On
Sunday I finally had my much delayed Easter party. The guests were all
Taiwanese and very keen to do the Easter thing. Irene (one of the
engineers) brought Min, a woman she had met at a self-development
seminar. They arrived first. After a bit of chatting and making of a
quick cake, I thought we might go for a walk while waiting for the
others to arrive. A cursory glance at their shoes told me that walking
would have to be limited to level surfaces. So we walked a few hundred
meters along the edge of the resevoir, then down a set of stairs to a
mini-temple. The path continued down to the water's edge where they
could see, well, water. And a few guys fishing, some egrets, perhaps a
snake eagle or two. No boats (or technically any fishing, either!) as
this is the drinking water for Xindian.
I
got a call to say that Sophie was on her way down to my house--oops! So I
left Irene and Min and raced back to the house. Sophie and I walked
back to Irene and Min. I did quick introductions then returned to the
house again, this time to take the cake out of the oven. I then hung up
the Easter eggs on a tree near the front door. I borrowed about 25
painted plastic eggs on ribbons from Lourdes last Thursday. They are
really cute and look like real decorated eggs.
Irene,
Min and Sophie came back. We did a mini tour of the house/garden, then
sat down to blow out the eggs. Min had used a proper 'egg blowing out'
tool before which I scornfully pooh-poohed. Real women poke holes in
their eggs and blow the innards out, like energetic mouth to mouth
resucitation! They all got into it; I think Sophie blew out about five
eggs, she was looking pretty red in the face by the end.
We
went to play a little in the stream for a bit. There were Tong Blossoms
everywhere which Sophie enjoyed throwing at us. (I suggested that
throwing dry ones was a better idea than wet ones.) Laurie, Thomas and
Ethan rocked up at about 3:15. They joined us at the stream for more
paddling and Tong Blossom throwing. Eventually we went in and enjoyed
our afternoon tea: just baked cake, cheeses, crackers, olives, pickles,
pate, coffee, tea, juice. Mmmm, I like afternoon teas.
And
then we started decorating. I had food dye in bowls, a candle for
dripping wax (but no funnels, I'm not that fancy), paints and brushes.
The eggs turned out beautifully! (My camera is broken, *sob*, so I am
waiting for the others to send me some photos.)
Then
we had the Easter egg hunt. It was hilarious! I had prepared mini
ziplock bags of chocolates, one for each person, each bag with a name on
it. The rules were simple: You had to find your own bag of chocolates
without help. If you found someone else's bag you weren't to not touch
it or say anything about it. If you cried out that you had found someone
else's chocolates you would forfeit your own. (Yes, as a matter of
fact, I did teach little kids for quite some time. Why'd you ask?)
I
sent everyone outside for a minute while I hid the bags then called
them back in. They were so sweet, dashing here and there, looking for
their treats. Min found a bag and held it up with glee. I pointed out
that she had found Sophie's bag: they both looked rather horrified. I
laughed and told Sohp to go outside so I could hide her chocolates again
and told Min to look for HER bag. Sophie came back in and resumed
hunting. After a few minutes of growing frustration, Sophie needed a
clue as I had put her chocolates in the fireplace ('Somewhere that gets
very hot.') So did Laurie. But then again, Laurie's chocolates were
behind a picture hanging on the wall.
We
were going to have egg and spoon races (in fact, ping pong ball and
spoon races) but ran out of time...another day. A good time was had by
all (including the hostess.) And, having guests over made me get off of
my computer chair and clean the house. A very Good Thing!!
On Saturday morning Sophie was telling me about school: "And there is this girl in my class, she is three heads taller than me." "Three
heads taller? Are you sure? That would make her taller than ME." I
said. Not that it means much as I am only 5' 2.5" (about 155 cm)! "Well, I bet she comes up to your shoulder." "Wow, that is tall. Why do you think she is so tall? What does she eat?" "She's ten," said Sophie. "So she must be in grade four." I said. Sophie is eight years old and in grade two. "No, she's in my class. She's a 'late bloomer.' " "..." I swallowed the laughter that was bursting to come out. "A late bloomer? Where did you learn that expression, Soph?" "From the movie 'Sky High.' Remember, that kid's dad said that he was a late bloomer." "Right, I remember. Well, I'll bet you're right, she probably is a late bloomer." What a precious child that Sophie is!
Started preparing for an Indian meal last night...mmm, smells good!
Sophie
slept over last night. We 'played' ping-pong for a while. She is eight
years old and has only played a few times before, so she can't really
play at all. We managed a nine-hit rally--our record.
This
morning I will fry the potato patties before we (Simon, Sophie and I)
go to TAS for their spring fair. (Sophie just walked in for a morning
hug but she looks more asleep than awake. I sent her back to bed for a
few minutes to wake up properly!) I hope to be back between 2~3 so I can
finish the rest of the meal in time.
