Marlakins

The Floating Market and an Elephant Ride

2010-03-09T02:50:24Z

The second tour we took in Thailand took us to four provinces outside of Bangkok. I would list the names, but I can’t remember them. Actually, when the tour guide told them to us, I could barely understand them anyway! I found the Thai language very difficult to repeat. My ears are just not used to hearing their words and just to learn how to say “thank you” required that I had to ask the gal at one of the shops to say it several times very slowly, heheh. Then I wrote it down as she slowly repeated it several times. If my ears got it right, thank you in Thai is “kap kun ka.”

The floating market was part of our tour, and that was at Damnoen Saduak just on the outskirts of Bangkok. First we took a long boat to get to the market. This is what they looked like.

We had to be careful to take turns boarding as well as being mindful of where on the benches we sat since these boats are a bit narrow and can easily tip. Here’s a pic of me and my parents on the bench in front of me.

From here we rode through waterways with houses on either side of us to get to the floating market. Here’s what it looked like.

And this was a view at one intersection.

I noticed that along the way they also had foot bridges so people could walk from house to house. Here’s what it looked like.

Once we got to the floating market we transferred onto the paddle boats for an additional fee because long boats aren’t allowed within the floating market because of their engines. Two people were allowed to sit on the front and the rear benches, but only one person on each bench in the middle. Aaron and I sat on the front bench, so I turned around and took a pic of my dad and my mom behind him. He’s wearing a hat my mom just bought for him there, heheheh.

Basically, what the floating market is are a bunch of vendors selling their wares or goods from paddle boats. We hire a boat that paddles us around the market and we stop at whatever vendor looks good, heheh. They sell all sorts of things like hats, carvings, stuffed animals, etc., including food. Here’s a pic of a vendor selling hats.

Here’s a pic of other vendors selling food.

They sell all sorts of foods from cooked foods, to raw fruits and veggies and even raw meats. We bought some fried bananas from this vendor, yummy! Here’s what it looked like.

Some vendors were on boats side by side. Here’s a shot of what I mean.

If you wanted to buy something from the vendor three boats in, she would put her stuff in a basket with a long handle and reach it over to you. You would then remove your purchase and place your money in the basket.

It was very crowded with tourist. This is one shot showing how crowded it was.

Once we got off the paddle boat, there were other shops along the way where you could still buy stuff just walking around. There was so much to look at that I wished we had more time and more money, heheheh. But alas, we had to go to our next destination, which was taking an elephant ride.

When we got to the place where they gave elephant rides, Aaron and I shared one elephant. We also bought a basket of bananas so we could feed the elephant along the way. I had no idea elephants ate bananas! And I learned that they not only eat bananas, but they eat the whole kit and kaboodle–skins and all! Or course, I suppose they don’t peel them out in the wild? So we were told that since elephants eat like that their poops are very fibrous, and it makes good paper! Ack! The things this city girl has never thought of. . . There was a small bench on top of the elephant where we sat, and a man straddled across the back of the elephant’s neck who lead the elephant for us. After we walked out into the jungle a ways, he turned around and motioned for my camera. I gave it to him, then to my surprise he slid down! Aaron and I were by ourselves on this elephant! Meanwhile the man ran ahead and called to the elephant to follow him while he took pictures of us. Here’s a shot of Aaron and me on an elephant.

And this was our elephant “driver” after he took our pictures and climbed back up. I don’t know what else to call him! Ha ha!

I think that’s all the pics I can add to this post, so will stop here and continue on another post later.

Marlakins

More on Centenarians

2010-03-05T20:20:36Z

As part of my interest in centenarians, I thought I’d take a moment to recognize a couple centenarians who recently made the news. The first one is Judge Wesley Brown.

One of the amazing things about this man is that at age 102, he’s still going to work every day! From watching his videos it’s obvious he’s still very lucid and mentally with it. Just another testimony to the fact the it is not automatic that with age comes mental decline.

The second centenarian that hit the news recently is a woman who passed away at 100. Her name was Grace Groner. An although the reason she hit the news wasn’t due to her centenarian status, but rather her large financial contribution to a school, my main interest was that she was a centenarian.

Here’s the link with Diane Sawyer telling Groner’s story. I wish they would have touched on some info regarding Groner’s age and health, but I guess that wasn’t the interest of their story.

