An open-air concert in the neighborhood...

A good old-fashioned free concert by the lake.....

Under the shade of elms and sycamores....

Me and my spouse enjoyed it with the fellow Americans..........

Season: Summer flowers in the neighborhood......

As if summer is the color of yellow......blooms in my neighborhood.....
Yellow oleander........

Cassia.........

Day lily............

Joy: Summer barbecue........

Barbecue.......on a hot summer afternoon.....

Under the figs in our apartment...

Followed by the gratifying supper..

Gardening: Grapes in my container garden..

I have planted a grapes (Vitis) in my patio....its leafy and lush .......waiting to see when it will flower and bear berries....

PAssion: Arabian jasmine in my garden....

Arabian jasmine blooming in my garden........emanating one of the most pleasant floral fragrance..

Thought: On the epidemic ' depression'................

I was waiting in the trolley station of  my University..........

An old, 60-something Hispanic man sitting beside me started a conversation..

As I told my Asian ethnicity, he narrated how the Spanish explorers traveled to those places... and brought horses from Philippines, to the USA...the wild mustangs now invasive in the forests of South West...

Then he shifted topic and told how in the DMV offices, tri-lingual Middle Eastern girls work.. and it is a talent to be able to talk in three international languages..

In a long time someone talked such intelligent, unbiased stuffs..I was impressed..

Then our trolley arrived..and we went in our own directions...

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After a week or so, I was again sitting in that bench..reading a book on 'California chaparral'..and was eating a banana...

I heard someone saying "banana has lots of potassium"...I instantly recognized the voice, and even before looking up told, "Yes, I remember you, and the nice conversation we had that day".

It was the same old man. He says, "I don't remember you".

I felt offended, juts a little. Then reminded him of the conversation and got back to the book.

After some time he told, "I could not remember you because I am battling depression".

I have been doing some research on neural circuitry of depression and precisely understand what actually happens in it. To make him feel better I told, "That is almost an epidemic now-a-days. Even kids ..".

He replied, "Mine is not mild, but a severe form. Sometimes, it continues for an entire month".

I told him not to take much stress at his age. He is an intelligent guy, so I mentioned the stress - high cortisol - high angiotensin - heart & kidney malfunction link,  though the vagueness of the suggestion sounded unconvincing to myself.
If he has a problem, he will brood. Don't I do so, when things don't work as per my plan? Its other thing that if plan A does not work I loose no time in working for plan B...
I was willing to listen more of his owes. Most people don't have the courage to bare their souls, and most will not bother to listen. But, then the trolley arrived, and he walked away..
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On my coach, there were hundred other people..from different strata of life....homeless, drug addict, old veteran, wheelchair-bound, single mother, young college students...........

I looked at their faces..

Are they doing well?...or hiding a sad reality like the old man?

What about me? 

Well, bad things happen every now and happen...but then I quickly find a plan B instead of dwelling on the problem..

Food: Vegetable salads...

Vegetable salads are one of the most healthy of all foods...
Some from my kitchen..

Avocado salad...simple with salt, black pepper, and lemon juice..

Plant: The giant sequoia tree.......

They are so big, you feel like dwarf...
The prized asset of California...that of Sequoia National Park..the namesake.
We visited in 2013..
Some shots..
A car can pass under it...

The giant root base...

Like a long, dark corridor....

Fauna: Hooded orioles is our neighborhood........

A few days back, of all the trees in our leafy neighborhood, a pair of orioles honored us by choosing to build a nest on the greater bird-of-paradise plant beside our kitchen. It took three days for the pale-feathered female to weave a hammock-like nest out of palm fibers, underneath the huge leaf. Once she laid the eggs, she incubated them with the determination of a meditation. All these time, the turmeric-yellow male, perched on the jacaranda tree, groomed himself, stood guard, and regularly brought a moth, a butterfly or a bee, for her to feed on. The eggs hatched, the hungry, featherless chicks emerged. Both parents shared the duty of tending to them, frantically bringing grubs. Looks like the chirping chicks will fly away in a week or so. In the next Santa Ana wind from the desert, the nest is likely to fall off. Tiny they are, but the birds gave a big lesson in sustainability and regard for the nature.....

Passion: Vegetable harvest from patio garden in summer.

Summer harvest from the containers...
Swiss chard......

Mixed greens......

Chillies and tomatoes.............

Plant: Celosia.....

Celosia...cock's comb..an Amaranthaceae family member......
Gracing my containers in spring............

Its at a park.......

They come in a riot of brilliant colors........

Photography: Penguin in my garden

As the mercury rises..weaving some imagination to feel the cool...
My ceramic penguin statuette in the patio garden...

Place: Summer sunset at Laguna beach........

It was a hot July afternoon...Western sky is amber color........palms are silhouetted...shouting its South California..