MARCH FIELD AIR MUSEUM

We went to the March Field Air Museum located in Riverside California, along the I-215 freeway, you won't miss the rows & rows of planes! It is a fun place to check out even if you are not an aviation nerd. Lots of exhibits and history for a good price. And it's March now, so what better time to post this! We visited in Oct 2017.

22550 Van Buren Blvd, Riverside, CA 92518
It is open everyday except Mondays from 10am-5pm.
 https://www.marchfield.org/



Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children. Free for children under 4 years old.

Our AirBnB lodging was just 15 mins from this place so we had to visit it. I'm not a plane or military enthusiast but all of us were pretty excited when we saw the planes from the carpark. There is hardly a chance for us to see these amounts of historical planes at such close range and so vast a space.

First we were greeted by this magnificent SR-71 Blackbird! You won't be able to tear your eyes off it. That is a gorgeous sleek design if I ever saw one.

We had fun taking photos with this heavy Japanese turret gun. I've seen that battleship movie Yamato.

Commercial airline uniforms from the past also included.

There is a NASA & Russian space exhibit room. Here are some flight simulators for the kids.

Also a large exhibit on the different wars. There are window display rows on both sides.

After the indoor exhibit in the hangar, we headed outdoors where almost all of the planes were displayed. And there were many!

It was hot, dry, windy and very sunny, typical Californian summer in the desert. We all got a little crispy.

I recall there were Russian MiGs, US Fighter Jets, Bombers. I only know the B-17 bomber. Below is a B-17G Flying Fortress.

Hiding under the wing for some shade! I forgot my hat and sunglasses and of all colours, chose to wear black. You are not allowed to touch the planes.

Next to the March Air Base so we got to see planes land nearby.

There were also Vietnam-era helicopters.

It may take a few hours to explore the grounds if you want to read the boards in detail; a good idea to come earlier and allow some time to browse the gift shop. They stock nice pins, military patches and toys, of which I bought several pins.

That's it, there are way too many photos so I added a chosen few. I give this place a big thumbs up, just remember to bring water, a hat and slap on sunscreen! Oh and your cameras of course!

FLOGGING THE DEAD EPSON HORSE

Epson I'm gone. I think I'm going back to Canon. I don't even remember why I switched from Canon years ago. I think it was because I wanted a laser printer, and ended up with a Samsung laser printer that turned out to be garbage. Then we got an Epson because Epson can churn out nice prints.

Admittedly I seldom used the printer so there were bound to be problems. It worked great at first, and then after some time the printhead became easily clogged despite running maintenance (which probably compounded the problem). However my first DIY cleaning was a success, I got the black to work perfectly for around 5 months. I happily inserted packing slips into my packages and printed government pdfs. The CMY colours didn't work though, as the cartridges were almost empty so I printed exclusively monochrome. Then I really wanted to print brown lines and thought to clean the other coloured nozzles. Big fat mistake. Now the black doesn't work at all. The printhead and nozzles are completely kaput for some reason. I wondered what I did different?

Anyhow gave it another try today after spending 4 hours of a failed attempt yesterday. By now I'm ready to throw in the towel but have spent good $$$ on new (yes GENUINE) cartridges and already fitted them in.

My rationale was concluding maybe yesterday's fiddling loosened the pesky dried ink overnight. Maybe I inadvertently introduced air pockets in the delicate mechanisms or something. Well, the printhead is squeaky clean now. I used a 27gauge needle and syringe to make sure the nozzles came out clear when flushed with Windex. 150 paper towels and tissues & 100 cotton bud q-tips later I am quite confident the printer will finally work.

Plugged it in. "CARTRIDGE NOT RECOGNISED - BLACK. REINSTALL CARTRIDGE".

What and why?! It was recognised just fine just now?!

Tried the alcohol on contact point trick, tried the eraser on chip trick, tried the 'relax and come back later' trick. Didn't work!! I'm done now.

8 hours of my life wasted and an added sense of frustration, thus this blogpost. I could've finished my illustrations. I could've primed my two canvas that's sitting in the corner collecting dust. I could've cleaned my room. I could've written a symphony. But nooooo, was flogging a dead heap of black plastic that is certainly self-aware. It doesn't want to be helped despite my sincere intentions. I gave it my best shot really. Maybe I was too rough with it? Well then, enjoy your time in the trash heap.

In fact I could've posted about my March Field Air Museum trip from last year which I have procrastinated for a while. I'm going to do it now and schedule it for the day after. So see you in my next post and apologies for reading my rant if you made it here ;)

MEET BONESY KITTY

Newest member of the cat clan!

He was named Bonesy because he was so thin after being rescued from under the house of my boyfriend's. He was probably stuck for about 2 days and would've starved to death if it wasn't for his incessant mewing below the boards.

Thankfully he was real friendly (grateful maybe!) with his new human family, not feral at all and about 7-8 weeks old I think. Within two weeks the kitten caught two rats in consecutive days. I asked bf, "Are you SURE it's a male? Because male cats aren't as efficient in hunting as females.". He looked again and said "Yeah I see balls.".