So far what stands out to me from reading of the various centenarians is to continue to remain active, not only physically, but mentally as well. There really does seem to be something to using the brain as a form of brain exercise that helps preserve youth and/or vigor. This encourages me to continue hitting the books and learning, learning, learning, and exploring no matter how old I am.

Marlakins

A Couple Buddhist Temples in Bangkok

2010-03-04T07:28:56Z

The first tour we took in Thailand included visits to a couple Buddhist temples. The first one was at the Royal Temple. This is one view of it.

There were actually several structures, so it was hard to get it all in in one shot. The little roofs seen at the bottom of this picture are actually little shrines for different Buddhas. There was incense available to light for each Buddha. I only know little bits and pieces of Buddhism, so I can’t explain much of it, but the little bit that we were told was that Thais are very superstitious, and they have a Buddha for different things. For example, if they are in need of more financial success, there’s a specific Buddha to pray to for that. If they want a child, then there’s another Buddha to pray to for that. For happiness, there’s another Buddha, and so on. The days in the week are also significant to the Thais, so they all tend to know which day they were born–i.e. Sunday, Monday, Tues, etc. I know the date I was born, but I never knew which day in the week. . . According to their religion, each day is associated with a certain color, which also has some sort of significance to the person.

This is what it looked like inside the temple.

Here’s a closeup of some of their inlaid art on their window shutters.

I believe this one was on the front door.

Just outside the temple were these bells on either side of the building. We were told that what you do is make a wish, then ring a bell. Then do it again using the next bell in line. You keep making wishes and ringing the next bell in line until you get to the end.

Toward the back there was another elevated structure (I think there was a school behind there), and from there I took more pictures, including this picture. Amazing craftsmanship, huh?

The second Buddhist temple we visited was Wat Traimit or Temple of the Golden Buddha . This temple is famous for the “golden Buddha.” This Buddha is supposed to be “solid” gold. For a little history on this Buddha, here’s a little blurb from this link:

Wat Traimit is thought to date from the 13th century. The Golden Buddha image is about 900 years old and is cast in the Sukhothai style. It is believed to have been brought first to Ayutthaya.

When the Burmese were about to sack the city, it was covered in plaster to hide its value. Two centuries later, still in plaster, it was thought to be worth very little.

But in 1957, when the image was being moved to a new temple in Bangkok, it slipped from a crane and was left in the mud by workmen.

In the morning, a temple monk, who had dreamed that the statue was divinely inspired, went to see the Buddha image. Through a crack in the plaster he saw a glint of yellow, and discovered that the statue was pure gold.

This is what it looked like on the day we visited.

Here’s one shot of the inside with the golden Buddha.

That’s Aaron off on the left side looking annoyed, heheh. He didn’t like the crowds. . .

Here’s a close up of one of their reliefs.

Here’s a closeup of one of their gold-leafed doors.

Here we are in front of one of their “money” Buddhas. I don’t know the right name for it, but we were told that if we wanted good fortune financially, then we should take our wallets and rub it three times around it’s belly. . .

After visiting the temples we were taken to a gold factory, which specialized in rubies and sapphires. They didn’t allow us to take pictures inside, so the only pic I go was this one of three of the gals who were greeting the visitors. This factory also had a nice Thai silk selection. Examples of their silk are worn by these gals.

Later in the evening we went to a cultural show. It was called Siam Niramit.

This is in the courtyard right outside of the theater. That’s me dad and mom on the left of the pic and me youngest boy, Aaron on the right.

Here’s a link to the show, http://www.siamniramit.com/ The cultural show included a buffet dinner just before the show. The food was only so-so there, but the rest of the eats in Thailand made up for that, heheheh. For anyone interested in seeing the program know that they do not allow cameras inside and they “collect” all cameras and video equipment and hold them at the front desk. No audio recording is allowed, either. . . After the show, however, they allowed pictures outside of the theater.

That ended our first tour day in Bangkok.

Marlakins

A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness

2010-03-02T17:02:20Z

While we were in the Philippines we had the opportunity to visit some bookstores. One bookstore I particularly liked is called Fully Booked on Fort Bonafacio High Street. One thing I noticed there is that they seem to have a better selection of history books dealing with Asia than the bookstores I normally visit here in Los Angeles (which is understandable). There are several that I hope to be able to read, and so in the meantime, I copied the names of some titles that I want to look for later. One book, in particular, caught my attention which was called NHK-TV “Takaimura Criticality Accident” Crew, A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness.

