Wednesday, August 30, 2006
The State Fair
I love the California annual state fair held each year in Arden.
Mostly because it reminds me of our melas back home.
The crowds and the noises, the smell and the near chaos.
Bright colors and lights.
Exotic and fun foods like corn on a stick, hot-dog on a stick, old lady's hair, apple caramels, fudges, freshly squeezed lemonades,
Frozen lemonades on a stick, steaks, kettle corns.....
The food looks great, but tastes yuck! (Well, not always, there are some delightful surprises)
The lemonades, corn and Texas bbq are our regular.
The prices are either ridiculously cheap or steep.
Fair price!
The bright lights
Interesting toys, and stuffed animals everyone seems to have won.
The joolas, the ferris wheels, the Russian circus stall, haunted house are all just the same as back home.
Stalls for the usual jewellary, local crafts, Native American crafts, appliances and stuff. There are stalls of DMV, county stalls
promoting local products and tourism.
All sorts of shows - cook shows, Hollywood move production show, safety shows, baby shows...
Each year there is at least one stall with Indian stuff invariably manned by a snooty chap. wonder why?
The differences are in the rodeo shows, the petting zoos, the animal races and the live music.
The zoo has domestic animals like cows, sheep, llama, pigs and even deer and kangaroos. This is a great attraction for kids of all
Ages, since they come in contact to pet these animals. Seems silly seeing these animals, but then this is one of the few chances
that kids here get to know these animals.
How excited can you get to see a cow or a donkey?? after seeing them all over the place in India.
Rebecca was excited, and she just as the other kids went about happily petting and laughing.
Hey, sheep come here! come here, donkey !
She rode a pony too, all smiles and totally carefree. What surprised me more is the confidence that she went with all by herself.
Takes after me, Iam sure ;)
Seems they used to have elephant rides along with the horse rides earlier.
I like the sky rides and the monorail too. The sky ride is a wench that moves on wire, it’s a view from the top. The monorail is a
rail that rides up the sky throughout the whole complex, giving an aerial perspective of the fair.
and the rides.
oh, the rides, this time I went for the free-fall among other extremes. Ohhh! Fun.
Still cannot get myself for the ones that turn upside-down in mid-air or even higher at relatively fast speeds, that is truly
Freaky.
Nah! So, far this is thrill enough for me.
We look for the home-made dip stall, an elderly couple selling dip ingredients. We meet them each year, chatting a bit. They have
moved to Texas now from San Francisco to be closer to their grand kids. Good dips too.
The finale is fireworks each night at 10pm. Beautiful explosions in the sky.
Worth it.
We did not attend Paul Dhinakaran's meeting.
Too busy.
Too lazy
Just didn’t want to go.
He’s not worth all that trouble.
No one else's interested - cos it's on Sunday evening. Saturday or Friday night might have been a different story.
All of the above excuses
Beats me though, how Marysville, a tiny town could arrange for a meeting where the speaker would only come for a crowd of 500 or more, while Sacramento could not.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Where's the heat ?
This year, winter was around till summer started. Where did spring go?
And summers? One week was killer heat; the rest has been pleasant, sometimes cooler, and sometimes even cold!
Funny thing is I went to buy swim-wear for Rebecca in the beginning of August, and zilch; there are none in the shelves.
Why?
Cos summer is over, we now carry our autumn collection.
Hey, August hasn’t ended yet - so, summers' not done yet. And no, this isn’t an haute couture store; it is an old navy store.
I need to get her a swim suit.
Go; try Wal-Mart or the like.
I cannot stand Wal-mart. Its business methods are despicable. I don’t like that store!
Well, the cashier shrugged charmingly.
I didn’t find it funny at all.
I stormed out of the store - summer is over, eh?
How come it is blazing hot out-side? Autumn indeed!!
Mercifully, Target had one - just one swim-suit her size. I grabbed it. No way was I hopping stores to see what they thought of the seasons.
So, this time around, officials are urging people to reduce electricity use to avoid blackouts as a heat wave strains power
Supplies
Someone else says this is Global-warming-on-your-face. We should have seen this coming. All over the globe, the climate has turned
harsher than normal. We are actually noticing the change.
Time to get radical.
Isn’t this what movies like A.I. Artificial Intelligence & The Day After Tomorrow have tried to depict?
