The Senakams | Corgi + 3

The Buddies

After all the actions of these past few weeks, I'm having an unusually quiet Labor Day weekend here- Jacques' working all weekend, all my friends have taken refuge in Southern CA, even Picasso, who's been staying with us since we came home from Kauai, has bid his farewell and gone home with his parents.

Just me and good ol' Bryson staring at each others at home. I think I'm going through withdrawal...

Here's a pick-me-up for myself, some of Bryson and his BFF Picasso's photos from these past couple of weeks:

 

Jacques was getting them to "line up" for a photo with a treat (I'm sure you can tell by that crazed look in their eyes). As you can see, Picasso is a natural when it comes to using your "assets" to edge out your competition.

We took the boys to Point Isabel- our fav (and purportedly the country's largest) offleash dog park for a evening walk one day, and ran into these 2 other shorties! It's usually a rare treat to run into another corgi, let alone 2 (while we have both of them too!) I just can't resist the temptation of lining them up for a group shot. I call them the "Fantastic Four" :D

But see how anti-social Bryson's totally uncomfortable with the proximity to other dogs (that ears-back-nervous-smile look)? He wouldn't have sat there if he didn't have Picasso as a "buffer". I just wish he could relax with other dogs!

This was taken another day when we took them to the Cesar Chavez Park at the Berkeley Marina, another wonderful offleash park in our area. You may recognize this location, yep, it's one of our favorite spot to take photos. The light is usually just right over this "Hope" rock around sunset.  And as far as they're concerned, for a treat, they'll pose on it even if it says "Corgis are tasty".

  
"Hello, ma'am! You wouldn't happen to have a spare treat in your hands, would you? I wouldn't mind offloading that horrible burden from you. Really, I'm that nice a doggie."

Top 10 Kauai Countdown! { Part 3 }

I'm a bit sad that we're at the end of our Kauai countdown. We've enjoyed it immensely, both the trip itself and all the evenings sorting through photos and happy memories and recounting them all here on the blog... *sniff sniff*

But then we don't have time to get all sentimental here! Let's wrap up the top 3:

No. 3: Getting slow-roasted on Ke'e Beach

Ke'e is touted as one of the most beautiful beaches on the island of Kauai. Situated at the far north tip of the island as far as one can go by car, overlooking the legendary "Bali Hai" in the Kalalau Valley, with calm waters protected by a coral reef that's filled with an endless supply of fish, we can't imagine a more perfect place for swimming and snorkeling.

And thus on our last day on the island, we had a choice of either going kayaking or bumming around on this beach. We chose beach-bumming, which was a great choice, except...

The day was somewhat overcast in the Hawaii way (the cloud cover comes and goes), so we foolishly think we didn't have to reapply our sunscreen and proceeded to spend 7 hours being slow-roasted on the beach. You guessed what happened (hint: we're still peeling like a pair of flaky croissants).

 
We had a water-proof camera with us, but most underwater photos turn out blurry and caught about half the intended subject in my expert hands (Jacques' flippers could pass for an abstract shot though, right?)

We found a great spot under this network of pine tree roots to hang out. We love our cozy little nook, especially this great feature of hanging roots that we use as hangers for our food (see that hideous white plastic bag?). That way the ubiquitous scavenging chickens could only stretch their necks and gawk. Ha!

Found something pretty on the beach. Kinda spongy but tough, not sure what it is... but it makes me think of the ocean whenever I look at this photo.

No. 2: Flying over Jurassic Park

Need I say more? Even though it costs an arm and a leg, we knew even though it may mean eating ramen for a couple of weeks when we come back, we can't miss out on a helicopter ride in Kauai.

We did some research and ended up going with Blue Hawaiian. It may not be the most "exciting" tour group, but offers one of the best safety records, and the hugest windows that give you the best view possible (you can even look down beneath your feet, coz part of the "floor" is also see-through, so awesome!).

 

This spacious EcoStar helicopter seats pilot + 6: 2 in the front and 4 in the back. I realize we may have a problem when the receptionist told us that the "lighter" passengers will get to sit in the front (for balance), where the view is waaay better. 