Prior to my AA diagnosis, I was relatively oblivious to the toxins and other health hazards we are exposed to daily or as a matter of routine. As part of my quest to recover from AA, I tried to read up on various health and healing modalities. As a result, I learned about many hazards to the human body among them is radiation.

I have come to be staunchly against nuclear power because of the sheer dangers it poses to human health. What I’ve learned about radiation exposures is frightening. The power of radiation to literally destroy our bodies from the very cell structure is unbelievable. It wasn’t until I was diagnosed with AA and learned and experienced the “weird” and frightening things that can go wrong with the body did I appreciate the dangers of radiation. Unlike other toxins, our bodies don’t detox radiation. The damages radiation cause remain once it has inflicted its damage and continues to damage as it reduces the ability of healthy cells to replicate and changes healthy cells into free radicals that in turn damage more healthy cells. This is not to mention the nuclear wastes created that do not go away for centuries. Among the things I didn’t agree with Senator McCain during his Presidential run was his assertion that we should build “40″ more nuclear power plants! No way would I ever vote for someone like that. And I wasn’t too happy that Obama also didn’t want to rule out using nuclear energy and now recently even proposed a couple new plants in Georgia. Grrrrr.

Anyway, back to the purpose of my post. . . when I saw the title regarding “radiation sickness,” I wanted to read A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness. I got a copy of it last Saturday and finished reading it yesterday, Sunday. It was a quick read, but very informative. Basically, it’s the detailed story of the worst nuclear radiation accident in Japan’s history at a uranium processing facility in Takaimura. It was not a nuclear power plant like Three Mile Island or Chernobyl, which is dangerous enough, but a “processing” plant. I had wondered why I had never heard of it before, but it could have been because it happened around the same year and time I got diagnosed with AA and I was likely no longer keeping up with current events. Even so, it’s a wonder that I’ve only learned about it about 10 years after the fact. Makes me wonder about the quality of our news outlets when something so horrific is ignored or blacked out. Anyway, what happened was on September 30, 1999 two employees were filtering and pouring uranium solution into a tank when they inadvertently caused criticality. They heard a loud “smack” accompanied by a blue light known as the Cherenkov light. At that instant, neutron beams, the most powerful form of radioactive energy, pierced through their bodies. They didn’t know it at the time, but at that moment, in a matter of seconds, their days were numbered. They were dead men although they looked fine.

One might ask who in their right minds would work with such lethal substances? Well, sadly there are some, but even more disparaging is that others work with them because they do not fully understand or appreciate the dangers. Such was the case with Hisashi Ouchi, the employee who received the highest dosage of radiation that day. In the book it states that while in the hospital and still able to speak (during the first week), he was said to be very cheerful and calm. If that wasn’t enough of a tip that he didn’t quite understandwhat was in store for him he actually asked the nurse if it was possible for him to develop leukemia later. . . oye. . . In short, this guy didn’t have a clue and didn’t have time to develop leukemia. His body basically deteriorated from the inside out with each passing hour and day. The medical community did their best to deal with all the damage occurring in Ouchi’s body, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing in the medical arsenal could save Ouchi from the grueling fate he was dealt from that moment of radiation exposure. Organ after organ failed as the radiation damage ripped through his cells. When Ouchi finally died and the coroner first beheld his body, the coroner could not contain his astonishment. Here’s an excerpt from page 119:

“At first glance, Ouchi’s body was bright red, as if he had been scalded. But it differred from burnt corpses whose entire bodies were pitch black. The front side of his body, where he had apparently been irradiated, looked severely burnt. No skin remained on this side and it was smeared in blood. The back side was entirely uncolored and the skin appeared normal. There was a distinct border between the irradiated and untouched areas. Misawa had never seen such a body. . .

“. . . Organ alterations which he had never seen appeared before Misawa’s eyes.

“The intestines were swollen and looked like a writhing serpent. There was 2,040 g of blood in his stomach and 2,680 g in his intestines. It was obvious that the gastrointestines had not been functioning.

“Every mucus membrane in his body had disappeared. In addition to the mucus membranes in the intestines and other parts of the gastrointestinal tract, mucus membranes in the trachea had also disappeared.

“Hematopoietic stem cells that ought to be in the bone marrow could not be found either. [Neither Ouchi's or his sister's transplanted cells] Areas with active cell division are known to be sensitive to radiation and susceptible to damage. Tissue such as mucus membranes and bone marrow had been severely damaged.

