A bit about my neighborhood

Speaking of adventures, I picked up running after a three month hiatus, and the running trial by our house is just too good to be true!

The price of not being persistent with training is pretty brutal, on my first run I could only jog in a pace that's a little faster than walking. But I'm not complaining, the scenery is so beautiful and peaceful, I was just glad I was there.
The lake you see on the left is Lake Merced. From the picture, you probably imagine it's an untouched piece of nature in San Francisco. Quite the contrary, Lake Merced suffered great environmental destruction when nearby golf courses took the runoff to water their lawns. As a result, the lake's water level depleted drastically.

The situation improved when the city changed legislations and started to protect the lake's water source. But it will take years for the lake to gradually fill up again.
I do feel sad whenever I hear stories of pollution or over-exploitation. The cost to repair those damages are just not worth the initial gains. But as I slowly jog along the trial, I bump into countless fellow runners, bikers, people taking a walk, walking their dogs too, and birds! There were so many birds chirping around the trees. I marvel how nature has a way of righting wrong things. And that makes me very hopeful.
I think we do need to change our lifestyles in order to live sustainably, but it doesn't mean giving everything up. Somehow, we can find a way to strike that balance.
Much easier said than done right? Ming and I have been trying to solve this rodent mystery in our garden. And finally half an hour ago, with the help of outdoor lamps and flash lights, Ming saw it... it was a BIG FAT RAT! It jumped up a foot tall concrete block with no difficulty at all. Yes, balance... I'm going to burn that garden first thing in the morning! Joking...
I'll figure something out :(