Cruising San Francisco Bay  

Being a good boy, Matthew donated some blood a while ago, and was rewarded a gift certificate for a dining cruise on the Bay. Since great weather was forecasted for the weekend, we reserved a cruise on Sunday. When we woke up on Saturday to a gloomy and chilly day, we thought our chances of seeing anything but fog on the cruise would be minimal. Luckily the next day the sky cleared up, and we were treated to gorgeous views of the San Francisco Bay, with all the famous scenery clear in view -- the Golden Gate and Bay bridges, the city with the steep streets pouring down the hills... and in the windy waters of the bay, there were pretty sailboats galore! After sipping enough champagne and pigging out on a standard brunch buffet, everyone gathered on deck and soaked up the sunshine and devoured the view.

To take further advantage of the gorgeious weather, we decided to do a hike after running some errands. Legion of Honor is San Francisco's "classical" fine art gallery, located by a lovely stretch of the coast close to the Golden Gate Bridge. This is one of my favorite spots in SF. From time to time there are nice exhibitions here, but just the view there alone is worth the trip -- even on cloudy days, which is often at this location, it looks atmospheric. But this day it was sunny and warm, and we headed for a trail starting from the gallery, hugging the coast, looking out onto the water we just cruised. The sound of fog horn was often in the background, despite the absence of fog.

After the short hike, we met up with Jean and Mi at the Japanese Garden at Golden Gate Park (Trivia of the day: the Fortune Cookie was invented here). Cherry blossoms were in full bloom here, and everyone was busy snapping pictures with the last of the sun's rays fading. Then it was on to our last stop, SPICE II sichuan restaurant and spice our taste buds out.

To see more pictures, click here.

Also, here are some pictures of another hike we did last month: Carson Falls.

posted by cat 1:55 下午 留言/

特大喜讯  

特大喜讯
妈妈半月前发现右臂肘弯长了个东西, 有二三cm 大. 上周四去医院检查. 医生说摸起来硬, 形状又不规则, 性质还不好说. 约定下周二先做门诊手术. 术后二十分钟看化验结果. 如果不好, 就要住院, 再做扩大切除. 以后还要做化疗.
实际延到周四才做成手术. 病理科说下周二才能出结果. 这些日子妈妈一直很紧张不安. 直到昨天下午四点半最后打电话去问. 回答说结果出来了, 是良性!
于是妈妈的情绪 180 度大转变. 昨晚她的学生李霞和小胡就来请她吃饭祝贺.(本来饭都吃不下了)
今天我们去换了药. 两周后去拆线.

得意的妈妈

posted by Ruli 12:58 上午 留言/

Naizong the Fisherman  

Just got these photos from Naizong, who looks quite a successful fisherman!

2月20日钓冰鱼获北美狼鱼有湖中鲨鱼之号,5kg,90cm.





另为去年秋时获鲤鱼,84cm,11kg.乃宗



BTW, it will be nice to hear more from our Canadian Zongs. :)

posted by cat 12:12 下午 留言/

海岸一日游  

最近大家投稿踊跃,宗家嘴好生兴旺. 本编辑甚感欣慰. 希望大家再接再厉! :)

今年冬天,湾区阴雨绵绵,快变成西雅图了(据说西雅图倒是阳光灿烂, 好似加洲). 上周末总算盼来了阳光的日子,我们便开上小车直奔海岸.

穿过红木森林,越过青青草坡,绕过一群群五颜六色的自行车们,又被一辆辆轰轰烈烈肥肥胖胖的黑衣摩托超过. 我们来到大风的太平洋边. 阳光下的灯塔正白得耀眼,一岸的冰花正开的灿烂, 而海浪正汹涌的排练着"惊涛拍岸,卷起千堆雪".

晒了晒太阳吹了吹风, 我们又接着开到了BUTANO STATE PARK, 准备小小地徒一徒步. 一进公园就进了不怎么见天日的红木老林, 一下阴凉了许多. 红木老林里有一个怪异的木制水渠,象探险电子游戏里的奇境,不知是何用途.

徒步完毕, 我们迫不及待的跑到了附近的小镇, 早先这里是一个葡萄牙人的渔村PESCADERO,现在是个小小旅游点,有几家工艺品店,一家饭馆,两家食品店. 我们一惯是先奔其中一家食品店ARCANGELI,抓一只刚刚烤好的香喷喷的artichoke面包,再奔DUARTES饭馆,一人一碗这里著名的artichoke汤 (他家的海鲜也是不错地). 这天饭馆客满,我们便叫了外卖,把汤带到海边去喝,就着面包,还有风景看,十分过瘾.

饭饱汤足,回家路上,居然还看到了"云海日落",好看极了,给这逍遥的一天打上一个惊叹号!

有更多照片为证.

posted by cat 11:56 上午 留言/

The difference  

Thanks for Matthew's care about our new stereo.You know the difference between a 16 bit cd player comparing with 24 bit systems much better than I do. I don't know improving acoustic fidelity and articulation can change that much, but now I can say the same thing can touch you more. ( Is this somwhat subjective , Not really that objective? - Ruli's comment) We really enjoy our new set. I think that might be the sane reason why Emily likes more to drink 100% fresh fruit juice that other sweet drinks.

Chen Hang

posted by Ruli 6:17 下午 留言/

最新消息  

陈杭伟大的新音响工程昨天完成了. 这是委托小燕的一位朋友, 一位专家, "发烧友" ,完成的. 效果很好. 可惜你们听不见, 只能看照片.



新音响




介绍说明如下:

喇叭和功放是 ONIX 牌的. 功放在新机柜 (IKEA买的) 的右下方. 右上方是CD player (ARCAM 牌). 左上方上面是新 DVD player , 下面是老VCR. 左下方是新 FM receiver . 那两根水管粗的喇叭线就得一千多元, 还是便宜的. 一般DVD 现在只需二三百元, 而我们根据专家推荐买的得一千三. 可见费用不菲, 但我们认为值得.

补充一张照片, 是小毅的妈妈方巩拍的. 是在天鹅湖, 拍得很好.

posted by Ruli 1:59 上午 留言/

All girls tournament  

Last weekend Emily played in her second chess tournament. It was an all-girls event with 150 participants. Emily had a bad start in the K-3 section with two losses. But then powered back with wins in her last three games. That was good enought for 2nd among the Kindergardeners.

posted by rz 7:26 下午 留言/

Tiffany Free Drawing  

Here is a collection of Tiffany's free drawings as part of celebration of Tiffany's Happy fifth Birthday. All work were done during her play time on her little table by herself. Unfortunately some of her drawings were messed up or lost already (like the one that Mommy and Tiffany swinging on the moon).

A giraffe and her house.


A mommy tiger and her baby are running.


Princess Tiffany


A lion


A bunny family


Dorra and her friends


Swam Princess


A Happy Birthday Card to Mommy!

posted by Jia 10:24 上午 留言/

Happy Birthday to Tiffany !  

The excitment has lasted several days already. Finally, the day comes! Way early in the morning, Tiffany climbed up to my bed with that sweet smile and said to me: "I am FIVE today!" To celebrate, I will post some of the art works by Tiffany. But here, we have some recently pictures.

Tiffany made her own hair.


Tiffany with Mommay on Mommy's birthday.



Southern California received a lot of snow this year (best since 1969). Last Sunday, we went to another ski trip. This time, Tiffany was able to ski with us together. Here is a picture of us ready to get down!



Here we are, gettting down as a team!

posted by Jia 10:00 上午 留言/