EepyBird and Maker Faire

You may recall my chatter about the Maker Faire here and here?

And of course, everyone by now knows about the mentos and diet coke experiment. Those peeps did the post-it note thing I blogged about a few months ago.

Well, here's a little video they did of this years Maker Faire.

You all need to come to the bay area and check this out. But wow, look at all the people that were there just watching the experiment. It looks like there were twice as many people there as the year before. Fun though...gotta experience it! Bay area friends: go if you haven't already. You have no excuse. Next May - save the date!
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Conclusion of our SF Bay 'Cruise'

I never finished writing about our boat ride in the bay last month.

There isn't much more to say, but this weekend seems like an appropriate time to finish the story because the Bay Bridge, which travels from San Francisco to Oakland, will be closed this whole Labor Day weekend.

As you can see in this photo:

much still needs to be done. You can see the old bridge in the foreground, the new incomplete bridge behind it.

This'll be the 3rd, maybe 4th year they've closed the Bay Bridge for the entire Labor Day weekend. They even post signs in Los Angeles about the closure, just in case any Los Angelenos drive up here, at least they'll have a heads-up on the traffic nightmare that could ensue. We've wondered why they would close the bridge on a busy travel holiday weekend, but it's seemed to work in the past.

I won't even guess when the expected finish date is. I did a quick look on their website and found nothing committing a date.

Getting back to our boat ride on the bay, we stuck close to the bridge and stayed in a little inlet around Alameda. Alameda is an island next to Oakland, separated by the small inlet of water.

Alameda is where many of the cargo ships load and unload their goods. I have really crappy video of it, if you're interested in watching.

You may already know that i hate hate hate cranes. I have an unexplainable phobia of them. But these cranes don't bother me. In fact, I was quite intrigued watching the process. I think because they are so big and perpendicular rather than tilted, I feel safer. You wouldn't catch me walking under it though! The other cranes, I can't even barely look at them, especially when they are in use. When a building goes up and cranes are involved, I never see the process. And whenever there is road construction and cranes are involved, I have a simple process that I go through where I can avoid eye-contact with the crane and still keep my eyes on the road. I just pull down the sun visor, close whichever eye is closest to the crane, turn my head slightly away, and keep my one eye on the road. Weird, I know.

It was quite lovely being in the boat in this inlet. Calm, smooth water.

We were able to enjoy the views at a leisurely pace:

Downtown Oakland. My SIL works in that tallest building.

Kincaid's in Jack London Square. Kincaid's is a favorite special occasion restaurant for the Retzlaffs.

Colorful house boats.

Coast Guard Island.

I hate cranes. I hate cranes. I hate cranes.
It took a lot for me to photograph this.
and post it to my blog.
I'm trying to work though my issues.

funny bridges that go into Alameda. (Oakland to the left.)

Cal Berkeley rowing crew practice and compete in this inlet.

Oracle Stadium where the Oakland Raiders and Oakland A's play.

...then back out into the big bad bay.

It got really ugly after that last photo. We stayed as close to the shore as possible, but by the time we got back to the dock, I was completely drenched. The waves were coming up and over the boat, completely soaking us to the bone. I pretty much kept my eyes closed the whole time and had to meditate to not lose it...as in...break down in tears. That wouldn't have gotten us home any faster.

So, would I do it again?

Yes, but differently.

I never want to cross the Bay ever again. If we want to explore near San Francisco, we'll launch the boat in San Francisco. If we want to explore Oakland more, we'll stay on that side of the bay. We'll try to go on a warmer day. But now that I know our tiny boat survived, I have more confidence in it.
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How 'bout now?

Maybe that other photo was too dark...can you find the Golden Gate Bridge in this one?
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Flying off into the sunset

Tonight for dinner, I made some sandwiches and we headed to the San Leandro Marina to watch the sunset. Stunning views of the San Francisco Bay, planes leaving Oakland airport, and the San Francisco skyline.

Can you spot the Golden Gate Bridge?
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Christmas Goodies

Last night on our walk around the neighborhood, I brought my camera and took a few photos of the homes that were decorated. This one, as you may imagine, captured my heart. :)

So when we got home, I was filled with a bit of the Christmas spirit. Sunday we are getting together with some friends for Christmas goodies so I decided to make a couple of things.