Apart from Greenpeace.com and http://www.sierraclub.com, here are a few other worthwhile sites www.futureforest.com
Greenpeace urges you to join in with an 'either defend the planet or the planet will defend itself' warning option. Sierra club
gives you a cute ‘Iam here to defend the plant' button.
http://www.carbonneutral.com/
http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ta_activist
And summers? One week was killer heat; the rest has been pleasant, sometimes cooler, and sometimes even cold!
Funny thing is I went to buy swim-wear for Rebecca in the beginning of August, and zilch; there are none in the shelves.
Why?
Cos summer is over, we now carry our autumn collection.
Hey, August hasn’t ended yet - so, summers' not done yet. And no, this isn’t an haute couture store; it is an old navy store.
I need to get her a swim suit.
Go; try Wal-Mart or the like.
I cannot stand Wal-mart. Its business methods are despicable. I don’t like that store!
Well, the cashier shrugged charmingly.
I didn’t find it funny at all.
I stormed out of the store - summer is over, eh?
How come it is blazing hot out-side? Autumn indeed!!
Mercifully, Target had one - just one swim-suit her size. I grabbed it. No way was I hopping stores to see what they thought of the seasons.
So, this time around, officials are urging people to reduce electricity use to avoid blackouts as a heat wave strains power
Supplies
Someone else says this is Global-warming-on-your-face. We should have seen this coming. All over the globe, the climate has turned
harsher than normal. We are actually noticing the change.
Time to get radical.
Isn’t this what movies like A.I. Artificial Intelligence & The Day After Tomorrow have tried to depict?
Apart from Greenpeace.com and http://www.sierraclub.com, here are a few other worthwhile sites www.futureforest.com
Greenpeace urges you to join in with an 'either defend the planet or the planet will defend itself' warning option. Sierra club
gives you a cute ‘Iam here to defend the plant' button.
http://www.carbonneutral.com/
http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ta_activist
Thursday, August 24, 2006
keep your cool
Over a 100 deaths in cal due to the heat wave this year, another hundred or so across the east coast.
a small no considering the numbers in developing countries and in lands of extreme weathers.
nevertheless,there are interruptions which open up alternatives to conserving energy.
Here are a few random rumbling on keeping cool
- Turn on the fans and keep large bowl filled with cold water all over the home; the evaporation form the bowl will cool the place. Even if there are no fans, the effect is still good.
- Put water in spay cans (make sure the holes are tiny), and spray fine water in the air all over your place - restaurants do it too It gives a great cooling effect.
- Think iced tea and Jumba juice.
- Freeze bed -spreads! Weird as it may sound - this is from a friend who actually does it. She puts clean bedspreads in plastic bags and keeps them in the freezer for 20 mins or so, and then viola, it’s an invitingly cool bed.
- Eat water melon, English cucumbers, lettuce salads, and fish.
- Lick popsicles, sherbets and ice-creams.
- Go jump in a pool or a lake.
Summers used to be so intense in my childhood home in Jamshedpur that we used to pour buckets of water in our bedrooms in the evening. The old English bungalow that my family lived in had bedrooms that were slightly lower than the rest of the rooms, specially the storage-room. So, we poured water, and allowed the ceiling fans as well as the air-coolers to help evaporate and turn the rooms cool.
a small no considering the numbers in developing countries and in lands of extreme weathers.
nevertheless,there are interruptions which open up alternatives to conserving energy.
Here are a few random rumbling on keeping cool
- Turn on the fans and keep large bowl filled with cold water all over the home; the evaporation form the bowl will cool the place. Even if there are no fans, the effect is still good.
- Put water in spay cans (make sure the holes are tiny), and spray fine water in the air all over your place - restaurants do it too It gives a great cooling effect.
- Think iced tea and Jumba juice.
- Freeze bed -spreads! Weird as it may sound - this is from a friend who actually does it. She puts clean bedspreads in plastic bags and keeps them in the freezer for 20 mins or so, and then viola, it’s an invitingly cool bed.
- Eat water melon, English cucumbers, lettuce salads, and fish.
- Lick popsicles, sherbets and ice-creams.
- Go jump in a pool or a lake.
Summers used to be so intense in my childhood home in Jamshedpur that we used to pour buckets of water in our bedrooms in the evening. The old English bungalow that my family lived in had bedrooms that were slightly lower than the rest of the rooms, specially the storage-room. So, we poured water, and allowed the ceiling fans as well as the air-coolers to help evaporate and turn the rooms cool.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Day2 - Fort Ross, Russian Cove
We had put up the cover for the tent. Lessons learnt from the cold of the previous night. Cannot see the stars now, but
then decided comfort and rest were more important than gazing at the night sky. besides we were too tired and slept off immediately.
