Art tour

Sue is here and we have visited a few art museums in NY and Boston lately, and seen paintings of many great artists: Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Georges Seurat, Alfred Sisley, Max Beckmann...

In the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) of NY, we saw van Gogh's The Starry Night. They also have an exhibit of Georges Seurat. Although they don't have the final work of Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, they are showing a collections of over 20 studies Seurat made in preparation for the work.

In Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY, I looked at The Cornfield with Cypresses as close as 3 inches from the painting and saw how thick the paint he had put on the canvas.

Part of The Cornfield with Cypresses in Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.

There are also paintings of these artists not seen so often:

Three Pairs of Shoes, Vincent van Gogh, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

Foreground: A Woman with Chignon, Pablo Picasso, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

Canon P

Just bought a Canon P from ebay. With the 50 mm f1.8 lens and light meter. Looking forward to it~


p.s. Some more research on the Canon P. It was marketed in 1959-1961. 87865 units had been sold. According to Canon Museum, the original design of this 50 mm f1.8 lens (Seranar) is described as a "historical masterpiece" of Gaussian lenses because it solved the technical problem of flare at large aperture.

Letter to Santa (Naughty)

A small boy wrote to Santa Claus:

Dear Santa,
Please give me a baby brother.

Santa wrote back:
"Send me your mother..."

From http://rootsgpk.blogspot.com

More B/W experiments

Black and white can alleviate the distraction of colors and bring the audience's attention to the theme of the photos. The photographer can also manipulate the color elements so as to reflect his/her own mood. I am doing more B/W experiments with my photos using PhotoShop and getting a grip of the tricks.

NEB back door, the day after snowing back in Feb 2006

Bradley-Palmer State Park, Oct 2007

The picture with JE in my previous post is also one of my latest experiments.

I have put other B/W experiments side-by-side with the original color pictures in my Picasa web album.

Farewell, JE!

Flashes of Memory

Today I finally got the pictures George took with his Canon P in Jerome's home. He used Fuji ISO400 film and processed the film at a local Walgreen store. The tone and the grainy texture makes the pictures so much like flashes of memory. This is what digital photography still doesn't manage to do without processing.


George has recently bought a Leica M6 and used it to take some pictures at my birthday party a few days back. I am looking forward to see the pictures.

I am Vader, Darth Vader... Hilarious!

From one of the best stand-up comedians Eddie Izzard on Lego Star Wars.

Vader: That must be the canteen here. Yeah. There must be a cafeteria downstairs, in between battles where Darth Vader gets, just chilled and go down.. I will have a pan-a-ala-arabia.

Attendant: You will need a tray.

Vader: Do you know who I am?

Attendant: Do you know who I AM?

Vader: This is not the game of "Who the Fuck are you". For I am Vader, Darth Vader, Lord Vader. I can kill you with a single thought.

Attendant: Well you still need a tray.

Vader: No, I will not need a tray. I do not need a tray to kill you. I can kill you with an out-age tray with the power of the Force. The force is strong within me. Even though I could kill you with a tray if I so wished. For I would hack out your neck with the thin bit until your blood flew upon the canteen floor...

Attendant: But the food is hot. You need a tray to put the food on.

Vader: Oh, I see.. the food is hot... I am sorry.. I did not realize... haha.. a-haha.. Oh.. J.. Yes. I though you were challenging me to the fight to the death.

Attendant: Fight to the death? This is the canteen. I work here.

Vader: Yes, but I am Vader, Lord Vader. Everyone challenges me to the fight to the death.

My birthday gifts

Yesterday was my birthday and we had a small party at home. Priscilla brought her Nintendo Wii over and we had a lot of fun swinging the controllers.

The other day Sophie asked me what kind of cake I would like for my birthday, and I said carrot cake. Carrot cake turned out to be one of the most laborious cake to make. We needed to grate 2 cups of carrots and mix in 4 cups of flour to make the dough. It was really heavy. I can take the credit of doing the hardest part of mixing.

