University of California at San Diego - UCSD

The Professor and Theodore Geisel and the Cat in the Hat

outside the Geisel Library at UCSD

The engineering building before the "Fallen Star" was added.

Irwin and Joan Jacobs School of Engineering
The "Fallen Star" house designed by Do Ho Suh was placed on the
engineering building on the 15th of November, 2011

Geisel Library

Close to the end of the snake winding up the 

hill to the library.  Milton's Paradise Lost

The end of the snake is its head with its tongue teasing the 

pilgrim climbing the hill.

A few years ago all of the shrubs by the library were trimmed

back dramatically.  With the cover gone, all of the rabbits disappeared.

Of course the rabbits don't worry us.  We aren't concerned about the 

damage they cause to the ground and landscape.  Therefore, we were delighted

to see a few of the tiny rabbits back home in the shrubs by the library.

At the Beach at Del Mar

And away they go...

The professor grew up in a family where gambling was a part of life.*  His family got together to play cards.  They lived in the San Francisco area so they enjoyed going to Reno to gamble in the casinos.  At one time, the professor's father was joint owner of a race horse.**  Needless to say, the Professor was exposed to gambling and particularly horse racing when he was very young.  His first experiences of going to the races were watching horses run at the county fairs in the summer time.  He learned to read the Racing Form and to handicap the horses.  

When we first started coming to San Diego on a regular basis, we rented a house in Solana Beach.  It was about a ten to fifteen minute walk with the Professor's long legs to the race track in Del Mar.  A lot of our children have been to the races at one time or another.  I went with him when we were first married and fortunately took a book to read.  Races have about a half hour between each running.  Lots of time for the handicapper to think and for me to read a novel.  

The Del Mar season starts in mid July and twice during the time the horses race here, the organizers have what they call "Donuts Day."  It is a Saturday morning when all of the family is invited to come to the track and watch horses exercise while they eat donuts and drink orange juice or coffee.  One of the highlights for many racing fans is the opportunity to see and hear Trevor.

Trevor Denman is one of the most popular voices in horse racing.  Our entire family has got to know him as if he was a family friend because he has announced at the Del Mar race track for so many years.  In fact this year he has been announcing in the US for 30 years, 29 of those here in the San Diego area.  He is originally from South Africa so has a very distinctive accent and a great deal of charm. 

Unfortunately none of my efforts to take a picture of him worked this year.  The venue for his question and answer session was just inside a huge canopy with the daylight behind him..  My modest camera could not catch more than dark images even with the correct lighting setting.  

He is best known for the phrase "And away they go...", spoken as the horses emerge from the starting gate.^[2] Some other phrases that Denman has coined are popular with racing fans, such as "scraping the paint", used to describe a horse who is saving ground (running very close to the inner rail). Another is "they would need to sprout wings to catch ______ ..." when a horse is leading by an insurmountable margin in the stretch. A similar phrase used in the same context is "he's [or she's] out here moving like a winner..." "______ looks like he jumped in at the quarter pole..." is used when a horse comes from far back and is running so fast as to give the impression that he has only just started to run. Finally, another well known Denman phrase is, "_________ is coming like an express train!" This phrase is used when a horse is running right by leading horses in the stretch.

These are a few pictures taken with some of the race horses and the lead rider who usually accompanies the high spirited race horse and his jockey to the track.

This is the paddock. Yesterday there were no horses in this area.  Usually we have seen some skittish horses here who are being taught to be calm around the public.

Despite the fact that the 1930s were plagued with the Great Depression, the city of Del Mar procured land and built a fair ground. Bing Crosby and friends raised money so that they could build a race track to accompany the fair grounds.  Crosby was the first president of the Turf Club.  Today the pavilions are named after Bing Crosby and friends some of his friends.  At the time the track was built, racing was the number two sport followed by Americans.  Baseball was number one.  Today race tracks are closing and there are less horses running in the races.  The current generation is attracted to football and basketball as sports to bet on.  Hollywood Park is closing this fall.  So far Del Mar is surviving and still the exciting spot "where the surf meets the turf."


*Notaconnoisseur (that's me - the blogger) grew up in a home with a very different view about gambling.  My father grew up in a strict religious environment where they were taught that gambling was a sin.  Therefore there were no cards in their family.  My mother grew up in a home where her father had lost all of his pay check in a card game during the depression.  My grandfather never played cards or gambled again and there were no cards in their household.  As a result we never had a deck of cards in the home where I grew up.  In fact I still cannot spot the winning hand in a card game in a movie.

**According to the Professor's older sister, the Professor's grandparents gave their mother a piece of property close to the beach in Santa Cruz.  In the 1950s the Professor's father persuaded his mother to sell the property and he bought a race horse.  As far as I know, it never won a race.  Whether it ever ran in a race, I don't know.  Hard to think about having a house close to the beach in Santa Cruz once upon a time..

