The Salton Sea

The Salton Sea is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) inland lakes in California. It is salt water lake and it appeared more or less by accident when the waters of Colorado rivers broke a dike and eroded two watercourses whose waters eventually filled the Salton Basin. The Salton basin is one of the lowest places in the United States.

So we had to see this famous sea. One can imagine a nice beach community with shady palms, luxurious houses and clean sparkling sand. Imagine the yachts sailing in the distance and gay Mexican music in the air. The streets are bursting with tourists who have hard time to decide which Mexican restaurant to choose: they all look so inviting with their bright colour facades and salsa music. You get the picture.

Well, as you have probably guessed the reality was pretty disappointing. There was a Yacht Club Drive there but no yachts in sight. Not even a former yacht club building: how did they get a street with the name like that? The brightest building in town was a high school: painted in garish yellow colour with a picture of a wild cat. I could not read their motto.

Well, Salton City is located right in the desert so the plant life there is minimal. A little bit of chaparral. And, no, they have no palms there to speak of. A few we saw at the beach looked very pathetic and a few were burnt. There was one Mexican restaurant but it looked spooky. Very few people outside but that is pretty much a norm for any California town, especially desert towns.

It seemed somebody had high hopes for a real estate boom in that area. For example the aforementioned Yacht Club drive had two lanes separated by the inner strip. There were quite a few new looking houses, new but very ugly. But I saw some ads advertizing cheap houses, like around $100000 which is more than anyone should pay for that area.

Probably the most shocking part about this "sea" was fish. The beach was covered with dead fish. It seems that it gets so hot here that tilapia does not have enough oxygen to breath. They grasp for the oxygen in the air because the heat does something to the water that deprives fish of oxygen. Once the high wind actually revived them. It looks like now they have the annual fish die-off. There were also lots of birds who evidently were not interested in dead fish but preferred them alive.

The general impression of the place was rather dreary and the opposite of the picture I described above.

Thomas Aquinas College

As we drove out of Ojai by the scenic route among the hills past the ranchos we saw a sign for Thomas Aquinas College. We thought it was rather a curious place for a college, it not exactly in the middle of nowhere but certainly off the beaten track. The drive-in was kind of hidden but we foundit way and drove right in.

The first unpleasnt surprise: it turned out to be a private school so not only one could not drive in but one is not even supposed to park outside the gate! We did  so we got out to take a quick look but the security guard told us that we were not supposed to park there. But when he found out that we just wanted to take a quick look around this unusual place he said it was all right. So we went in.

So as the name implies it is a Catholic school or rather college for high school or even graduates. The complex is located right at the foot of a mountain and it has magnificent view. The buildings have kind of old fashioned look not like these awful-looking modern day institutions.

 We visited a chapel: it was quite big, more like a church than a chapel with Vatican style altar. They were some workmen outside taking a break. Right outside the chapel you get a splendid view for what ordinarily would be considered a backyard.

The complex behind the main building had Spanish mission style architecture with its signature arches. The whole place was spacious and open, the atmosphere was quite relaxed. One could tell it was an expensive school. Well, it was fairly close to Ojai.

Krotona

 Toms and Gerry

We visited old friends in Ventura and found out that the city has grown a lot in the 10 years since we've been there last.

The changes were small but perceptible. Ventura is one of the old mission towns with narrow streets so it does not yield itself to growing graciously. As a result we have jammed streets, shabby houses and overcrowded parking lots. It is right on the sea coast so in a way it is a beach town, which means expensive but scuzzy houses and apartments.

But all that is just too depressing. We drove around the town and went to visit Krotona gardens. Krotona is a Theosophy headquaters situated in a small town of Ojai near Ventura. Theosophy is kind of a "new" religion based on the writings of H. Blavatsky. Well, as expected that place was empty. It has a nice cozy library with its perpetual guardian from the old days.

Sedona, AZ Chapel

Sedona Az. Chapel. (Tomasito photo)

Yes, it is just this pretty.

Its small--and there are tourists--but it is well done in every way. I am glad some people have expressed their religious emotions in art and architecture and this is a fine example of the best that some creative people can invent.

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Sedona, AZ

Red Rocks, Sedona,AZ. (Tomasito photo)

We visited Sedona--one of the most unusual small towns in Arizona--which probably means in the world--on our recent "Journey to the East".

It had been some years since I was last there and Sedona has changed a LOT.