No alarm clocks to wake us up.
Rebecca did.
about eight-ish. I crept out to check on the others.
Joe and family were on already their way home. Seemed to be in a rush. Smiles and good-byes.
??
No one knows. Wonder why.
Anyway, the others were slowly waking and moving about. Breakfast and getting ready.
We folded the tent, cleaned, packed and cleared the site, made tea, drank it slowly, and went across to join the rest.
The kids were off to the playground, I went to the swings to push Kirti , Kitchu and Rebecca.
Higher, more higher!
Swinging 3 tiny kids and I am getting a good morning work-out.
Angel akka made good quesadilla - Mexican pizza of sorts and we had some. The orange juice pack had leaked and the ice was
all orange-ish. I poured the remaining juice and passed it around.
Chatted around, everyone had finished b'fast and were packing. We helped to put down a couple of tents and packing too.
The check-out time was noon, and it was too soon for lunch. So, leaving after lunch was ruled out.
We decided to drive for an hour or so and then stop for lunch.
Fort Ross sounded good to everyone.
How about parking in the day-use area, spending some time there playing, lunching and then driving straight home?
Hmm, sounded good to me, but everyone else seemed to be on the move. Tomorrow’s monday, need to fix things for school, work etc.
Stephen and family decided to leave immediately. Reeve didn’t seem to do well at night. So, we packed lunch for them and sent them off too.
Rebecca spotted an alphabet-caterpillar as we wondered close to the Gualala River. It didn’t work. Maybe needs new batteries.
The river bed was dry and wide with lots of pebbles; it looked like a narrow stream.
Still beautiful with the high trees and greenery around.
We drove up to Fort Ross state historic park for lunch. Lots of vehicles around, and we found picnic tables close to the parking lot.
The kids ran to climb branches of cypress trees, and we took a few pictures.
Lunch was quick, and the question was whether to go down to the beach or visit the fort?
Fort Ross is an Old Russian fort built in the early 1800s.It was established for Russia's tsarist government exploration,trade and settlement in the North Pacific, and for establishing permanent settlements in Alaska and California.
It still has a gun blockhouses and sentries on the two corners without blockhouses, a well, chapel and warehouse filled with provisions for the fort; a barracks and three officials’ houses...
Already Sheina had thrown-up within the hours drive, Jamela akka had developed a headache, and Gigi and John was on the verge. We finished lunch, took a few pictures, and said good-bye to all. there was first day of school on monday, Vallejo
shopping on the way etc. We talked to the fort with Santhosh and Nithila along the eucalyptus trees. Bright red and orangish-brown leaves lay on the ground.
It’s a very short walk, and we immediately realized that we could have driven to the fort's gates and parked instead of the parking lot. That way, we could have used the picnic tables inside, and everyone would have visited the fort itself.
Too late. The fort is a small rectangular enclosure, and we quickly visited all the standing structures and also the well.
We let santhosh decide whether to go the beach below. He had a small leg sprain form the previous day's cricket. He said,yes. Nithila's was an immediate yes too. So, we walked out of the fort towards the ocean. The skies were downcast, and it was windy and bit cold. We walked to the edge, and looked below; the beach is a crude downhill walk. We lingered near and decided not to go down.
Dharma wanted to go the Russian cove and the Armstrong state park on the way back. So, we made our way to the cove. drive on CA1, the cove looks inviting. We parked and walked through a short over-growth of shrubs and trees to the open full of
big smooth pebbles and strewn logs. Dharma pulled a few logs together to mark the place we got out of the shrubs. Rebecca was all excited seeing the stones, and started and her collection, stuffing them to her jacket pockets.
We strolled lazily to the beach, carrying the stove and stuff to make lemon-tea by the beach. Dharma set up the set on the rocks by the waves, and boiled water. It was a while before we realized that it was a bad spot with too much wind, so we
moved the stove to the rocks behind. A nice small cave like enclosure of rocks. This looked like a popular spot, since it had a lot of trash on the ground. I made the tea, and we sat on the rocks to enjoy. Rebecca was busy stuffing pebbles in her pockets.
It was getting late; we moved out and drove back. Stopped for dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant, and all home-ward bound. Normally, we would put sort out clothes, shoes etc and put things back in their place before sleeping. It was
already 11:30 when we reached home, Rebecca was asleep and we dumped the things from the car, and zzzzzzzz. It was almost 3 days later that all the things went back to their places!
