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Returning Home
In my third lesson two weeks ago, Master Lui gave me the piece Returning Home (歸去來辭). The lyrics of this guqin melody are written by Tao YuanMing 陶淵明 (365–427 AD). When an arrogant official was sent by the provincial government to his home district, Tao, who then served as magistrate, was required to meet him.…
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Solar Eclipse
A solar eclipse happened late this afternoon. The maximum was at 18:38 local time. The path of totality passed through northern California, where viewers would see an annular eclipse. Here in Loma Linda, we only observed partial occlusion.
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Dr. Patzakis’s Tribute Dinner
The Keck School of Medicine of USC and the USC Department of Orthopaedic Surgery honored Dr. Patzakis at a tribute dinner at The Langham Huntington—for his 43 years of service to USC and 21 years as Chairman. Excerpt from his biography: Dr. Patzakis received his B.A. and M.D. degrees from the Ohio State University, where…
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Andy’s Birthday at the Huntington
For Andy’s birthday, we all went out to the Huntington. First, the trip took us through the cactus garden, then desert ponds and down the Australian trails, leading us to the entrance to the Japanese section. The new area was open, and much more landscaping had been finished since the opening ceremony. Then, we found…
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Second Lesson Pieces
In my second lesson with Lui Laoshi on April 29, 2012, he gave me two more pieces. The first piece is 古琴吟, also known as 相思曲, which is supposed to allow practice of accurate finger sliding positions for the left hand. The ethereal harmonics at the beginning and end of the song calls up the…
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First Guqin Lesson
So on April 22, in my first lesson, Lui Laoshi had me start out with 仙翁操. The song describes XianWeng, or The Transcendent Venerable One, which points to the Song dynasty hermit, Chen Tuan. The main technical points, according to my teacher, is that it allows the student to learn the intervals and relationships between…
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Guqin Lessons
After constructing three instruments, I finally started taking formal guqin lessons—from Lui PuiYuen (吕培源). This all came about in an interesting way. More than ten years ago, I found the 與古齋琴譜 (Abiding with Antiquity Guqin Manual, 1855, tr. Binkley) on the internet while looking for construction details. After making my first one, I decided to…
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Jonathan and Tina’s Wedding
It was around 2:30 this afternoon when we walked into the beautiful Vibiana, located at the center of downtown Los Angeles. After the Northridge earthquake and subsequent restoration, The Cathedral of St. Vibiana became simply The Vibiana. Extended family came first, to get group pictures taken with the bride and groom. The actual ceremony started…
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Marinated Baby Artichoke Hearts
The three artichoke plants produced a lot of baby ones this year. The artichokes were picked today. After lunch, I trimmed, steamed, and marinated them with garlic, black pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, and thyme. They should make good addition to salads.
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Birthday Surprise
It turned out not to be the Aprilia Primero Fullery model that everyone was expecting, as judged by all the Facebook comments. * * * * * “Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you…” I hear singing coming from the outside as I open the garage door. Why are Alice and my parents there?…
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Samantha and Adam’s Wedding
Samantha got married to Adam this afternoon in the beautiful setting of Edward-Dean Museum and Gardens. Low clouds diffused the sunlight, and the whole place was gently lit. The actual ceremony was short and sweet. Afterwards, there were appetizers, an elegant buffet dinner, and dancing. It was nice to see some of the orthopaedic family…
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Japanese Garden’s Centennial Toast
Today, the Huntington Library held its exclusive preliminary viewing commemorating the Japanese Garden’s centennial year. The curator said that they don’t know the exact date of the anniversary, but it might as well be today. On the upper level of the garden, a new tea house and water feature adds to the existing mature landscape.…
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Grilled Artichokes
This afternoon, I prepared and grilled some artichokes. Every since my first time having some grilled artichokes at the Rutherford Grill in Napa Valley, it’s been a favorite. Here’s the version with lemon thyme marinade. Cut artichokes in half, trim, and de-choke. Dip the artichoke halves in lemon juice mixed with water, to prevent browning.…
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White Rock and Black Canyons
This trip was cancelled. It had been planned for several months, but because the government decided on a last minute paving job on the access road to the Hoover Dam launch site, they refunded all permits. I wrote everyone to give them other options, and Desert Adventures was graceful enough to offer alternatives. I figured…
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Red Rock Canyon
This past week, I was at Red Rock Canyon. The main reason for visiting was to attend the American Association for Hand Surgery, which was held at the Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa. The meeting started on Wednesday, and I went as an invited faculty member. Thursday afternoon was free, and I had a…
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Gazebo Framing
Since starting the framing process in late December, the gazebo is finally taking shape. The fanning rafters were a little tricky to design and calculate, but everything is coming along well.
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Starting the Gazebo
It’s been more than two years since the deck has been sitting empty. The pond was filled in late 2009, and having procrastinated, I finally took the time to design the gazebo. Today, the preliminary framing was done.
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Moonrise Viewing from the Pond
It has been several weeks since I last crawled underground into the plumbing system of the pond to clean out the leaves. Autumn and the strong winds blew a lot of debris into the pond, and it seemed like a good time to empty the leaf traps and flush out the biologic filters. This afternoon…
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Christmas Events
Several events this weekend helped usher in the holiday season. Last night, Roger and Donna Hadley opened their beautiful home for a Christmas meal, and afterwards, all of us were treated to a dramatic interpretation of It’s a Wonderful Life performed at the Lifehouse Theater as directed by Wayne Scott. The message blessed each of…
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Rustic Olive Bread
Last night, I put together ingredients for a nice loaf of bread—for today’s picnic lunch. It’s a slight modification of the wonderful Sullivan Street no-knead bread made popular by the New York Times. I reduced the recipe to two-thirds so that the bread would fit into my Pyrex glass covered pot. This is the recipe,…
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Thanksgiving Reunion
Relatives came into town several days ago to join us for Thanksgiving. My aunts and uncles—Julia and Wilmer and Nipa and Vincent—arrived from Smith River in the northwesternmost corner of California. Uncle Joe and his family, being local, drove over today, as did my cousins who could make it. My morning, though, started in a…
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ThankSharing 2011
This evening, Loma Linda University Medical Center presented an inspirational program of ThankSharing to celebrate our blessings and to reach out to our community. Ruthita Fike and Gerald Winslow opened the program with the welcome and prayer. Nicole Johnson, bestselling author, dramatized three messages for this evening’s event. In between, various musical groups shared uplifting…
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Fall Colors
Although fall started nearly two months ago, yesterday felt like the first day. The sun hid from view and caused a drop in the thermometer. I was indoors most of the day performing surgeries. Today, I have the chance to take the stroll outside. Patchy clouds meld together to form this impenetrable layer even though…
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Flat Max by the Pond
On this beautiful fall day, the irregular cloud layer obscures much of the sun’s rays, but I can still peek at the blue sky like looking through windows from within a marshmallow. Autumn colors against a background of mostly dark green brighten up this overcast day. I take Flat Max on a walk in the…
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Flat Max in the OR
Yesterday, I got a letter from my friend, Max, who sent himself in a flat form to spend some vacation time in California. His mom, Sarah, had called me last week and told me to expect the package in the mail, since this is part of Max’s school project. The kids had just finished reading…
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Orthopaedic Clinic Halloween Party
A lot of clinic staff dressed up for Halloween today, and there were a lot of characters that I didn’t recognize. Both clinic locations had potluck lunches, and there was also a costume contest. The highlight, of course, was the Riedel family—Barth, Daphne, and the three little ones all dressed up.
