Lovers' Point Monterey

Summer is the time for get togethers, picnics and cook-outs / BBQ at the beach or parks or even kat belakang rumah...backyards. Kalau di Malaysia, rumah teres macam kat Shah Alam tu, nak buat apa-apa semua di depan rumah. The houses here on the other hand, are mostly designed with the garage in front so, kalau nak buat apa2 semua kat belakang. Musim panas ni the days are longer - sunset at 8.30pm - so more daylight time for activities. Jenuh jugak nak puasa nanti, kan!? Most children pulak are out of school - cuti sekolah - macam kat Malaysia jugak, time to do some family bonding! Well, a few of us - 17 adults & 17 children - did some bonding at a place called Lovers' Point in Monterey, which is around one and half hours from here. Monterey is one of the more beautiful coastal cities in California. I agree ! That was why I had no qualms or doubts when the group wanted to hold a picnic at Lovers' Point. Dari nama tempat pun dah tahu pasti menarik. With beach access just below, the nice cosy spot which Izzah & Ridhwan booked offers an excellent location to enjoy the beauty of Pacific Grove and Monterey Bay as well as picnic-ing. The weather was a bit foggy & chilly that day, but it got warmer and nice as the day went by. Upon arriving we quickly put up our 8-person tent that have not been opened since our camping trip in New Hampshire during summer of last year. The 2-room tent became a make shift surau for the ladies. The men however, solat berjemaah kat luar. We got the direction of kiblat from the GPS - how convenient! - and we verified its accuracy using Google Map at home. Bringing the satelite and internet technologies to our advantage... apa-apa pun insyaAllah di terima Allah...:-) Menurut internet, Monterey was established in 1770 by someone called Father Junipero Serra. Rupa-rupanya Monterey ni pernah jadi the state capital of California satu ketika dulu. Currently, the capital city is Sacramento which is located somewhere to the north of the state. There is also some military presence in Monterey and I hear quite a number of our military personnels attended training at the Naval Postgraduate School here awhile back. Maybe, a few of our Navy men are still there... stationed macam kat Rhode Island..who knows! Bila dah tiap keluarga bawa
sedikit sebanyak makanan... banyak la jadi nya, sampai sedeqah kat a group of Hispanics who took the spot after we left that afternoon. At first I was taken aback when one of them requested for makanan kita orang yang berlebeh. Kita patut bersyukur apa yang ada, tak semua yang bernasib baik macam kita. Tak sangka pulak dia orang pun makan Nasi Goreng Kampung! :-)


Salman Amir and Yusuf Chang grilling...








Jina with two of her 'men'... Isa keletihan..









:-) ....







The men in our group... July 4th birthday Aziz & July 8th birthday my beloved hubby...






The ladies ...







Untuk sesiapa yang ingin melihat mamalia yang terbesar di dunia ... kalau timbul..!







Mereka yang berani di lambung ombak.....and loads of insides to throw up!...:-)







An adult ticket cost almost $40 each... a pocket full for a 5 adults family..! On top of that, there is no guarantee any whale will surface and give a good show. So, we opted otherwise and reserve our curiosity for later.

The before picture... too bad tak der gambar rupa masing-masing selepas di lambung ombak Lautan Pasifik..! Tak sangka lautan nie mengganas jugak yer...

Bougainvilla - Bunga kertas yang dijumpai melingkar di tepi salah satu tangga di Cannery Row......seronok tengok..! Teringat akan pokok-pokok bunga kertas yang selalu kekeringan dalam pasu depan rumah di Shah Alam.. :-)

Anybody can blog..!

