serene’s posterous

Now that we now live so close to California Ave, it just seems to make sense to pop by to the farmers' market on Sunday a little more often.  Last Sunday was the first time we had gone to the market since we moved.  And it was more because a friend was visiting us, and is a big fan of farmers' markets.  There were lots of cooked food stands and produce stands, and also craft stands on the side closer to El Camino.  As expected, the produce looked really good but is also really expensive.  The selection was also probably better earlier in the day.  I only succumbed to buying 2 pomegranates for a dollar each, just because the samples were so sweet and tasty.  I wanted to get some of the pluots that I had also sampled, but they were just too pricey.  One of the highlights of the market was looking at the cats that were up for adoption from Nine Lives Foundation.

We just wanted to be outdoors last weekend and do a hike, any hike.  And because we didn't manage to finish all our errands on Saturday, we didn't have enough time to travel further to do a longer hike on Sunday.  We ended going up Mission Peak.  In 2004, we went up Mission Peak several times in our misguided attempts to "train" for our first backpacking trip in Peru.  But we haven't been back since.

It isn't a particularly hard or spectacular hike.  It climbs about 2000 feet in less than 3 miles.  Although we started hiking close to 5pm, it was still quite hot on the way up due to the lack of shade.  It was very windy at the summit, so we didn't linger too long to enjoy the panoramic views.  On the way, we saw handgliders, possibly a turkey vulture and hawks, and plenty of squirrels and cows.  This hike is probably better early spring because I imagine that the hills would be filled with wild flowers.

       

After an afternoon in the lab on Memorial Day, I decided I needed to be outdoors for a bit, and persuaded Eu-Jin to visit the cactus garden close to sunset.  The light was beautiful, and there are lots of pretty flowers.  We also saw a humming bird partaking in the nectar and bees too.

         

Eu-Jin and I stopped by this park in Menlo Park last weekend for a pleasant 30min close to sunset.  Yes, the little hills were probably made from landfill...but it was still relatively pleasant.  There were a bunch of people flying kites - including a really fancy looking dragon kite.  We also saw a group flying a radio controlled airplane.  The last photo is of Eu-Jin on a little hill surveying the possibilities of doing his long weekend runs at this park.

     

Eu-Jin got me a Canon G10 so that I won't be bored when he is taking photos.  But it seems I always end up taking photos of him taking photos.  First photo is sunset at Lands End.  The other 2 were of Eu-Jin trying to take photos of the Golden Gate Bridge with Vince looking on.

     

It has been a while since we had gone out for a walk.  We went to the Baylands Preserve again around sunset, but taking a different walk in the area.  It was low tide so there was a lot more exposed mud.  There was even what we termed "duck highway" - a little flowing stream for the ducks to get from one pool of water to another.

The birds were amazingly unfazed by the planes taking off and landing, calming feeding even as a loud helicopter flew overhead.

     

On Saturday, we went to this exhibition at the Asian Art Museum in SF. Eu-Jin
had really wanted to see the exhibits (before the exhibition ends in
January), after reading the WSJ article about it.
 
It was amazing! The exhibition was particularly poignant when you
realize that much of the rest of Afghanistan's cultural heritage had
been destroyed by the various wars and occupations of the country, and
that these treasures were thought to have been looted or lost forever.
 The most compelling items in the exhibition were the gold objects
(Bactrian Gold) found in the tombs at Tillya Tepe. The gold objects
were beautifully worked, some with blue turquoise and other stones.
The dagger hilt with the Siberian bear is one of my favorites. Great website
from National Geographic has more details.
 
The permanent exhibits at the rest of the museum were interesting.
One of the running themes was the spread of Buddhism from India to the
rest of Asia, and how Buddhism is practiced differently over time and
in different countries. But Eu-Jin and I got a little museumed-out,
and didn't spend too much time in most of the permanent exhibit rooms.

We went for a walk at the Baylands Preserve. Despite being surrounded
by a golf course, a sewage treatment plant, a dump and an airport, it
has its charms. We saw plenty of birds, including ducks, geese,
avocets, sea gulls (plus baby sea gulls!) and what looks like a ring
neck pheasant crossing the parking lot.

There was also a feeding frenzy at the duck pond when a few persons
started to feed the birds.

         

I didn't know there was a cactus garden on campus until recently. And
I had been living on campus for a total of 9 years (non-sequentially)!