In fact--the little village  of Sedona I remember has completely disappeared.

The area has always been known for beautiful red cliffs and rock formations--nicely set off by intense blue sky and the elegant green of the pinon and other pine trees. But it sure has filled up with new highway round-a-bouts, motels, gift shops, fast-food restaurants, houses and tourists.

Well, what else is new? Flagstaff is a rapidly growing university town a few miles to the  north and Phoenix---a mega-city now--is just a few miles to the south.

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Two Arizona Wonders

Saguaro Forest

The awesome saguaro forest near Tucson, Arizona, is home to these beautiful gigantic plants--some are two hundred years old. The saguaros have somehow evolved to thrive in this arid climate and are one of the many life-forms which live together here--often depending upon each other in amazingly complex ways.

They are are an inspiration to visit and see.

Nice Lake Havasu

The above photograph is of Lake Havasu from the Rotary Club Free Public Park just a few blocks from the London Bridge.

In  this blog a few days ago I made a bit of fun about the famous  bridge, but the lake itself is an unexpected and beautiful  large body of fresh water out in the desert between Arizona and California.

Since we visited on Easter Sunday there was a lot of motorboat noise but the park had many cool shade trees and green lawns and we even were observers of a pleasant  family Easter-egg hunt.

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San Xavier del Bac

 Mission San Xavier del Bac

The famous mission San Xavier del Bac is located on the outskirts of Tucson and one of the the sights that you will probably want to visit. I read in a magazine that it is the most photographed building in Arizona or Tucson. It is quite spectacular.

Now I don't know much about Arizona missions though I visited every mission in California. San Xavier was one of the early missionaries in India and China. Inside there is a replica of his body. Actually I am not even sure if it's replica of Xavier or some other saint.

 This must be San Xavier himself

Surprisingly the place was not as crowded as I thought it would be. The lot in front of the mission was unpaved. There was a little plaza with gift shops on the side but it was barely making it. Hmmm... pretty sad for a famous tourist place. Right next to the mission you could see a bunch of Indians selling fried bread and other snacks. Again, no customers.

There are other missions in Arizona too but this is probably the most famous one.

Nogales, AZ

 A typical alley

I don't know about you but I really wanted to see a border town. We were in Tucson and it's only 30 miles from there to Nogales---a twin town, partly American, partly Mexican. So technically speaking, there are two towns called Nogales: one in Mexico and the other one in the USA, separated by the border.

On the front page of a local newspaper there was a big article about a new border: how the old one was flaky and not very secure (did you know they could climb over or dig a tunnel under it?) and how the new one was going to be better, with spaces on it to look through (the old one was solid so Mexican ruffians threw stuff at border patrol officers).

Well, as soon as you enter the town, it's a ordinary enough view that greets you: standard shopping centers. Disappointing. So in the evening we took a ride to the "old" town and had a glimpse at the Mexican border. At the "real" Nogales Well, I tell you...

Nogales is a location appropriate to make horror movies: no extra props are necessary. Old shabby houses line hilly streets, in fact in an eery sort of way it reminded me of San Francisco, all these hills. Lots of abandoned houses and the ones that are not abandoned look creepy. I took a shot of the house with three cats sitting in front of it. See if you can find uglier looking cats.

A house with three scruffy looking cats.

This one takes the ugly prize

This cat is exactly the same color as the mop that is beside him. In fact it took me awhile to notice him

This is my favourite. This cat had a flicker of awareness in his eyes and seemed to notice my presence

As it was getting dark to went for a drive, if you can call it that, on the streets of Nogales. We almost stuck on the way to the border but was lucky to get off at the last minute. Drivign was crazy there. The main street was lines with usual shops selling clothes and souvenirs though most were closed by then. Also we noticed lots of exchange currency places: an unmistakable sign that you are either in the capital or the border town. People spoke Spanish on the streets and we even overheard some suspicious conversation discussing some murky deal.

The border crossing place was pretty much what you can expect with lots of people crossing. It did not look too inviting. All the what-to-do magazines in motels kept advertizing one restaurant in Nogales. It would be fun to go but we did not have our passports and did not know the address.

So what about the border? Well, I took one picture to show you. We could not get really close to it, but you could see a drastic change. The houses in Mexico were shabby but all painted in different jolly colors. Mexicans love bright colors and loud music.

