In the eyes of the beholder

Driving home from work just before dusk recently, I briefly got a glimpse of the waning sunset reflecting in a drainage ditch while whizzing by. Didn't have the camera with me and there was no place to stop. No possible way to stop in the rush hour traffic anyway. Interesting to see something scenic in an unlikely place like that though. Would have been a nice challenge to try to get a decent picture of it.

It was just a drainage ditch. A pit where disgusting discard liquids drain into and get ditched off to some undoubtedly revolting place-probably a cesspool. Amazing how an ugly thing can be seen as lovely if viewed in a certain way. I had probably driven by it a hundred times and never even noticed it until this one time when there happened to be a visually redeeming quality about it. I liked it. Anyone would have if they happened to have the chance to view what I did. And, maybe they did. Hope so. The evening commute was more uplifted because of it.

That got me thinking about how beauty is in the eye of the beholder. OK, I admit anyone who finds it in a drainage ditch is probably really looking for it. Some might argue desparately even. Ha, but no, just happened to notice it.

(Don't be shocked, but, even Sunny can't always find it. For example, a couple decades ago while we were still living in New England, I bemoaned to my brother how much I despise snow and bitterly cold weather. In a word, that would be WINTER, in certain climates. To my surprise he responded, "I manage to find a lot of scenic beauty in it though." Now, I know that boy hates cold weather just as much as I do, so, I wondered, "Is he just trying to look on the bright side, or, does he really find something nice-looking about it?" For the rest of that winter I looked at the snow and tried my best to see the beauty. Absolutely no luck. All I could think about was how COLD it looked. Even now if we go up in the mountains where there is a lot of snow in winter it just looks very unattractive to me.)

So, I decided to go ahead and post some pictures that aren't very attractive. Because, even though sometimes a picture isn't worth a thousand words, these were taken during fine times. The beauty was in the eyes of the beholders-at the moment they were beholding it!


Young friends of ours, Joey and Jalissa, recently announcing their newly engaged status at church.

The picture did not come out very good. It was kind of dark in there and I could not get close enough for the flash without making a spectacle of myself. I bet it will look good enough to them though, since my poor little pics were the only ones taken of the event. It was a very happy time.


Mr. Sunny tries out his new surf-board in the lake.

He enjoyed surfing (with a rental) when we went beach camping so much that I urged him to get a board of his own. Plenty of room in the back of the truck to take it along whenever we get to the beach. We don't live near the ocean though, so, we took it up to the lake a few times to play around. The picture didn't come out very good but it was a good, good time. That was the last little bit of warm weather fun we had this past summer. Made some great memories.

Back from Las Vegas again

Returned Baby Aileen to her parents.
Here she is 'helping" wehsumgmo drive.

And here is an updated photo of her lovely sister.

While we had little Aileen here with us I took her to church a couple of times. One of the door greeters is a dear older stroke survivor. He has all his wits about him but can no longer get the words out of his mouth the way he intends for them to sound. Folks still line up to talk to him though because, between vocal inflection and facial expression he manages to make his best word, "Oh", pretty meaningful. Anyway, he saw me bring the baby in and signaled me with his eyes that he'd like to meet her. I brought her over and introduced them. "Neekim," he told her sincerely. "Goo-goo-gah-gah", she grinned back. And they understood each other perfectly.

Fall Fotos

Adrienne and Aileen

I'm back from Las Vegas where I was taking care of the grandnieces who live there while their parents had to be out of town. The picture of the baby is current, but her sister is now six years old and in first grade. Both girls have been featured on this blog in the past, but, you know how kids keep growing and changing, makes it hard to decide which of their cute kiddie pics to post.

Another year-another "Chuseok"

Korean Thanksgiving was this week. It coincides with the Harvest Moon. The Harvest Moon is the biggest full moon of the year. The full moon was either tonight or last night, depending on who you ask. This photo was taken tonight. Looks pretty full to me - even if a little lopsided.

I never much cared for "Chuseok" as a holiday. I don't even like the sound of the word "chuseok". It sounds exactly like CHEW SUCK in English. Like, you chew a bunch of food and suck down a bunch of beverage. Which is actually pretty appropriate considering that the entire celebration consists of getting together for a huge meal with the extended family...uh, oh yeah, just like the American Thanksgiving.

Info via internet indicated that Chuseok was yesterday, but I think the local relatives celebrated it the night before. Maybe they were doing it a day early here in order to celebrate on the actual holiday over in Korea which is a day ahead of us.

They aren't the only ones guilty of celebrating occasions a little off the actual day. For example, Halabogi's birthday is tomorrow. But, I have to work tomorrow evening, so, I went ahead and brought over a cake etc. today. I figured it wouldn't matter that much because...


I know for a "fact" that Halabogi's b'day is tomorrow. It says right on his passport "Date of Birth September 27, 1920". That would be his passport issued by the Korean government. I highly doubt the Korean passport issuing office is in the habit of making up dates of birth on a whim. Furthermore, as the power of attorney conducting all his business, I have to give out his birthdate on a regular basis: to the social security office, medical facilities, etc. I think I have it memorized by now! Even so, it was mentioned to me that this might not be his real birthday, since it is not based on the lunar calandar. Preferring to be safe rather than sorry, I proceeded to bring on the goodies. He was pleased. Especially with the gift. (Probably any one familiar with Korean customs can guess what THAT was.) Seemed to be expecting some kind of recognition of his special day. But, he also softly reminded our niece, "Don't forget my REAL birthday on October 19!" Ah well, At 87, it is better to have too much birthday than too little.

Blue Blog

It may have gone unnoticed that the last few posts were blue.


Blue sky...blue sign...blue ocean...blue shirt.


And, now, the brilliant blue color of Mono Lake-snapped from the window of the truck as we whizzed by.

Control Alt Delete my sister

My dearly beloved friend came all the way up from Escondido to be with me at Dana Point and share her comfortable accomodations. In the elevator at her timeshare we met this cute kid and his sister who gleefully told us about his collection of "sister" T-shirts. He was most eager to be featured on the Sunny blog. But, since I didn't see his parents around to ask permission, we had to compromise. His SHIRT is featured but not his face!