Photo Hunt #48: Entertainment

Our family gets together at least once a year for a whole day of eating and talking and having fun. While we live close to each other, we never really get to see much of each other, so when Christmas or Thanksgiving comes, we have lunch/dinner together.

Our regular program for this whole day of fun begins with a little chatting, then eating, more chatting, then my niece would host different parlor games, and eating and eating and eating. One time after eating and before the parlor games, these boys - apparently bored of listening to the adults chattering about nothing - started to provide entertainment to the gabbing aunts and uncles, grandpas and grandmas. They went on to sing and dance and we had no clue what they were singing until one of their uncles who babysit them regularly said, they were singing some Usher song. Needless to say, I was there to capture the moment.

Personally my type of entertainment when I'm not in my couch potato state is to go visit a park (regional, state, national) and commune with nature. The lady pictured is not me. However, I was really jealous that she got a prime spot to enjoy Yosemite Valley. This is my entertainment, being with nature. Also, I find that I can communicate with God better in nature than I can inside a church.

PHOTO HUNT is hosted by TNCHICK.

SkyWatch #53

IMG_0300, originally uploaded by M'roy.

Our neighbors up north (Seattle and Portland) have been experiencing HOT weather in the upper 90s and 106 for Portland yesterday according to the news, our little bay area region is around 10 degrees below normal temps, cool and breezy.

This picture was taken on Memorial Day of 2009, but I thought it was a good example of what I see on my commute to and from work every day.

Would you like to hazard a guess as to what span is featured in the background covered in our famous fog?

SKYWATCH is a weekly gathering of sky lovers and sky watchers all over the globe. Please join us.

Titanic Sinking

IMG_0115, originally uploaded by M'roy.

One summer day last year, my husband and I found an hour to spend before we meet up with friends. Already on the road when we got the call that they were running late, we decided to just let the car take us somewhere, anywhere close by.

And the "car" took us to Point Molate in the Richmond/Point Richmond area where I planned to take some photos. What awaited me was this scene, a mini version of the sinking of the titanic. Can you see it?

The bridge in the background is the Richmond - San Rafael Bridge connecting Contra Costa County and Marin County. That is Mt. Tamalpais in silhoutte behind the bridge.

Photo Hunt #47: Utensils

For this week's theme, I went with the obvious. At the beginning of the week I looked up what utensils meant and I found out it's an implement for cooking or other activities, gardening utensil was also given as an example. I will go with the obvious though.

My husband who took that wonderful Sky Watch image on yesterday's post is also a good cook. He often puts leftovers together and whatever we have in the refrigerator and whips up a good dinner. Open up a bottle of our favorite red and that's at least $30 saved by eating in. And of course what do I do? Come to the table with my utensil and dig in. Just last night I told him how great I have it. He not only brings home the bacon, he cooks it as well. He gets home before me everyday and dinner is on the table when I get home.

Photo Hunt is hosted by TNCHICK.

Sky Watch #52

DSCF3792, originally uploaded by M'roy.

My husband snapped this on the second night of our camping trip to Lake Shasta, which I blogged here. The reason why I wasn't doing the shooting? I was busy with my gals chitchatting and downing some adult beverage :)

Sky Watch is a weekly gathering of skywatchers and sky lovers. Please join us.

In A Beach-y Mood

IMG_0036, originally uploaded by M'roy.

Out here in the bay, our temps recorded a high of 94 at 3 pm on Sunday. And yet I haven't been to the beach this summer. All of a sudden today, I thought a walk on the beach is needed even though our temps have dropped to a comfortable low 70s today.

Have you been beaching at all this summer?

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GOLDEN BLOG AWARD

I received this golden blog award from Bonnie of Quadrat in Focus a week or so ago. I accept this with all humility and gratitude.

The rules for this award:
1. Show the award in your blog.
2. Link bakc to the blog that tagged you.
3. Pass the award to 8 blogs that you love. (Since this award has been around for a while feel free to pass it to as many or as few as you want.)
4. Inform the bloggers that they have been awarded.
5. Take your time, there's no pressure, but try to check out the other awarded blogs.

I initially did not intend to pass this award as I felt like there is no way I could pick and choose from among the many many blogs I regularly read. But I had discovered some new blogs that I found very interesting:

1. Kayni's Corner Cafe
2. Wits and Nuts
3. Nomadic Pinoy
4. Snapshooting
5. Ittyadi
6. Mumsified
7. Napaboaniya APAD
8. Luna Miranda

Morro Bay

HPIM0733, originally uploaded by M'roy.

This is the view of the coastal town from Morro Rock.

Photo Hunt #46: Rock(s)

morro rock at sunset, originally uploaded by M'roy.

This is Morro Rock at sunset and almost shrouded by the fog. I had to go through the archives for this one.

Stats on Morro Rock:
>>581 ft (177 m)
>>extinct volcano
>>climbing is a no-no; rocks are loose; fines imposed
>>located off shore of Morro Bay, California

Morro Bay is a waterfront community in the SLO county. A few years ago, we set out for a 3d2n road trip from SF to SLO (San Luis Obispo) on a California Missions road trip. On this trip, our first night was spent in Morro Bay.

Interesting tidbit from wikipedia for my Filipino readers:
"The first recorded Filipino immigrants to America arrived at Morro Bay on October 18, 1587 from the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Esperanza."

PHOTO HUNT is hosted by TNCHICK.

Sky Watch #51

Our time in New York had come to an end. While packing, we rang the front desk clerk of the hotel to fetch us a taxi to take us to JFK. Thirty minutes later, a limo showed up. For 5 bucks more we said okay to a limo to the airport, wouldn't you?

Reverse skywatching. Beautiful New York we say adieu and until we meet again.