Over all a good trip, much better than what we anticipated. Just a few things went out of sync, here and there, otherwise everyone enjoyed it. sign!
then decided comfort and rest were more important than gazing at the night sky. besides we were too tired and slept off immediately.
No alarm clocks to wake us up.
Rebecca did.
about eight-ish. I crept out to check on the others.
Joe and family were on already their way home. Seemed to be in a rush. Smiles and good-byes.
??
No one knows. Wonder why.
Anyway, the others were slowly waking and moving about. Breakfast and getting ready.
We folded the tent, cleaned, packed and cleared the site, made tea, drank it slowly, and went across to join the rest.
The kids were off to the playground, I went to the swings to push Kirti , Kitchu and Rebecca.
Higher, more higher!
Swinging 3 tiny kids and I am getting a good morning work-out.
Angel akka made good quesadilla - Mexican pizza of sorts and we had some. The orange juice pack had leaked and the ice was
all orange-ish. I poured the remaining juice and passed it around.
Chatted around, everyone had finished b'fast and were packing. We helped to put down a couple of tents and packing too.
The check-out time was noon, and it was too soon for lunch. So, leaving after lunch was ruled out.
We decided to drive for an hour or so and then stop for lunch.
Fort Ross sounded good to everyone.
How about parking in the day-use area, spending some time there playing, lunching and then driving straight home?
Hmm, sounded good to me, but everyone else seemed to be on the move. Tomorrow’s monday, need to fix things for school, work etc.
Stephen and family decided to leave immediately. Reeve didn’t seem to do well at night. So, we packed lunch for them and sent them off too.
Rebecca spotted an alphabet-caterpillar as we wondered close to the Gualala River. It didn’t work. Maybe needs new batteries.
The river bed was dry and wide with lots of pebbles; it looked like a narrow stream.
Still beautiful with the high trees and greenery around.
We drove up to Fort Ross state historic park for lunch. Lots of vehicles around, and we found picnic tables close to the parking lot.
The kids ran to climb branches of cypress trees, and we took a few pictures.
Lunch was quick, and the question was whether to go down to the beach or visit the fort?
Fort Ross is an Old Russian fort built in the early 1800s.It was established for Russia's tsarist government exploration,trade and settlement in the North Pacific, and for establishing permanent settlements in Alaska and California.
It still has a gun blockhouses and sentries on the two corners without blockhouses, a well, chapel and warehouse filled with provisions for the fort; a barracks and three officials’ houses...
Already Sheina had thrown-up within the hours drive, Jamela akka had developed a headache, and Gigi and John was on the verge. We finished lunch, took a few pictures, and said good-bye to all. there was first day of school on monday, Vallejo
shopping on the way etc. We talked to the fort with Santhosh and Nithila along the eucalyptus trees. Bright red and orangish-brown leaves lay on the ground.
It’s a very short walk, and we immediately realized that we could have driven to the fort's gates and parked instead of the parking lot. That way, we could have used the picnic tables inside, and everyone would have visited the fort itself.
Too late. The fort is a small rectangular enclosure, and we quickly visited all the standing structures and also the well.
We let santhosh decide whether to go the beach below. He had a small leg sprain form the previous day's cricket. He said,yes. Nithila's was an immediate yes too. So, we walked out of the fort towards the ocean. The skies were downcast, and it was windy and bit cold. We walked to the edge, and looked below; the beach is a crude downhill walk. We lingered near and decided not to go down.
Dharma wanted to go the Russian cove and the Armstrong state park on the way back. So, we made our way to the cove. drive on CA1, the cove looks inviting. We parked and walked through a short over-growth of shrubs and trees to the open full of
big smooth pebbles and strewn logs. Dharma pulled a few logs together to mark the place we got out of the shrubs. Rebecca was all excited seeing the stones, and started and her collection, stuffing them to her jacket pockets.
We strolled lazily to the beach, carrying the stove and stuff to make lemon-tea by the beach. Dharma set up the set on the rocks by the waves, and boiled water. It was a while before we realized that it was a bad spot with too much wind, so we
moved the stove to the rocks behind. A nice small cave like enclosure of rocks. This looked like a popular spot, since it had a lot of trash on the ground. I made the tea, and we sat on the rocks to enjoy. Rebecca was busy stuffing pebbles in her pockets.
It was getting late; we moved out and drove back. Stopped for dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant, and all home-ward bound. Normally, we would put sort out clothes, shoes etc and put things back in their place before sleeping. It was
already 11:30 when we reached home, Rebecca was asleep and we dumped the things from the car, and zzzzzzzz. It was almost 3 days later that all the things went back to their places!
