park sign graphics appreciation

I went to Yosemite to have a campout/cookout over Thanksgiving and encountered these signs. I have a fascination with park signs and their attempt to communicate universally. I also love the graphics. Enjoy!

 

sidewalk sighting #5/everyday rainbow

A truly earnest sight on a cloudy day walk to school.

 

sidewalk sighting #4/nopal

Once a year this neighbor prunes their nopal/prickly pear cactus and sets out cuttings which go really quick (thank you mystery neighbor!). This year I was at the right place, at the right time and with the right person – great. I love Nopal. In the city I see it popping up over fences, fruiting and showing off its bright yellow flowers. And in the country I’ve seen it planted as a hedgerow to keep people out of the orchards. If you ever exit off of I-5 in Southern California you’ll see Nopal everywhere. It even has medicinal uses like lowering blood sugar levels, making it a friend to folks with Type 2 Diabetes. The fruit and the pads are both totally delicious and readily available already skinned and diced in many bodegas around here. I’m probably going to baby the section I picked up and mix a soil with perlite that I have left over, but I’ve seen my neighbors just jam it into the super clay heavy soil and it has thrived. I’ve noticed that when people plant with confidence that plants respond by thriving, I think they like decisiveness!

 

inversion

This installation in Houston, Texas has since been demolished which is  a shame, but also in some ways makes it more powerful. Now it gets to live in our imagination. Inversion was constructed by Dan Havel and Dean Ruck out of two existing Art League houses that were set for demolition to make way for improved facilities. Photos by Gloria Mashayekhi.

 

busy bee

Sorry the posting has been slow, I’m winding up my summer term in my acupuncture program. Hope you have a great weekend!

A short list of what I saw on my walk home from school:

*2 more front yards dug up and completely planted with vegetables

*the Malcolm X elementary school garden in full bloom

*the traffic circle’s corn almost ripe

*a miniature chihuahua off  leash chasing his person who was riding a skateboard

 

sidewalk sighting #3

I walk to the acupuncture clinic that I’m interning at daily. It’s about a mile and I get to check out all the gardens as I go along. My favorite block is on Russell Street because of the amazing fragrance of the Michelia trees planted at the Thai Temple.

There are two large trees planted at the entrance and about a dozen more planted in barrels surrounding the temple. The trees are loaded with flowers, although unfortunately my zoom was too weak to capture them! I believe this variety is Michelia champaca. The flowers are a light yellow and you can smell them all the way up and down the street. They transform that little corner of the city into pure magic.

 

sidewalk sighting 2

I realize this isn’t the best picture, but I had to squeeze my camera between the metal fence posts while pacifying a very large unpredictable dog who guards the yard. I’m not sure who lives here but the yard is all cement except for this piano that they have turned into a planter. From what I can tell it’s a pretty random planting with an agapanthus, some succulents and a lone tomato, but I love it. It’s a sincere garden and it made me really excited. Do you think it can still play? Silly question, but I like wondering. 

 

sidewalk sighting 1