Collage postcards with numbers

I made these 2 postcards for a swap on swap-bot and as always had a lot of fun looking thru piles of old magazines. It's not as hard as I thought it would be. I wish I can have more time to play with cutting and pasting. For now I'm sending out more store-bought postcards for postcrossing though. 

Lulu's Creperie Cafe

 We visited Lulu's after all the talk about extra credit for French.  Of course, our student didn't order in French. I think this restaurant shows how the rest of the world use space creatively. The restaurant is very small compared with other typical Orange County eateries. The indoor sitting area is a narrow strip with same parallel patio room next to it. The wall is painted sky blue. The table cloth and window treatment give the room a warm and welcoming feel. Near the front door, there's a small cornor that doubled as a stage. To make the room and patio more compatible, there's quite a few silk plants and flowers on the wall. At first, we were treated to 4 warm mini muffins even though it's after 11:00 AM. I ordered espresso which also comes in a mini cup.

For main dish I ordered La Francaise with ham, sun-dried tomato, portabello mushroom, gruyere cheese in a bechamel sauce ($10.95). I like the crepe, the sauce and the whole dish.

This is  La Normandie omelette: sausage, bacon, green onion, tomato & cheese. It came with English muffin and popato. ($10.95)

This is La Parisienne: crepe with spinach, chicken, gruyere cheese in a light cream sauce. ($10.95)

Our French student was inspired to practice sudoku in this charming setting while it rained outside.

Ei menina!: Uma coruja no cartão

Ei menina!: Uma coruja no cartão: Já viram que sou louquinha por corujas, né?! Acho tão lindas. Esse cartão vai para um professora muuuito especial.

Mr. King 金念祖

Mr. King was born in 1909 and he lost his left arm when he was 35 years old. He managed to live a full live using only one arm. He was a diplomat and was stationed in Afganistan, Macau, Indonesia and Vietnam during some volitle time period starting around WWII. He loved playing sports and swimming as a youngster. After he lost his left arm, he biked using one arm and walked fast as transportation and exercise. He married his wife according to his parents' wishes and the couple stayed together for 75 years until she died 3 years ago. They had 1 son and 6 daughters. Now he lives in a nursing home and still walkes around with one cane. He goes to the bathroom and dresses himself every day. He worked as an English teacher and newspaper editor in Indonesia and he really enjoyed being a teacher. He is a very disciplined man. He doesn't eat much for dinner. He said when he was a diplomat, he used to eat a small bowl of rice congee before he went to any dinner party so that he would not eat too much at the feast. Now his favorite food is warm Chinese soup. He used to read Chinese newspaper every day and clipped many articles on diplomacy and war strategies to keep in his scrapbooks. He gave up most of his scrapbooks when he moved into the nursing home. He has 12 grandchildren and 8 great great children. However, his brothers, sisters, colleagues, friends, students and even one of his daughter all passed away. Of course, his wife's passing has the most impact on him. That's the story I wrote for the newspaper today. I wonder if he ever keeps a diary.

A Lucky Find

Before ordering from Amazon I found Julius Caesar at El Toro library bookstore.

This is not just any second-hand book. According to the stamps on the book, this is a book from Del Cerro School GATE program. I paid $1 for it.

This one is a parallel text edition which I like personally.

A search on Amazon shows even a brand new one cost less than $3.

I still considered this book a lucky find: there's a very personal link here.  

Kindergarden time

Wow, time flies fast. This is a picture taken at Del Cerro. I used to volunteer in the classroom. Looking at many relics of elemantary school still around my house, I must have enjoyed all those cutting, folding,  gluing, counting and reading-aloud.

Lovely Eggheads

I like these sculptures on UC Davis campus. The first one is Bookhead, placed near the library. The second one is Eye on Mrak. The third one is See no evil/hear no evil near the law school.  There are two more sculptures in this series: Yin and Yan, Stargazer. These sculptures are playful and eye-catching. They are made by former UC Davis professor Robert Arneson. A reproduction of Yin and Yan was placed in San Freancisco. When I first saw the Yin and Yan sculpture, I was intrigued, but not necessarily impressed. Later, I saw more and started to like them. They really enhance the landscape and give the campus a distinct character. Here's another picture to show the scale of the sculpture: