Tah Dah!  Here is Pascal everyone! :-)  Yes, even a fish can get flash in their eyes.  I snuck downstairs at midnight last night to find Pascal swimming about his tank looking for food.  He is apparently very active at night when it's all dark.  I also caught him shooting back and forth across the entire tank getting into the fake plants and gliding across the rocks at the bottom, just having a blast.  I watched him for about 10 minutes and managed to take a picture of him while he was far away from his seashell home at the other corner of the tank.

This is the first Catfish ever for me and I am really enjoying watching Pascal swimming about.  I guess this is the allure of an aquarium for many people...it is very soothing.  Hopefully, Pascal will live a long and happy life in my household. :-)

Look at little Ted with his funball!  This is Romeo's little brother, Ted.  When my friends S and S got a new cat, I had to make him his own crochet ball to play with.  According to Ted's parents, he also likes to grab the crochet ball with his front paws and kick the ball vigorously with his hind paws. :-)  That's apparently what he's doing in the picture...sure looks like fun...

Update on Pascal...he''s doing extremely well.  He spent all night last night exploring his new home, swimming up towards the filter jet and diving back down to the soft rocks.  It was like there was a big smile on his face...finally a clean bath to rid himself of the filth he was living in.  He's also eating now.  I think he's getting really comfortable in his tank.  But he's still very camera shy and skittish when I sneak up on the tank to look at him.  As for Toby?  He couldn't care less about Pascal nor his tank!  Maybe Toby thinks that the tank is "furniture" and pay no attention to it. :-)

Last Friday, a friend of mine discovered an abandoned Catfish at his new condo.  This Catfish was living in a small tank in absolutely filthy conditions.  It looked like he had been abandoned for months.  His tank was so disgusting that I didn't even want to take a picture of it.  So I felt compelled to give him a new home.  Besides Feynman, I've never had a pet fish...let alone a Catfish.  So off I went to Petco and bought a 6.5 gallon freshwater tank equipped with a power filter, fake rock, two fake plants, a wallpaper background, and a light.  Looks cozy doesn't it?  I ran the filter for two days and tonight, I transfered the little guy to his new home.  He's still very scared, hid behind his seashell in the corner all night.  I didn't want to further traumatize him with a photo session.  He's actually pretty cute for a Catfish.  I think he is a Pimelodella Catfish and I'm pretty sure he's a boy since he is very long and has extremely long whiskers above his snout.  And yes, he has a name already. His name is Pascal. :-) For the next few days I just hope Pascal will settle down and start eating and enjoying his new home.  I will introduce him to everyone soon. :-)

Like millions of women, I often experience cold hands and feet. Lately, I guess in preparation for Summer, my office have been like a refrigerator.  I have no temperature control for my office so I'm stuck with cold hands all day long while I'm trying to work on my computer. 

So when I discovered Mr. Funny, it was love at first sight!  Mr. Funny is a hand warmer that can be reuse over and over again.  Unfortunately, Mr. Funny is very hard to find.  I accidentally discovered him while web browsing at Wishing Fish.  Mr. Funny is now on sale at Wishing Fish, so I ordered 3!  The original people who created him are the folks at Oscar Dehn...leave it to the Europeans to utilize the laws of thermodynamics!

How does Mr. Funny work?  It is a gel pad with a little flex stick floating around inside.  If you bend the flex stick the gel hardens and heats up.  The "gel" inside Mr. Funny is sodium acetate.  When you flex the stick it will cause the sodium acetate to crystalize.  So essentially, you are initiating a phase change from a liquid to a solid (the equivalent of freezing).  And during the "freezing" process, heat is released from the system (Mr. Funny) into the environment (your hands).  :-)  To reuse, you have to "melt" the crystals by putting Mr. Funny in boiling water for about 5 minutes.  This will allow the sodium acetate to store the heat you put into the system until the next time you initiate the "freezing" or crystalization process again.  Mr. Funny basically demonstrates various ways of heat transfers through an exothermic chemical reaction.

The only snag to Mr. Funny is that the heat only lasts about 10 minutes.  So I usually wait until the  middle of the afternoon when my hands are practically numb before I crack Mr. Funny for some warmth.  Hopefully with the extra ones I ordered, I can keep my hands warm longer at work!

