The little one is all set to fly out of the nest

It has been some time since I blogged. That is because I spent more than a week recovering from the severe allergies and nose bleeds after that super bloom hike. Was also under a lot of pressure from family to recover before first week of June, to be at the little one's high school graduation!

We came to Cupertino when she was a 6 month old baby, chasing a school district that was "the place to be" in our local circles. Most of our close Desi and Chinese friends were all moving to Cupertino and so did we! It feels like yesterday. 

17 years later, we have graduated out of this school system. It has been an interesting experience as a parent and I am sure both Jr. and the no so little one may have a very different view of things. I for one was happy to have them study here! The elementary, middle and high schools were all within walking distance given our location, they had great friends and we got great friends through them over these years. They also got a decent well rounded learning experience be it academics (thanks to all the "subject aunties" who tutored them where the teachers could not give individual attention), sports or music.... especially music! These schools had amazing music teachers who truly inspired! This place is also beautiful. We don't realize it everyday as we go through the grind, but when sitting in the stands looking at the graduating class, the backdrop was just beautiful!

While Jr. got to go places while still in high school (be it as a exhange student in Taiwan, a trip to rural Indonesia as part of a camp, a training program in Berkeley, etc.) the little one was not so lucky as she was pretty much grounded and at home thanks to COVID. That goes for almost all her classmates who missed out. 

So she was naturally hesitant to go far away. That is always music to my ears as I would like to see the kids every now and then. Not sure if I can handle San's undivided attention. It always reminds me of the ant that gets burnt by the lens. That said, both kids will be going to school in California.  The little one for undergrad and Jr. for a masters. 

While Jr. missed out on prom and a graduation ceremony thanks to COVID, she really enjoyed the grad ceremony and lived it through her sister! She made a secret collage gift and seeing that made my day!

Taking prom and grad pics made me tear up a lot. All these kids we have seen grown up over the years are now going out to the world as adults. Still see them as noisy kids yelling and screaming excitedly in the car as I used to take the group to badminton class every alternate week. 

(that background was modified using Photoshop.. I did have some fun editing grad pics!)

The little one was so happy that grandma made a quick visit for her graduation!

Slowly reconciling myself to the fact that this is going to be a very sad empty nest. Time to play board games till 3AM with a continous flow of chai with our friends I guess. We can do that again now that there are no kids in any of the houses... (in case I lost you there, here is an old old post from this blog!). 

Life does come full circle!

The kids have done us proud so far! Hope they keep succeding at whatever they try!

A small Tamil New Year celebration

We are in June.. it has been a month and a half since the Tamil New Year rolled in. After that trip to SLO and the knee getting all inflamed, it took me a few weeks to just get back to walking.

So the Tamil New year was a muted celebration. However we did have two potluck parties to attend and had fun chatting with friends. For once I had company from my friend and guru, when it came to wearing a dhothi. 

When not in dhothi.. it was this..

Now that the number of folks coming to Tamil New Year party in a Dhothi has increased by 100% , there is a plan to double that coming April !! 

Wishing one and all a belated Tamil New Year! This years name is Sobakiruthu (google says Dhunmukhi which was I think the year in 2016). Apparently a good year for me.. time will tell.. 

We can always check the blog post next year same time!

Chasing the super bloom..

A month ago, (feels like ages ago).. the not so little one wanted to go check out Cal Poly at San Louis Obispo as a possible college option, given its relative proximity and she liked their UG program. My knee was just recovering after doing all that rest, ice, compression business. It was but a 3 hour drive and we made a day trip out of it. Even took a Friday off work for this. 

The college was interesting. We walked around the place, ate lunch in the cafeteria with a bunch of students and did some more walking, had a late evening cocoa and lemonade in the store near their latest dorm and decided to drive back.

San's one line summary after we exit the college was "I feel like we were in a baywatch episode for the last 4 hours!"... an obvious reference to practically 95/100 girls who walked past us being in some kind of beach wear! Our kid did the usual eye rolling for such comments from mom. We are old, I got it. Wifey is still in the anger to denial phase.. eventually she will get to acceptance. 

On the way out, there was the plan to see teh super bloom! Apparently this Carrizo plains national monument, famous for the California super bloom was close enough. Then we learned that in the interest of time, there was a poor man's (time wise poor that is) Carrizo 25 minutes from SLO on a windy road which had pretty much the same experience. There was more eye rolling as it was a 95 degree day outside. One cannot have a trip where daddy drove 3+ hours one way and walked around a college that looked like a baywatch set where he felt like a time traveller, and not get anything out of the trip.. the eye rolling was ignored!

A 25 minute drive into more searing heat and there was a carpet of flowers as advertised. It was amazing. Except we were there at 3 in the afternoon with the sun beating down. The photos of folks did not come out. Wanted to wait there till golden hour and catch sun set photos, but that suggestion turned the eye rolls into downright mutiny. So took a few photos, enjoyed the scenery and drove back. 

The drive back was bad as there was an accident on 101 and maps rerouted us through small fields for a good 20 minutes. Ended up being almost 5 hour drive back and my knee got worse to the point that the next two weeks were spent with an ice water machine hooked up to knee 8 hours a day! It is much better now. Just when I was dreading the repeat of that drive, the kid has decided to go farther south on the same route for college. Don't know what fate has in store for me over the next four years on 101 South!

Back to the bloom.. here are some pictures..

and a video that shows this amazing landscape.. with a creek that we had to cross to get to the flower fields.. 

Here are some tips, in case you want to visit this next year. Time it right. The super bloom of flowers moves up north by 50 miles a day across california per most reports. we just had to wait three more weeks to catch it in our area! If you are prone to allergies like me, wear a mask except for pics. It took me two weeks to not just recover the knee but also get over the allergies. A sea of flowers cannot be good for a person with allergies! stay for sunset or go at sunrise. This would be out of the world at those times!

It was worth the pain though to see this beauty! Nature is amazing!