A view on the border with Mexico

This is Mexico

Actually people seemed to go easily between two countries. We saw plenty of cars with Sonora license place and there was a border check on the freeway between Tuscon and Nogales.

For a better scoop of Nogales one has to stay more than an afternoon but we decided to leave the next day.

London Bridge, AZ

London Bridge AZ. (Tomphoto)

We HAD to visit famous London Bridge on Lake Havasu out there in the Mojave desert.

It is a long drive--no matter where you are coming from-- but you HAVE to see it--just like we did!

Of course it is installed in the middle of a LOT of touristic clutter, but you DO expect THAT, don't you?

Well you just don't remove a famous bridge from London and plunk it down on a dammed lake on the Colorado River without expecting SOME tourists to visit now, do you??

Anyway--you SHOULD see it for yourself! Nuff said. (Click on the photo--the bridge is just visible in the center--beyond the parking lot.)

TW

Small Things

Desert.

Immense and silent today. 

Not too hot--not too dry.

Filled with life and small things. 

Small things so precious--so important--so valuable--so perfect.

~:~

Trip to Arizona

Last week we decided to go to Arizona and look at different things that we heard and read about but have never actually seen. So we drove through the hot desert of Southern California. We stopped at windy Cabazon and saw giant windmills. We went through Phoenix and Tucson. Phoenix is just a huge metropolis: noting exciting about it.

Between Phoenix and Tucson there is a little known town of Coolidge where one can see Casa Grande ruins: an old remnants of American Indian dwellings.

Casa Grande ruins (Coolidge, Arizona)

Casa Grande ruins are not very famous but it's a nicely maintained park, very small. They have a history museum there and a little park that surrounds the area. Shade is a big issue in these parts of Arizona. 

The funny thing is that there is a town called Casa Grande, presumably named after the ruins. It's very pretentious and obviously blooming and growing, but the actual ruins are in Coolidge, which is a small town with absolutely nothing interesting besides these ruins. There is nothing much left but two old sites of the ancient dwellings, one of them is just a foundation.

Arizona Trip

We just took a little trip--another "Journey to the East" for us--though the farthest East we got was Flagstaff AZ. Not so very far after all but a very nice little trip in our nice little green subcompact Chevy Aveo.


So much desert. So much dirt. So little water. So many miles. Such wonderful fun.

Oh, it is awfully nice and I feel inspired and like new. It is so nice to get away for a change and a rest. (Remember the old post card vacation saw: "The hotel got the change and the bartender got the rest!")

In our case, we stayed at the least expensive motels we could find--those which were up to our high standards for "clean" and "quiet" and like that, of course--and we don't sit in bars so the bartenders--in our case--didn't "get the rest".  The gas stations did.

And we saved more of that scarce stuff, money, by eating steamed rice (we cooked our own in an electric pot) and tuna fish. (You can still buy a can of "chunky"(cat food quality) for under a dollar!) As a matter of fact, we didn't eat out even once! Not even at a McDonald's! Pretty good, huh? Such careful diners!!


Back in Temecula yesterday afternoon. Slept in our own bed last night. Cooked a real meal in our real kitchen. (Fried potatoes and onions and easy over eggs. I finished off with a can of chili eaten cold (bad but  yum!) and Tanya had her usual hot tea. 

Everything good.

TW

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Pale Sketch

We have decided to take a few weeks off from our usual work, blogs and pastimes--so I thought it would be fun to make some sketches.


Well, the first sketch I present here is pretty pale! (Can you even SEE it?)


I guess if I want to scan these sketches into my blog,  I will have to bear down a bit more on the color pencils--but I seem to LIKE them pale!


Oh well, communication is the purpose I suppose, so let the color JUMP!

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Temecula Library

Escondido Public Library. (Tomasito photo)

There are two libraries in Temecula--both almost brand new. 

The building of the one nearest  our apartment is really impressive--a City Set on a Hill on a steep hilltop overlooking the Ronald Reagan Sport Park (photo above).

We love libraries and one of our first acts in any new town is to visit the public library and get a borrower's card.

Our new library is about a half hour hike from our apartment, which makes it just about right for some good exercise. I say hike instead of walk because we live at the bottom of the hill--and the library is at the top.

The collection is so-so--not nearly the books, CDs or DVDs of our Escondido library--but lots  more public computers--which seems to serve the needs of the local people pretty well though, oddly enough, there are NO magazines about the world of  computers.

