Oakland's Art and Soul Festival

Over the weekend, I went to the Art and Soul Festival in Downtown Oakland. I will say that it did have a lot of art and soul and was an enjoyable time:

And now for some of the Soul:

Poet and Author Tyson Amir

The Alphabet Rockers getting their groove on

Oakland's Art and Soul Festival was a great time. It had everything that a festival should have. What a wonderful experience.

Music Monday: Singing and Signing

Music Monday: Going to try something totally different here as we are going post the same song twice, once with the group singing it and the second video will be in ASL or American Sign Language:

Iris- The Goo Goo Dolls

Beautiful Day-U2:

Can't Stop the Feeling- Justin Timberlake:

There are three songs for you to enjoy- both the singing version and the signing version. Have a good Monday.

Forces of Change 1960-1975

The Oakland Museum has a great exhibit going on called "The Forces of Change:1960-1975", it takes a look at the forces behind all the changes in Californian society during those 15 years through the events and people that lived it:

I was a little kid during the last part of those turbulent times growing up in the epicenter of the change-The San Francisco Bay Area. It was amazing to learn about those times and people's stories behind them.

Annual trip to Angel Island

The want to be kayak king

Just some pics from my annual trip to Angel Island. For those who don't know, I usually do a kayak trip once a year with a group to Angel Island. There are two sides to Angel Island, there is the side that was considered the "Ellis Island" of the west, it was where all the immigrants coming from Asia were processed and there is the other side that was an Army base. The immigration processing station closed in 1940 and the Army base was closed in 1962. It was turned into a state park in December of 1962:

The Golden Gate Bridge

The Bay Bridge

And you always meet new friends on the island:

But nothing beats sitting there and watching the sun go down in peace:

The Garden for the Environment

I went to this space called Garden for the Environment. It is located in San Francisco and it is a teaching garden that provides garden skills for those who live in urban areas. It has been around since 1990, when the founders took a 1/2 acre urban vacant lot and turned it into a space where sustainable gardening is taught. It is the only garden in San Francisco that is solely devoted to teaching sustainable gardening:

The Garden for the Environment is a wonderful place and we need more places like this. I am so happy that I got a chance to visit it.