“What most astonished Misawa was the muscle cells, normally thought to be the least susceptible to radiation damage. Ouchi’s muscle cells had lost most of their fiber and only the cell membrane remained.

“There was only one organ with vivid red muscle cells which had remained intact.

“It was the heart.

“Only the muscle cells of the heart had not been destroyed.”

Death by radiation exposure is no cake walk. There is much pain and suffering involved.

Shogo Misawa, Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Tsukuba was the lead coroner who dissected Ouchi’s body. His philosophy regarding dissection is that no one wants to be dissected, but his job is to carry out forensic autopsies. So it’s up to him to listen to what each body is trying to tell them. As a coroner, his task is to observe and record what they see and lend their ears to that person’s voice. Misawa thought that from the pitiful condition of Ouchi’s body it appeared that Ouchi had lived with all his might. And from Ouchi’s heart, the only internal organ that remained vividly intact, Misawa said he received Ouchi’s message that he wanted to continue living. Another message the Misawa believes he received from dissecting Ouchi’s body is about radiation. Misawa is quoted on page 121:

“I think there was one other thing that Mr. Ouchi wanted to tell us. It was about radiation, something invisible and without smell that most people don’t consider a risk. But look at what it did to me. Why did I have to change so much? I was so young, why did I have to die? I want everyone to think about this. Looking at his heart I couldn’t help but think: That’s Mr. Ouchi’s message.

“As an expert witness, Misawa is usually not permitted to give the details of an autopsy. However, he felt compelled to transmit the message he heard from Ouchi’s body.

“Radiation damage destroys the human body from the inside out.

“The effect of radiation had extended to every corner of the body.”

I highly recommend reading A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness. Especially in light of the current push to revive nuclear energy we all must educate ourselves so that at least if we choose for or against nuclear power, it will be an educated choice. The consequences are too severe to remain willfully ignorant.

Marlakins

And Now for Thailand

2010-02-28T20:43:25Z

Today I thought I would continue with my travelogue and share some of our pics from Thailand. I thought they had an interesting looking airport. It was rather large and sci-fi looking. Dad said it was a bit freaky looking, which I can see, heheh. Here’s a small sample of the building as we approached.

Imagine this same structure stretching out for a couple miles or more. Not sure why, but it kinda reminded me of a big insect or insect dwelling or something. Maybe I’ve watched too many Alien movies. . .

The hotel we stayed it was called the Baiyoke Sky, and is the tallest building in Bangkok. Here’s what the building looked like as we approached it.

Our room was on the 40th floor. Aaron and I shared one room even though there were three beds in the room. For a fancy hotel with large rooms, I found the interior design surprisingly a bit plain. Here’s what part of the room looked like.

On the opposite side of the beds there was a small lounge, bar and TV.

Hmmm. Not very exciting decor, no? But the room was clean and very spacious including the bathroom, which was probably more than twice the size of my bathroom at home.

After doing a little snooping around the room I found a Bible written in both English and Thai. Very interesting writing. . .

I found the Thai language difficult to repeat, and being that their written language is so different than English, I found it doubly challenging to figure out what things were. For instance we’d pass a lot of building with Thai writing and I’d have absolutely “no” idea what was inside.

Here’s a picture of some Thai currency.

It looks to me to be the picture of their king on their money. The exchange rate at the time we were there was about 31 or 32 bhat to 1 US dollar depending upon where you exchanged money. Speaking of their king, it seemed like they really loved their king and often spoke highly of him. His pictures were in so many places throughout the city.

Here are a couple views of Bangkok from our hotel room window.

Apparently, the shadow to the right is our hotel. Here’s another angle from the same window.

Large city, huh? I didn’t know what to expect from Bangkok, but somehow I didn’t expect it to look like this. It was pretty crowded and had a little similarities in the way to the Philippines. However, I admit that it’s a bit cleaner than the Philippines and their roads seem more orderly even if it’s still a bit crazy. One difference is they drive on the left side of the road like the Brits. The Filipinos drive on the right side like us Americans. They did have little tricycle-like taxis called “tuk-tuks.” The name comes from imitating the sound of their engines. Here’s a pic of one.

Breakfast was served between 7 to 10AM on the 79th or 82nd floor depending upon the day. This was part of one of my breakfasts.

Along with this.