There are rows of free PCs--even a row (in the spacious Children's Section of course)  for little kids--and I mean little kids-- pre-readers. For these tykes they have colorful machines with blocky keys and the toddlers seem absolutely intent on whatever  they are doing with their fingers which translates onto lively pictures on their monitors--just like Daddy I suppose.

In fact this library seems ideal for children and child-like adults. It is a sort of a friendly "isn't this fun?" sort of a bookish place.

There was not much evidence of the used-to-be popular writer I was looking for: Hermann Hesse--no Glass Bead Game, or Journey to the East for example, but they did have Siddhartha.

Since the library is so new, the restrooms are absolutely modern and clean and the staff is very friendly, welcoming and efficient.

This library is a part of the Riverside County system and materials from the other county libraries can be ordered for the patrons.

There are comfortable seats for reading or just sitting and admiring the splendid valley view.

Its nice.

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American Dream

 A typical middle-class house

I was walking through the neighbourhood today looking at the residential houses. The houses in the area we live are very middle class: not exactly ranch style but not MacMansions either. In fact I was surprised to find out that lots of them are no bigger than an apartment we live in. I could not see backyards but the general impression was that nobody had a vegetable garden there. The lawns were barely cared for and there was not a hint of individuality: all pretty much generic houses. All have lawns in the front yard and garages. Very few have just an empty lot - no grass.

Anyway, it got me thinking. A few decades ago owning your own house was called an American dream. And this is an interesting cultural phenomenon, we don't hear, for example, about a Chinese dream or Italian dream. Yet everybody knows what an American dream is. America is not the only country where you can buy a house though admittedly more people live in their own houses than in other countries.

 A typical MacMansion

But if we look at it closer, what shall we see. Like I mentioned before, lots of them are not that bigger than an apartments. You have to pay for everything like maintenance and repairs. And the main reason: why do so many people want 30 years mortgage? The word mortgage means "an agreement to death". They end up paying much more than this agreement is. I personally think that the average house is just not worth the asking price but than I am not the best judge of it.

Robert Kiyosaki in his excellent book Rich Dad Poor Dad explained that house is actually a liability and not an asset like most people are led to believe. A banker actually said that "now is the time to buy". She said that while the country is still in economic recession!

 A house in a prosperous neighbourhood

We had a chat with one of the residents who put his house for rent. He said that he commuted to Riverside while his wife commuted to Carlsbad. Both towns are at least 60 miles away from Temecula! Commuting 60 miles a day is not my idea of fun. For the last 2 year I had to commute 7 miles and I got fed up with it. let's see 60 miles commute is at least 2 hours every day you are not get paid for. Add 8 hours of work and we have 10. Looks like they just have enough time in their house to sleep before they go back to work. All this wasted hours so they could have a house in the "country". A dram fulfilled?

I don't think so.

Temecula City Hall

Tanya at the Temecula City Hall. (Tom photo)

Tom at the Same Place. (Tanya photo)

View to the West from Temecula City Hall Fountain. (Tanya photo)

This afternoon we visited the Temecula City Hall for the first time.


The building is almost brand new and it is first class. The architecture is inspired by the old California Missions with a strong touch of The Alhambra.


In fact it is just the place a calif might want to live in--and that's not too bad. Pretty fountains--some beautiful rare potted plants--quiet--clean--well lighted--air conditioned. We had the same reaction as when we visited the State pyramid building in Sacramento: These bureaucrats sure know how to treat themselves well!

This fine new building is located on the Old Town side of the freeway at the edge of the few square blocks of restored old-fashioned buildings which make up the Temecula Old Town--that's why the view above looks like a turn of the century--the nineteenth century that is--town with traditional mainstreet buildings and two-lane main street. 

Of course, the fact is, this is an illusion.


Present day Temecula has nothing to do with any Old Town. It is a late twentieth Century Southern California sprawl designed for automobile locomotion--period. Single family ranch-style houses-- shopping  malls--acres of paved parking lots and hundreds of thousands of cars--that's Temecula.


The day was just about perfect-- warm spring sunlight passing through the Temecula mist and little traffic--we shared the thought: This is not such a bad place to live!

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Temecula Museum

 The Museum

There is a nice little museum in "Old Town Temecula". 

Old Town Temecula is a small group of older restored buildings--all that is left of the original village of Temecula--what was here before the "new"freeway brought the flood of people twenty years or so ago.