Seeing that it's too late to diet (or even for a laxative), I contemplated under-reporting my weight (against all safety concerns) to get that coveted front seat! But to my dismay, they actually weigh you in before assigning seats (maybe that's why they have such great safety track records!). Just when I gave up hope, this beefy family of 4 walks through the door... what can I say, it was our lucky day! (Here I am in the front seat, right next to the pilot, yay!)

 

 
Swooping over ancient valleys and skimming across the crystal blue waters beneath you, it really feels like you're flying through a real life Jurassic Park. Worth every penny! (but do try to get that front seat).

No. 1: Hawaiiana!

I know you're probably expecting something about a white sandy beach or some spectacular hike here in the ultimate No. 1 position, but I think it's time to get out of the cliche, and announce (with a drum roll, please...) that No. 1 is all about...

Books! Books! And more books! Wait, wait, wait, before you boooooo!!! me, let me say that these are not ones that you'll find on amazon.com, but surprise vintage finds that gave us a glimpse of Hawaii as the great Polynesian kingdom it once was, and help us put what we see on this trip in context.

How this whole Hawaiiana fasincation started was at the beginning of our trip, we stumbled upon this neat little vintage book store, where we unexpectedly chatted up with the owner, and a few hours later, emerged with a sackful of great reads that transformed our understanding of the great people and history of this place. 

 

Included in these finds are these vintage National Geographic (that were letterpressed, remember?) from 1936-1959, capturing photos and stories chronicling the days Hawaii ceased to be its own Kingdom and became the playground for millions of Americans. It's truly eye-opening.

I'm so glad we found these books and magazines, coz even though we had to leave, it feels like we were able to take a little piece of the history of Hawaii with us.

And while laying on Ke'e Beach on our last day on the island, poring over this mini volume by Mark Twain about "Roughing It in the Sandwich Isles" (what Captain Cook called Hawaii back then), I came across this passage below that makes everything I wrote these last few days about Kauai trite and unnecessary:

"The date is 1840. Scene the true Isles of the Blest; that is to say, the Sandwich Isles- to this day the peacefullest, restfullest, sunniest, balmiest, dreamiest haven of refuge for a worn and weary spirit the surface of the earth can offer. Away out there in the mid-solitudes of the vast Pacific, and far down to the edge of the tropics, they lie asleep on the waves, perpetually green and beautiful, remote from the work-day world and its frets and worries, a bloomy, fragrant paradise, where the troubled may go find peace, and the sick and tired find strength and rest. There they lie, the divine islands, forever shining in the sun, forever smiling out on the sparkling sea, with its soft mottling of drifting cloud-shadows and vagrant cat's-paws of wind; forever inviting you, never repulsing you; and whosoever looks upon them once will never more get the picture out of his memory till he die."

Bon voyage, my lovely little gocco cards!

OK, OK, I know you've all been holding your breath, eagerly awaiting the top 3 on the Kauai countdown. I'm sorry that you'll have to hold your breath just a tad bit longer (don't pass out!)

This is because I can no longer contain my excitment over the successful completion of the "art of the note" gocco swap! Woo hoo!

Remember my hesitation when I was first invited to join? You can imagine my relief when 2 days ago, after weeks of fretting, planning then printing, I finally packed my neat little stacks of gocco cards, kissed them all a fond farewell, and sent them on their merry little ways all around the world to spread this gocco love.

I ended up only sending out 2 of the designs I made. The 3rd one, my "Real Corgis Speak Welsh" card hit a small production hitch, but I've included all photos here, hoping you'll have some ideas for me.

This first design will probably look familiar to those of you who've seen my letterpress Paper Elixir business card. It's a play on the same design, which of course represents the intersection of my 2 lives as artist and pharmacist.

 

The left photo is the screen the card is printed off of. The grey foam is there to not only separate the colors to be applied, but also reduce ink wastage by limiting how far they can "spread" when pressed. And here they are, all bundled up and ready to hit the road.