This artist made these adorable ceramic-metal fish.  I LOVE this fish.  This one was $300 and looked like it weigh quite a bit.  He also made some smiling bumble bees too!

Here's another view of it's beautiful fins.  If I had a big house with a big back yard, and if I had a lot of spending money I would have taken him home.  I know...that was a lot of "ifs." 

Look at these flip flops!  I ended up buying a pair of silver flip flop charms that cost $6.  I doubt that these ones are as affordable.

Isn't this butterfly cute?  It's a little magnet with a butterfly attached to the flower by a fine  thread.  I brought one home.  When I open my refrigerator door, the butterfly dances around.  Very pretty...

This little butterfly garden stick is perfect in my flower pot!  The artist who made this is Janice Hillenbach.  She makes various ceramic garden arts including little ceramic daisies and ceramic bees.

Amazingly, Toby has not taken an interest in the ceramic butterfly.  He's more interested in pulling out my plant from the pot!

Overall, the Santa Barbara Arts and Craft Fair was a lot of fun.  Besides the crafts, I also bought two drawings from the arts fair.  It is a fun way to spend a Sunday if you can make it up to Santa Barbara.  I will definitely go back.  The local artists are extremely talented and I guarentee you'll find something that will impress you.

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there!

Dogs days of Summer may have hit Los Angeles early this year. :-)  Is it possible that we only got one week of June-gloom??  No matter, I didn't wait to find out.  Toby and I hit the beach on my day off and we had a wonderful time.

It was so hot today, we only stayed at the beach for two hours.  But that didn't stop me from taking way too many pictures.

If you recall my earlier post of the beach at low tide, this time all of the rocks were under water.  Due to the high tides this time, Toby and I were forced to set up camp a little bit above the sandy beach closer to the pebbles. 

High tides covered all of the rocks this time...but the dogs love it!

Toby would rather hang out on dry land and observe the action.

Looks like Toby made a new friend, a brindle pit bull-mix.

Off they go for some beachy fun!

Yet another flower picture from the Palos Verdes South Coast Botanical Garden.  Red Friday is upon us and I hope everyone will have a terrific weekend.

Don't forget to visit/call your father this weekend! :-)

Happy blue Thursday!

The weekend is upon me since I don't have to work this Friday. :-)

In honor of June gloom...Also in keeping with Color Week at Little Birds weblog, I think this picture best signifies black/gray Wednesday.

I took this picture in Santa Barbara, a trip I took with my friend Kim this past Sunday.  June gloom hit Southern California with a vengeance. 

Hope everyone is having a good week...this week has been dragging for me.  Can't wait for the weekend to arrive.  Perhaps I've let the gloomy weather accidentally affected me...

It was not just another beach day...it was unusally-low-tide beach day.  I had never seen the beach with all of its rocks exposed like this.  It was kind of eerie, like the under bellie of the ocean was exposed. 

The rocks provided us with some new entertainment.  There were all kinds of creatures and lifeforms to see and play with amongst the rocks.  I got to dip my feet into the cool water without having to run away from the waves.  There is a rocky barrier that is usually completely under water to shelter us from the crashing waves. 

Even Toby got his paws wet!!  Ok, it was only because I climbed out onto the rocks and Toby panicked because he couldn't reach me.  He started barking at me from the beach and I ignored him.  So in a surge of bravery, Toby shakily and gingerly climbed out onto the rocks in an attempt to save me, making sure NOT to touch the wet stuff.  Unfortunately, he ended up running out of rocks to stand on and HAD to step into the cool water! :-)

We had a good time and in the end, Toby managed to save me from the horrible grip of the ocean.  :-)  Enjoy the pictures...and inspired by Schmeebot, I even took a panorama after the tides returned.

Ha, ha! I love this article in The Doggie Times.  You too can make an article of your own.  Just be creative.  I think this will be a great idea for making something to annouce a baby birth or someone's birthday. 

So no...Toby did not solve the real Twin Paradox.  But he did figure out that the dog in the mirror is not his evil twin when he was just a little pup.  Now he will even look at my reflection in the mirror to see if I am watching him lick his paw (a no-no for Toby). Not bad for a canine wouldn't you say?

Toby's nemesis...this little gray tabby.  This little cat lives next door and has been teasing Toby for more than a year now.  I don't know tabby's name nor sex. But this cat is so friendly to people that the second I would kneel down it comes running up to me and starts rubbing against my legs.  If it wasn't for my horrible allergies to cats, I would have taken him home. 