Yum, I really do miss that kind of breakfast. It really hit the spot for me. They actually had a very large buffet, which included many types of breakfasts including the regular ham and eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, french toast, yada yada, but there was no way I was going to eat like that when I had all this other stuff to try.

Okay, so after breakfast we headed down to meet the tour guide. I’ll post some of those pictures on the next Thai post.

Marlakins

Working on My Yarn Stash

2010-02-27T02:40:58Z

Last night we visited the Barnes and Nobles at the Grove because I heard that Crazy Aunt Purl was going to be there for her book signing. I honestly haven’t read her book, but I wanted to check out the scene anyway. After listening to her speak a bit, I decided to hit the cooking section and the crafts section. And oh boy! There is no end to great books and people with tons of inspirational projects, wah! I think I’ve got plenty of craft supplies, but there are just so many different types of crafts that I think I’ll have enough to do for the rest of my life. . . And it made me remember that I really should try to use up my supplies. . . which, I actually got back to chipping away at this week. After returning from the Pines, I spent about a week getting things back in order. This week I got a chance to pull out the crafts and “yarn.” Ohhh. . . heheheh. But I gave in to one of my temptations and bought a little pattern for an amigurumi. It was just too cute to pass up. It’s called the Signature Escargot by Elisabeth D. I started it last night. This is what it looked like.

This morning I was able to finish it! And now Petunia has a new buddy. . .

Modest little gal, heheh. I was working off the pattern from my computer, so the picture of what the real Signature Escargot should look like can be seen on the computer screen behind. I didn’t have the other supplies like the plastic eyes or the fancy flower on her head. I just stitched on the eyes and sewed on a little ribbon instead. Here’s another picture of Petunia with her new friend.

Hee hee! For anyone who hasn’t seen Elisabeth D’s work, check out her flickr photostream. She’s among the best amigurumi designers I know.

The other project I’m working on is really just to help hone my knitting skills. I’ve been interested in modular knitting, and I really like Iris Schrier’s modular designs because her patterns use live stitches and there is very minimal sewing, if any. So here’s a picture of a skinny scarf I’m working on to get a hang of one of Iris’s multidirectional patterns.

Her instructions are very easy to follow, and I’m happy that I’ve gotten an early start in the year to learn more skills to improve my knitting. I still have a list of other things to learn, but at least one item down! I’ll try to post a pic once this is completed.

One other project I managed to complete were a pair of socks for Matty. He’s the picky one and wanted a sock combo of wool and cotton. So I knit up a pair with two strands of yarn–one sock wool, and the other crocheting thread. Here’s what it looked like in progress. The leg part is in plain blue partly because Matty didn’t want the leg portion cotton, only the foot portion. I tried to match up a thicker yarn for the leg to make up for the foot portion.

And here it is completed.

I wondered if it was a little too thick to wear in shoes, but he wore them to school the next day and loved them! Ha! He said they were soft and comfy. That has inspired me to make him another pair using the same two strands of yarn (but different color). One of the gals wants me to teach her how to make socks tomorrow, so I’ll try to get another pair started then.

So that’s what I’ve had going on the yarn front. I did pull out some of my old patchwork tops that I had worked on years ago, and think I will try to complete a few of them this year, hopefully. I’m also getting interested in sewing an embroidery again. . . oh, oh. . . I also want to try out more cooking recipes. I have plenty of them that still need trying. Well, at least yesterday Aaron and I sowed some seeds. I hope this year we’ll have a better crop than last year. Aside from the Mandarin oranges, the rest of our crop was pretty pathetic. . . I think we were being too conservative with the water being that we were suffering from drought. At least we got a lot of good rain the start of this year and the soil looks much happier. We’ll see how long that lasts. . .

Toodles for now!

Marlakins

A Short Trek to Marikina

2010-02-23T05:10:23Z

To continue on with my travelogue, after we left Hidden Valley in Laguna and arrived in Manila we decided to go to Marikina and visit Auntie Nora, Ophi, Cynthia, and the Cainta property. We really wanted to visit to check out Cynthia’s roof as it was damaged from the recent flooding there in Marikina. Since we were heading there, we decided to pop into the Cainta property so that I could see it. Mom and Dad called up Auntie Lits and Uncle Al and we stopped off to eat first before heading the the lot. Turned out that the place we went to eat was Kapitan Moy, Daddy’s old school. This is the school my dad went to when he was about 12 years old and just before WWII broke out in the Philippines. He was actually in this building when the first air strike flew over Marikina, Philippines.