The second design is the one I'm probably most excited about. I mentioned that I got an idea from my last business meeting that'll be some sort of a satire to the corporate world I'm in.

And the result is this "Simple Life" bunny card:

 

I hope you can read some of that background text, which is meant to represent all that crazy corporate mumbo-jumbo. Most of these are adapted from "real life" situations I've experienced- so yes, I've seriously been asked if I nominated myself for an award I recently received at work. There are things so seriously disturbing that you just have to laugh.

And just like the bunny (which is my Chinese horoscope), sometimes all you want amidst all these craziness is a darn carrot.

To achieve a lighter background color, I had to mix in some white to dilute this aqua color. Love how they look all shiny plasticy and stringy.

Last but not least, the corgi cards that I ran into some printing issues.

The model of the corgi is of course our dear Bryson, whom I'm sure wouldn't mind being depicted as the great Welsh Corgi King he thinks he is. On this card he's addressing the admiring humans he owns in his native Welsh language: "Helo, fy deliad!" translates to "Hello, my subjects!"

This is the first time I print with 2 screens that needs to be registered pretty accurately. That took some trial and error, but it turns out well.

The problem is the mustard color "frame" around the text that you see on some cards. The design was a bit too intricate for it to show up well- or perhaps I "overexposed" (burned) the screen. Either way it came out like one huge smudge. I think the card looks OK without it. And then I didn't have the time to print the back with the translation, so I guess that'll be another project, another day.

I also included a letter (typed, not handwritten, an oxymoron to the spirit of the swap, I know, I know), so I can tell a little bit of the story behind these cards (plus I get to use my letterpress stationery, hee hee...)

I'm just starting to receive the lovely creations from my swapmates, super psyched! I'll post more once I receive the majority of them.

Go Gocco!!

Top 10 Kauai Countdown! { Part 2 }

With all my gocco cards safely shipped out all across the world (I have swap mates in Australia and the UK, crazy, eh?), I can finally come back and resume our Kauai countdown!

Let's see where we left things off...

No. 6: Ihona Cottage Rocks!

When we saw this property on vrbo.com, we were skeptical at first... a beautiful cottage tugged away in the picturesque Kauai mountains for $85/night? Tired of the resort scene and having spent all our money on helicopter rides and zipline tours (oops, gave that away), we decided to give it a shot.

We couldn't be happier with this find! The Ihona Cottage turns out to be perfect for us. It's located in a quiet residential neighborhood (well, quiet except for the roosters) near the Sleeping Giant Mountains, is beautifully decorated, and has everything you'll need (and more)- snorkel gear, boogie boards, maps, DVD player, guidebooks, beach towels/mats/umbrellas, bug spray, sunburn lotion (which we took full advantage of), a well-stocked kitchen, washer/dryer, etc etc...

 

It even comes with the nicest owners, who drop us off fresh fruits on our steps that they'd grown in their backyard. And my fav's hands down their avocados! These avocados are HUGE- they're easily twice the size of a regular Hass avocado, and even more avocado-y if you can imagine that.

I know not everyone's into avocado (some say it's like eating butter- and what's wrong with that?), but if you're an avocado fan like me, you must try this avocado smoothie- just scoop out half an avocado, add ice, low-fat vanilla icecream (+ mango sorbet if you're not too crazy about drinking pure avocado), sugar (I used Splenda) and blend, blend, blend! Uh, sooooo good. I still dream about it.

No. 5: "Hey! I've seen that in Jurassic Park!"

The Waimea Canyon and neighboring Kalalau Valley is the backdrop of countless Hollywood movies- Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, 6 Days 7 Nights, you name it. And we can see why when we got there.

Even when you're standing there with red dirt beneath your feet, breathing in the misty mountain air, and looking down at the sprawling valley and silky waterfalls below you, it feels like you're looking at a movie set. It's so breathtaking it looks unreal.

(Doesn't this one look like one of those "Kodak shots" where you stick yourself in front of a photo canvas so you can pretend you've traveled around the world? Ha ha...)

No. 4: Zippeeee!!!

If you've watched Amazing Race, I'm sure you've seen their contestants ziplining and screaming their lungs out and think, "wow, I gotta try this some day".