Just recently Blogger Buzz announced that Blogger is now available in Malay! Hoo... Hoo.. Bahasa Melayu - The Malay Language ! Blogger says that it has a large base of users in Malaysia and they are excited to now bring Blogger in our native language.
I haven't really tested the features yet but I think its a good start understanding the commands in Malay let alone getting translations. Bagus tuu... Blogging is often seen as a young person's game. Orang selalu fikir blogging ni untuk yang muda-muda saja. It's not true... anybody can blog! I got to know about blogging in 2005 from Roslan Ramli - an ex-colleague. Mula-mula tu ingat boleh buat duit. Kelakar! Well, the last I checked my paypal account, I have around 7 dollars in it. I think Roslan would fare better than me! Actually, of the roughly 175,000 new blogs that are created every day, very few of them make any money. I suppose one really have to go all out both day and night at it, like a local man here in Silicon Valley who earns his living through blogging. Bill Belew is one of an emerging breed that spends brutal and irregular hours chained to a computer feeding the insatiable blogosphere machine. He takes his blogging very serious and says there's nothing easy about it. He writes for readers on the East Coast of US as early as 4am and has to log on around 4pm to catch Japanese readers. And, he checks his readership statistics as late as 11pm. It is said that he earned 60 to 70 percent of his income from blogging in 2007 totaling around 60 to 70 thousand dollars. Aduh... banyak tuu..tapi letih! Bill is 54. He maintains 4 blogs: http://www.panasianbiz.com/, http://www.risingsonofnihon.com/ http://www.thebizofknowledge.com/ and his own personal religion-heavy site.

How he gets traffic to his blogs, beats me! The number of older generation bloggers including octogenarian, and those who have retired or are approaching retirement are growing daily. The oldest that I read of was ( she passed last month ) Olive Riley, 108 who blogged with the help of her friend. Life of Riley can be found at http://www.allaboutolive.com.au/ . Currently Millie Garfield, 83 is acknowledged by ABC as the oldest blogger alive. She has appeared on the ABC show and her blog is http://mymomsblog.blogspot.com/. You can even see her on YouTube trying to openup 'stubborn' bottle caps.:-) As we get older, our social worlds can shrink and when we retire, there isn't the daily camaraderie of the workplace. Blogging is a powerful antidote for isolation and loneliness. Many believe - including me ! - that blogging is also a form of exercise for your mental health. Even at this age, I forget often and isn't it helpful to put it all in writing..!?
Elaine Frankonis http://www.kalilily.net/ Claude Covo-Farchi, 63 http://www.blogginginparis.com/ Pattie, 53 http://texastrifles.blogspot.com/ Ronni Bennet, 67 http://www.timegoesby.net/

Miss Universe 2008: Miss USA Falls again!

Sorry... can't help myself. It's all over the news and internet! :-) I don't have anything against Miss USA, but second year in a row.. C'mon..!

Here's a classy lady for you.... Miss Universe 2008 : Miss Venezuela....!

Miss Malaysia ? Once upon a time ( can't remember when ) we got into semifinals through Christina Ling (not too sure of name) from Ipoh. Then in late 70s Yasmin Yusuf won the Best Costume. She wore Baju Perak.. very nice! First time I noticed her was when she returned from Students Exchange Program to our school up on the hills.. I had always admired her beauty and height. I was in Form One then ! :-) I lost track of other Miss Malaysias after that. Now... I just don't bother..

Lotion & Cream Making Made Easy..

Last month I attended again a class under the Adult Education. No... not baking and cooking for me. This time it was Basics of Lotion Making with Lori Stoia. Before this I also took Soap Making Made Simple with her. Please read my May 2nd posting, if you'ld like to see the soaps I made. Lori taught us how to make the products from scratch. I am glad her recipes has no alcohol content. It's very simple actually and the result is guaranteed. Memang jadi macam lotion yang kita beli di pasaran ! We worked in twos and Amida was my 'lab-partner'. We know it would be more fun if we attend class with friends whom we could make mistakes and giggle with. The class shared together 2 digital weighing instrument, a microwave and 2 stick blenders .. we were always the last to finish.. Mana tak nya.. banyak ketawa! We had fun stamping and coloring our own signature labels. I named mine " Sweet & Simple " by Lady of Leisure (LoL)...he..he.. kelakar! With Amida, Cynthia and our products...

July 4th in California....