Over all a good trip, much better than what we anticipated. Just a few things went out of sync, here and there, otherwise everyone enjoyed it. sign!
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Monday, August 21, 2006
Day1 - Beach and BBQ
We walked to the rocks by the left, and the sandstone rocks were slopping and had holes as if to facilitate rock climbing.
This was easy enough for me too! We hung on the rocks for a while, and then came back to join the others.
Are you ready to go the lighthouse?
We had discussed about visiting the Point Arena Lighthouse after the beach. That would be further up north, about hours
drive.
The lighthouse is about 1 mile into the ocean, and a fabulous place.
What? Another long drive on the winding road?
I have never heard CA 1 being referred to with such disdain, and I flinched.
I checked myself, this is their trip, and not ours, so I better keep my mouth shut and go with the flow.
A few were very keen; others were outright not interested to go see a light-house at all, no matter how spectacular.
The sun was out, bright and I must admit, it was tempting to simply laze around.
The lazy lumps won.
Some one came clutching a flat piece of wood, 'how about Cricket?’
The idea got the men and kids up, and soon the game was on.
What’s cricket? How do you play?
Cricket is Indian baseball.
A bloke throws the ball; you hit it hard and run for a run. If the ball is back before your reach the stumps, well then
You are stumped.
It was nice to see the game, everyone played for fun...
Most of the women were under the umbrella, chatting, closing their eyes. This is relaxation indeed. I was busy watching the
game as well as keeping an eye for Rebecca.
Aunty wanted to go for a stroll. So I went along with uncle, and shanthi akka.
went for a while, and Dharma signaled to wait to Rebecca who had followed us.
We collected colored pebbles for Gigi and Rebecca was busy picking her pebbles and conversing rapidly. We came back, and
Jean akka wanted to go for a walk, Dharma wasn’t keen to join us, and so Off I went for another walk.
Soon, it was time to leave.
We reached the campsite, and Dharma went in to pay for the registration, Rebecca was fast asleep, and we were waiting by
the fish-wash at the entrance, listening to abalone divers talking of their day's catch. Interesting talk about
restrictions for smaller than 7 inch abalone, and the like.
I put Rebecca down in Santhosh's tent, since our tent was way off; we were going to hang around the others. We started
with the BBQ preparations. I just realized that I was terribly hungry.
So, I gobbled up some baklavas. Yummy! Hunger makes the sweets even sweeter!
The evening was great. The fire was soon up, with Dharma, Jeba anna tending, Denix joined in to grill. The camp bbq was
actually a small shallow fire-pit with stone around. The grill was a flat rectangular grill bought at the camp store.
Too small to feed the army.
It might have been nice if we had brought our table-top grill too.
So, we took out the marinated meat. Mine was a cosco pack of 3 types of marinate - teriyaki, garlic-herb and Mediterranean.
The others were freshly ground garlic, and marinated chicken. Mine was still frozen in the ice-pack, we sliced smaller
Pieces.
Started with the hotdogs and burger patties..for the kids. I was still hungry, soon the party begun.
I fixed a burger for myself, and went to check on Rebecca. She was awake and crying in the tent.
Aavi ! It hurts!
She pointed to her knee and shin. I could make out nothing, so I picked her and walked. She was crying even louder, so
Dharma got out of grilling and took her. It worked. Grape flavored tiny candy.
Maybe she was exhausted after the whole day in the beach. Maybe she fell, and didn’t realize it..
We sang songs, passed on plates, fixed burgers and hot-dogs, grilled some corn, and it was soon 10pm.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the bbq. Good. Gald the Costco stuff came out pretty well.
Already?
Camp quiet time.
There were more riddles from the kids, jokes and performances, time to call it a day.
Some on remembered the smores. Smores are actually short for some more whatever that is. And with each occasion of smore,
comes the differces in how it is eaten.
Girls - Place Hershey bars on graham crackers, Toast marshmallows, Place toasted marshmallows on Hershey bars to melt
Chocolate, eat as a cookie.
While Boys
Eat Hershey bars, Eat marshmallows, Throw graham crackers at other boys.
Good day.
End of day1.
This was easy enough for me too! We hung on the rocks for a while, and then came back to join the others.
Are you ready to go the lighthouse?
We had discussed about visiting the Point Arena Lighthouse after the beach. That would be further up north, about hours
drive.
The lighthouse is about 1 mile into the ocean, and a fabulous place.
