will find the reflecting pool and Botanical Building.

Fantastic plaster ornamentation atop columns.

Many beautiful sights await curious eyes in this space between buildings.

A tree casts a magical shadow against windows.

A breathtaking look up at one corner of the Casa de Balboa.

Looking upward at the opposing tower, which rises from a corner of the House of Hospitality.

Lavish, fantastic Spanish Colonial Revival architectural touches on the House of Hospitality.

A mysterious delivery (and a tree’s shadow) enter an open door.

A lonely door and single light seem out of reach . . . painted magically on a canvas . . . afloat in bright space.

Natural beauty along a curving ramp between the buildings.

A heavenly flower near one dreamlike window.

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can enjoy even more Cool San Diego Sights by following me on Facebook or Twitter!

The Alcazar Garden, like a dream.

Even when I don’t wander into the Alcazar Garden, I like to peer at it through a series of arches along El Prado. I like to watch visitors moving through the maze-like green hedges that border beautiful plants and beds of flowers.

The way the slanting sunlight touches the garden, the place always seems like a living dream. A magical sunlit dream.

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can enjoy even more Cool San Diego Sights by following me on Facebook or Twitter!

Watercolor Society paints in Balboa Park.

A member of the San Diego Watercolor Society paints a beautiful scene in Balboa Park.

During my long walk today I noticed painters here, there, and all around Balboa Park working at their easels.

It turns out members of the dynamic San Diego Watercolor Society had converged on the park to capture the surrounding beauty! It appeared to me that they were succeeding!

Many painters were near the park’s huge Moreton Bay Fig, enjoying excellent views of the Casa del Prado and the entrance to Spanish Village.

A friendly artist uses watercolors to interpret the entrance to Spanish Village Art Center.

A spied a couple of painters in Spanish Village, trying to capture the colorful atmosphere.

A nice lady painting near the center of Spanish Village allowed me to take a close photo of her work. I love the bold patches of color!

More San Diego Watercolor Society members were inside an arch looking out at the Plaza de Panama. I see the California Tower in one painting.

Creativity in Balboa Park, where sunlit beauty stretches in every direction.

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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk! You can enjoy even more Cool San Diego Sights by following me on Facebook or Twitter!