Passion: Birding........

Birding is a beautiful outdoor activity......In this regard, our present location offers us with a myriad opportunity........

And me and spouse make the most of this blessing....

The other day we hiked in San Joaquin wildlife sanctuary........with seven ponds and thickets of willow, sage, cottonwood, wild rose, reeds, mulefat, this place attracts numerous birds.......especially in winter........

Any given day, a person can spot above 20 bird species........

We saw some rare ones as well.......

People: Uber drivers.........

I don't have a car yet or even a driver license.....so I am using Uber service for appearing job interviews, if my spouse is not available to drive me around....

Most of them are middle-aged folks.....

Some males, some females......some laconic, some chatty.....from different ethnicities...going through different phases..having different histories....

One guy tells of his job interview...how he is getting an offer for  a job 40 miles away...and its not easy..

I learned the other to be an alumnus of my Alma mater San Diego State University, who graduated when I was not even born.....how humbling! He tells how Smog situation was bad in LA in the past..

Another tells how he had an Indian friend..angry... We agree that when things don't go as planned, or you are deprived from things, its easy to be angry...

Another says how he helps his passengers by listening to their problems..like  a lady going through stage IV cancer, with whom he prays for her healing..and gives her  a scripture..

Another young driver falters at an intersection...I ask him what led to the mistake..he says that lately his hands are sweating excessively...I have a bad sweating problem, and recently I learned to use gloves to soak the sweats...I advise him to use gloves.......

Another guy tells he has another job in a medical company, where he works 12h at a stretch.......from 5 in the the morning...

A female driver, an immigrant from Asia, who have been living in the US from last 37 years, talks at length how the civil war in her country Sri Lanka led her family to move here..

Another driver has his air freshener on in his car and I was choking in its fragrance..we had a good talk about its risks..I told his its endocrine-disrupting risks....and I hope, he will heed this lesson, and make the ride of many passengers more pleasant and healthier...

I meet an immigrant from Afghanistan bemoaning how his country embroiled in war and his family had to flee...

Another guy tells he used to be a real estate broker...when he knows I am researcher and publish, he takes my name to read my papers.........

Its pretty interesting meeting people from diverse background..

People: The lady who never forgot to put seasonal decors....

While we were living in San Diego, theresa was this tall old lady who lived next door.......
She had some injuries,and I would often see her hobble, sometimes on the crutches......but she would never forget to put season-specific on her door front........like this little Santa toy.......

Knowledge: Double yolks in an egg...

I had never seen two yolks in a chicken egg.......the other day as I cut  a boiled egg, saw this....
Both me and spouse felt it odd, some kind of mutation, and declined to eat it...it ended in the trash...

Joy: Beautiful natural things....

Some of the very pleasant things that I was introduced to when arrived to this country.........

Callery pear flowers........the cluster of the serene white flowers shedding petals in the winter makes me happy.....

The brilliant color of coral tree flowers make me nostalgic..reminding of  'palash' flowers back home in India....

The starry leaves of sweetgum............

Endless blue Ocean....

Plant: Mistletoe..........

Mistletoes........

Christmas day........people might be smooching under the mistletoe..
I just love spotting them on the trees....

Thought: Nice life philosophy........

Life is mostly froth and bubble, / Two things stand like stone, / Kindness in another's trouble, / Courage in your own. -Adam Lindsay Gordon, poet

Observation: Fruits in neighborhood gardens......

California is paradise for fruit plants.........I see a lot of exotic fruit plants as I go on my walks............
Dragon fruit......

Jujube.......

Fun: Happy feet.........

Don't they say leave only footprints...........
Here, the clams-crusted tidepool of Neah Bay, Washington.......

The pink, fine sand of Coral pink Dunes State Park, Utah....

Washington....a  ride along the temperate forest.....

Festival: San Diego zoo jungle bell time..........

Jungle bell time in the San Diego zoo.......

Joy: National Park reminisces......

Found this funny picture in Yellowstone National park visit album....my spouse took this shot of me, in front a lodge.......

I was excited to find this clump of mushroom in Sequoia National park......

Plant: Eucalyptus and mushroom tug-of-war......

Eucalyptus trees look so sturdy..

But they are susceptible mushrooms.........like this chicken-of-the-woods mushroom......

A 100 feet tree of 30 yaers age can die following the systemic infection......

I have seen so many of them chopped down........sad! But, that's how food chain, host-pathogen interaction occurs and that the law of nature.....

Plant: Bird-of-paradise blooms in autumn........

This time of the year, the street sides and the parks of our neighborhood in Irvine in filled with bird-of-paradise blooms..........

Exotic orange flowers.....and hummingbirds fluttering among them.......sipping nectar from them....

Plant: Date palms and parrots......

There are a good number of date palms in our neighborhood.....
In winter the fruits ripen.......

Flocks of parrots from the nearby forests arrive here to feed on them........

How nice it feels to see the green birds high up these trees...their chatterings and red tuft of feathers give them away......

I enjoy showing them to my spouse....
After having  a bellyful of date palm lunch, they rest in the cassia trees.........perhaps, a nap, before heading back to the forest..............