Today this building is a restaurant with rooms available for rent for various functions. We really couldn’t see much downstairs as the rooms were closed off, but I could tell some of the rooms were banquet rooms. We did eat at the little restaurant towards the back of the lower level, which looked like this from the inside.

Inside the small restaurant there was an old piano, which Mommy started to play. There were no other patrons in the restaurant at the time so we asked if it was okay for Aaron to try the piano, too. They were all very nice and didn’t mind at all. Here’s Aaron playing on their piano.

I sat there eating and listening to Aaron play when I told my dad, “Bet you didn’t think years ago when you were here at school at 12 years old that one day your ‘grandson’ would be playing the piano downstairs, huh?” Ha! Yeah, we all had a little chuckle at that, then I asked where dad’s classes were held. Apparently, they were upstairs.

We asked one of the restaurant workers if it was possible for us to look at the second level of this building because my dad said it was upstairs where his classes were held. The restaurant worker was nice enough to ask the guard to unlock the door and let us see the second floor. First you walk up through this door from the first level.

Then make a sharp left and walk up these steps.

Through those doors at the top of the steps was where my dad’s classes were held. My dad said that they have taken all the room partitions down and now it’s just one big room. This is what the second floor looks like today with Mom, Dad, and my youngest son, Aaron standing in the middle.

Although the building is no longer a school, at least is has a plaque that explains that this building was once a school for making shoes. Marikina was known for their shoes and my grandfather was a shoemaker. He taught all his sons how to make shoes and apparently, he also sent them to a school that made shoes! Or at least the founder of the school made shoes. Here’s the sign in Tagalog.

After we visited Auntie Nora and the rest of the clan, we all decided to visit the Cainta property. Here’s a pic of all of us there.

And then we took a pic along side their church van. Apparently, one of my cousins is married to a pastor, and since there were so many of us going and couldn’t all fit in one vehicle, they took their church van.

I’ve never been to their church, but if they’re anything like my other cousins on that side of the family, then I’m guessing they’re pentecostal. The rest of my family are basically Catholics. I think I only know of “one” aunt who is born again Christian in the sense that she is no longer Catholic and she doesn’t believe in praying to the saints. Her kids (my cousins) don’t get her, heheh.

Anyway, after that we went shopping. . . oh, and one other pic I wanted to share is this lot right next to ours that had these interesting chicken coups. Very simple, but pretty effective. I liked how each chicken had it’s own place and enough grass around it. Check it out.

Okay, that’s the end of that day. The next couple days we spent shopping, getting ready for Bangkok, and visiting with relatives.

Marlakins

Growing Power

2010-02-22T16:15:14Z

In addition to natural health issues, Brian and I have long been interested in self sufficiency. We’ve thought of how nice it would be to be able to have our own farm, but let’s face it, I don’t see us moving to a farm any time in the near future. The more feasible possibility for us is “urban farming.” What we have tried instead have been small scale things like growing some organic veggies in the backyard as well as raising our own rabbits and chickens at one point. We decided that the rabbits were not the best nutritional source, and the chickens needed more space than we had to offer to make it worthwhile. The largest animals we could “squeeze” into our backyard would be pigmy goats, but you don’t want to have only one as they’d get lonely. So those weren’t good options for us. Not to mention that we live in an area that’s not zoned for farm animals. . . BUT I will say that I did enjoy having the chickens. Their eggs were yummy, and they were kinda cute to watch roam around the backyard. I got a kick out of how they are creatures of habit and would come back like clockwork to roost in the same spot every night. The drawbacks were the lack of space, which in turn made it a challenge to keep the flies at bay. The manure created by both the rabbits and chickens were fantastic for our veggies, but again we had to be very diligent to keep the flies under control. Also, the chickens were so aggressive with scratching and digging for worms and bugs that they could quickly tear up our garden if we didn’t fence them off. I still remember how our artichoke grew like crazy with the rabbit manure, and I really felt like I was walking in the land of the lost with how big they got. But those days are passed, although our interest in health issues and sustainability have remained.

