Red lake near Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe

Here is a peaceful and calm lake located at the Eldorado National forest in California.  This photo was taken with my little Fuji camera. These roads (highway 88-89) are best traveled during autumn when the leaves turn red, orange and yellow. The beauty of autumn will amaze you.  Make sure to travel on Hwy 89 all the way to Emerald bay. Note: Click photo to enlarge.

From California Dept of Fish and Wildlife:

“The vegetation surrounding Red Lake is characteristic of red-fir and lodgepole-fir forest. Open slopes are dominated by sagebrush with bitterbrush and serviceberry. Forestdale Creek and the other drainages around Red Lake are lined with willows and aspen groves.

Common wildlife species include deer, coyote, jackrabbit, quail, flicker, warblers, red-tailed hawk, golden eagle, golden-mantled ground squirrel, marmot, and beaver.”

Access: The Wildlife Area can be accessed on both the north and east sides of Red Lake. The north entrance is located on State Highway 88, one mile east of Carson Pass. To enter on the east side, take Blue Lakes Road from Highway 88 to Red Vista Road.

Since I was in the Fremont area, I decided to stop by and visit Wat Buddhanusorn. Unfortunately I arrived after the normal visiting hours of 8 am - 5 pm. It was already 6 pm when I got there, it was quiet except for a few parked cars in the lot. I heard voices but didn’t have the courage to enter the worship hall (or walk around the place). But I did manage to snap a few photos!

First thing I noticed when I drove into the parking lot was this beautiful Jacaranda tree. This flowering tree had such an amazing purple color. It was planted near the entrance to the main worship hall.

This is the first time I’ve seen this tree in this part of California. As these trees are normally native to the tropics such as South America.  Although they also grow well in Australia, Africa and Asia. In the United States, it grows in parts of Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, and Florida.

Here is the Wat (temple). There’s a row of rose bushes along the sidewalk leading up to the place. I can imagine this place can get pretty crowded during festivals or other events. This Thai Buddhist temple has been known for it’s weekend food vendors. Just check out these Yelpers.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been 2 weeks since Japan was struck with 9.0 earthquake and tsunami. But the real danger is that of radiation leaks from the damage done at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on Friday (3/25/11) that the situation at a quake-damaged nuclear plant remained very precarious.

So far vegetables being grown in the area and milk has been contaminated. Drinking water as far as Tokyo have been contaminated as well. And now there are trances of radiation being found as far away as Iceland. Some of this radiation is also blowing to our California coastline and into the U.S. So the danger is not just isolated in Japan as radiation can spread to the rest of the world.

In a perfect world where the energy plant isn’t toxic surfers or even a lady walking her dog will be able to observe the disaster without worry.

As for California, we also have 2 ocean side nuclear reactors sitting near seismic faults. And tsunamis are a risk. Should anything happen, how will all the people be evacuated? And this is a state of 37 million people!

I was also wondering how many nuclear plants are there around the world. Luckily I found this map from the Guardian (UK) that gives a great picture of nuclear plants and some that are built around earthquake zones. Larger image here.

Notice how most of Europe and the eastern part of U.S. is dotted with nuclear plants. And I am surprised to find France having the most nuclear reactors. Especially for a country that despise McDonald’s and is proud of their farm fresh outdoor market.

Read the rest of this entry »

This year is kicking off with natural disasters happening around the world.  From the massive flood in parts of Australia to the landslide in Brazil.

And now we’ve got warning that a major catastrophic storm could hit California this spring of 2011. Scientist have gathered around and is calling it the ARkstorm.

Central Valley Business Times reports the following predicaments:

• Serious flooding also occurs in Orange County, Los Angeles County, San Diego, the San Francisco Bay area, and other coastal communities.

• Windspeeds in some places reach 125 miles per hour, hurricane-force winds while wider areas are whipped by winds reaching 60 miles per hour.

• Hundreds of landslides damage roads, highways, and homes.

• Power, water, sewer, and other lifelines experience damage that takes weeks or months to restore.

• Flooding evacuation could involve 1.5 million residents in the inland region and delta counties.

• Business interruption costs reach $325 billion in addition to the $400 property repair costs, meaning that a storm of this magnitude could cost on the order of $725 billion, which is nearly 3 times the loss deemed to be realistic by authors for a severe southern California earthquake, “an event with roughly the same annual occurrence probability.”

If anyone is tuning into what is to come in 2012, then 2011 doesn’t give us a good start. Let’s hope this prediction doesn’t come true. But of course it’s better to prepare then to be stranded.

So I better start packing the food, water, emergency kit, and everything else!

