Autumn is Coming

After weeks of incessant rain, I felt grateful and lucky to have this beautiful weekend. The Sun is bright, the land is dry, the air is fresh and crisp! Due to running races yesterday,  I forwent my regular Sunday 5K run, walked around the community for ~ 3 miles instead to enjoy the beautiful morning.

The community pound is absolutely the most beautiful place around here.

The pound was full, the water was still like a mirror, reflecting trees, clouds and the blue sky; it reminded me the beautiful Ox Bend at Grand Teton National Park. Some trees started to change color. Mostly interestingly a grand egret, and a grey heron, frequent guests at the pound, perched on top of tree branches of the same tree! My observation was that they typically stand by water's edge, far from each other. Was it because it rained too  much they need to dry their feathers? I saw grand egret perched on top of trees before at this pound. But both of them on the same tree? first time. I took quite a few of pictures of them from different angles and different distance, and when I was about to take another shot, the grand egret was gone, left the grey heron behind with its beak open .... What a treat on this beautiful day!

As I walked home, in addition to changing colors on some trees, I saw a flock of birds flying southward, in a shape of lambda ! Autumn is coming.

changing color

Grand egret and grey heron on the same tree by the pound

A grey heron with mouth open

migrating birds flying south

Outdoor Activities on A Beautiful Satuday in October

After the wettest September and almost daily rains in first three weeks of October, we finally got a break this weekend! It happened to be a perfect timing for a community event, this past Saturday. An event focused on athletic activities  - competition in  tracks, volleyball and Tug-and-war. I did not register for the event but in the end, at Friday evening, I agreed to participate because my college local alumni association was short of people participating in 40 x 400 relay.

Saturday, October 20th started brilliantly - bright sun shine, blue sky dotted with white patches of clouds. We went to grocery shopping first, and I then did some house chores - vacuum cleaning floors, tidy the house.

After a late lunch I drove to the track fields at the local high school where the event was held. I arrived at the event at ~ 3pm, there was a volley match going on, and 1500 meter competitions for man and woman were about to start. There were about a hundred people at the event that time.

After wandering around a bit taking pictures of 1500 m races, I helped with the tug-of-war competition judging. Six teams participated in a format of elimination by best of 3 matches. This was the most engaging and exciting game of the day, and all people got involved! My team won all games and was the championship team! Next two competitions were 4 x 400 and 40 x 400. I ran for both races for our team, adding 4 x 400 since a 400 m runner was too tired from the 400 m individual competition.

Despite regularly running 5000 m, 400 m dash was a challenge to me, the run uses different muscles, and my cadence was low. After total of 1600 m in 4 runs (400m each) during the relays, my thigh muscles were tired, and I strained to walk! However I am glad that I went to the community event, got to know a few more people, enjoyed the beautiful outdoor, and the team spirit was priceless!

start of man's 1500 meter run

Tug-of-war - Championship team

our team

Playing Golf Tasting Wine

I played golf on a commercial course for the first time on Saturday October 6th. I tasted wine at a winery for the first time the following Saturday!

Scramble Golf at Indian Creek

I played mini golf many times before, played real golf at driving range a couple of times.I am not really into it, and not good at it, never planned to play golf on a 18-hole commercial course! The reason I played at Indian Creek Golf Club was for a good cause - fund raising for charitable event Giving Choice at work.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning at Indian Creek on 10/6/2018. Hundreds of employees and retirees participated in  this event. 

We played scramble golf, 4 person a team. But there were still too many team, so teams started at different holes. We started  on hole 16, so we reached hole 18 early in the morning

Golf is a sport that looks easy but really hard to play! When I swung hard to try to drive the ball far, I frequently missed the ball. I could hit the ball and drive it to some distance if I don't try too hard

I did hit the balls well several times. I drove a ball over 100 feet to the edge of the green near the hole and we got a chance for par!

Our wettest September  made the pounds on the course full; Grand egrets graced quite a few pounds there. 

In addition to fund raising, playing golf also provided us chance to know each other a bit outside of work. I met my old boss - who retired 8 years ago at the event. the variation to routine brought some degree of excitement to everyone. Despite being bad at golf, I actually enjoyed the outing  - walking on the course, the beautiful scenery, laughing at each other, and overjoy for occasional good shots

Wine Tasting at Vitagliano Vineyard and Winery

I went to Diamond Bar, California last weekend to attend a national council meeting of a non profit organization. Since national council members rarely meet each other, it was decided to organize a pre-meeting social at a winery - one everyone's personal dime.  It has been a exhausting and tiring year for me as a local chapter president, so I decided to join this activity to relax a bit.  

We were given a couple choice of winery, I voted for the vineyard and winery with beautiful layout because the purpose of this wine tasting is not  wine tasting! 

Vineyard

The Vineyard and Winery is like a beautiful park

We would tasting 6 type of wines, with price ranged from $28/bottle to $80/bottle.
The wine tasting started with chardonnay.

The amount of wine tasted each time. It was still a lot for me. I felt a bit top heavy at the end. Fortunately we had a designated driver 

Team building was the goal at the wine tasting. No body bought wine after the tasting:)

cheers!