4th of July last year we huddled together along Charles River to experience the Independence Day fireworks in Boston. Read more of it in my previous posting... Boston ranked 3rd among the best fireworks show in US and lasted one whole hour. Usaha tu dalam sejuk-sejuk nak pergi tengok.. he..he.. This year it is extraordinarily hot in California on Independence Day - record temperatures everywhere, almost 700,000 acres have been burnt by wildfires, many have lost homes due to the fire and foreclosures, and almost everyone is complaining about the rising oil prices and the downward turn in the US economy - well, maybe excluding Bush and his administration who are still in denial! If homes are lost and oil prices are burning pockets, I think there is not much these days for any Californian to be proud of being independent. Except for living in one of the states to approve licence for same-sex marriages!! Shiiishh... Allah nak turun bala sekejap jer... Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco says the same-sex marriage industry brings in a lot of money to the city. That's really funny! I think he's just re-enforcing his support to his own idea. The fireworks show in Cupertino took place at Cupertino High School - lasted for only about 30 minutes. What is it with fireworks that captures people's hearts !? Ramai jugak Cupertino residents lining the streets....

U - Pick Fruits Day

Now is ' ripe ' time of the year for cherries & berries, even peaches & apricots. Last year we missed the cherries & strawberries. They seem to be a favourite among fruit lovers and disappear faster than the rest! And maybe because they don't hold well when the weather gets warmer. Jenis buah cepat rosak. I guess that's where the farmers got the idea of U-Pick or Pick-your-Own .... besides the zero labor cost, of course! We only managed blueberry picking last year when we were in Boston. And, when Rusminah & family were here in November there were only 'picked' citrus fruits at Brentwood. So, her children did not have fun picking them off the trees. I hope the pictures in this posting can entice them to come and visit us in June pulak. :-) Itu pun, if we are still staying here..
There are cherry farms at almost every corner in Brentwood.
This year we don't want to miss the boat. Cherry picking starts early June and like Pak Mat said, within 2 weeks they'll be gone! We couldn't go picking with his family during the Memorial Day long weekend as we had something on then. Kena pergi ramai2 ke kebun buah nie.. kalau boleh 'picnic' lagi la seronok. Teringat pulak zaman2 tunggu buah durian ( kami sebut..deghian ). Siap dengan nasi, or pulut with santan and air garam... of course with gula sikit to be sprinkled on top. Kalau dapat isi warna kuning pekat and tak der biji tu lagiii seghonok! Yummiee..... Kait buah rambutan pun best jugak ...
ANnyway, we were glad when Marcus wanted to arrange a trip to Brentwood with Shahril & Amida as well. Marcus is a Malaysian from Sabah & his wife Cynthia from Taiping - near my old kampung Selama - tempat banyak deghian! :-) There's Cynthia on the left putting suntan lotion on Mathew. Yes, it was exceptionally hot that day.
We also met their friend On and his family. They are from Johor. Both Marcus & On have been living in US almost 20 years .. so they are already pros at fruit picking. Like us,.. Shahril & Amida will leave when due, or bila di- arahkan and like me, Amida doesn't have a clue the difference between pokok peach and pokok cherry from afar! ;-) Cynthia says : Pick the big2 blackberries yang warna hitam. Kalau yang merah tu.. masam! True enough, the black ones are sweeet walaupun kecik. Next stop the cherrieees! I love them even though they give me gas and cleanse my bowels ever so often. Tak sangka pulak there are many types: Bing Cherries(merah), Rainier ( a bit yellowish ), Black Tart ( hitam, rasa macam kismis ) and Stark Rimson, to name a few. The trick in fruit picking is, when you get to a good tree with the fruits that you like, stick to it! So, pokok yang dah togel2 tu buahnya surely sweet & sedap. And, you can also know the good ones if squirrels or birds got them earlier than you. Makan lah sepuas2nya until your tummy can hold, then you pay for the balance. Most of the fruits are claimed to be pesticide free but bawa jer la botol air untuk basuh, just in-case. And, yang mana suka menyicah tuu you can bring 'salt' if you like. Nobody can stop you! As done by a Filipino man I saw at the cherry farm. Tak terfikir langsung nak bawa garam. Real veteran! Cherries on the farm cost 2 dollars per pound. These days fruit farmers are getting smarter, they have a limit on the minimum weight and charge for the box! Like this strawberry farm which is currently owned by a China-man. You can't help smiling reading their ground rules... I don't quite fancy petik buah strawberry sebab kena bongkok2 - oghang lamaa! So I just leave the picking to my children & hubby. Even the small strawberries at this farm is sweet. My hubby says strawberry memang banyak antioxidant and according to Pak Ngah (his tukang urut back home), the fruit will be masam once it leaves the farm. No wonder we never get sweet strawberries from the kedai... mahal pulak tu! Senang jer jawapan nya kalau buah dah benyek2...buat ais krim! Yes... I have done that! I tried with the strawberries we brought home. Jadii......... Macam ais krim Ben & Jerry's. Once I get the measurements right, I will post it... sedap! Tak payah guna mesin ais krim ... your old faithful cake mixer or blender will do ! And, the ingredients are easily available. Dah tentu halalan toiyiban..
On the left above: Message loud and clear..!
If possible go fruit picking on a Saturday because mostly everybody will go on that day. The trees will need time to ripen the remainder of the fruits. We went on Sunday because we couldn't make it the day before... since it is early in the season, the 'catch' was still good. Another fruit picking tip to remember : Wear a hat or cap especially at the strawberry patch. Teringat pulak strawberry2 kat Cameron Highlands!