Steve, the host on our first visit took the time to lead us around and tell us some of the history of the town.

On our second visit we went by ourselves to the upper floor where we saw a collection of cameras and had fun trying on  costumes of the American pioneers in this part of California and taking the photos in this post.

Tanya in old fashioned dress.

The Gunfighter

Rodeo Star

Temecula Tom

So when you want to do something cultural and fun in Temecula, CA-- we recommend a visit to the town museum.

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Temecula Hilltop

Y

 Tanya Temecula Hilltop. (Photo Tomasito 2011)

This hilltop is a ten minute walk from our apartment.

Ynez Street, one of Temecula's main thoroughfares, crosses the upper photo--passing Duck Pond and a very busy crossroad, Rancho California,  to the freeways and shopping malls.

On the other side of the background hills to the west lies the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base and the Pacific Ocean.


We are having a nice rainy spring so the hills are green and the air is humid and cool.


It is a pretty nice environment.

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Grocery Stores

A word about Temecula Grocery Stores.


They are big, boring,expensive, poor in quality and approachable only by automobile.


Our problem is that we got accustomed to shopping in two very good grocery stores in Escondido: Vallarta market, a ten minute walk from our apartment, and Northgate market, a ten minute drive.


Both of these grocery stores are "Mexican" style supermercados--catering mainly to Mexicans or perhaps  I should say, "Spanish speaking people", which form the demographic majority of Escondido residents.


These are BIG grocery stores which combine bakery, fast-food eatery shops along with the usual foodstuffs.


An odd thing we noticed about them when we first moved to Escondido is that though they would be full of customers WE were often the ONLY gringos there. When we got used to them we used to play our own little game: "How Many Gringos Can You Spot Here Today?"--and we were usually the only ones in the store.


The check-out clerks were all bi-lingual--which we found meant they spoke Spanish and English. Their fruits and vegetables were plentiful and cheap and the Muzak tunes were down-home Mexican. They offered a wide variety of foods--their meat departments sold everything imaginable from both north and south of the border and their processed foods came from all over the world--at cheap prices.


Here  we find  the less expensive supermarkets: "Food 4 Less" and "Win Co",  and the high-priced stores: "Von's", "Fresh and Easy", "Ralph's" and "Albertson's"--and no Mexican supermercados at all.


The prices in these markets--even the less expensive ones--are ten to twenty percent higher  than the Escondido Mexican markets for EVERYTHING--  and the fruits and vegetable departments especially are far poorer in selection and quality.


There are NO walk-in customers at all since these stores can only be reached from their own huge parking lots. This does not sound important, but it is. The Grocery stores in Temecula are separated by miles of highway and can ONLY be reached by automobile. No car--no food. This may not seem like a big deal, but as gas prices continue to rise (over four dollars per gallon now) it will become more important.


All the grocery stores here in Temecula, thirty miles north of Escondido, are "gringo" supermarkets--and THAT, unfortunately,  means all alike:  expensive and heartlessly boring. Why do gringos put up with this? We are forced to the obvious conclusion: Because they are stupid.


I can say this knowledgeably because I AM a gringo.

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Jelly Roll

Today we baked the jelly roll and it turned out marvelously. It was our first try. The roll became history in half an hour. It's very easy to make and we are going to make another one very soon.  

Hemet , CA

We drove the forty or so miles out to see Hemet, CA today.

Hemet is another new town like Temecula--or maybe even stranger.


It wasn't hardly there ten years ago either--it was a tiny desert town 20 years ago. 

Now it is a mass of what we call McMansions--identical huge houses on tiny lots built by the thousand on virgin desert land. This land--which was desert or alfalfa fields not long ago--is now a patchwork of housing and shopping malls. 

All the malls are identical too--same stores with same merchandise laid out in identical ways. (They only allow creativity at the corporate level.)


It is REALLY depressing if you think about it very much.


And all these identical people commute to somewhere to work--maybe forty or fifty miles a day. Rivers and oceans of gasoline consumed. (Gasoline today a few cents a gallon less than four dollars per.)


And the children in these instant communities have never heard a rooster crow or a cow moo. They have never planted nor harvested a garden. Life, to them, is this identical existence in Macmansionland.


This is not good.


What is easy to foresee is abandoned old McMansions returning to the dust and thousands of displaced people trying to find work and survive somehow in LA.

