It's Cherry Picking Time

It is cherry picking time in Calif. The most popular place near L.A. that has lots of cherry orchards.

Leona Valley (Website http://www.cherriesupic.com/ ) There is a report about this orchards in L.A. Daily News

CHERRY PICKING TIME: It's the season to load up on fresh cherries. For a fun family outing, head to the cherry orchards in the Leona Valley from June 6 through the end of the month.

Although more than two dozen orchards allow consumers to pick their own fruit, times and days vary. Most places provide all the equipment you'll need, including buckets, bags and containers.

Prices likely will average about $2 a pound if you pick your own (a few orchards also sell picked cherries). Take cash since some growers don't take credit cards. Ask if you can taste-test varieties to find the cherry you like the best.

If you go, make the trip worthwhile and pick plenty as the cherries will last two to three weeks in the refrigerator and are easily frozen whole with stems attached for a snack long after the season is over.

To get to the Leona Valley from the San Fernando Valley, take the Antelope Valley Freeway (14) north and exit at Palmdale Boulevard. Go left (west) 10 miles on Palmdale Boulevard to 90th Street and look for the cherry orchard signs. For more information, call the Leona Valley Cherry Growers Association hotline at (661) 266-7118.

The annual cherry parade starts at 10 a.m. June 14 on 90th Street west at Leona Avenue and goes north to Elizabeth Lake Road where it proceeds east. Plan to arrive early in the morning, before the roads close.

There is link to the relatively newly updated information about Leona Valley http://www.chowhound.com/topics/528281

The second place is Beaumont Valley http://www.bcvparks.com/ This place seems to charge a higher fee and is not as popular as Leona Valley.

Finally, I find this website PickOnYourOwn.org http://www.pickyourown.org/CAla.htm

Homecoming

First I announce I will go back to China this summer. I will stay there for nearly one month: from May 9th to June 6th. I am happy for I will see my family soon and can enjoy the leisurely life at home.

When counting down the days before leaving, I clearly realized that I have been in America for nearly one year. One question came to my mind:"how do you sum up the past year?" In the first glance, the year 2007 was unusual . I graduated from USTC in July and then came to United States, a country many people dreamed of coming to. I started a new life here and of course there were inevitably excitement and challenges though some challenge may seem a small piece of cake. I became acquainted with many people. While studying at USC computational molecular biology program, I allowed myself considerable freedom to enjoy America. Santa Monica, Laguna Beach, Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco, Yosemite: I went to some many places (I myself can't believe it!)

However, I feel that I don't have a clear memory of the past year. It seems strange but that's my true feeling. I know I was really excited or disappointed when somethings was happening. For example, the joyful feeling was really from the bottom of my heart when I first saw the beauty of San Diego bay; but that feeling became so distant now that I hardly recall. Maybe my limited memory can't hold so many things. Or it is still too early to give a summary of the past year: the meaning of many things will become clear when we look backward from a longer time scale.

Anyway, I am planning to go back home now. Yesterday a very old song suddenly came into my mind. The last time I listened to this Song dates back to about eight years ago when we still used cassette tape player. That song is Sailing by Rod Stewart.



And the lyrics

SAILING
I am sailing, I am sailing,
Home again cross the sea.
I am sailing, stormy waters,
To be near you, to be free.

I am flying, I am flying,
Like a bird cross the sky.
I am flying, passing high clouds,
To be with you, to be free.

Can you hear me, can you hear me
Thro the dark night, far away,
I am dying, forever trying,
To be with you, who can say.

Can you hear me, can you hear me,
Thro the dark night far away.
I am dying, forever trying,
To be with you, who can say.

We are sailing, we are sailing,
Home again cross the sea.
We are sailing stormy waters,
To be near you, to be free.

Oh lord, to be near you, to be free.
Oh lord, to be near you, to be free,
Oh lord.

Halloween@Hollywood

Halloween@West Hollywood 2007

Halloween was a great festival. Hundreds of thousand of people from all around poured into West Hollywood, making Los Angeles' traffic more jammed. We talked about pumpkins, costumes and candies in the car, but my heart had flied to Hollywood.