What? Another long drive on the winding road?
I have never heard CA 1 being referred to with such disdain, and I flinched.
I checked myself, this is their trip, and not ours, so I better keep my mouth shut and go with the flow.
A few were very keen; others were outright not interested to go see a light-house at all, no matter how spectacular.
The sun was out, bright and I must admit, it was tempting to simply laze around.
The lazy lumps won.
Some one came clutching a flat piece of wood, 'how about Cricket?’
The idea got the men and kids up, and soon the game was on.
What’s cricket? How do you play?
Cricket is Indian baseball.
A bloke throws the ball; you hit it hard and run for a run. If the ball is back before your reach the stumps, well then
You are stumped.
It was nice to see the game, everyone played for fun...
Most of the women were under the umbrella, chatting, closing their eyes. This is relaxation indeed. I was busy watching the
game as well as keeping an eye for Rebecca.
Aunty wanted to go for a stroll. So I went along with uncle, and shanthi akka.
went for a while, and Dharma signaled to wait to Rebecca who had followed us.
We collected colored pebbles for Gigi and Rebecca was busy picking her pebbles and conversing rapidly. We came back, and
Jean akka wanted to go for a walk, Dharma wasn’t keen to join us, and so Off I went for another walk.
Soon, it was time to leave.
We reached the campsite, and Dharma went in to pay for the registration, Rebecca was fast asleep, and we were waiting by
the fish-wash at the entrance, listening to abalone divers talking of their day's catch. Interesting talk about
restrictions for smaller than 7 inch abalone, and the like.
I put Rebecca down in Santhosh's tent, since our tent was way off; we were going to hang around the others. We started
with the BBQ preparations. I just realized that I was terribly hungry.
So, I gobbled up some baklavas. Yummy! Hunger makes the sweets even sweeter!
The evening was great. The fire was soon up, with Dharma, Jeba anna tending, Denix joined in to grill. The camp bbq was
actually a small shallow fire-pit with stone around. The grill was a flat rectangular grill bought at the camp store.
Too small to feed the army.
It might have been nice if we had brought our table-top grill too.
So, we took out the marinated meat. Mine was a cosco pack of 3 types of marinate - teriyaki, garlic-herb and Mediterranean.
The others were freshly ground garlic, and marinated chicken. Mine was still frozen in the ice-pack, we sliced smaller
Pieces.
Started with the hotdogs and burger patties..for the kids. I was still hungry, soon the party begun.
I fixed a burger for myself, and went to check on Rebecca. She was awake and crying in the tent.
Aavi ! It hurts!
She pointed to her knee and shin. I could make out nothing, so I picked her and walked. She was crying even louder, so
Dharma got out of grilling and took her. It worked. Grape flavored tiny candy.
Maybe she was exhausted after the whole day in the beach. Maybe she fell, and didn’t realize it..
We sang songs, passed on plates, fixed burgers and hot-dogs, grilled some corn, and it was soon 10pm.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the bbq. Good. Gald the Costco stuff came out pretty well.
Already?
Camp quiet time.
There were more riddles from the kids, jokes and performances, time to call it a day.
Some on remembered the smores. Smores are actually short for some more whatever that is. And with each occasion of smore,
comes the differces in how it is eaten.
Girls - Place Hershey bars on graham crackers, Toast marshmallows, Place toasted marshmallows on Hershey bars to melt
Chocolate, eat as a cookie.
While Boys
Eat Hershey bars, Eat marshmallows, Throw graham crackers at other boys.
Good day.
End of day1.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Day1 - day on the beach
It must be 6:30, cos my cell phone alarm went off. loud and clear.
Shucks!
Who follows routines and alarms while camping?
No way was I going to get up and turn it off, too much bother, besides it was too cold out of the sleeping bag.
So, it just rang and rang.
Our neighboring campers were anyway up, so I wasn’t worried about disturbing anybody.
Rebz woke by 7:15, and I crawled out by 7:30, and went to check on the other tents. Mary aunty was busy heating water, and making coffee.
chatted for a while, and ppl were already taking showers and getting ready.
Good enthu.
All the kids rushed for b'fast of bagels, cereals, and such and then ran to the playground closely.
Normally, I would have turned my nose on the playground - hey, you are supposed enjoy things other than your routine, what’s' the point of
sticking to normalcy? But, this time I was gladly relieved - keep the kids busy and happy, you can relax better ;)
We chatted, lazed around, got ready, gathered lunch from those responsible for lunch, got our stuff, and hey, where are we going?