My fruit - pickers taking a break to pose





Dah terlampau banyak makan buah! :-)








Ayam kampung yang gemuk2...







You can only see this type of vintage car at the farms...













Last stop was at the Peach
farm... kalau betul2 dapat yang manis, memang sedap!






Finally... resting after a hard days work under a donno what tree!

A day with Seniman Jalanan in downtown San Jose

I haven't really had the opportunity to explore downtown San Jose as much as you'ld think. I am not the type to ronda2 on my own tanpa tujuan. Carlos will always tell me dengan pelat pekat filipino nya : " Your chilren already biig... you can take train or bus. Itch-chokey..( it's okay ), here seb (save).." Ya la tuu! Kadang-kadang geram jugak dengan drebar ni, semua nya dia pandang elok pasal Amerika. First of all, there are no transport system, - neither train nor bus - in ' my neck of the woods ' . Rumah dekat kaki bukit. Secondly, I like going around with my children and so far they also like having me around too! I think... :-) A few times Anis got invited by her College friends to go out shopping or party-ing, but she turned them down. Nak keluar dengan ibuuu jugak. Alhamdulillah.. kat sini tak payah nak bagi 'lecture' teruk2 pasal social ills. I see this sort of attitude in anak2 Melayu here too. Baik2 belaka.. insyaAllah.. My weekends, macam jugak kat Malaysia, are normally spent with grocery shopping or visit friends' houses - if invited.. ! :-) A fortnight ago we were at Sohair & Wardah's kenduri selamat in Sacramento - 2 and half hours drive north of San Jose. They bought a nice home in Rancho Cordova. Seronok tengok... Last weekend pulak we had friends over from Malaysia. Four ladies on vacation.. penat2 kerja, dah cukup duit... jalan laa. Actually, I am so caught up with doing 'nothings' that I forgot all about this posting which I started drafting quite some time ago. I guess I should just complete it instead of delete. In case you're wondering.. Seniman Jalanan is one of Malaysia's young, budding Film Director and Professional Graphic Designer who attended a short course in L.A a few months back, - at the Universal Studios to be exact! We call him Ajin and here's him above on the right taking a shot of the VTA ( Valley Transportation Authority ) in downtown San Jose. I've included a link to his fotopages at the bottom. He was under the scholarship of FINAS and KEKWA. Haa..... kek what? Was my first response to the acronym! For those who are as 'blur' as me, it's short for Kementerian Kebudayaan, Kesenian dan Warisan. Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage previously headed by Datuk Seri Utama Dr. Rais Yatim. Well, after
the elections (pilihanraya) I don't really know who currently heads the ministry. Anyway, I believe everyone's quite familiar with FINAS - Filem Nasional. In fact, I got a bit of an update of current happenings in the Malaysian film and singing industry - that is after much 'korek-korek' out of our guest! Our first stop was Adobe Building at 345 Park Avenue - home of the Photoshop Engineers! Seniman Jalanan wanted to see whether the place hosts a showroom of Adobe's latest products. Apparently, they don't have it there. Anyway, if you want an inside look of the building and to know a few 'creative brains' of Adobe, click on the link ..
http://www.photoshopnews.com/feature-stories/a-visit-to-adobe/
The building from the outside really looks more like a bank. But, one couldn't miss the logo of the company that invents the infamous open standard for the billion+ PDF files in existence today. Making them viewable and printable on any platforms be it Macintosh, Microsoft® Windows®, UNIX®, and even mobile. Our next stop was The Tech Museum of Innovation along South Market Street. The Tech Museum of Innovation is a hands-on technology and science museum for people of all ages and backgrounds. Their mission is to inspire the innovator in everyone. Budak2 suka la tempat2 gini.. very educational! The talking robot above on the right ' tired out ' after being drilled by the kids with their questions.
http://www.thetech.org/
I guess The Tech ni is similar to PETROSAINS yang terletak di Petronas Twin Towers, which aims to be a seeding platform for stimulating interest in Science and Technology. While it is about creating more awareness of exciting career opportunities in the petroleum industry, The Tech on the other hand is all about the silicon - semiconductor technology. Fortunate to have many companies in the Silicon Valley as their patrons and sponsors, entrance to The Tech is FREE except for the IMAX cinema. Kalau kita nak tengok 3-D films baru la kena bayar. Tickets to PETROSAINS ranges from RM4 ( 5 - 12years ), RM7 (13 - 17years) to RM12 (adults). F.O.C is only given to children below 5years and even Senior Citizens have to pay RM6. Well, I supose if one could afford shopping at Suria KLCC, then the cost of the tickets is nothing, but kalau dah 5 orang anak ranging from 13 to 17 years .. plus mama & papa, banyak jugak tu! Tak kan nak tinggal separuh kat luar pulak. Last2, papa pun cakap kita pi makan kat McD jer lah... lagi murah!
http://www.petronas.com.my/internet/petrosains/Petrosains.nsf/263c2vis?OpenPage
Above left are some notes on making integrated circuits (ICs) ...



