THE LAND OF THE GIANTS

....the park that was started out by John Muir...

Scottish American who advocated for the 

preservation of wilderness in the country....

thanks to him we have parks 

where we can commune with nature....

Linda and son Freddie

Ramon had invited me to join his party on a trip

to Sequoia national park for the Memorial day

weekend....

the weather was pretty summer like in the 90s...

Lake Hume, a man made lake

and the traffic is surprisingly not too bad...

so the 4 and half hour trip from San Francisco

was rewarding ....

the first vista that we saw 

was  the Tunnel Rock....

tunnel rock

as we drove up the mountain....

I snapped this photo of the Moro Rock

the ascent unfolded breath taking sceneries of
giant trees

...and jaggedy rock formations

makes one feel humans are nothing but the

dwarfs on the planet...

these giant Sequoia trees are 2500 years old

look at the size of the tree base which roots look like

elephant hoofs

along the trail there are shallow streams ....

that are placid because of the dry winter...

tourists are checking the giant tree specimen
at the visitor's center and museum

the sentinel....a tree in the front side of the

museum is giant enough but is still

just a midsize compared to the other 

trees in the park....

the General Sherman tree...

has a 106 feet diameter...

Ramon (in the foreground) is kneeling to take a

photo of his wife and niece...

this fallen tree must have taken many, many years

to decay and become part of the the ground...

along the trail i posed on an interesting fallen tree

resting on a boulder...

 we were lucky to spot this animal that

glowed like a burnt sienna when hit

by the sun rays...

it was rather tame perhaps used to ignoramus

tourists like me....

so  i went around the rock to take more pictures...

at twilight we proceeded to the Moro Rock....

they built stairs around the rock over looking 

vertical drops that can scare the living daylights....

this is the view of the opposite mountain....

tomorrow i'll continue with more photos...

that's all folks!

enjoy....

jt

a hide away for a man and a woman...

alone again naturally...

The Tour Group from Lyon, France

snapping their cameras at the  General Grant sequoia tree

General Grant Tree

MOTHER'S DAY....

.....a day is dedicated to all mothers  around the world....

and at Saint Brendan church....

... an anonymous person gave away

long stem roses to every mother present .....

the weather somehow is great....

warm and summer like....

i heard the blue jays cracking sounds

in the

tree tops ...

it's a good sign of springtime..

as far as i'm concerned...

i like these birds...they're noisy but friendly...

when i was in Eagle Rock... the blue jays

 and 

humming birds frequented the tree
 right next to the 
cabin where i was staying...

so i fed them....

 the squirrels joined them up when
they discovered the
free meals ...

 on second thought...

the squirrels may have been 
coming over on account of

 my beautiful

Ecuadorian neighbor....
whose house is perched 
on a higher level of the hill...

She too is now a mother
and i heard she's going back to the old country
to raise her son...

that's all folks!

jt

RAISING AWARENESS....

....the month of May is used to create awareness

for stroke and heart attack medical issues....

at Harding park golf course in San Francisco....

The Medical Heart Association 

conducted free blood pressure readings for those

who wanted to find out their HPs

Scott Hoa is a volunteer for the event

The 4 PAWS an organization of dog 

trained dog owners were also at the event...

their well trained dogs 

are used by stroke victims 

for their therapy

Hoola hooping is also a helpful exercise to reduce

high blood pressure

The medical sponsored event lasted all morning till noon

with a little bit of putting contest for

fun and leisure

....shooting the breeze with a friend...

is not a bad idea either....

to relax...

that's all folks!

jt

CINCO DE MAYO

.... today my painting session is on Bay at Larkin st. 

 "plein air " with the Ghiradelli tower in view...

t'was a great sunny Monday 

about 72  degrees...

though a little bit breezy...

after two hours of work i went

to SFAI for coffee...

as soon as i got there

Alejandra,

the cashier in the cafeteria

asked me to join in the celebration of

 "Cinco de Mayo",

the Mexican army victory over the

French in the battle of Puebla 

on May 5 1862

....so she asked me to wear

her Mexican hat

i thought that's not good enough...

so i grabbed her around the waist

.and posed as the 

bandido who got away...

with the

beautiful señorita....

The photo shows the Cafeteria staff....

in the middle standing is Dave and

Alejandra and Diana

are the ladies....

outside the cafeteria.....

I had a chance to take  a photo of Ozlem

seriously studying for her final exams...

she'd be going back to Turkey for

the spring break...

but before her trip 

she's joining our 

art session on 

Saturday....

that's it for now folks!

catch you later.

jt

HEAT WAVE

....the scorching heat sizzles SAN FRANCISCO ....

and water is always a great solution ....

these birds are bathing by the curbside water at Traders Joe

went to the SFAI library to catch up 

with my art readings...

and when i took a coffee break 

at the cafeteria 

i met  Naomi....

a sophomore, who's

finishing her lunch...

Naomi with her parasol

She gladly posed for

a painting project...

i think the reflections on the 

glass wall of the cafeteria 

would make for a challenging

great subject 

Lighter clothes was the order of the day

at around 6:30pm 

i made it to lake Merced to

do my plein air

Lake Merced view  at the Harding golf course

and this is so far what i accomplished

a golfer finishing the 18th stopped to take this photo

Milton Chen who is a Sr. Fellow and

Executive Director at 

George Lucas Educational Foundation

happened to drive by...

and stopped to express his liking

for the painting...

that's it for now folks!

i'll be in touch so you be in touch!

jt