Cruising Grand

Escondido, like many other American towns, has a tradition to show off antiques cars, whether restored or new (saved) I do not know. Anyway, back from the old days when a person shown in this photograph used to own a car just like the one in the photo only his was brown and white, not blue and white.

It's an old Chevy. Strangely enough, Tom owns a Chevy now too. Only this time it's a new Chevy.

Jade Buddha

We went to see Jade Buddha festival. The crowd there had to be seen to be believed. We haven't got to see the stature unveiled but lots of people seemed to be willing to wait for this grand event. Almost all attendees were Vietnamese. Talking about Asian patience! We got to see the picture of this Jade Buddha and I must admit I've seen better looking buddhas. The most amazing thing was that the festival was held in Escondido, which, let's put it that way, is not exactly famous for being a cultural center of Southern California.

Daley Ranch Trail

Tanya on Daley Ranch Trail

Very early in the new year, 2010, we have been hiking on the trails of the big Daley Ranch Park--one of the City of Escondido's nice parks.

This park is mostly chaparral-covered dry mountains.

Several easy hiking trails take you up into what feels like quiet, remote countryside--but in reality the park is just a few minutes away from busy Escondido streets.

You can see from the summer dress in the photo--the Daley Ranch park in very warm even in mid-winter. In the summer it is just plain hot!

...

Dixon Lake Park

Dixon Lake Park is a wonderful nature preserve, one of the few that are left. The unique thing about it is that it is very large and the trails are long and non-paved, which is good for exercising your feet. There is one trail that is still paved but it is rapidly growing into a state of disrepair.

The landscape is a typical California desert with not much variety but even so the scenery changes now and then and occasionally you see a stunning distant views of the valley below. The hills are barren and rocky and plant species are not numerous.

The trail is favoured by mountain bikers and horse riders, which is understandable since it's about the only unpaved long trails in this city.

This is truly a jewel of Escondido.

New opera

Well, it so happened I became an opera buff. I kind of liked them before but now I pulled out the old records and checked out videos from the library.

On New Year's Eve I've got the package in the mail: my very own first opera on DVD. I got Simon Boccanegra. I started watching today and I liked it the second time even better than the first time, which was a VHS tape from the library.

Wonderful performance, fantastic music, all the actors are not only great singers but also superb actors, which is not a common case on opera stage (just look at pavarotti, for example).

This opera by Verdi is not very known yet it is one of his most if not the most dramatic operas composed. Great story. No wonder Verdi wanted to get back to it after the failed early attempts.

Bravo!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2010 New Year!

I still can't believe it's New Year's Eve. It's not much of a deal here, seems like everyone is bunked up after Christmas but I like to celebrate it and celebrate it we shall!

We had a feast. Could not even eat it all. A party of two was great. When the New Year arrives we are going to play the flute and beat the pans to make noise.

Anyway, Happy New Year!

Pondering

He would look good in this shirt.

Why do we celebrate Christmas?

Seriously, to me it's more like a regular holiday, which basically means just day off and that is a good thing. But all the fuss and commercial overtones? It's not a Christmas as much as it is Giftmas and you of course are supposed to buy all your gifts for friends and relatives at the mall.

The amount of junk at the malls are overwhelming and it's all same ol' same ol'. The funny thing, you can't even buy what you want. How do I know? Well, I wanted to buy a pair of walking shoes. I had my mind settled on Reabok and there were no shoes available in my size or at most, there would be just one pair but either wrong colour or model or something. I have one of the most common sizes of shoes and I went there twice and they never replaced the stock. I was very disappointed.