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Landscaping
The pathways project is becoming more rewarding as many of its parts are taking shape. The project is going slowly though, since it’s mostly done piecemeal, an hour here and an hour there, mainly after work. The first part was the path along the hillside along the south bank of the pond. Here, large boulders…
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San Bernardino Peak
A group of us climbed San Bernardino Peak from the trailhead near Angelus Oaks. The weather, of course, was beautiful. Views from the top were breathtaking, especially at the turn just below the survey monument. These pictures are courtesy of Rob Quigley and Adam Lorenzetti.
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Western Orthopaedic Association
I spent the last several days in Monterey for the Western Orthopaedic Association. It was a good meeting. Ryan presented our research project there. After driving up Wednesday, I checked in and had dinner. The meetings started early the next morning, and most of each afternoon was free. On Thursday afternoon, I took a bike…
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Pathway
I’ve started working on a different type of project. This time, it’s making gravel and flagstone paths around the pond. Working on this is quite strenuous, especially when trying to wrestle boulders into place and making stair steps out of them. I set the flagstones in mortar, and then the spaces in between were filled…
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Church Outing
We went with our church outing to Salt Creek Beach in Dana Point, California. This is one of my favorite beaches, especially because of the nice lawn area above the stretch of soft sand. Even though we were just there a few weeks ago, this beach is always nice to visit.
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Summer Grill
A lot of friends came over to share garden produce. I made some lamb kebabs along with grilled vegetables from our garden, including eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, and onions. Some of the fresh herbs were also picked from our yard—rosemary, thyme, oregano, and bay leaves.
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Salt Creek Beach
A group of us went to Salt Creek Beach. The weather was gloomy, but that made for nice pictures. As always, the water is really cold. Anyways, we all had a good time.
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Angwin, Pt. Reyes, Santa Rosa
I just got home from a trip to Northern California. The first day was spent driving to Angwin, arriving quite late at night. The next day, we went with Auntie Plerm and Uncle Michael on different tours—The Castle, Sepay olive oil company, Budweiser factory, and Jelly Belly. After some shopping and dinner, we went to…
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Pt. Reyes National Seashore
Bryce, Kara, Alice, and I headed into the backcountry at Point Reyes National Seashore. The first day, we hiked from Bear Valley Ranger Station to Sky Camp. The next day took us down to the beach, where we arrived at Coast Camp shortly after noon. We napped away most of the afternoon. Saturday’s hike was…
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Guqin Construction
The guqin project is finished! It began with mathematically modeling the construction manual 與古齋琴譜 with a few of my adjustments. From start to finish, it spanned 144 days.
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Guqin Tuning Cords and Completion
The tuning cords have been twisted and thread through the pegs. On one, I used modern steel/nylon strings, and on the other, I used silk strings. They sound very different, and I’m pleased with how both instruments turned out. Now, I have to try the pick-up system in the jiaoye guqin with the silk strings…
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Guqin adjustments
On the luoxia guqin, I carved some off the nut and lowered it so that the strings would be closer to the surface. This proved to be a good adjustment. Playing the instrument has been absolutely delightful. I refreshed my memory on some of my old repertoire. The first piece I played on it was…
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Tuning the guqin
I’m basically done!!!!! And the experiment with the compound radius worked out well. The main aim in making the new instruments was to try to eliminate string buzz, and indeed, it’s gone. Making the tuning cords required some trial and error. I bought tread, and for this luoxia guqin, I mixed two colors—maroon and brown—to…
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Inscribing the guqin
When I started this guqin project in February, I had no idea it would have taken this long. If I did, I most likely would have not embarked on it. For much of last week, I took a break from working on the instruments, since I was in San Diego at the American Orthopaedic Association…
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Guqin naming
Progress in the guqin building project has been steady but slow. I had made and set the pearl inlay, and they all ended up looking very nice. Then, I applied many clear coats of finish. Also, I drilled holes for the tuning cords. This all took place last week. I have been apprehensive about doing…
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South Fork Trail
Starting from the South Fork trailhead in the San Bernardino National Forest, a group of us hiked up passed the meadow and up to the avalanche area. After that, we turned around and headed back down the mountain.
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School of Medicine Graduation
Commencement this year, like most years, took place on a sweltering spring morning. It was great to see the students graduate after having accomplished so much through school. Scott Nelson was the honored alumnus of the year, and Lenny Werner gave the commencement address.
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Zhang and Zheng
Today, we had Dr. Zhang and Dr. Zheng over for dinner. They are both from the Number 2 Hospital of Tangshan, which is an orthopaedic referral center for that entire region.
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Guqin pearl inlay
This past weekend, I worked on staining the second instrument. Because the shape of this second guqin is known as 落霞 (descending crimson clouds), I decided to color it brilliant red tossed in dark and stormy skies. Under the sunlight, some parts are like a rich burgundy. After getting the stain just right, I shaped…
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Safari with Joan
Months ago, Roger Hadley bought the Safari with Joan event at the Children’s Hospital Gala fundraising event. We all had a nice dinner at Joan Coggins’s home. Sean Bush was the guest speaker. The food was wonderful, and I also enjoyed seeing all the animal trophies from her past safari outings.
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May Birthdays
For Andy’s and Aimee’s birthdays, we had several celebrations. First, it was at Cherry’s house. Then, we also had a surprise event at Delhi Palace.
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Guqin sanding
I reached another major step in the guqin construction project this past Sunday. While both of the instruments have been put together, I decided to sand and finish one of them first—partly to experiment and make sure it turns out well. Applying color was tricky, because it was easy to accidentally remove the color while…
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Mothers’ Day Grill
There were all sorts of things from our garden that we put together for this grill event celebrating Mothers’ Day. The lettuce was fresh from the field, as was the rosemary for the potatoes.
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Applying the guqin coating
I finally finished all the sawing, routing, planing, and chiseling for the guqin parts—except for the tuning pegs. It feels good to have reach this stage, as the next steps mainly involve assembling and finishing. Most luthiers adhere to the traditional technique of applying coats of lacquer from the varnish tree (Toxicodendron vernicifluum). The toxic…
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Black Canyon Kayaking
The past weekend was spent kayaking the Black Canyon just below Hoover Dam—the first day upstream for almost twelve miles and about four miles back to camp, and the second day all downstream pushed by a nice current and a tailwind.
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Huntington Beach
We all had a great time just lounging around at the beach, enjoying the cool weather and the bright sunshine.
