The little one is all set to fly out of the nest

It has been some time since I blogged. That is because I spent more than a week recovering from the severe allergies and nose bleeds after that super bloom hike. Was also under a lot of pressure from family to recover before first week of June, to be at the little one's high school graduation!

We came to Cupertino when she was a 6 month old baby, chasing a school district that was "the place to be" in our local circles. Most of our close Desi and Chinese friends were all moving to Cupertino and so did we! It feels like yesterday. 

17 years later, we have graduated out of this school system. It has been an interesting experience as a parent and I am sure both Jr. and the no so little one may have a very different view of things. I for one was happy to have them study here! The elementary, middle and high schools were all within walking distance given our location, they had great friends and we got great friends through them over these years. They also got a decent well rounded learning experience be it academics (thanks to all the "subject aunties" who tutored them where the teachers could not give individual attention), sports or music.... especially music! These schools had amazing music teachers who truly inspired! This place is also beautiful. We don't realize it everyday as we go through the grind, but when sitting in the stands looking at the graduating class, the backdrop was just beautiful!

While Jr. got to go places while still in high school (be it as a exhange student in Taiwan, a trip to rural Indonesia as part of a camp, a training program in Berkeley, etc.) the little one was not so lucky as she was pretty much grounded and at home thanks to COVID. That goes for almost all her classmates who missed out. 

So she was naturally hesitant to go far away. That is always music to my ears as I would like to see the kids every now and then. Not sure if I can handle San's undivided attention. It always reminds me of the ant that gets burnt by the lens. That said, both kids will be going to school in California.  The little one for undergrad and Jr. for a masters. 

While Jr. missed out on prom and a graduation ceremony thanks to COVID, she really enjoyed the grad ceremony and lived it through her sister! She made a secret collage gift and seeing that made my day!

Taking prom and grad pics made me tear up a lot. All these kids we have seen grown up over the years are now going out to the world as adults. Still see them as noisy kids yelling and screaming excitedly in the car as I used to take the group to badminton class every alternate week. 

(that background was modified using Photoshop.. I did have some fun editing grad pics!)

The little one was so happy that grandma made a quick visit for her graduation!

Slowly reconciling myself to the fact that this is going to be a very sad empty nest. Time to play board games till 3AM with a continous flow of chai with our friends I guess. We can do that again now that there are no kids in any of the houses... (in case I lost you there, here is an old old post from this blog!). 

Life does come full circle!

The kids have done us proud so far! Hope they keep succeding at whatever they try!

Super bloom revisited..

In early May? we visited Cal Poly and checked out a local super bloom. Given the thing moves up north every week, it came closer to us last month.

The previous year our hiking group had noticed this amazing hillside on the return path from Monument peak. So we decided to go to Monument peak in reverse and try to get pictures of the hillsides with wild flowers.

It was great for pictures, but somehow really really bad for allergies to the point that I called the photo album "sea of allergies". 

The wild mustard was 6-8 feet tall and the trails were full of thorny shrubs that had not been cleared well. Between the flowers and thorns, 3/8 people in the hiking group started sneezing and two (myself included) had nosebleeds before we exit the trail. It took a good 2 weeks to recover from that hike. 

However, the pictures did come out great! The thing was beautiful till my watering eyes could see clearly no more..

This was the path from Ed Levin County Park to Monument peak. This summer has also been extremely hot and I would not recommend going up on these barren hikes with no possibility of shade. Take lots of water with you and hydrate well. Wear a mask if that helps. Like my old mentor told me "you should have just stayed home and watched a youtube video of someone else doing this hike given your allergies!". For a second he turned into Gounder saying "dei naaye, unakku idhellam thevai dhaana daa?!" and I burst out laughing. 

I sang "vazhi neduga, kaatu mustard" for San on this hike.. why not?!

The superbloom is more interesing when there are multiple colors.. this was all wild mustard and yellow. we didnt see the poppies or the lavenders.. so compared to the one near SLO, this was okay!

Maybe someone who has severe allergies and wants to see what this is all about.. can just watch the video below and save themselves the pain.. 

Next year, not falling for the "super" hype!

A small Tamil New Year celebration

We are in June.. it has been a month and a half since the Tamil New Year rolled in. After that trip to SLO and the knee getting all inflamed, it took me a few weeks to just get back to walking.

So the Tamil New year was a muted celebration. However we did have two potluck parties to attend and had fun chatting with friends. For once I had company from my friend and guru, when it came to wearing a dhothi. 

When not in dhothi.. it was this..

Now that the number of folks coming to Tamil New Year party in a Dhothi has increased by 100% , there is a plan to double that coming April !! 

Wishing one and all a belated Tamil New Year! This years name is Sobakiruthu (google says Dhunmukhi which was I think the year in 2016). Apparently a good year for me.. time will tell.. 

We can always check the blog post next year same time!

Local hikes in Cupertino

Planning to change my name to "The last knee bender" or something like that. Walking is sometimes an ordeal so hiking is a challenge. Walking on trails is what makes me happy, so trying out local hikes which are not more than 6 miles and not too steep for long times.

Three hikes in last two weeks.

1. The zinfandel trail

2. Mclellan Ranch trail along the Stevens creek

3. Vista loop to Maisies

A few photos from these hikes.. which all had a chai session at the top!

Enjoy these places while there is still water running in creeks and the ponds are full of water.. for the last few years we used to go by the signs that said "no swimming or wading in ponds" and laugh as there was no water in any of these creeks or ponds. 

For now, alternating between small hikes and knee care! 

Now waiting for the super bloom of flowers to start!

Byxbee Park- Baylands Nature Preserve

The knee is healing, but slowly. Every now and then it swells up and I have to give it all the treatments recommended. Still doing Yoga every alternate day or so, and trying my best to do poses that don't end up in sharp pain. Walking has also become an on and off thing. For an active guy, this knee issue has been a curse. My happiness was directly proportional to my step count and yoga attendance. ... and as a saving grace in recent years, music. 

Have been sitting in the same place mostly listening to music or singing. That said, our hiking group leader who is recovering from surgery wanted to cheer up both of us by going on a small "walk" on flat terrain at the local Byxbee park. We have not walked this as it was not a challenge. "It is a walk, not a hike!" was our previous rhetoric. Given walking is now a blessing and hiking is ruled out, we went last weekend. 

What was supposed to be a 3 mile walk ended up being 6.5 miles as we got some fresh enthusiasm watching the birds and the beautiful flowers all along the path. We also had a tea break in the middle of this!

It is good to be back with friends and on any walking path. We start slow.. hopefully the knee improves over time and normalcy returns.

Given the current situation, this was a morning well spent! Next time, will take the SLR and the telephoto lens with me to capture the birds better.. these are all iPhone photos.. 

We did get a lot of "bench photos" for our collection!

A short video clip.. you get an idea of the birds and sounds.. this place was 30 minutes from home. We have never been to this place.. we mostly hit shoreline and back. It was just beautiful.

There was only 20 or so parking spots and we did have to wait for someone to leave so we could park. So go early and carpool where possible! 

Strongly recommend this place for a long "strol".