The gift. I received 3 gifts. Sophie bought a shirt for me from Abercombie, Vanessa and Jarad bought me a Christmas ornament of a scene from Star Wars: A New Hope - Luke and C3PO are in Ben Kenobi's shed where Kenobi is showing Luke Anakin's light saber. A few sound track from the scene is played when the button on the left is pressed. One of them is one of my favorite line: "It (light saber) is the weapon of choice in a more civilized age of the Old Republic." Another favorite line of mine is "I-am your Fa-ther!" Haha.. I told Vanessa to look for that next year.


The last gift, also the most amazing one, is Star Wars: A Pop-up Guide to the Galaxy. It is a book laying down the main characters and places and trivial of the Star Wars franchise, with amazingly well crafted paper pop-ups. As Amazon.com puts it, "Bestselling pop-up artist and engineer Matthew Reinhart has designed a thirtieth anniversary commemorative edition that comes packed with a variety of novelty features -- pop-ups, working light sabers, pull tabs... "

The best part is on the last page. Turn to this page and you see the head portrait of Darth Vader fold-up. If you half-open the page, you can see the real face of Anakin's wrinkled face underneath the mask. The surprise is the side laps. Each of them flap-open to Darth Vader and Luke charging with their light saber, and the light sabers actually glow! And you can even change the battery after it runs out!!


Thanks to Sylvine who happened to run into it at Borders.

More G9 experiments

I've got some time to play with my new Canon G9. The must-have shot is my glass sculpture of Buddha.

Alfred Sisley revisited

I have written about Alfred Sisley before. He is one of the pioneers of expressionism, a friend of Monet but he did not live long enough to enjoy any fame or fortune. He lived in poverty for the second half of his life.

I looked at my painting collection in my computer just now and got struck by this painting. Maybe it is the time of snow, maybe the desolate feeling the painting is giving out. It was painted 100 years before I was born.

Snow at Louveciennes 1874; Oil on canvas, 55.9 x 45.7 cm; Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

嫁 去 波 士 頓

In this issue of Next Magazine:

香 港 三 字 頭 單 身 女 性 達 十 多 萬 ， 且 女 多 男 少 ， 何 去 何 從 ？ 有 姊 妹 索 性 向 世 界 出 發 ， 趁 假 期 或 年 假 頻 頻 出 國 找 機 會 ， 下 一 站 ， 我 會 建 議 波 士 頓 。

酒 店 女 公 關 告 訴 我 ， 波 士 頓 男 人 比 美 國 任 何 城 市 都 能 幹 精 明 這 大 學 城 ， 方 圓 五 十 里 內 有 大 學 五 十 所 ， 每 年 盛 產 資 優 專 才 廿 多 萬 。 加 上 波 士 頓 人 並 不 領 導 潮 流 ， 文 明 而 穩 重 ， 是 尋 求 安 穩 家 庭 生 活 的 最 佳 選 擇 。 怎 麼 樣 的 城 市 就 有 怎 麼 樣 的 人 ， 波 士 頓 的 優 雅 ， 無 論 從 十 七 世 紀 保 羅 理 威 的 木 造 故 居 與 貝 聿 銘 現 代 鋼 骨 建 築 的 古 今 並 存 、 或 從 三 百 年 歷 史 名 廳 內 傳 出 的 管 弦 音 韻 、 到 抑 揚 頓 挫 與 別 不 同 的 美 國 口 音 ， 通 通 展 現 出 來 。

波 士 頓 塞 爾 特 人 在 NBA 表 現 仍 居 榜 首 、 全 民 熱 愛 的 紅 襪 棒 球 隊 （ Red Sox ） 、 查 理 士 河 （ Charles River ） 上 划 獨 木 舟 青 年 的 青 春 汗 水 ， 都 是 生 機 與 活 力 的 見 證 。 作 為 女 人 ， 若 能 見 證 兒 女 哈 佛 大 學 畢 業 ， 與 丈 夫 天 天 在 歐 式 街 頭 中 挽 手 漫 步 ， 或 一 家 人 暢 快 大 擦 龍 蝦 餐 ， 那 溫 馨 幸 福 ， 夫 復 何 求 。

