Sunday spectacular

Yesterday didn't start out too well when I realized I'd been the victim of a crime spree terrorizing my cul-de-sac. Okay, perhaps that's a slight exaggeration, but someone did break into my car and steal my GPS. And when I say "broke into" my car, I mean they opened the door and removed it from the glove compartment, as it was obviously the one time I hadn't locked my car. We did have a very positive interaction with the San Diego County police department; apparently some other cars had been broken into and they might even have a description of the perpetrator. The detective assigned to the case will call if there are any updates; I'm not holding my breath.



We managed to turn the day around, however. We took a lovely ride through scenic and obnoxiously wealthy Rancho Bernardo and, after managing to stay awake (honestly the downtown has multiple purveyors of antiques and "estate jewelry", a bank, and real estate offices - it's a physical challenge not to slip into a coma while driving through), made our way to Escondido, where they seem to be keeping all the brown people. (To say where we live is racially segregated is an understatement. I was speaking with a friend who moved here from England several years ago, and she said when she first got here there was something funny that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Then she realized she hadn't seen a Black person in 3 weeks - she reckons it was 3 months before she saw one. With the zoo there are probably more pandas than African-Americans in San Diego).



At Kit Carson Park we watched a toddler cycle her big wheel into a tiny stream and added a notch to our "going to hell" belt for enjoying it far too much. More importantly, we finally got to see Queen Califia's Magic Circle:

This was the last piece Niki de Saint Phalle, one of my favorite artists, did before she died. These giant sculptures are all colored by hand laid mosaic. The details are amazing, and you can see more pictures of the structures here. I'd like to get to her Tarot Garden in Tuscany some day, but right now I think I'm lucky to have this so close by. And I managed to get there without my GPS - take that, vandals!