Anyhow we brought Bonesy to the vet to get fixed when I went to California last Oct, and guess what? HE turned out to be a SHE! The markings on her ass does make her like she has balls but yeah you can immediately tell she's 100% female when she does her belly flop! We call her Bonnie now.

Active one, we like to think of her as an ocelot. She loves to snuggle and suckle on people's neck and has a penchant for grooming hands. She also likes to jump all over the place, knocked 2 vases into pieces, and perch on bf's back. She and Miu play chase every wee hours of the morning and mid-morning when I was there.

Here she learns the joys of Cat TV from Miu. Miu was initially terrified of this tiny kitten lol.

Kiwi was not fond of her at first, and tolerates the rambunctious kitty at best. She often bops Bonesy's head & hisses when Bonesy gets too wild because grandma doesn't want to play!

Kiwi is still fat lol.

Obese Miu lost a little bit of weight after Bonesy made her gallop around like a mad cat.

Grandma Lucy says hi! She's afraid of something in this photo (think it was the sound of the air pump) and hiding behind our legs. The other chihuahua Dotty recently had a health scare and almost died, she has a blood platelet disease and medication seems to be helping. I hope she recovers fully. Unfortunately I do not have a nice photo of Dotty when I was there because I didn't think she was ill.

Bonesy's first Christmas and Christmas decor. Uh oh, look at her face.

Finally all three cats can co-exist peacefully and watch Cat TV together. Bonesy's in Kiwi's spot though. Actually there's a new stray cat on the porch (wondering if she is related to Bonesy)... don't know what to do yet.

All grown up. Hopefully she remains this size and not put on too much weight!

There I did it! First post of 2018 and something that is not my artwork. My last personal post was in Aug 2016. I have a boring life and there's nothing eventful to post, I just work work work =P

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Blessed Christmas and wishing everyone Happy Holidays!

Where have I been? Well not on blogsphere but will update with a new post soon since I just came back from California and have some pics. I was too lazy to update with new content because all my posts are promoting my digi stamp artwork and isn't that just a bore. Who still blogs anyhow? But honestly that was all I was doing for all those months... WORK!

See you all in 2018!

SINGAPORE GARDEN FESTIVAL 2016

This is the Singapore Garden Festival on 25 July 2016. I had planned to release a video but no time for that so please enjoy the numerous photos below! I went with my mom and we had anticipated this for months.

The weather was good, it wasn't hot! It was drizzling a bit and the floor was damp from earlier rain but I'd rather take that than the scorching sun. The drizzle stopped shortly but the sky remained cloudy so that was nice too since you can't view the outdoor displays if it was pouring. It was held at Gardens by the Bay at Bayfront Marina Bay again. It was half outdoors and half indoors, and ever since they held the event here, it is getting bigger and bigger, compared to previous years when it was at Suntec City Convention Centre.

Here are my old posts from the previous years, I didn't blog about the 2010 one:
- 2014
- 2012
- 2008

Hanging terrariums. Terrariums are all the rage now in Sg. You can put them in your office or flat where you can't get full sunlight, nor do they require green fingers, you can also decorate them with (bootleg) Totoro miniatures everyone is selling now!

 The terrarium dome is nice and chilly, and misty. Smells a bit funky though. Nice concept.

A section full of hanging ferns, orchids, nepenthes pitcher plants! It got crowded towards the late afternoon so I got real lucky for this early people-less photo after several visitors went through the door and out of my shot lol.

Best of show. That is the hugest winter melon, I never knew we could grow such fancy pumpkins or melons in our urban landscape.

 Florist competition.

 Bonsai section.

I think this is the Fantasy section. This area was dark and some had nice lighting and fountains and video is the best way to showcase its movement and atmosphere.

 Cute outdoor display with lots of blooms. See in Sg we can't grow most of the pretty flowers due to the tropical climate (they don't bloom), only greens like grass, ferns, shrubs and trees. And maybe orchids.

 Lots of sunflowers and lots of (real) dragonflies. You can see that one that looks like a helicopter in the sky.  I'm afraid of dragonflies lol.

 Outdoor landscaping design section.

 You cannot go into any of these... They are barricaded and for display only.

 Except for this small sugar cane maze with mirrors.

 Might be nice for a local resort.

Bright morning glories, though it wasn't morning but late afternoon. Hmm called Ipomoea if I recall right.

 Glass dragonflies.

Secret Garden section.

The ground was covered with wood chips and damp, so it was squishy and muddy.

 It was crowded and due to it being enclosed, the atmosphere felt muggy.

 We took a long walk to the Flower Dome for the Orchid Show, which was outside the main festival area. The ticket allows us free admission into the Flower Dome, which is a permanent attraction.

I like this place, it's air conditioned and smells nice at times.

Getting dark and trying to view the dizzying varieties of orchids. I don't really fancy orchids but my mother does.

 Now that leftmost orchid is CRAZY stunning. See its many awards?

Ooh good idea, a durian house! It reminds me of a durian hat kid I drew back in 2004.

Thanks for reading! I may update with a video if I have some time.