Lonely at night

Back to the PIH medical office building for one last visit, this time at night.

At night, the color is gone. (See Shades of Greece in Downey?) Although nicely lit up, the effect is more lonely than welcoming.

The lighted way

Rady's Children's Hospital, San Diego. It is night and we are ready to head home. As we walk across the walkway to the parking garage, the way is lighted by a series of lights mounted along the walkway and glowing into the night. We have had a long day at the hospital visiting my new grandson. We are all tired and ready to rest.

Keeping your head

Seeing the mannequin inside looking out on the headless mannequins in this downtown Downey window, I thought of the saying, "If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, maybe you just don't understand the situation."

But I never knew that this was a parody of the poem "If," by Rudyard Kipling, that starts out with these lines:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you...

and ends with these:
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Date night in downtown Downey

I stopped in tonight at the opening of "The Hyperpresent," this month's art exhibit at the Stay Gallery featuring artist David Layton. I enjoyed this exhibit. The paintings are photo-realistic, bold, and colorful. The pictures in the scenes above are from a series entitled "Cinema," and they will be on display through March 30.

It looks a little like date night at the gallery. Some couples are content to just stand and gaze. Others feel the need to animatedly discuss, and perhaps explain, what they're seeing.

"The earth without art is just eh."

The cost of convenience

One of the businesses that does stay open late in Downey is the convenience store at the local gas station. This store, as is typical of convenience stores, offers a little bit of everything, with the benefit of being open late to suit my whims, with no waiting in line. All it costs me is a little higher price for my late night ice cream snack.

Winter nights continued

And in another area of Downey, the corridor is well lit, but empty. Businesses close down early in this part of town.

Winter nights

Our recent warm spell has made it comfortable to take a walk after dinner. But walking through the empty streets reminds me that winter nights have a very solitary feel to them.

"There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you.... In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself."
~ Ruth Stout