We exited the freeway. As we got nearer, we began to see people dressing up in the street. We cannot help shouting out: "Look! Ghost" or "lovely rabbit!" or "hot girls!". Actually, everything was striking in the eyes of a new-comer to Halloween.

Especially when you walked in a miles-long boulevard , which was filled with 30,000+ persons dressing up.

(for more pictures, go to my album http://picasaweb.google.com/songkaiyuan/Halloween2007 )

Among such a bravo crowd, I regret I myself didn't dress up. Besides eyes, your ears were struck with high-volume music. You had a impulse to sing and dance. We all some times wish to forget work and study. Halloween is such a fun that you can behave innocently like an child, and you can fulfill the dream of being a star-in Hollywood.

References
my album http://picasaweb.google.com/songkaiyuan/Halloween2007
Jing's blog post http://witchejing123.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!9735172B2B16AA57!371.entry
Jing's album http://witchejing123.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!9735172B2B16AA57!333/
Pei's album http://picasaweb.google.com/zhangpei511/2007_10_31HollywoodHalloween
Halloween in wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween

Eureka! --Letters from Los Angeles

"Eureka!" is the motto of California and "Find Yourself Here" is the slogan. These two phases exactly describes my feeling during the past month at USC and Los Angeles. "Eureka!" represents the delight of discovery. "Find Yourself Here" means the progress of adjusting to the new life here.

Excited and curiously, I have been exploring this new world. The buildings in campus are mostly grand structures. They are built of red-orange ( people here calls it cardinal) ) bricks. Under the strong sunshine here, they are so vivid that you may wonder whether they are real. I was again impressed when I walked into one reading room in Doheny Library. It is about one hundred meters long, twenty meters high and more than ten meters high. With tall bookshelves lining near the wall and large dark-red tables standing in the middle, it makes me hold my breath for a while. Though I didn't shout it shout, the word "Eureka" really came into my mind at that time.

As of Los Angeles, I like the shiny sun, the blue sky, the beautiful buildings, gardens and tall palm trees here and there. The houses off campus are two or three storied, most with a delicate garden. My apartment is about ten minutes walk from campus. ( My Apt. -Birthplace of Adlai Stevenson III). When I am free in the afternoon, I sit by the window, looking at the skyline of downtown. It feels great.

However my exploration of Los Angeles is limited to the district close to campus. Los Angeles is so big that one cannot really explore it without a car. Additionally, the warning against criminal activities discourages our ambition to go far by bus. I hope I will have more chances to cry out "Eureka" in the future.

Now I will tell how I find myself here. First, I can proudly declare that I has successfully lived on my own for nearly two weeks. After one week's free meal and another few days' meal in my classmates' home, I began to cook myself. I can't boast the deliciousness of my food, but at least in my opinion it tastes fine:-).

This semester began from last week. I take four courses this semester: two biological courses, one math course and one computer course. I have studied these materials more or less in China. So the main difficulty is language. The instructors of biology and math speaks a little blurred ( one of them from Russia:-) ). I need to try me best to follow. The instructors of algorithm speaks very clear English. Her course really restores my somewhat dwelled confidence in English because I can understand every word:-). In the coming year, besides the four courses, I need to work hard to improve my English, both written and spoken.

Again I can proudly declare that I received my first stipend yesterday. It is about two thousand dollars. Really wonderful:-). I begin to plan to buy a computer, learn to drive, etc and I even think of a trip to Canada in the winter, hehe.

My Apt. -Birthplace of Adlai Stevenson III

This is my apartment at Los Angeles. It is the birthplace of Adlai Stevenson III. When i introduced this house to my friend:"A famous American was born here", he commented, "In some years people will say 'A famous Chinese worked here '.". I lives in the upstairs room in the middle. My room is a half studio, i.e. I have my own bedroom and kitchen but share bath rooms with some tenants. They are two Indians, one Taiwanese and one Philippinos.

The above photo is taken by Floyd B. Bariscale. And please see his blog for more about this house. http://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2007/06/no-35-birthplace-of-adlai-e-stevenson.html