Food, glorious food!

Meet the 'colossal burger', layers upon layers of meat (pastrami, bacon and the beef patty) followed by tomatoes and onion bits...

So, some may say this will give you a stroke/heart attack, others (like me) may just stare at this thing in awe and just have a moment of silence to give thanks to the inventor.

Feel free to dive in. Ahh... this just made my day!

Anyways, happen to stumble upon this by coincidence (Thanks Mike!). The rest is history...

Summer days

As the summer days roll by, I can think of a million things to do to cool down. Unfortunately I'm highly restricted by my current budget to do anything (to be honest, flying to Alaska with work still pending = dream on) ~ Oh, how I miss the cool rainstorms back home!

Anyways, 'nuff complaining, one must rough it out!

It's a long weekend with fourth of july holiday coming up and nothing much to do as usual, thanks to Francisca who got me out of this place for a day to take pictures of her familia in a nearby park with a cute pond filled with ducks. It's more fun than I thought but the highlight of the day turns out to be my first experience in an el Salvadorian karaoke/restaurant (thanks francisca!).
Would like to mention a big thank you to everyone there and here's to many more Horchatas!

Baby's been extremely cooperative (took many shots of him but this turns out to be my favorite baby solo).

Personal favorite of the familia

Even the ducks're trying to cool off!

Sunny side up, anyone?

Ladies and Gents,

Meet the Romneya trichocalyx - the Hairy Matilija (ma-ti-li-hah) poppy (a.k.a. the sunny side up flower, fried egg flower, etc).
It's a sexy dicot that is native to California.  Flowers're huge! (four to eight inches across)
This plant is appreciated by its beautiful bloom and medicinal value.
Those living close by, do stop by our BioTrek Ethnobotany garden to bask in all its glory!

Dances with hummingbirds

While Kevin Costner dances with wolves in the 1990 movie, I attempted a special 'dances with hummingbirds'.

If you hang out in the BioTrek ethnobotany garden long enough, you'll probably see these guys flocking from one flower to another. They are just too hyper! The day was cool enough to be out in the garden, I picked a spot, camped and waited. I'm glad to say that I didn't wait in vain that day.

These tiny guys are among the smallest of birds (7 to 13cm) only, and they can fly backwards! Flying speed approximately 54 km/h and they're in a lot of poems. One of them is written by Emily Dickinson:

The Hummingbird

A route of evanescence
With a revolving wheel;
A resonance of emerald,
A rush of cochineal;
And every blossom on the bush
Adjusts its tumbled head,--
The mail from Tunis, probably,
An easy morning’s ride.

How much is that doggie in the window? *woof woof*

Day 2: Dog show again.. I know, I know

... wasn't happy with the pictures on the first day but I guess second try's a charm! Some owners were nice enough to let us pet their dogs but it was all business once they entered the ring.

 Before

After

Dog in the headlights

Man's best friend

Somehow, most show dogs seemed to lack that personality but maybe that's part of the show dogs etiquette. 

Who let the dogs out?

The annual tractor show, strawberry picking fest and dog show all in one day. It's been a hot hot day and I am pretty sure my skin's fried from the crazy afternoon sun. Quite happy with today's batch, a mixture of some cars, kids and dogs..

Low rider, YO!

How can you not LOVE a PUG?

the darling buds of May~

 Photos taken during the Santa Barbara (Carpenteria to be exact) trip just this last weekend. Had fun walking through the greenhouses. This Sonnet keeps popping into my head in the middle of editing:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
   So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Thank you, Mr. Shakespeare. Have always loved this Sonnet. 

Roses - overrated if you ask me but the colors stand out on this one.

minus my other half at the moment. Miss you!

Looking straight down into the flowing stream. Love the texture and colors.