Well, when we heard that they offer ziplining tours in Kauai, we booked ours weeks before we even bought our plane tickets!

We joined a company called the Princeville Adventure Ranch, their zip n' dip tour offers 8 zip lines with a refreshing dip in a river and a boxed lunch in between zips. And even though it isn't the fastest or most picturesque in the world, it still involves jumping off a cliff and zipping at 30+ mph over valleys and rivers (x8 times!).

 

The scariest part is probably when you first jump off and free fall for a little bit (due to the slack in the line). But once you got cruising, the rush you get is beyond description. That's Jacques doing a backward zip below:

We've only got our little pocket camera with us, but we got to use it to shoot some grainy videos. First, I tried it out shooting Jacques going down one of the shorter zips. No problemo, piece of cake:

With that success, I thought, "Hey, I can shoot one of myself going down. No problemo." But no, I have a tendency to overestimate my dexterity. And with the risk of totally embarrassing myself, here's the result:

 (I don't know how to edit out the yakking before and after the zip, feel free to ignore that. And warning- you may want to turn the volume down).

Whew! Sorry for the long post, easy to get carried away savoring every bit of your vacation. Top 3 to follow!

Top 10 Kauai Countdown! { Part 1 }

I've finally dug myself out of the sea of red e-mails accumulated over our vacation. Whew!

And now I can enjoy going through the photos and reliving our short but sweet vacation to Kauai, yippee! There's so much memories I feel like I don't know where to begin to recount them. I think I'm going to attempt to recap it in a Top 10 Countdown format, although I'm not sure if I can really rank them in any order, coz they're each awesome in their own way!

Well, let's try anyway...

No. 10: Eat, drink, and eat some more!

As a crucial part of any good vacation, sampling the local cuisine is every tourist's must-do. And frankly, it's an activity I can't say I mind partaking in over and over again.

First, there's the famous "shave ice", which is like an ice cone except that the texture is much finer, and comes in like 60 different yummy flavors.

Even though we tried to do shave ice at least once a day (it's the perfect heat-buster), we're far from covering the entire spectrum of flavors (we did get to blueberry, can you tell?). But from my experimentation, I have to say the best combo is lychee + pina colada shave ice over vanilla icecream + "halo halo mix". Delish!

And then there's the saimin (on the left below), which tastes kinda like ramen except it's more eggy. It's almost like a Chinese wonton noodle (but thicker). I can't say I'm too enthusiastic about that one.

What I AM totally head-over-heels about is the huge variety of seafood poke (Not poke! It's PO-KEE!)

It's like a Japanese version of ceviche. This place we frequented called "Fish Express" has at least a dozen different kinds of pokes, no joke!

My fav consists of the freshest chunks of tuna tossed in sesame oil, soy sauce, onion and wasabi mixed in with all that salty-fishy-islandy goodness... Yummm! If you like sushi, you'll adore this stuff. You can find some in my lunch box below (the red stuff), accompanied by a salmon lomi (the orange stuff), some delicious laulau pork, and a fat scoop of rice, which is served with just about everything on the island. I know it doesn't look very appetizing in this styrofoam box, you just have to trust me on this one, it's worth flying back to Kauai for.

 

No. 9: Chicken Run!!!

Eh, no, this one's not about eating. Here we're talking about the army of chicken that seems to carpet every parking lot every street corner every frigging inch of space of the entire island of Kauai!

They're like the pigeons / rats / squirrels of any urban area, in that they scavenge, reproduce rapidly and shit all over the place.

And as if that's not bad enough, they crow. All Day and All Night.

I think the roosters suffer from insomnia and just want to wake everyone up to share in their misery. I should've sprinkled Ambien all over the island so we could all get a better night's sleep.

Needless to say, it was an interesting novelty for us tourists for about half a day, and quickly became a major nuisance. We hear that this chicken situation began during the last major hurricane, when some domestic chicken got out and became "feral".

