Summer Evenings

Under the light of a rising full moon, I went to pick a few eggplants from the garden for dinner, and there was "someone" moving about in our backyard. It looked like a cat (well, sort of). But then I smelled "something" like burnt coffee grounds, or garlic -- yes, a skunk! As I walked by, the skunk quickly shifted around to position his raised tail toward me. So I kept a respectful distance as I clipped off a few eggplants and returned back to the kitchen...

Summer is finally here again. The weather in Los Angeles continues to be quite sunny and intensely hot during the day with high temperatures up in the 80's and 90's (degrees F). It does cool down to around 60 degrees at night, but maybe not cool enough. We leave the bedroom window wide open at night to cool down the house. An occasional cooling breeze blows in along with the moonlight falling onto our faces.

Hikaru's been having some difficulty sleeping. He gets hot -- especially his head that gets sweaty and he scratches himself like crazy. The other day, he finally pointed to the electric hair clipper. We asked him if he wanted a haircut, and he nodded "yes" (believe it or not), so we gave him a short baby buzz cut this evening. And now he's "cool".

It's been a busy couple weeks, especially at work. I was feeling a little unbalanced, so it was nice to finally spend time today taking it easy. Reversing some of accumulated stresses is not always easy as it sounds. But I discovered just the right quote for the hot summer and the evenings where one can feel a certain stillness and healing...

"Just as activity beats the cold,
and inactivity (stillness) beats the heat,
Purity and stillness can heal the world."
-Lao Tzu

In this photo Hikaru wears his favorite "monkey" shirt, and he is trying to make a "point" that we can understand. He's 22 months old.

Jumping Babies

Today we went to Abby's one year birthday party. We ate lunch, ate cake, and watched Abby open presents. There were babies everywhere. It was also Hikaru's very first experience jumping in an inflatable jumper. He was very cautious at first, but he had fun. In this photo, Sarah and Hikaru pose with big smiles on their faces.

Veggie Views

The Japanese eggplants that we planted in May are finally becoming real eggplants that we can eat. Isn't this exciting?



Also here's a look at our cucumbers...

Mount Zion

Last weekend, I went on a 5-hour 10-mile hike in the San Gabriel Mountains with six other members of the "Hiking Club". Our destination was Mount Zion, and here are a few photos to share.

In this photo, some of the morning clouds and haze is burning off, and the sun is starting to shine through.



Below is a view along a stream where my backpack took a sliding dive into the water while taking some of these photos. Fortunately, it was rescued by one heroic hiker. Yes, I need to figure out a better way to remove my camera without removing my pack.



Looking toward the city of Arcadia below from the top of Mount Zion, this panoramic view is not so impressive, but we did climb about 2000 feet in elevation on this hike.

Hiking With Hikaru

On Sunday we went for a short "urban" 3-mile hike with Bernard and Miu-Ying in northeastern Los Angeles at Debs Regional Park. For LA residents, this park borders the 110 freeway going north from downtown to Pasadena near Montecito Heights.

Hikaru had a fun time riding in the "baby backpack", picking up leaves, and scratching in the dirt. Daddy got some exercise carrying an extra few pounds to the top of the hill and back down again.

Well, here goes another home video with Hikaru running around. He's 21 months old now. We also did see some hawks soaring over the hilltops, and hummingbirds humming, but we were too slow in pulling out the camera to capture them. Please click on the image below to view the 3-minute video.