I just found out about this neat three-in-one fruit from my latest issue of Sunset magazine. The fruit has been in development for more than a decade. I will keep an eye out for this fruit and can’t wait to give it a try.

Photo from CNN Money.

It’s a cross between three fruits - peach, apricot, and plum. Peacotum is the creation of Zaiger’s Genetics Inc located in Modesto, California. The name peacotum doesn’t sound too appealing, but I’m sure it taste much better.

It’s described to have the color of a ripe peach but the lush interior may be the only “peachy” thing about it.

Mr. Zaiger is also the one that introduced us to pluots and plumcot. Mr. Floyd Zaiger’s company has patented more than 200 new varieties of fruit, all through conventional pollination and not genetic modification.

Peacotums have been available commercially under the names ‘Bella Cerise’ and ‘Bella Royale’, but ‘Bella Gold‘ is now being offered exclusively for home gardeners from Dave Wilson’s Nursery.

It is partially freestone, with yellow flesh and a wonderful complex flavor. It harvests in early June.” - GrowingProduce.com

In our part of California, the leaves are finally starting to show their fall colors. It seem the rest of the country is already covered in deep snow, while we are just noticing the changing colors.

But this won’t last long, as the rain and wind comes it will all be blown to the ground. Time to rake the leaves, turn them to compost and hibernate until spring.

Autumn in December at the Quinlan Community Center in Cupertino, California. 67°F

iPhone photos.

It was interesting to see dragonfruit being grown at the Ruth Bancroft’s Garden.

If Ruth can grow it successfully in Walnut Creek, then maybe my little plant will turn out just as nice. Of course I’ll have to remember to protect it from the winter freeze.  

Here is a close up of one of the two fruit still on the plant.  I was hoping they would grow as successfully as the cactus pear.

Dragonfruit is also known as pitaya, a plant native to the tropics. It’s a succulent with three sided stems and sharp tiny spines.

Dragonfruit has become more popular lately because of it’s health benefits. It’s full of antioxidant, fiber and high in vitamin C. It’s can be eaten fresh or as dried fruit (preserved). It’s also made into wine. I’ve even seen it being mixed into energy drink and included in skincare products too.

Read the rest of this entry »

This time lapse video was taken by Simon Christen over the period of one year in the San Francisco bay area. It really brings out the beauty of the place. It’s very mesmerizing to watch. I never realized how beautiful it is to see the moon rise or the cloud of fog rolling in across the landscape.

The Unseen Sea from Simon Christen on Vimeo.

Music by Nick Cave - Mary’s Song from the Soundtrack of “Assassination of Jesse James”.

Here is how Simon explains what settings to use for the night shots:

“I am always shooting in full manual mode and then adjust the exposure as the light changes. I take care of the “jumps” later in post. The exposure really varies depending on the shot. For example a bright city needs shorter shutter speeds then fog illuminated by moon light. The shutter speeds ends up being around 4-5 sec with the aperture wide open and high ISO settings. This way I get to take a picture every 5-6 seconds.”

Find more of Simon’s work at simonchristen.com

Last weekend, M and I went to visit Lodi in northern central California. I had really wanted to visit the cactus garden in Walnut Creek, but decided on a zoo trip instead.

Micke Grove Zoo is located in Lodi, just next to Stockton. It’s a small friendly town surrounded by vineyards. Ripe grapes were hanging left and right. And it looked like they were about to be harvested soon. I usually think of Napa Valley when I think of vineyards. But Lodi has some nice vineyards of their own too.

The last time we visited the place there was a lonely seal swimming in a pool. The swimming pool is gone and the seal has been replaced by lorikeets. They are pretty birds, but made so much noise.

I spotted these two Lorikeets enjoying a bath. Must be nice to enjoy a bird bath without having to worry about predators (such as cats!).

Read the rest of this entry »

A long while back, I was thinking of getting a new car. And I almost got myself a little VW Golf TDI (diesel). It was a fuel efficient car getting about 40 mpg highway. The key point being TDI: Turbocharged Direct Injection.

But that was a long time ago and California car dealers could not sell the TDI. It was due to the state’s diesel compliant law. Luckily that is not the case anymore for Californians.

Here is the new VW Golf TDI. TDI vehicles is marketed by VW as “high-performance, fuel-efficient, and environmentally conscious”. Unfortunately the hybrid version is still only a concept car.

Photo from The Car Connection. The car was reviewed last year for the 2010 market starting at $23K.

I would love to own a hybrid electric vehicle. But even if I did need a new car, the price range of some of these hybrids are still too much for me.

Read the rest of this entry »