Can you find Tabby in all three pictures?  Toby has come face to face with the tabby before, and he couldn't care less.  But when he's out on the balcony and Tabby is strutting about the building grounds Toby turns into a vicious killer and barks like crazy!  Sometimes Toby will ask to be let out onto the balcony just so he can look for Tabby to bark at!

Sometimes Tabby likes to sit out by the sidewalk and do a little sunbathing.  That will also serve to tease that annoying dorky dog next door...how wonderful! :-)

I hate bread crust.  I really hate bread crust.  I would pick out croutons from my cesar salads.  So these neatly trimmed sandwiches are perfect for me!  I found these at the Japanese supermarket Marukai. 

It's been so hot in LA the past few days that a full meal for dinner at times would be too much.  These sandwiches are perfect for a quick, light meal.  The ones I get come in three flavors: ham and lettus, tuna salad, and chicken salad.  My favorite is the ham and lettus.

I guess it's easy enough to make the sandwiches myself.  But if I wanted all the varieties, I would have to buy a whole pack of ham, a whole head of lettus, an entire jar of mayonaise, a tub of tuna salad, and a tub of chicken salad.  So it's just easier for me to get the sandwiches from Marukai. :-)

A tragedy occurred at the park where Toby and his friends play today.  A tiny 4 month old Chiuaua puppy was struck and ran over by a car right in front of everyone.  In a fraction of a second, it darted out into the street and was instantly struck by a car.  It was one of the most horrific thing I've ever witnessed.  The thought of Toby in that situation makes me ill.  I am also reminded of how precious life is. 

When I got home, I dug up pictures of when Toby became a dad. 

This is Summer, Toby's ex-wife with their puppies, 6 boys and 1 girl.  Summer is a smart little Golden Retriever that used to live near the park I take Toby to.  She is a very tiny Golden, only weighed about 50lbs before she gave birth.  For weeks, Toby and Summer would take strolls together everyday sniffing grass and running.  Summer used to chase away other canine "suitors" in our neighborhood.  But for some reason, she liked my dorky little Toby.

After Summer gave birth to the puppies, I brought Toby over to visit his kids.  Toby took one look at the wriggly things and decided he didn't want anything to do with them!  Look at Toby running away like a deadbeat dad! :-)

This puppy picture was taken only days after birth.  The puppy hadn't even opened her eyes yet!  Look at her ears, look at those tiny paws!!  This is Toby's only daughter, her name is Abby.  She's now 2 years old and I sometimes dog-sit her for my friend.  Here she is, hanging out with dad in my backyard. :-)  Abby is lucky, she got Toby's looks (very blonde and very large) and her mom's smarts!  She would run into my house straight to Toby's toy box and grab whatever she wants out of there.  Toby can't do a thing about that!  Because Toby is so mellow, the two of them get along just fine.  When I think about what happened to that little Chiuaua, I am just so thankful that Toby and his daughter are both healthy and happy.

I discovered a little gem over Memorial Weekend, South Coast Botanical Garden.  Armed with my new camera, I drove ~15 minutes south to this small paradise nestled within Palos Verdes just above the bustles of LA. 

The Garden is charming and peaceful with just a handful of people strolling about and a small children's birthday party.  This Botanical Garden will host small events and I think it would be perfect for a beautiful garden style wedding.  There are plenty of parking in its spatious parking lot.  There is a small but abundant rose garden.  There is a wonderully sweet Children's Garden full of charming figurines and tiny houses. There is a Garden for the Senses with tons of plants to touch and smell.  There are also a handful of small hiking trails within the Garden itself.   Wedding guests would have a  wonderful time exploring this little park with their children.

I had a wonderful time there and I hope you'll enjoy some of the ~200 pictures I took!

All the places to visit!

The Botanica Garden was in full bloom.  The colors were vibrant and absolutely beautiful.  All of the roses were in full bloom.  The weather was perfect that day for taking pictures of all the flowers.

I finally got the hang of using the macro function with my camera.  I went a little crazy and took close to 200 pictures!!

I organized some of my favorite pictures into different categories.  Click on each link below to see larger versions of the montage images shown.  I love the rose pictures but my absolute favorite picture is this one.  I will get a large version of it and hang them in my house.

Happy June and enjoy the photos!