「 真 的 似 倫 敦 ！ 」 站 在 查 理 士 河 前 的 我 驚 嘆 。 這 河 是 波 士 頓 的 血 管 ， 由 西 向 東 流 ， 河 的 一 邊 是 波 士 頓 市 ， 另 一 邊 是 劍 橋 市 ， 河 畔 兩 岸 古 今 建 築 和 諧 並 存 ， 並 層 次 分 明 ， 中 間 的 最 高 ， 然 後 略 具 梯 形 ， 向 四 方 傾 斜 ， 外 觀 美 麗 ， 大 家 可 共 享 陽 光 。 河 中 有 九 座 大 橋 相 連 ， 當 中 幾 座 呈 現 儼 如 塞 納 河 風 情 的 古 典 雕 飾 大 橋 ， 以 朗 費 羅 橋 （ Long fellow Bridge ） 最 美 。

在 美 國 沒 有 地 方 比 這 裡 更 似 歐 洲 ， 波 士 頓 一 面 的 河 濱 用 地 兩 旁 秋 樹 形 成 了 一 道 黃 金 隧 道 ， 深 秋 楓 葉 徐 徐 落 下 ， 背 景 是 一 幢 幢 紅 磚 古 樓 ， 是 發 生 愛 情 的 好 地 方 ， 加 上 從 早 到 黃 昏 ， 都 不 斷 出 現 戴 著 i-Pod 、 單 人 匹 馬 跑 步 、 踏 單 車 、 步 行 的 中 年 男 女 ， 單 身 的 應 來 碰 碰 運 氣 。 查 理 士 河 畔 也 是 舉 行 多 項 活 動 的 場 地 ， 若 跑 步 、 踏 單 車 不 是 你 杯 茶 ， 可 嘗 試 在 七 月 四 日 國 慶 音 樂 會 、 龍 舟 賽 、 國 際 划 船 賽 、 或 到 河 畔 揚 帆 與 划 船 中 心 學 習 划 船 揚 帆 ， 偶 爾 到 河 邊 的 殼 形 音 樂 台 聽 免 費 音 樂 ， 甚 至 夏 夜 週 末 ， 很 多 人 在 橋 上 跳 探 戈 ， 一 片 熱 鬧 而 充 滿 活 力 的 氣 氛 中 ， 總 可 找 個 機 會 結 識 另 一 半 。

若 幸 運 地 有 第 一 次 的 約 會 ， 我 會 選 擇 美 國 最 古 老 的 餐 館 Union Oyster House ， 餐 廳 由 一 八 二 六 年 屹 立 至 今 ， 一 直 受 歡 迎 ， 在 此 約 會 喻 意 感 情 天 長 地 久 。 餐 廳 環 境 似 木 製 漁 船 艙 ， 窄 窄 的 樓 梯 老 舊 得 發 出 咿 呀 聲 ， 像 告 訴 你 ： 「 我 已 快 兩 百 歲 了 ！ 」 木 頭 桌 椅 都 泛 著 古 老 的 光 澤 。 用 餐 氣 氛 相 當 輕 鬆 隨 意 ， 也 不 須 留 意 什 麼 Dress Code ， 古 色 古 香 氛 圍 加 上 昏 黃 微 弱 的 燈 光 ， 反 而 比 金 碧 輝 煌 的 法 國 餐 廳 浪 漫 。

餐 廳 主 打 是 海 鮮 ， 一 樓 有 個 弧 形 生 蠔 檯 ， 新 鮮 肥 美 的 生 蠔 就 在 這 裡 一 打 打 地 被 撬 開 咕 嚕 一 聲 滑 進 老 饕 的 胃 裡 ， 另 外 一 邊 是 嘈 雜 的 酒 吧 區 ， 想 安 靜 用 餐 的 ， 便 要 乖 乖 上 二 樓 。 不 用 多 說 ， 先 來 一 碟 龍 蝦 ， 波 士 頓 龍 蝦 肉 出 名 爽 口 彈 牙 ， 非 頭 大 肉 少 的 南 非 龍 蝦 可 媲 美 ， 龍 蝦 分 大 中 小 尺 碼 ， 中 型 龍 蝦 已 夠 吃 飽 ， 三 百 元 有 找 。 最 驚 喜 是 這 海 鮮 餐 廳 連 牛 扒 的 水 準 也 相 當 高 ， 肉 味 濃 厚 多 汁 。