I think we should start a chicken pot pie factory on Kauai. :P

No. 8: Taro fields at the Hanalei River Valley

Finally, a glimpse of Kauai's scenery that you've been waiting to see! (Sorry for all the chicken and food stories, they're just too good to be left out of the top 10).

This photo really doesn't do the Hanalei Valley justice. Just imagine this scenery stretched to both the left and the right for miles and miles. This is one of the scenes that Kauai is most famous for that we've come to love: green, lush, knife-edged mountains jutting out from endless plains of taro fields.

We were told that many of these fields used to produce sugar cane, but since that's no longer economically sound, many of them are converted to produce taro (which I'm sure much is then converted to the local "delicacy", poi, which I've avoided like a pest since tasting it once many years ago. Imagine sour wallpaper paste. *gag*)

No. 7: Cliff-diving at Poipu's Shipwreck Beach

OK, disclaimer- we didn't actually jump, nor did we even think about attempting. And I'm glad we didn't coz just watching someone else dive off this 50-plus-foot/6-storey cliff into the blue ocean made my legs tremble (yes, that cliff behind me, people actually jumped off of it for fun).

Instead, we decided it'll be much for fun to grab a pina colada at the Grand Hyatt's pool bar next door, walk over, sit on the beach and watch other people jump. I have to say it was pretty entertaining after a few drinks with umbrellas and pineapple wedges.

We did eventually got up to the top of the cliff, just to check out how high it actually is. It's high. Especially after a few drinks. We got back to the beach promptly after snapping a few pix to avoid appearing in an "Intoxicated Californian Tourists Plunge to their Deaths" type of headline on the local newspaper the next day.

Are we only at No. 7?! Haven't even gotten to the good stuff yet! I guess we'd better continue tomorrow, as I still have to pack up and send out my gocco cards for the swap... Stay tuned!

We're Back!

We're back from our amazing trip to Kauai! Having just set our bags down and enjoyed an exuberant reunion with Bryson, we're now crashing from our adrenaline high, and feeling the aftermath of a week's worth of overzealous sun exposure.

We have so many photos and memories to share, but alas, it's time to nurse our thoroughly roasted skin, spend some quality time with Bryson (and Picasso, who's staying with us while his parents are vacationing in Bali), and catch some snooze. Here's a photo from our helicopter tour of the Kalalau Valley on the west side of Kauai to whet your appetite. More to follow!

 

Short Break

Don't hate us, we're going on a short vacation to Kauai tomorrow. Super psyched! :)

Hubby has somehow persuaded me to leave my laptop at home (plus we've booked a vacation rental with no internet access), so I guess I'll be "unplugged" in the next 8 days.

And if you're wondering "what are you going to do with Bryson?", rest assured that he's being well taken care of by Picasso and family as we speak. Here's him being tortured and deprived of nachos at home:

Oh, and one more parting note, by some small miracle I actually finished designing and printing 3 batches of gocco cards for the swap! What can I say, nothing motivates you better than a deadline before a vacation. Here's a sneak peek:

This is inspired by my last company meeting. If you can read the print you'll know what I mean. I'll elaborate when we get back.  

Be back soon! Will miss you all :)

Beijing Olympics

Are you watching the Olympics opening ceremony?

 

The taped ceremony started here at 8 p.m. west coast time, which means we are probably one of the last people in the entire world to see the broadcast (I really have a problem with this saving-it-for-prime-time thing which no other country does), so now we finally know what the world's been talking about in the last 12 hours. (Booo...)

And half an hour into it, I have to say while there's an undeniable cheese-factor unique to everything Chinese, the whole thing is quite grand and spectacular. I especially like the part that looks like a high-tech futuristic version of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. I just wish I can fast-forward through the real cheesy parts. :P

Lick Observatory

You know I've got a new camera lens recently, and have been dying to try it on a subject other than Bryson (no offense, Bryson, you can still give me a Blue Steel any day).

So, when fellow photography/corgi enthusiast mrjoro invited us to the open house at the University of Califiornia Lick Observatory with promises with photo ops like this one, we showed up with all my camera gear (which isn't much) two hours before the event, totally psyched!