Fortunately of us there are many innovative people who have inspired us such as Joel Salatin with his pastured animals as well as Bill Mollison, father of permaculture. Now, once again we have been inspired by another possible adventure in health and sustainability–aquaponics or aquaculture promoted by Will Allen. I know that Brian has been eying this guy for a while, but now after reading Eating Animals, I have been disturbed about how fish are harvested from the oceans. Apparently, many current fishing practices today have been destroying our oceans with their 30 mile trawl fishing nets and lines and other methods, which have been destroying coral reefs (the habitats for a diverse number of sea life, which without they can not survive) and killing many other sea life indiscriminately as they also get caught up in the nets. Therefore aquaculture is starting to look very appealing to me and tempting to try on a small scale for our family. Check out this video.

The founder of Growing Power is Will Allen. For more information, check out his blog at http://growingpower.org/ Very cool stuff!!! It’ s not just about raising fish, but also about using edible plants to help filter the water and sustain the fish.

I remember visiting the home of one of my classmates in high school. They were Chinese, and in their backyard they had pigeons in cages. That was the first time I’d ever seen pigeons in cages before. And being young and naive, I didn’t even stop to wonder why they had them. Years later I realized that there are some Chinese dishes which feature pigeon. I am happy to know that there are people even in the urban areas who are innovative and brave enough to take on urban farming. Brian and I have considered the possibility of raising quail and even crawfish before, but we never got into it. Now another interesting possibility is fish. . . hmmmm.

Marlakins

Hidden Valley Part 3

2010-02-19T06:53:55Z

Before I move on from Hidden Valley, I thought I’d share a few more pics. Aaron and I wanted to see what else was around the Valley. I read that there was a Hidden Falls somewhere, so I wanted to see if we could reach it. We hiked farther down and found this pool.

Then a little further down we found this large tree.

On the other side of this tree was a worn-out sign that explained that the forest was once dominated by these types of trees. They were used for ship building, and then I couldn’t read much of the sign anymore due to the wear.

Beyond the tree we found another pool called Lover’s Pool (very secluded).

Well, okay, this picture isn’t of Lover’s Pool, but just the sign pointing to the direction. We did see the pool, but it was just another pool, so we headed to the right in the direction of the Hidden Falls. That wall-like thing at the bottom portion of the picture is actually part of a tree root that was right in the middle of the pathway. We had to climb over it to continue on our trail, which looked like this.

The trail was pretty tidy and well maintained. Granted at some places it was a little bumpy, but with all those tree roots, it’s hard to avoid that. Some places were just narrow paved walkways with views like this,

then other spots were more manicured like these steps leading downward.

Not far from there was the Hidden Falls. There was a man down there sweeping up and doing general maintenance there. After I did a little slip and slide number (yep, I fell on me butt), he took our picture in front of the falls.

And just for a better look at the falls without us blocking the view. . .

And this is the view looking the opposite direction from the falls.

I did take a bit more pictures of the scenery on the walk, but you get the gist, I think. When we got back, we still had a little time to enjoy in their gardens, so Aaron and I found a nice place to sit. Aaron did some drawings,

and I did some knitting.

Here’s an example of some of Aaron’s drawings. The shaded foliage sketch on the bottom of the picture was Aaron’s drawing of the little garden by the cottages. The “sleeping” person on the top right was his rendition of me sleeping the day before, heheh. The other faces are miscellaneous characters he’s practicing on.

At about noon we had to check out of Hidden Valley and drive back to Manila. We got back just in time for, guess what? Why, dinner of course!

Marlakins

Jamie Oliver and Food Education

2010-02-17T19:40:21Z

A few years ago I watched a video series called, Jamie’s Kitchen. IIRC, it was a six part series of students going through chef’s school hosted by Jamie Oliver. I found it to be very interesting, and also thought it was very gracious of Jamie to sponsor these kids and help them become professional chefs.

Apparently, Jamie’s love for food and helping others didn’t stop with helping some students become professional chefs. Recently I found a video of him speaking at a TED conference discussing the importance of teaching children about food and how it’s so important that this be done because of the rising obesity rates here in the U.S. Obesity, Jamie points out, is linked to so many health issues that it must be addressed. His contention is that our society has been so removed from basic cooking skills that many of us don’t even know what foods are. . . for example he showed a short clip wherein he showed small children various veggies and they didn’t even know what they were! The idea is if we don’t know what things are, we won’t eat them. Conversely, we need to know what exactly we’re eating in all our processed, packaged foods. Education, he believes, is the key and as a result he has opened free cooking lessons at a facility in Virginia.

For anyone interested, here’s the link to Jamie’s presentation.

We need more people like Jamie. Thanks, Jamie, for your inspiration, dedication, and heart of gold.

Marlakins