在 這 裡 約 會 的 話 題 特 別 多 ， 單 是 講 講 這 餐 廳 百 年 歷 史 趣 聞 ， 便 可 花 上 半 個 晚 上 ： 全 美 第 一 份 報 紙 《 The Massachusetts Spy 》 在 這 餐 廳 出 版 ； 一 七 六 九 年 路 易 菲 臘 未 成 為 法 國 皇 帝 前 流 亡 波 士 頓 期 間 ， 曾 在 餐 廳 二 樓 為 波 士 頓 婦 女 教 授 法 文 ； 美 國 第 三 十 五 任 總 統 肯 尼 迪 （ John F. Kennedy ） 是 餐 廳 常 客 ， 餐 廳 為 他 特 設 永 久 VIP 私 人 包 廂 ； 當 年 參 與 美 國 獨 立 戰 爭 的 軍 人 都 在 這 裡 出 糧 ； 連 牙 籤 這 家 品 ， 都 經 由 這 餐 廳 引 入 全 美 國 。 Union Oyster House， 還 只 是 一 間 餐 廳 嗎 ？

身 為 美 國 最 古 老 的 城 市 ， 波 士 頓 囊 括 無 數 「 全 美 第 一 」 ， 全 美 第 一 間 餐 廳 旁 便 是 全 美 第 一 間 酒 吧 「 Bell In Hand 」 ， 用 餐 後 到 酒 吧 ， 順 便 歎 杯 波 士 頓 名 產 啤 酒 Samuel Adams 的 Lager ， 易 入 口 兼 帶 有 勁 濃 麥 味 餘 香 。 剛 好 帶 幾 分 醉 意 ， 便 雙 雙 步 行 到 附 近 芬 紐 廳 （ Faneuil Hall ） 聽 一 場 頂 尖 的 波 士 頓 管 弦 音 樂 。

在 獨 立 戰 爭 爆 發 前 ， 波 士 頓 市 民 均 利 用 這 建 築 物 來 集 會 ， 討 論 獨 立 與 自 由 等 大 問 題 ， 現 成 為 飲 食 、 家 品 、 時 裝 等 消 費 市 場 ， 當 中 會 議 大 堂 更 變 為 波 士 頓 管 弦 樂 團 演 奏 場 地 。 看 一 場 球 賽 、 聽 一 場 音 樂 會 ， 是 波 士 頓 人 每 月 至 少 做 一 次 的 事 ， 在 具 歷 史 性 古 雅 建 築 空 間 內 ， 欣 賞 音 韻 圓 潤 、 非 常 平 衡 的 近 似 於 歐 洲 的 管 弦 樂 ， 空 氣 中 洋 溢 著 優 雅 氣 氛 ， 還 有 波 士 頓 人 的 藍 血 （ Blue-blooded ） 品 味 。

Christmas stockings

We put them over the fireplace.


McMug likes it over his bed.

A history secured

明報即時新聞
陳方安生穩勝 (02:38)
2007年12月3日

截至凌晨2時半，陳方安生已獲154527票，而葉劉淑儀則獲119179票，陳太穩操勝券。

今日立法會補選投票率為52%，有321000人投票。陳方安生已獲154527票，而葉劉淑儀則獲119179票，兩者相差3.5萬票。

柳玉成獲300票，李永健獲353票，蕭思江獲528票，蔣志偉3046票，凌尉雲獲710票，何來獲1412票。

(法新社)

Quotes of the day

天 主 教 香 港 區 主 教 陳 日 君 樞 機 :「 我 希 望 人 人 都 出 來 投 票 ， 想 多 些 民 主 、 主 張 直 選 ， 應 該 付 出 一 點 時 間 去 投 票 。 人 人 都 要 爭 取 民 主 ， 按 良 心 去 投 … … 大 家 要 做 一 個 有 尊 嚴 的 選 民 ， 多 參 與 投 票 。 若 支 持 民 主 自 由 的 選 民 沒 有 出 來 投 票 ， 一 旦 你 們 不 喜 歡 的 候 選 人 當 選 ， 到 時 候 ， 不 知 道 北 京 會 怎 樣 ， 大 家 會 後 悔 。 」
________________________________