Not long after we arrived at the beach we were passed by a small sand vehicle with two life guards in it.  They drove to the southern corner of the beach by the "castle."  One of them grabbed a board and was gone.  It was amazing to see how quickly he paddled on the surf board out into the ocean.  After that another guard took out a board and a third one who arrived in a jeep dove into the waves and was gone.  We stood on the shore trying to see beyond the rising and falling surf what had happened.  Before anyone made it to shore one of the water skidoo driven by a life guard had joined the rescue.  Our immediate thought was that a kayak had gone over leaving its passengers floating in the ocean.  However, it was not long before we saw the guards with boards coming in.  Each one had a passenger.  Then came the water vehicle with two people clinging to the yellow board on its back.  

Four people all together and four life guards.  They looked as if they were snorkeling and perhaps one of them got into trouble.  There was a teenage boy who looked a little shaken up but everyone was fine.  

The mystery to us is:  how did the life guard station know that off in this remote corner far from the closest life guard tower someone needed assistance?  We had not seen any helicopters in the air nor anyone out in a vehicle checking the beach.  Did someone with a pair of binoculars pick up the people in distress?  

So nice to know that they are there with the capability of a rapid response.

Fishing

My foot has been doing pretty well until I twisted it again.  This morning I was definitely slowing Dad/Earl down.  I walked with him to the pier and then asked him to walk the rest of the way on his own.  I stood for a few minutes watching a young man in a kayak try to get beyond the surf and out to the calmer water.  He would almost make it and then he could not overcome the force of the waves.  He would be pushed backwards towards the beach.  He would turn around so that he could see where he was, then he would face the ocean again and struggle to get beyond that powerful surf. 

I watched for awhile then I turned around and started back toward the parking lot.  As I was walking along, I saw a small fish lying on the beach.  It had apparently been washed in with the tide.  However, the tide was going out so the water might not get close enough for this 4 inch long fish to get back into the ocean.  It was still alive.  I could see its gills moving.  I tried to pick it up and carry it back to the water, but it so wiggly that I lost it.  I picked it up again with some of the sand around it.  I got out fairly deep and dropped it into the surf.  

For a couple of minutes I waited to see if I could spot the fish being tossed back onto the shore by the tide.  I didn't see it so I started walking again.  Just when Earl joined me, we saw a young woman pick the fish up off the sand.  I told her that I had tried to get it back into the ocean but the tide seemed to throw it right back.  We watched as she made her effort to restore the fish to its natural environment.  Almost immediately she saw it being swept back towards the beach.  

We didn't stay to see if she tried throwing the fish back into the ocean again.  

I decided that although it was still alive, it must have been so weak that it could not deal with the force of the tide.  The kayaker was making a much more valiant effort in his fight against the waves, but neither one of them seemed to be making it out to sea.  

This is a picture of Grunion which is native to Southern California and Baja California.  Could this be our fish?  It certainly looks like it.  It also would account for the fact that the fish was living despite being on the sand. Check out this NPR story.

San Diego Temple

Is your shirt on inside out?

The other day I put on my khaki shorts and got ready to walk on the beach.  However, I discovered that I had a problem when I tried to put the key to the car in my pocket.  I couldn't find the pocket.  It took me only a moment to realize that the reason I couldn't find a pocket was because I had my shorts on backwards.

It is a sad situation when you have to face the fact that your belly is as big as your behind so that you can't tell if your pants are on backwards just by the fit.

Tonight after swimming in the pool and taking a shower, the professor and I went out to a comfortable buffet style restaurant for dinner.  I took a favorite shirt out of the closet and put it on.  It is a white shirt with a small red design.  I had on denim capris and red shoes.  I actually thought I looked fairly nice.

We got settled in a booth and were enjoying our dinner.  The professor got up to check out the salad bar.  It was then that a woman with a definite New Jersey accent approached me and said, "Excuse me, but I think you have your shirt on inside out."

There was no mistake.  I certainly did have my shirt on inside out.  There was a label sticking out on the side and when I went to the restroom, I discovered that there was a label at the neckline as well. At my age it is not embarrassing to have someone kind tell you that you apparently don't know how to dress yourself.  Honestly, all I could do was thank her for telling me about it.

When the Professor returned to our table, I told the women sitting behind me that it was all his fault for not having noticed my inside out shirt.  In truth, I have been known to go to work with my shirt on inside out as well.  My co-workers have no problem pointing out that I need to go to the restroom and put my shirt on  right.

It was an interesting dinner because Nancy told me about a few of her embarrassing moments and I shared a few of mine with her.  Before we left, she gave me her business card.  It says she is a housekeeper/nanny.  She only told me about one client.  She goes once a week to care for a very sharp 94 year old woman.  She helps her bath and shampoo her hair and makes sure that house is in good order.

If I live to be 94 I hope there is a Nancy to come help me at home.  As for the daily part of my life, I am so grateful for the women or men in my life who don't hesitate to point out that I have my clothes on backwards or inside out or are willing to tuck in the label at the back of my neck.

Low Tide

Turk and Tek come to visit