Day 294 - Beach

Thought of the day: Today we did one of the things we like to do when we visit the Bay Area - go to the beach!  Palo Alto was sunny but Half Moon Bay was shrouded in a mist as usual.  The water was cold but the girls didn't mind a bit and had a fun time playing with the waves and digging in the sand.  Jasmine and I also took a guided horseback riding tour while we were there.  The most exciting part of the tour was to ride through a small stream and the most relaxing part was to trot slowly on the beach.  We were lucky to ride with a few experienced and very friendly people in the trip and I learned a few tips from them on horseback riding. It was an interesting day spent on the beach with the family.

Photo of the day:

Jasmine and Lila on Half Moon Bay's Venice Beach.

Day 275 - Young Riders

Thought of the day: It was the last day of Jasmine's horseback riding camp.  The kids finished with a little horse show to exhibit what they had learned during the week - bareback riding, trotting, jumping over obstacle, etc.  I was happy to see that Jasmine was becoming a more confident rider.  My favorite part of the show was when each kid got to ride up to the audience and say something about their horses.  Most riders said that their horses were nice but a little naughty at times. I guessed it always took some time for a rider to bond with a horse.  Jasmine said something to that effect too and then she patted her horse gently and said with a smile on her face: "My horse took good care of me." I was glad that she was treating her horse as her riding partner and not merely as a wild creature that needed to be conquered and controlled.  A healthy and nurturing relationship inevitably builds on mutual care and respect.  That's true for the relationship between two humans, and that's also true for the relationship between man and other living beings. If Jasmine gets this message, which seems to be the case, this week of riding lessons and long commutes would already be made worthwhile.

Photo of the day:

Jasmine patiently waiting for her turn in the horse show at the far left corner.

Day 267 - Chloe

Thought of the day: I went to a dentist appointment today before realizing that I had just seen my previous dentist less than two months ago.  So, as it turned out, there was not much to be done during the appointment.  The dentist spent a few minutes doing a quick check to make sure that everything was OK and we spent the rest of the time making small talks. On the way out, I was fully expecting to pay for at least some of the time they spent on me but they refused to charge me anything.  What a stark contrast between this dentist and my previous one, who always managed to find problems to fix and then charged me $10 per minute for every minute of his time. These are two small businesses running on very different principles - one focusing on the clients they serve, the other focusing on the profit they make.  In other words, one business was run with compassion, the other with cold-hearted greediness.  Unfortunate for the consumers, a compassionate business tends to be a small and family-run affair while a large corporation tends to be merciless and relentless, as demonstrated in the ongoing Rupert Murdoch scandal. At the end, it's up to the consumers to decide which type of business to support.  I'm glad to have found my new dentist and added one more good business to my list.

Photo of the day:

Jasmine had a horseback riding lesson today.  She groomed and rode a horse called Chloe as gently guided by an instructor who seemed to love the horses and care about her students.  I think her riding school will end up in my good business list, too.

Day 265 - Jasmine and Apollo

Thought of the day: Jasmine and I rode horses at a ranch today. I had some pretty interesting chats with the owner.  He came to the US from Poland after WWII when he was barely 14.  Like so many other immigrants, he was penniless and knew not a single soul when he landed. He carried out hard, manual labor in various places and ended up in Colorado where he started to buy forest land, bit by bit, at a price that was dirt cheap as few people at that time saw the value in the tree covered, mountainous land.  Over years, he accumulated a good chunk of land and got pretty well-off after its value skyrocketed.  Now his family owns three ranches, two in Colorado and one in Arizona.  His children and grandchildren grew up in the ranch and many of them still work there as the ranch apparently has a mysterious draw for them. He offers horseback riding tours as the ranch is ideally located in the Pike National Forest.  He is already in his late seventies but is still full of energy and vitality and works in the ranch every day. It's another one of those immigrant stories, but the familiarity of it makes it no less exciting or impressive.  Despite the craziness that's going on in the American political arena, people like him truly embody the American spirit. Meeting and talking to people like him never fails to inspire me and give me hope.

Photo of the day:

Jasmine riding her horse Apollo with me riding Roman behind her. Apollo is a super-gentle horse but she has a tendency to walk slowly and Roman kept trying to overtake her.  Other than that, we had a beautiful and unforgettable ride through the forest together.