Here are my standard Pretzel Kisses. This year I decided to make them out of Hershey Hugs instead of Kisses.I think they are prettier in the Hugs. And I don't typically like white chocolate, so I won't eat any of them. Bonus.

That being said...about the not liking white chocolate, I do like the follow sweet treat. I got the recipe last week when I went to a Pampered Chef party. It's called
"Festive Cranberry Crunch Bark"Ingredients:
1 package Ambrosia White Bark
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup almonds (toasted and chopped)
2 cups rice krispies

After removing the white bark from packaging, divide each cube into smaller cubes for easier melting. Melt bark in a micro proof container for 3 - 3 1/2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds. Dump 2 cups rice krispies and stir till well mixed. Combine cranberries and almonds. Dump 1/2 of the cranberry almond mixture into white chocolate and stir till well mixed.
Using parchment paper and a cookie sheet, dump the mixture on parchment paper and spread out as thin as you want. Add remaining cranberry/almond mix to the top and press into the bark with spatula or parchment paper. Refridgerate till solid, 30mins or so.

Break into bite sized pieces.

These taste a lot better than I expected. But they are rich, because of the white chocolate I suspect, so the good thing is I have no desire to eat more than a couple pieces. I think the almonds and the crunchy rice cereal makes it so yummy.

I've got at least one more thing to make tonight. Now that recipe, Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars, I have to be very careful not to eat the entire pan of. And it's one of those sweet treats that is so bad for you, you almost don't want to know whats in them. however, I'll share the recipe here, too. I only make these at Christmas time, and usually only every other Christmas. Happy Baking!
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Stanford Memorial Church

Not too many footsteps from the Papau New Guineau Sculpture Garden is the Stanford Memorial Church.

It was built in 1903 by Jane Stanford as a memorial to her husband Leland Stanford, who had died in 1893.

It's located at the center of the campus and has been called "the University's architectural crown jewel".

It's a non-denominational church so it could "serve the broadest spiritual needs of the university community".

"Mrs. Stanford's requested that the designs presented women in the church's images, in order to show the uplifting influence of religion for women."

The church has 3 organs. The balcony houses the original organ with over 3,000 pipes, as well as another one with almost 4,500 pipes. The chapel of the church holds the smaller 3rd organ.

The stained glass windows and mosaics that decorate the church are based on religious paintings the Stanfords admired in Europe.
I like to photograph doors and other portals. This one makes me imagine that through those doors is the Garden of Eden.
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Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden at Stanford University

Papua New Guinea is a country on the island of New Guinea in the South West Pacific near Australia.
In 1994, 10 master carvers from Papua New Guinea came to Stanford University to build a sculpture garden of New Guinea art.

According to Stanford's website, "The project is not an attempt to recreate a traditional New Guinea environment but an opportunity to experiment with and reinterpret New Guinea aesthetic perspectives within the new context of a Western public art space."

The project was transpired when two Papua New Guinea artists made the request to a Staford graduate student, Jim Mason, who was doing anthropological fieldwork in their country. These artists had just finished working on a sculpture garden in Australia and wanted to organize other venues in other western countries.

The artists arrived at Stanford the summer of 1994.

They stayed there for 4 months to complete the carvings and sculptures.

They ranged in age from 27 to 73 and it was their first time to the United States.

They created many large relief carved poles, free-standing individual figures, garamut slit drums and more.

The trees used for these carvings were selected specifically by the artists and shipped from New Guinea to the United States to be carved here.

The artists worked with a New Guinea landscape architect and an American landscape architect to design a landscape that would express the New Guinea aesthetic values within a western landscape space.

The sculptures and carvings are all shaded in an oak and cedar grove.

While I was photographing the carvings, several students and professors were relaxing or enjoying lunch among the artwork and trees.
Looked like a nice place to relieve some of the stresses of campus life.
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Craving Color

As much as I love being outside among the green trees and blue skies, sometimes I just need a super saturated color fix. So here are a handful of fun, colorful photos from a few years ago at the county fair.





Anyone going to the county fair this year? What are your favorite rides? Do you have any traditional foods that you like to eat? Are there any special items you are looking to purchase? Do you enter in any of the contests?
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What A Week!

Last week was very eventful!! My cousin and her family came to visit as an early celebration for my and Jimmy's birthday. I am so grateful that they were able to do this trip! It was her son's first visit to California and while we had a great time, there were a few bumps along the way, but not enough to dampen our spirits. Here are a few of the highlights (I'll spare you the lowlights).