Consult the experts - Dharma, where are we going?
has annan.
But, you know the places here.
Hmm, not really, Dharma said weakly.
Aunty promptly put in a Tamil proverb something like among a group of blind ppl, the person with one eye is the king.
I put in 'just because everyone thinks you are the expert, don’t think that really are one’!
pssss, the air in the balloon went off. ha ha !!
Finally decided on the Gualala Point Park in Sonoma County.
I love that beach - it has the Gualala delta - the river flowing into the ocean. So, off we went.
The directions was simple, make a left here, and then a right.
The beach is a not so short walk from the parking lot. You can see it, but it looks as if it is way beyond. Thankfully, everyone was excited, and so pulled out their beach chairs, toys, lunch stuff etc and started the march.
I handled the first-aid kit to Rebecca to carry, she was excited and walked briskly first, and then went slowly lost her tempo, dragging her feet, allowing everyone else to walk fast. Nithila picked her and walked the rest. We walked on and claimed a spot close to the logs.
This is a long beach with great waves; the river flows in on the right, just below the road. The town of Gualala looks like a medditerean village across the road on a hilly terrain. The sand is almost black, and as you walk closer to the ocean, the pebbles are tiny multi-colored gems wet and sparkling. The left end is a bit rocky, and has a few rocks on the beach too. The sun was almost hiding behind in the skies, and breeze was a bit cold, just great.
Some settled down in their chairs, and others looked around. The kids ran to the water, and I followed suit. A clear distinction here - those wiser clutching their jackets tighter, sitting comfortably and watching, and the carefree, footloose running to the teasing waves. The Pacific is cold, the coldest ocean in fact. The sun was stilling not out, and so it was getting colder. Rebecca’s' terrified of the ocean waves, and was not willing to come close. So, Dharma took her for a walk and pebble collecting.
I wanted to go further, looked around; no one else seemed to think the same. Hmmm... Let’s give then some time.
So, I hung around, watching the kids frolic and shout with glee. This was fun. The ocean is always a wonderful place to be, albeit this particular beach is a lil wild, exploited and therefore presumably dangerous.
Gigi and Jean akka moved closer, the rest dipping and moving away. My flip-flops were old and loose, I was debating whether to leave them on the sand. I just wore them.
Mistake.
I lost them - to the ocean!
Boo! Boo! They weren't in the best of shape, but I’ve had them for more than 6 years, and what the heck!
We splash around and played with the waves. Rebecca wasn’t interested at all, I could see why. Nithila and I went in a little further and laughed, the waves were high, but lost their force and height as they reached us, so we had then by about our knees. The water was really cold. I could feel as if my feet were getting numb, my flip-flop almost coming out. I put them back on every time, as the water receded. Occasionally, we got a big wave and we laughed and turned our backs. Rebecca and Dharma were wandering by the logs and pebbles, the boys and Stephen and family hung closby, Eva and Santhosh were coming and going out. Uncle and David anna were by the kids. Only Nithaila and I were in the water. As I turned around to avoid a full splash, I lost balance and fell. Ohhh, that was cold, I was totally drenched, and still laughing another big wave came by.
Watching the waves at that height gives you a different perspective - as if the whole white foamy ocean is thundering and rushing to you. No wonder Rebecca didn’t want anything to do with the waves.
I was totally wet, but loved it. What’s the point of traveling, going to a beach and then not getting wet?
Hmm, cold or not, I hadn’t had enough. So, we went a few steps further in. Akkad and Gigi walked closby , but stayed out of the water. We called Santhosh and stood our ground. I was thinking abt getting out and taking off by flip-flops and walked a few steps away, and there came another wave, this time I lost it. The ocean took my one slipper!
I lost a slipper, but it was great fun. We hung around for a while, and then started back for lunch.
Let’s have lunch.
Oops! Some one had forgotten the plates in the car!!
Oh, no! What are going to have without plates, eh?
Hmm, no prob, I asked Dharma to get them, but then David and Juba anon went off. I was terribly hunger. We had a few fruits and water. Eventually, we finished lunch, and then the sun came out.
Wow! how it changed things.
The Ocean changed to the deep bluish-green hue, and sparkled. The beach looked incredibly beautiful.
With fun in the tummy, and the sun shining brightly, everyone got energized and also drowsy and lazy.
We walked to the rocks by the left, and the sandstone rocks were slopping and had holes as if to facilitate rock climbing. This was easy enough for me too! We hung on the rocks or a while, and then came back to join the others.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
A camping here we go...