Robotic arm...






I got it to spell my name...

Interesting... ! And the figure increases every second...

Mothers' Day

Happy Mom's Day to all mothers, step mothers and those wanna be mothers... may we be blessed with children who love and respect us despite all our imperfections.
I hope I will never see the day when I am refered to by my children as " Hish... orang tua nie! ", like in some scenes we used to watch in drama Melayu. But, we'll never know what the future will bring onto us. All we can do is hope and pray for the best things in life.... InsyaAllah..
My children surprised me today with flowers, a t-shirt with "One in a million Mom" printed on it and a mug with their faces on it! I am glad they remembered.

I called up my mom in Sri Manjung, Perak the day before Mothers' Day here as that would already be Mothers' Day there.. She sounds allright...... but keeps saying; " Alhamdulillah.. macam ni laa..oghang lamaa " Never really complaining what ails her. Constantly looking forward for her daily activities of mengaji, Bahasa Arab classes & marhabban group. A 72-year old retired teacher, ilmu to her is a continous affair. I'ld rather she keeps busy in those activities and retain her feistiness than just mope all day long. I remember her earlier post retirement days when she was really involved in marketing & selling Herba Nona Roguy .. It's not easy to sell a product that has something to do with your bowel movements! But, she proved otherwise in spite of her age... sampai ke Pengarah Mahkota! And that's the max that a dealer can achieve. Of course, my arwah father helped... well, he kept the accounts, and drove her around! Their house became the Stokis for Selama, Perak where many gatherings & ceramahs were held. Bukan nak buat duit sangat, she says... Saja-saja nak buat kawan, kalau boleh nak tolong oghang...:-)
Ooo...you should see her in action when giving her ceramahs! With the microphone in hand, she could not stop!
That's our mom.. Puan Hajjah Bastiah binti Haji Abdullah

Di hari ini hari istimewa

Sekalung kasih untuk mu bonda

Sungguhpun sudah berlarut usia

Hanya pada mu tempat bermanja...

Petikan dari Puisi-Puisi Kamariah Nuri

Sasterawan Perak Darul Ridzuan..