But as with all my best laid plans, there's always a fatal flaw.

I forgot to charge my camera's battery.

Yep, last time we went out I forgot my memory card. This time I double-checked on the card, but then sadly, neglected the juice factor. I didn't even get to use the tripod I just bought that day and lugged around with us the whole entire evening. *Kick self repeatedly*

Given my lack of preparation, I have precious few photos to show for it, below are a few of my fav's, and you can check out the rest here. For better coverage of the day, you can check out mrjoro's album here.

This is the main entrance at dusk. It's only about 20 miles from metropolitan San Jose, but it's situated way above the city in a totally remote part of Mt Hamilton, so it can get away from all the light pollution from civilization. The dome to the left is where one of the observatory's century-old telescope is housed, which is mostly kept for its historical significance and not used for research any more. 

 
We got a chance to get in to the larger dome for a public lecture about its history (above). And when the lecture was over, this wooden "floor" was raised about 20 feet by a century-old hydraulic lift, so we can step up to and look through the ginormous 57-feet telescope (below) that purportedly was used in the discovery of Jupiter's "5th moon" over a hundred years ago. (See the sliver of light? That's where the dome opens. It was quite a site to see it in action)

I'm no astronomy buff, but this place's colorful history and beautiful setting can totally sweep you off your feet.

 
Left: Me taking a photo of mrjoro snapping a pic :D
Right: Mrjoro taking a photo of me snapping a pic :D

Real Corgi Speaks Welsh (R)

I'm back! Can't believe I haven't kept you all in touch since I came back from Chicago. As some of you predicted, it was warm (at least by San Francisco standard), humid, and the River smells. Sorry! I have sensitive olfactory cells.

I am happy to report I actually generated a few ideas for my gocco cards during the meeting (I really did try to pay attention but 4 p.m. rolls around and my ADD kicks in).

And if you're reading this blog, I think you'll be as excited as I am to hear that one of them has to do with... *drum rolls*..... Corgis!!

Yay! About time, right? It seems to make perfect sense to marry my 2 loves, and I have actually been toying with this idea for quite some time now. But as much as I absolutely adore all things corgi, I wasn't sure if I was "niching" myself. I mean, would people buy corgi cards?

And as if the heavens heard my doubts, an angel was sent my way while I was in Chicago (I have to say its GPS must work pretty well to track me down all the way across the country). It came in the form of another Arte y Pico blog award from the uber-talented artist and fellow corgi-lover, Cathy Santarsiero (aka Christmas Corgi)!

I can't say how flattered I am to be chosen by Cathy! Just take a look at the wonderful corgi arts she created on her blog (and the one here to the left is her work depicting a herd of "mad scientist" corgis, hilarious!). It's really as if she's heard what's going on in my mind and decided to encourage me to pursue and hybridize my loves of art and corgis. Thanks, Cathy!

As soon as I came home, I did a couple of sketches, and one night while watching a travel show about Wales, I came up with the idea that I need to start a card line about corgis who speak Welsh. (Pembroke Welsh Corgis... yeah... get it? Hee hee!)

And thus born my new line: "Real Corgi Speaks Welsh"! And Bryson would be its spokesperson. Talk about niching my product :P

I even googled a site on BBC that teaches Welsh online, so I can learn a few lines in Welsh which I can then pass onto my slightly linguistically-challenged spokesperson Mr. B. I've tried to teach him some standard greetings that'll be useful on our greeting cards, but here's what he's learned so far:

I am Bryson.           Bryson dw i.
I like steak!             Dw i'n hoffi stêc!
Yummy, thanks!      Blasus, diolch!

And I think that's pretty much all he would say. Anyone know of a good place to pick up some Welsh online? (We tried the Rosetta Stone sample but I really don't need to know how to say "a man is under an airplane" or stuff like that)

Anyway, I'm excited about this whole kooky idea :) Hmm, maybe I can partner with a corgi group and donate part of the proceed from these cards' sales to a corgi/general doggie rescue foundation and do some good in the mean time.

Beth dybi? ("What do you think?" in Welsh according to my online translator, of course)