Berkeley
We spent a half day in Berkeley, shopping for UC Berkeley sweatshirts, lunching on hoagies and walking around Berkeley's beautiful Rose Garden.

San Francisco
Walked around Pier 39 in San Francisco and talked to the sea lions. Do you know the difference between sea lions and seals? Sea lions have visible ear flaps.

Watched the sun set behind the Golden Gate Bridge.

Carmel and Monterey
After a wonderful lunch in Carmel, saw lots of sea life at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

We also played a good bit of Rock Band, saw the Sex and the City movie (loved it, it's fun and sarcastic and had a few moving moments, too) and ate good food. And not only did they come to visit for a whole week for our bdays, I also got an amazing new designer purse, too!
Thanks again V! I'm so glad you guys came to visit. xoxo
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Join me on a long drive

It's been quite a while since I've written a decent post, so prepare yourself for a long one.

We went to the hideaway this weekend. We haven't been in almost 2 months so it was nice to get up there again. We actually wouldn't have gone except for the need for heavier jackets for our trip to Chicago.

We left Saturday at 7:15am, a beautiful spring morning. Within 25 minutes, this was our view.We're not in the country yet, believe it or not. Big cities on either side of this grade. Fremont (population 210,000+) to the south and Pleasanton (population 72,000) to the north.

The cows don't care that they're within 3 miles of a Starbucks on either side of them.

Heading out of the more urban areas, we drive through the Altamont Pass Wind Farm.
According to wiki: "Altamont Pass is still the largest concentration of wind turbines in the world, producing about 125 MW on average."
The turbines add more texture to the already beautiful green hillside and sky. However, if our rain has ended for the season, these green hills will be brown in 3 weeks.

So now we're about an hour and a half away from home, driving through the almond orchards. The trees are blooming.
Didja know that California grows almost all of the nation's almonds?

There's even a Hershey factory nearby so they can cover those almonds with chocolate as quickly as possible. This barn isn't Hershey's. Just an fyi is all.

The trees are just about bloomed out, and the blossoms litter the ground like snow.

Just a few minutes up the road from the almond orchards is the town of Oakdale.
Is Oakdale notable for anything? I don't think so. Oaks? Well, there are a lot of oak trees on the drive to the hideaway. Only about 15,500 people live there.

Along with these interesting creatures!

And lots more agriculture.

And a few more almond trees.

Then we drive to the foothills.
Lots of lava rock from a lava flow 9 million years ago.

A little detour trough Red Hills. When the wildflowers bloom, they carpet almost every foot of this area. But we're still a bit early. The flowers aren't blooming yet.

A few more cows grazing along the hillside. They'd have to travel a lot further to get to a Starbucks. Again, not that they care.

20 minutes from Oakdale, we're driving through Jamestown with a mere population of just over 3,000.
But it was a bustling town during the Gold Rush and is known as the Gateway to the Mother Lode. It's now a picturesque little town with lots of antique shops.

25 more minutes up the road, we're finally at the hideaway!
Wow. The neighbor told us that it hasn't snowed in 3 weeks. And it's been warm (40s and 50s during the day) for the past 2 weeks. But there's still this much snow left on the ground. It was the most snowfall we've had since we bought the place 9 years ago, and we missed almost all of it.

Well, the night before, our neighbor said a visitor came traipsing through our yards. His, ours and the neighbor on the other side of us.They look like human footprints, right?
They're not. Take a closer look.
See those pads on that print on the far left?

Yep. A bear came to visit.

Walked right towards our hideaway.

It's a mighty nice hideaway. We like it at least.

So we spent 2 days there, Saturday and Sunday.
Then drove home Monday morning.

Care to join me for a few more pics on our way back?
If you've lasted this long, ya might as well stay for the trip back to the Bay Area.
Here's the road going back to Oakdale.

Lots of cows grazing on this Monday morning.

When we get to Manteca, we're almost on the freeway. Just another 1.5 hours till we're home.
Their sign could use a little fresh paint.

Another half hour on the road, we're back to the Altamont Pass, my landmark that we're back in the bay area.
I can't help but take lots of pics of these windmills. I'm not sure why the obsession.

And if I can get the windmills and cows? With the green hills and blue sky? I'm a happy girl.
I'm easy to please.
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