We went camping to Gualala (wa-LA-la as prounced by the native Indians). This was a lot different from our usual trips since we went with another 7 families (!), none of whom had camped by themselves prior to this.
Aiy yiy yo !!
Are we asking for trouble? Now, wait a minute, how did we get manage to get in like this?
Camping by ourselves is one thing, camping along with other campers is another, but to 'lead a
bunch of our own people to camp' , boy ! That’s asking for trouble.
Not that we have any issue with any folks, we dearly love them - just but the idea by itself overwhelmed and scared us. We arent good organising large groups, and
Most of the families have lived long enough in the US, to know how to enjoy themselves. Problem was at least that’s how we perceived them - are not outdoor types, and cannot live without the comfort and convience of homes and hotels. the idea of Camping was what others did, not them.
But then when you show a bit of inclination, maybe they could discover the simple pleasures too.
Oh, come on, we need to be better sports helping interested freinds with their first camping experience.
That should be fun.
We had our doubts.
EEw ! Can we escape this? Maybe work out a convincing excuse.
How about if we give detailed instructions to all, lists of things to take along, precautions etc,.and sure they can go by themselves. Cant them?
Nah! Gualala is in an incredibly almost unexploited part of CA1, along the Pacific, and it was too tempting to let go.
So, we let our concerns fly, and this was going to be our freinds trip not ours,
So we will go by their pace and their flow, and decided to pitch in. Turned out, that was a great decision indeed. Iam glad we did this.
Dharma was unanimously elected as the 'camping expert' eh huh.
By default I tagged along in the ‘Dharma and Mary are experts; you can ask them '...
He hee - did good to flatter us, and we had our our own laughs at the presumed titles.
Understandably it was a great excitement to all, specially the kids.
Yippee! We are going to live in tents.
There were worried moms ,and tons of questions - Will I be able to sleep? Are the restrooms clean?? Is it safe? Do psychotic killers roam the campsites killing people in their tents randomly? , and so on apart from what should I bring along? What's the weather like?
Come and find out yourself. I was excited myself. Camping is always fun espacillay if you go to a good place like this, and its always ncie to spend time with friends.
We travel in style when in groups with our pots and pans, cooking rice and microwaving stuff for meals. everyone takes turns to help out with the food and final cleaning. Everyone loves the fresh food, but invariably someone is tied up. We wanted everyone to experience the difference, and suggested minimum cooking. Of course, campfires, BBQ and smores are necessities. So, Mary aunty divided the
food stuff among the families and Dharma and David annan provided a detailed list of things to bring etc. beg, borrow or no Don’t steal, buy the tent .
So, we were well prepared.
Mary Aunty and a few others went on Thursday, seemed the site was off-limits to mobile coverage. Others started earlier by afternoon on Friday to drive the 3 hrs and reach before dark. We had no such concern, We started after work on Friday evening, loaded the car with our stuff (had packed the previous day ), bought ice for the ice-box, and then headed to REI by 6pm I think to pick a tent for a friend. Then, we started on 160 to downtown, to reach I80.
The sun was setting, and I was hoping to hit CA1 before it got dark, fat chance!, took comfort that we'll drive back by day. The surprise was in 116, Sebastopol off Bodega bay- most scenic drives are by beautiful forests, rolling hills, rivers are the like , generally not thought historic towns. This in Sonoma county is a historic resort and logging area along the Russian River. A delightful little town, we stopped for gas and food. It was cold, had burgers in a tiny
shop, excellent taste.
Made notes - to visit Armstrong Redwoods State Park on the way back. It was almost 8:30, and getting dark.
We reached Gualala by 11, and Dharma asked directions somewhere near the campgrounds at a bar - it was amusing to watch the group of people were jolly drunk, and still quite confidently gave some vague directions. So, we turned, and stopped by a patrol vehicle, the officer cautiously turned up his lights, as Dharma approached him, and confirmed the way.
This a private family oriented campground, in a Redwood grove, was still lively and active as we entered. It was full of abalone divers and Rvs.
We drove past to our registered sites, Rebecca was asleep, and ours was a little way from the rest.
We reached out stop, and Dharma asked me to set the tent, while he helped Santhosh. I started with it, and then eww, I had few campers around, but didn’t feel comfortable to set it all by myself.so, I picked Rebz and walked over to watch the rest. The REI tent was a bit tricky, eventually we set ours and watched the stars in our tent, and slept off by 11:40.
It was colder , and great to watch the redwood tree tops and a few stars.
Good start.
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