Hemet is a disaster waiting to happen.

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Temecula

What have we got ourselves into?

The first night here in an apartment full of boxes and 'stuff' we could heat the neighbour's cough, banging of doors and similar sounds. Surely the place has walls that are too thin. Considering that everything was of that superb Chinese quality that you can depend on, we though we got ourselves into deep trouble.

Luckily it turned out not so bad but it's still does not compare favourably with the previous place. The balcony is nice. We lost a desk while unloading: the piece of junk just fell apart and now we have no desk. Because of French window and "kitchen", if you can call it that, there would not be a place for it anyway. I don't like junk in the middle of the room. I like plenty of space.

I will tell you a little bit about Temecula. We found a little brochure about Temecula and it was so overhyped in the old days that now we suffer the consequences. The town is no more and no less as a typical new American town, which means lots of housing development, shopping centers or rather conglomerates of shoppig centers and , surprisingly, patches of undeveloped land among them. We drove for about 3 miles and all that time there were nothing but shopping centers, one right after another.

There are a few factories in town, which hopefully provide people here with jobs. But we don't know for sure, it seems illegal Mexicans found their ways even here. People here in general seem rather aloof and not very friendly.

Miniature Kitchen

I am learning to cook in our new apartment's miniature kitchen.


The size is about six by eight and it has everything a kitchen is supposed to have. The neat part is you don't have to move your feet much--you just turn in place from refer to stove to sink to pull-out cutting board. Reaching up for the dishes and ingredients is pretty easy too. It's all right there.


No room for two people in this kitchen--it's an intimate  pas de deux if it happens.


Serving is easy too. Heck, you are out of the kitchen and to the dining table in less than a couple of feet--and the dining room, as it were, is all carpeted so you better  not spill the soup!


Now I keep my elbows IN while I am cooking. No flamboyance or Julia Child tricks! And chopping must be carefully controlled--you don't want to flip some cabbage onto the carpet.


Not complaining, just stating facts.


All the appliances are brand new Chinese quality--carpet the same--I suspect even the new paint and the cheap linoleum are from the very far east


The light is not good. Located at the back of the apartment far away from the large french windows which form  the wall on the north side of the room and tucked behind a sort of half-bar situation--not the kind you sit at and not big enough to use for cooking work or anything else-- the "kitchen" (I put it in quotation marks because it is really just a dark corner containing the usual kitchen equipment)-- is almost the darkest part of the apartment--but not quite as dark as the toilet-shower closet--which gets no natural light at all.


Oddly, the electric light switch for the kitchen is located in the apartment entryway--you have to walk around the around the "bar" from the "kitchen" to turn on the light and the electric fixture is so dim you can hardly see the sink or the tiny work surface where you are supposed to prepare your food anyway-- even in the daytime.


We think it would be a good idea if the architects who design these apartments had to LIVE in them for a few years! Maybe then they would not be so concerned with saving money for the owners but would actually THINK about what is best for the residents. Let the punishment fit the crime.


If this new apartment is so miserable then, you might ask, WHY did we rent it? I'll tell you why. It's a LOT better than the others we looked at in Temecula! And cheaper. And very quiet!

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The Move

Our latest move was only about thirty miles distance. 


This time we had selected  an apartment BEFORE we moved. This simple thing eliminated some of the stress.


We also had the sense NOT to move our stuff by "Budget" truck rental company. Instead we rented a sixteen-foot Penske truck and it was a wonderful experience. (I LOVE to be a temporary trucker--it is such fun to look down on all the little cars from a grand high-up cab!)


We can move ALL our impedimenta OURSELVES in about three hours. We have learned to own only objects we can easily lift. We had a heavy computer desk which we managed to load onto the truck but which fell apart when we tried to load it onto a hand truck to bring it up the sidewalk to our new apartment. So it arrived in our new apartment in pieces and we tossed 'em in the trash dumpster the next morning.


We had accumulated quite a few books--several hundred pounds of them--in the ten years since we have lived in California--but we had packed them in small boxes weighing no more than fifteen or so pounds each so they were easy to carry. (Oddly enough we have decided to give most of them away now--we will retain only those which fit into our one small  bookcase.) There are usually good public libraries in every town in California so we seldom re-read any of our own books anyway.


The rest of our stuff are things we use almost daily.