陳 太 今 午 作 出 緊 急 呼 籲 ： 「 選 民 手 上 的 選 票 ， 背 後 有 三 個 代 表 ： 代 表 市 民 的 價 值 觀， 市 民 期 望 的 香 港 ， 市 民 想 要 的 立 法 會 。 你 們 想 要 一 個 沒 有 獨 立 思 考 、 不 願 承 擔 責任 的 立 法 會 議 員 ？ 還 是 一 個 敢 言 直 諫 ， 對 政 府 凡 事 清 心 直 說 的 議 員 ？ 你 期 望 香 港 將來 變 成 怎 樣 ？ 你 想 留 一 個 怎 樣 的 社 會 給 我 們 的 下 一 代 ？ 」
________________________________

灣 仔 街 市 一 檔 主 早 上 已 經 晦 氣 地 向 她 (葉 太) 說 ， 「 你 贏 梗 啦 ！ 選 你 ？ 係 香 港 不 幸 呀 ！ 」
葉 太 立 即 反 駁 ， 「 有 冇 咁 嚴 重 呀 ？ 」
________________________________

這 是 堅 持 自 由 民 主 信 念 的 關 鍵 時 刻 ， 這 是 對 抗 盲 目 服 從 專 制 強 權 的 重 要 一 步 。
-蘋果日報

Quick test shots of G9

I have received my Canon G9 last week but only had a chance to test it out during the day today. I took it back to work and took a few snapshots at my desk and outside at sunset. No processing of the image has been done except cropping.


It was so freezing cold out there. I could only stay in my car and rolled down the window to take a few shots. The three trees makes a very interesting subject with the leaves shed.

Christmas Tree

Yvette bought a Christmas tree last Sunday. It is about 9 feet tall and smells good. I happened to go to Ikea so I picked up a box of ornament. We set the tree up and put the lights and ornament on. My dad used to set up a plastic Christmas tree at home when I was young. He stopped doing that sometime for reasons I still don't know. Now it is the first real Christmas tree I have even had at home. It feels more like holiday. Fire in our fireplace adds the warmth.

Homer the President

Homer Simpson appears on the Letterman show to present the "Top 10 Reasons Why I, Homer Simpson, Should be the Next President"

Confusion

Confusion: a state of mental uncertainty
-Marriam-Webster Thesuarus

Maybe I am tired after playing squash 4 days in a row and staying up late at night, I am losing focus at work and at my 5th day of squash. I needed to take off from work early and not playing well at squash. Shamik and I went out to have a burger and beer after the game. I wanted to crave some hard protein. But still, I feel like not knowing what to do or what I am doing.

Acient Harmonies; Paul Klee 1925.

Reebok Pump Preseason

I looked up bensbargains.net from time to time. They have feeds of good deals of all kinds all the time. I ran into an ad for the Reebok Pump Preseason in black one day. They were on a huge sale from an online store: $19.99 from $99.99 with free shipping. I didn't think twice to order. Not only because it was a nice pair of shoes on a great deal, it was also the opening sentence of the post Bensbargains had put it: Back to the 80's for those pumps your parents never bought for you?

Indeed. I wanted to have those in my teens when I didn't have the bucks to buy them. But even now, I won't buy them for $99.99. $19.99 with free shipping? I didn't even blink but clicked "Buy it".

p.s. I have just checked the online store and they only have 2 sizes left and have marked the price back up to $49.99 already.

p.p.s. Now on my feet, they remind me of Darth Vader's suit.

Canon G9

I ordered a Canon G9 from Amazon.com and got it today. I have tried it out only briefly but I am already having fun with its PhotoStitch software. Take a few overlapping picture and open them in the software, which stitches the photos together magically in one click. It is a miracle. It not only adjusts the levels and brightness of the photos automatically, it also bends the pictures to fit them together. You can still see the seams if you look closely at the picture, but it is far too easy to take long panorama. This is a stitch of 4 pictures I took on the top of the trail we took last month in Conway.