Five hours here can be boring despite various entertainments available, including photographing the inside of Virgin America. What a cool plane, I should fly with this service again.

Hello California! Glad to be back to the 50 degrees temperature. This was in April. We left NY with its low 90s and arrived in SF in mid 50s, sweeeeeet!

According to the flight map, we were already in the California air space, so I gather this is the wonderful Sierra Nevada range.

That's my skywach entry for this week. With this also, I end my NY Minutes post. Although, I will have at least two posts about the wedding in NY, the real reason behind the trip.

SKYWATCH is a weekly gathering of skylovers and skywatchers. Join us.

Subway Sightings and Musings

The subway is the cheapest (2 bucks a ride regardless of distance), most reliable, and most convenient way to get around and a great place to people watch. However, some of the stations can be quite spooky especially in the middle of the night. Others are downright filthy, reeking of urine. And it's much safer than I thought.

I like the art/mural and other performing artists in the stations. Gives a tourist so many things to absorb. I'm sure the locals just whizz by without a glance.

Lesson learned about subway riding. Always look before you sit. At the end of our first day, we were taking a subway. While the train was full, I noted there was a seat open and no one was taking it, or people were uninterested in sitting. I had a full day, wearing a Bengali garb, in 3-inch heels and I just walked 5-6 blocks to get to the station, and I am just relieved to find that seat. I grabbed my husband and we both sat. The tattoed girl next to me punched me (okay maybe tapped with closed fist) on the arm and when I looked her way she was looking the other way. I thought that was rude, but maybe that's how NYorkers welcome tourists. I thought it was like the time my car getting broken into on my first day of work in Oakland. I chalked that up to Oakland's way of welcoming me to the city. And I was ready to chalk this up to welcome wagon by New York. About two minutes later, the guy standing next to the gal who punched me told my husband, the seat is filthy. It has a crappy smear all over the seat. We sprang up so quickly. And with face red from embarrassment, I snuck a glance at the people within the area and they were just shaking their heads, even the tattoed gal. I just showed my naivete. It was like shouting, "hey I am a tourist!".

It is such a busy city. It's a good place to visit for a week or so. But I don't know how people do it. They are stressed out just getting to work. It's a fascinating city. I can't wait to get back and hit all the spots we missed, and there's plenty of spots we missed.

Must List (My New York Minutes 17)

1. Must ride subway to nowhere in particular ---CHECK. (Have no clue which borough this was taken.)

2. Check out the scene in Chinatown---CHECK. (Surprise to find Chinatown and Little Italy next to each other, just like here in San Fran.)

3. See Brooklyn Bridge ----CHECK. (I did not say cross it, I say just see. Too hot to walk under the scorching sun.)

4. Buy a souvenir---CHECK.

5. Eat a hotdog from street vendor---CHECK. (I don't know what's the big deal about it. Personally, I prefer the Costco polish dog. Of course I'm no hotdog connoisseur.

My New York Minutes (16)

IMG_0486, originally uploaded by M'roy.

The streets of NYC and the whole town itself is so vibrant. If you stand your ground, you will see a kaleidoscope of activities around you. There is so many interesting things to see.

I spotted a "photo shoot" in the middle of Grand Central Station when we went there for a shoot time. My husband and I debated about this. I insisted this was a pre-wedding photos; he said he thought he saw a wedding ring already worn by the couple. Who won? He did. Although I still maintain that while they were wearing bands, they might not have been wedding bands :) Such is my faith!

I wish I had more time in this city that never sleeps and delivers your food 24/7.

Scenic Sunday #12

IMG_1015, originally uploaded by M'roy.

After a very long silence I am back to Scenic Sunday.

Here's a twilight shot on a hot spring day from Central Park.

My New York Minutes 15

Scenic Sunday comes weekly. Join us.

Photo Hunt #45: Garbage

I'm back photo hunting after a week off. I couldn't find any garbage image from my New York series that I am currently running (can you believe that!) so I rummaged through the chest full of old photos.

When a city holds a marathon that is both participated by world-class athletes and the regular Joes and Janes, everyone has fun. Volunteers are spread out in intervals handing out free water.

But big events like this create big problems for the city in terms of cleaning up the garbage afterwards. I did not even show you the bottles of beer that was left all over the marathon route.

From Bay to Breakers 2008.

Photo Hunt is hosted by TNCHICK.

Sky Watch #50

IMG_0199, originally uploaded by M'roy.

Skywatching on foot in Manhattan got me to this charming building. I don't know what it is. I didn't really get close to it because by this time we realized we were lost and decided to retrace our steps back to the subway station, which is more or less two blocks from this building.

Anybody know what this building houses?

Skywatch is a weekly gathering of skylovers and skywatchers. Join us here.

Naked Cowboy in Times Square

IMG_0674, originally uploaded by M'roy.

Who would have thought that there is a naked cowboy playing his guitar and posing for photos (for a fee of course) in the heart of busy Times Square? I almost had my pic taken (j/k).

My New York Minutes 13

Hitting the Pavement

I could just imagine the sight in this tree lined street in the Autumn. NY is best explored by foot, don't you agree?

Adorable buildings. Somewhere in Manhattan.

I would love to live in one of these.

My New York Minutes 12

Trinity Church

We made use of our several hours to ourselves by riding the subway and taking some random stops. At this stop we found Trinity Church in Wall Street.
I have previously featured through a Photo Hunt entry two shots from the garden/cemetery of Trinity Church. You can see headstones in the foreground.
I have missed bloghopping a lot. But working all day in fixing a house leaves me tired and exhausted to do anything else but eat and sleep at the end of the day.
Starting tomorrow I will be back to work again and with my mug fixed on the computer screen 8 hours a day I sure would have time to visit your sites.