I have collected about twenty papier mache "works of art"--things I have crafted over the last three years (my three wasted years, I call them). Some are pretty big but all of them are light weight  and they all fit into the storage closet that comes with the apartment.

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New apartment

So we have moved.

It feels strange. We've stayed in Escondido for quite a while and became a little attached to the place. The place was nice, the only real drawback was a noisy street right outside the window. Everything else was fine, especially compared to the new place in Temecula.

The new apartment is not bad but it has a really dumb floor plan, the most striking features being the kitchen and the bathroom. The "kitchen" is no more than a dark nook where only one person can stay at a time. Hardly any working space for people who like to cook. It does have all the appliances and they are all new. Chinese fine quality that you can depend on.

The kitchen light cannot be controlled from the kitchen. Kudos to the architect for that. 

The dining area is carpeted: truly stupid thing to do as there is no way to keep crumbs completely off the floor. We had it once before but at least other features were good.

The big room is okay, we have a remodeled balcony, which is quite spacious. Today we had our 5 o'clock tea on a balcony right outside. Nice.

The dumbest features of design were reserved for the bathroom: first of all, it's divided into 2 areas and the part with the sink is carpeted: how stupid is that? The tub is the smallest we ever had and the water pressure is low. This shower is not very conducive to dawdling. We liked to dawdle in the shower of our Escondido apartment because it was just perfect: full water pressure, nice feel of the water jet, the temperature stayed stable and did not jump. In a word, everything you can expect from a perfect shower. Every apartment should have a shower like that.


We like to have a window in our bathroom and this time we are half way there. There is a window in the part with a sink. It has stained glass that casts a strange light like in a cathedral. It looks like an electric light from another room but it's natural. Unfortunately this window cannot be opened. Well, at least we have a window.

As a matter of fact it turned out that only this particular building (and one more) have windows in the bathroom and it was a decisive factor in choosing this particular apartment. We inquired about it and it turned out that it was vacant. So now we live in it.

I think that whoever designs these apartments must live in them for a while to see how it actually feels. And the more uncomfortable they are, the longer they should live there. Let the people who actually live in them decide how comfortable they are.

Anyway, we almost unpacked, set our computers and now are ready to explore Temecula. Temecula, here we come!

Moovin On

Goodbye Daley Ranch Path (Tomas photo 2/11)

Time to move on.

Escondido has been fun, but
"...detach and go,
Cell in the stream, 
Fish in the flow
a thousand worlds wait--let go, let go!"

T&T

...

Samson

 Modern Day Samson

More Buddhas

Buddha on a dashboard of my car

Well, not  exactly the Jade Buddha but for out purpose, close enough. It looks like miniature jade Buddha.

And this is a miniature stature of Quan Yin, a goddess of compassion

Here's another one with a darker background

Jade Buddha

Today we went to see the Jade Buddha again. The Jade Buddha festival is held Escondido right now for about a week. We went to see the Unveiling ceremony of the same Buddha but the place was so crowded it was hard to see anything. The strange thing is that this statue has a gold disk like a halo that seems to be attached to the back of the head. The one that is on display right now though has no disk attached. So it could be the same statue. It is supposed to be the largest Buddha made out of gem-quality jade. The third eye is made of rubies.

Jade Buddha made of gem-quality jade.

For comparison I inserted the picture of the model Buddha from a Buddhist monastery that is situated in the remote part of Escondido. As you can see the other statue does not look like it's made of jade.

This statue looks almost identical but of inferior quality.

Well, looks like we've got ourselves into a mystery. How many jade Buddha statues are around? Is golden halo disk attachable or not? Well, it does not really matter, I suppose. 

Speaking of Buddha statues, here's another interesting fact. In the remote monastery or the meeting place where the model Buddha is there is a kind of a temple that happened to be open. So we went inside. The upper part of the wall was decorated by three rows of miniature jade Buddha statues. 

Inside the Buddhist temple the walls are decorated with Buddhas. 

So what else? Another interesting thing is that some Buddha statues are decorated with swastika. The golden Buddha presiding the altar is just one example.

Multiple Buddha images decorate the inner space of the temple.

As you can see there are two big statures forming a double altar (one is behind the other). There are two more statures probably of some other deity other than Buddha that are behind the towers (you cannot see them on the picture). The towers are decorated by medals of Buddhas. Interesting. Very interesting. Quite different from the Christian churches.