Leftovers

Last night I made fried rice out of the leftover turkey for the house. I cut the turkey breast into small pieces, marinated them with soy sauce, little bit of the turkey broth Yvette made from the bones and fleshes, and some tandoori masala I bought a few years back. Then I warmed the meat up over medium heat and diced some long beans and fried them with eggs. After the rice is done, I mixed the rice with a few spoonful of turkey broth over medium heat. The rice turned out fantastic, and the meat was very tasty. Yvette and Sophie said the same.

Tonight I came home and found that Yvette had filtered the broth and put it inside the fridge. It looked like a bowl of chicken oil. I was planning to make some noodles, and so I decided to make myself a turkey broth noodle. I boiled some water and added a small spoonful of the chilled turkey broth. I tasted it and added more and some salt. When the noodle is done, I just drained the water and added the broth. Bravo.

The best part of the turkey dinner turned out to be the meat left from the broth. Man.. they are so tasty. Yvette added carrot and celery and onion to make the broth. I simply heat the meat and vegetable up in the microwave. The carrot and celery had absorbed the juice and the meat had been practically marinated in its own juice for over a day and then simmered for another day. They tasted darn good.

A traditional family meal is not only about what dishes to make and how they are made, it is also about how you turn the leftovers into more enjoyable meals.

Me and me

Thanksgiving dinner

Yvette put together a fat traditional Thanksgiving dinner last night. We had 12 people, a pumpkin pie, an apple pie topped with crumples, a cheese cake, 2 banana cakes, one beer bread, dozens of rolls, salad, sweet potato, mashed potato, stuffing and a 22-lbs turkey from a local butcher. That was a big feast. We spent 2 hours at the table and only finished half of the turkey and leftovers of all kind. We lit the fireplace and sat at the couch, chattering and drinking wine and champagne till almost midnight.

As a part of the tradition, we woke up today all eating pumpkin pie and apple pie for breakfast. Then I had a full turkey meal for lunch. Yvette made a broth out of the bones and loosen meat. We won't be needing to cook for at least 3 days.

睇咸帶鑿骨取彈頭

"古時有關雲祥全神灌注捉象棋刮骨療毒，今日有我淩淩漆聚精會神睇咸帶鑿骨取彈頭"

Tofukey

Tofukey is the funniest thing I heard today. It is probably the BEST thing vegetarians can get to not feel being left out of the crowd. The legend says it is a turkey carved out of a piece of tofu. I don't know how big that piece of tofu can be, nor it is really carved out of a piece of tofu, but these American vegetarians are closing to give in to the lust of meat. The good news is, we Hong Kong people have for ages fake roast duck, fake pork, fake beef and even fake abalone all made with soy beans and flavorings (artificial, of course). You only need to import them and have fun.


p.s. I tried to just get a glimpse of this elusive tofukey in google but in vain. It seems to be manufacturers out there making them, but they provide no picture of any.

A freaky thought

I must be staying too long in the lab. Not only I was stockpiling with sardines and ham and cheese and scones, today I had a very strong urge to drink some MilliQ water from the bottle.

By the way, the sardines in olive oil by this Norwegian King Oscar taste dame good.

A random thought

People who say things other do not think of are wise; those who do things other do not dare to do are brave.


Alexey Leonov, March 18, 1965, the first person to walk in space

國產凌凌漆

Man.. I can't help it.. hahaha...

國產凌凌漆

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga

I am not a huge Star Wars fans (I don't have Star Wars poster all over my bedroom), but it seems I have 2 posts in a row about Star Wars.



In Wii you can finally swing a light saber. It is coming in NDS also. Too bad it does not come in PC anymore.

Star Wars Stamps

I went to the post office to send a mail and picked up some stamps. I need stamps to send in my car insurance payment.

When asked for a pack of 20, the post lady asked me whether I had a particular choice. Instinctively I said no, but in a flash I asked "Do you have anything pretty?" She said anything under the glass and inside the book. The first thing that caught my eyes was a pack of Season's knits with lovely paintings of X'mas tree and snowman as if they are knits. Then she showed me an opened book resting on the desk, and it was Yoda all over... Man... they have got a few cool Star Wars stamp sets, and one of them is so cool that I won't be wanting to use them. Since they cost the same as the regular American Flag stamps (the face value of 41 cents a piece), there is no reason to pick anything but Master Yoda.

