Due to Covid-19, all of our dine-in restaurants have been mandated to close again. Redlands' solution was to institute alfresco dining on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, closing down the first few blocks of downtown State Street, and offering dining in the street by several local restaurants, from 6 to 9 pm. Tonight I went down the street to observe the set-up and the beginning of the dinner service. This is a painterly version of a shot I took of the tables set up by Caprice Cafe, a fine dining restaurant. This program has been touted as a success thus far (Began July 9th), and is expected to continue into October, depending on pandemic conditions. 8/7/20 My website: www.sparhawkphotography.com
In celebration of our country's birthday, this is an image from several years ago on the 4th of July. Here in Redlands the fireworks display is done over the stadium at the University. This shows the Memorial Chapel on campus with the fireworks in the background. Truthfully, this is a composite, two shots, one of the chapel, one of the fireworks, taken about a half hour and about 50 feet apart. There was no fireworks display last year because of Covid. May we remember the importance and meaning of this day for our democracy. Happy 4th! 7/4/21 www.sparhawkphotography.com
I spent some time today in the art gallery where I work part time. It is downtown in our relatively small town, and I've never felt unsafe there, and even with all the rioting and chaos happening in nearby cities, I didn't feel I needed to worry. However, at one point this afternoon there were 5 police vehicles in just our block, lights flashing, and policemen were talking to people on the street. (I never did find out what had happened or had been threatened to happen). Suddenly a truck pulled up across the street at the Wells Fargo Bank, and men started boarding up the windows of the bank. I decided to walk up and down the street to see if I could see anything going on, and I didn't, but I did see this new sign painted on the side of a high end jewelry store that has been under renovation recently. Somehow the message of love, a block or so from the boarding-up-the-bank activity, was really striking. There's a lot of need for a lot more of this these days....and I hope the gallery is safe and secure tonight! 6/2/20 My website: www.sparhawkphotography.com
