The Cactus and Its Creator

I am fond of University Heights neighbors who are San Diego natives and/or raised families here. This gentleman, who for privacy purposes isn’t named, often sits with his wife on the swing. He rocked back and forth as Annie and I visited him today.

The 89-year-old bought the house 56 years ago. Many of the generational homeowners inherited properties from parents or grandparents. In this case, he is the original owner, parent, and grandparent. He has living children who own homes elsewhere in the city.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 26, 20269:54 pm

‘No Kings’ is Hate Speech

Last night’s shooting inside the Washington Hilton was unequivocally an assassination attempt against President Donald Trump. Today, one of my neighbors casually brushed off the incident as being nothing really. I disagree.

Anyone who follows me should know that I used to live in the District of Columbia and suburban Maryland. As a quasi-retired journalist (covering the high-tech industry). I can assert with certainty that for many reasons, including exclusivity of attendees, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is one of the most secure events–or should have been. That the assassin ran across the hotel lobby, firing weapon(s), is an unprecedented breach that reminds of Ronald Reagan, when he was nearly murdered outside the establishment in March 1981.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 25, 20268:22 pm

Bike Brigade

While walking to a friend’s house to feed her cats, I came upon a bunch of bikers that appeared to be mounting up after a food/beverage break at Mystic Mocha, which is located in the San Diego neighborhood of University Heights.

The coffee and food shop sits at Alabama and Mission. But bike lanes are located on the adjacent left and right streets—Madison and Meade—that go East or West.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 24, 20269:51 pm

The Dude and the Lady

I surprisingly get good value from NX Studio, which is a much superior workflow companion than Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for editing photos taken using Nikon Zf. Big difference: I am rediscovering photos that are much better potential keepers than previously evaluated.

The Featured Image is the littlest example. This was initially a large crowd shot that I cropped closely. I hemmed and hawed, as the saying goes, about whether to close-crop to emphasize the gentleman turned left.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 23, 20269:50 pm

Parked in Monochrome

One of Nikon Zf‘s benefits is the ability to shoot monochrome with the turn of one little dial. NEF (e.g. RAW) files are captured in color, and the JPEGs are strictly black and white.

While a convenient contrivance, the feature is an imitation of what Leica Q2 Monochrom, or its successor, can do. By removing the encumbrance of the RGB-color overlay, Leica delivers a camera that shoots photos with superior IQ (image quality), relatively little noise in low-light, and rich tones and dynamic range—all editable in the actual RAW file.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 22, 20269:33 pm

Circles of Confusion

I am the long-time critic of the roundabouts (e.g. traffic circles) that San Diego is placing at intersections across the city. The euphemism for them is “traffic calming”, by official parlance. I call them danger zones—directly when you go through them and indirectly how they negatively change driving behavior.

The Featured Image and companion are evidence of the first. Two SUVs collided in what looks like one driver failing to yield to another already in the circle. This kind of confusion happens frequently.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 21, 20269:32 pm

Charming Cali

Among my goals for 2026 is to post every day—a task so far successfully achieved. But today has been unusually frenetic, and I am short on time. So, I share something unintended, recognizing there are too many cats.

Crazy thing, I am being honest, cats aren’t my obsession—or even close to it. I started shooting portraits of felines in October 2016 as an exercise to improve my photographic skills and as a process part of restoring my eyesight, following cataracts surgery and ongoing treatment for Macular Edema (that 10 years later is no longer necessary). Because so many people are cat crazy, I continued pursuing them.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 20, 20269:47 pm

A Landing and a Rising

This is a Featured Image too long delayed in sharing. The view is from the Skyfari Aerial Tram at San Diego Zoo. Building in the foreground is the California Tower, which is located in nearby Balboa Park. The structure was built in 1915.

I really enjoy the zoo, but we haven’t visited since December. The new parking fees, for which members are exempt, created inertia we never overcame. Parking is more complicated now with mixed free and fee, bringing about congestion and confusion.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 19, 20269:26 pm

‘No Library Cuts!’

A few days ago, Amazon sent email with book recommendations, and one actually piqued my interest: Washington by Ron Chernow. Hey, it’s a Pulitzer Prize Winner, and with the nation’s 250th anniversary upcoming it’s a timely biography to read.

Cough, cough. I choked on the price. The Kindle version sells for $16.99, discounted from $24. Seventeen bucks for a DRM-wrapped ebook? Ah, n-o-o-o. Hardcover: $23.76, discounted from the list of $41. Still, I wanted a copy of the bio. I looked at the calendar and remembered the third Saturday of the month was ahead, and that meant book sale weekend at the University Heights branch of San Diego Public Library.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 18, 20269:26 pm

I Don’t Believe in Coincidence

Something quite unexpected—remarkable, honestly—occurred while we were at the veterinarian office with Neko, yesterday. While he was in the back to have his wound cleaned, I sat in the waiting room vocabulary practicing in the How to Study Korean app. Someone at the front desk spoke to somebody on the phone about a dog. The animal didn’t have a microchip and would need to be picked up.

I mentally added context (correctly): Somebody dropped off the animal, hoping to locate its owner, which wasn’t possible without the microchip. The office couldn’t keep the dog. The rescuer would need to retrieve the lost pet, whose next destination likely would be the San Diego animal shelter.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 17, 202610:04 pm

Whew, Does Infection Stink

We had to take Neko to the veterinarian, today, for his first visit since 2013. He is a generally, and surprisingly, healthy cat. We adopted him from the San Diego shelter in March 2012. The professionals there estimated his age at two years. But days later, based on Neko’s teeth, the vet believed four years, which makes him likely somewhere between 16 and 18 years old.

Because of his advanced age, we were reluctant to take him for treatment. We correctly worried that all the change and stress would take a lot out of him, and it has; that could end an old cat. He was his normal old self beforehand: Alert, active, and demonstrating normal appetite. Tonight, he is listless and sullen.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 16, 20268:54 pm

Two for the Road

In six entries, I have written directly, or used photos of, the alley art gallery located here in University Heights. Chronologically: “Alley Art Gallery“; “Mutt Masterpiece(s)“; Pallet Palette; “Eighteen Years Ago Today“; “Return to Facebook“; and “In Memory of Scott Adams“.

On April 8, 2026, in front of the artwork, I passed by two bicycles put out for the taking. These aren’t the first free bikes to appear in a neighborhood alley—one person’s throwaway becoming valued takeaway for somebody else.