Here is the link to close-ups of all the Star Wars Stamps.

I though I would use these stamps when I was inside the post office. Now I have decided to keep them and get the Million Falcon and the Clone Troopers altogether as collectibles.

Bradley Palmer State Park

We have a very nice day today. Sunny, cool (~ 14 degC) without a cloud in the sky. Sylvin asked whether Sophie and I wanted to have a walk in Bradley Palmer State Park. So three of us headed off to the Park at two.

I have never been to this park although it is only 10 minutes' drive from our home. It turns out to be a small park and covered with a web of unpathed walking trails. We saw people biking and riding horses. It is actually a perfect place for horse back-riding and there are a couple of open-field and a few riding trails with obstacles for horses.


We didn't know there were plenty of walnut trees in the park until we picked up the green fruits all over the ground. I picked up a small rock and cracked open one of them against a rock (looked like a stone-age human) and tasted a small bite. It was so bitter but you can tell it was walnut. They were obviously still too green.

We downloaded and printed out the trail map and took the trails randomly. We spent less than 2 hours to cover 2/3 of the park. Not much of scenic view but in this time of the year the foliage makes the trails pleasant looking. More of the pictures are available at my picasa web album.

No Sex Since 1955

A crusty old Marine Sergeant Major found himself at a gala event hosted by a local liberal arts college. There was no shortage of extremely young idealistic ladies in attendance, one of whom approached the Sergeant Major for conversation.
"Excuse me, Sergeant Major, but you seem to be a very serious man. Is something bothering you?"
"Negative, ma'am. Just serious by nature."
The young lady looked at his awards and decorations and said, "It looks like you have seen a lot of action."
"Yes, ma'am, a lot of action."
The young lady, tiring of trying to start up a conversation, said, "You know, you should lighten up a little. Relax and enjoy yourself."
The Sergeant Major just stared at her in his serious manner.
Finally the young lady said, "You know, I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but when is the last time you had sex?"
"1955, ma'am."
"Well, there you are! You really need to chill out and quit taking everything so seriously! I mean, no sex since 1955?!" She took his hand and led him to a private room where she proceeded to "relax" him several times.
Afterwards, panting for breath, she leaned against his bare chest and said, "Wow, you sure didn't forget much since 1955!"
The Sergeant Major, glancing at his watch, said in his serious voice, "I hope not, it's only 2130 now."

From http://rootsgpk.blogspot.com/

How boys are born

Apparently it is a genetic thing... boys are born this way...







From http://rootsgpk.blogspot.com/

Canon P

Last night we had a party at Jerome's home for Sophie's birthday, my return and Jerome's house warming. George brought along his latest toy, a 1961 Canon P rangefinder camera. Geez, it is a piece of art. Mechanical shutter, mechanical film advance. Mechanical everything. He has added a 28 mm wide-angle lens and thus a hot-shoes a 28 mm view finder on top of the camera. And until we talked about taking picture I learned that he used to take a lot of black and whites, and he was actually planning to put a roll of B&W into the camera after he finished that roll of color. I am thinking to get a rangefinder myself and take some real photos.


p.s. Jerome's home is huge. A pool table in the drawing room and a pingpong table next to the kitchen. Not to mention the huge sitting room that houses 2 three-seaters and 2 > 30" TV sets, and a separate reading room. It was a great party and I played pool and pingpong a lot along with downing half dozen of beer.

Black & White Photography

I have bought a book about manipulating color photos into B&Ws from Taiwan. I meant to look for one because I am getting interested in B&Ws, since you can remove the color details that sometimes maybe distracting and you can put more emphasis onto the main theme.

I started playing around with the "Channel Mixer" in monochrome on a picture I took right outside NEB, where I can spot the open field of Appleton Farm on their hay harvests.

This is the original (I have cropped the picture to remove the fence at the bottom of the picture.)


and here I mixed the channels with more emphasis on the red;


and in this picture I added more green.


This is a picture I took in San Diego last year:


Now I keep red 100% but put both green and blue to -6%:


My brother's having my hat.