Dinner was delish! Here are a few shots of the chef at work: First
course was Dahl (dal? dall? daal?) This is a dish made with lentils,
like a very hearty soup. It has lots of Indian spices and is a bit spicy
(as in hot). Mmm, good! Our main course was Chicken Korma and Aloo [something]. 'Aloo' means potato and [something] probably means spinach. We also had cold tomato-onion salad and the Mogul lamb. Of course there was rice as well. Here is my bowl...delicious! But
that, my friends, was not all. No, there were presents, too! Andy had
some birthday presents for me. (Hey, I always say "Better late than
never!" if we're talking pressies for me!!) I
opened the first one. A scarf? Nah, too stiff. I unfolded it. "A
tablecloth?" Nope, said Andy. "Insulation?" (like a camping survival
blanket.) "Nope," again. "Oooh, it's a cape!" *Andy laughed* "Well,
sort of! Open the next one!" The next present was...A sceptre! For a princess! For ME, xindianprincess! And
the crowning touch...A crown! Well, a tiara, anyway. Sophie found the
ties to my cape and helped me prepare to greet my subjects: And here I am, Xindian Princess, in my throne. "We are extremely amused!!"
is this a yoga pose or just a Sophie pose? Jump for joy! Whoops, slipped! Belle's Bath--comes and goes according to where the typhoons place the boulders. Heading back home. As you can see, the creek isn't really for swimming but more for playing and goofing around. Talking about goofing around, here's a goofy girl: And another goofy pose: The ship-wright at work, shhh, do not disturb! The
boats float well and aren't tippy but I'd hate to actually be on
one--there's no main sheet, no boom, no rudder or tiller--very difficult
to control, eh.
Sophie slept over last night again. Again, it was a
delight having her! This morning we went to play in the creek after
breakfast, then we made these 'boats.' While
I was upstairs, Sophie 'interviewed' Xiao Man Tou. Watch the whole
thing, the part where she is playing both interviewer and interviewee is
classic. Or maybe I just think so because I love her so!
This
is Part II. I cut the original video in to two pieces as YouTube
thought the whole thing was too long. Just to translate: 'Xiao Man Tou'
means 'Little Steamed Bun' and 'Fei Chang Da Man Tou' means 'Extremely
Big Steamed Bun.' At about 1'28" in Part II Sophie says, "Let's
interview the fatty, now." which sends me into gales of laughter.
Truly, this child is a treasure.
My day today:I didn’t have any work! Yea! :o) Briefly: Walked the dogs. Coffee with Constance in the
garden:first sunny morning for
ages. Mower to vet:Mower is now MOLAR-LESS. Friends, if you
have a cat, keep on top of that tartar! Buy special cat toothpaste and use it! Went to Constance’s and
made a barrier out of old wood
for the door, thus preventing Dodo from wiggling back inside the house. Went to Lourdes: made
Chocolate Chip Cookies. Between batches (tiny oven, nine cookies at a time) I
cut out squares of fabric to make a ‘samples’ folder. Thus the guys can choose which fabrics they
want to use which I will then bring the next week--saves
me from bringing all my fabrics up to Lourdes for eight months. Of course, I
had to bring a third of it to Lourdes in order to cut sample squares out. I’ve
been meaning to do it at home for weeks and haven’t yet: quilts must be
finished by November 1st” tempus
fugit, and all that. One guy was folding ‘ghost money’ to burn on ‘Ching Ming
Jie’ (Tomb Sweeping Day) which falls
on April 5th this year (I will hopefully do a blog about Tomb
Sweeping Day early next week). He was folding the paper into little shoes,
similar to Dutch clogs (‘sabots’?) I thought they were pretty
neat!
Here’s a
photo of cookies from today in a cookie jar that was given to Lourdes by my
friend, Jerri. Jerri will be returning to the States at the beginning of May and has kindly donated a bunch of stuff
to Lourdes, including a sewing machine (Yes!), a yogurt maker (Yes!) and an ice
cream maker (Yes!) We love Jerri!!
Dinner at home (mmm, leftovers!)
Dodo is officially installed in her outdoor dog house and not too thrilled
about the change in accommodation. She spent a fair bit of this evening
alternately whining pathetically and giving short, sharp barks in order to
remind me that I had forgotten to let her in. Dodo is the dog who pees anywhere
and everywhere. Dodo is not suited to live indoors! Up to Simon and Constance’s for
a glass of wine. I introduced Sophie (8) to the pleasure of the monster drawing
game, you know: Each person draws a head on their paper then folds the paper so only the neck is showing. You
trade papers and draw a body, folding again so only the bottom of the waist is
showing, etc. She thought it is a fabulous game! We watched two episodes of ‘Sean
the Sheep’, a claymation show.
It is utterly charming and quite amusing. Similar to ‘Wallace
and Gromet’ without the dry humor. It’s 10:23 and time for bed.
I have a cloth-back copy of ‘The Man in Brown’ (from the orphan’s book sale) to
begin before I turn out the
lights. It’s a copy from 1946 and has that musky, old book smell. Happy
Amanda!
Soph
had an activity at school acouple of weeks ago. Here are a few photos
of the students making meat-filled tang yuan. Here Sophie is flattening
her lump of dough. Kevin is gleefully squashing his bit of dough! Scooping some meat to put inside. Cheyney (below) said his was the biggest one. Cheyney is tossing un-filled tang yuan, trying to get them all nice and round. After
watching the kids make these 'treats' Simon and I beat a hasty
retreat--No, thanks, really, not hungry, must get home! (Where we
enjoyed hot coffee and delicious breakfast!)
Here is Tsai looking happy and relaxed. There was lots to see in the tea house. Part of a carving: Some large pots: An old-fashioned bed that is seeing new life as a tea table. (Not comfortable for too long as you have to sit on cushions!) I
went out and photographed the building from the outside. It is much
lovlier inside! I phoned Angela so that she could stick her head out the
window and wave. "Amanda? Where are you?"
"Oh, there you are! Hello!" At
the top of the rise you can see a bunch of strange, low buildings~this
is a graveyard. The best views are often given to graveyards so that one
can have a great view for eternity... Regular apartment buildings can
be found part way down. It was a misty day so the ocean was half hidden and mysterious and ever so beautiful.
Model the teapot Add tea leaves Add boiling water Let brew for about 1 minute then pour, mmm, delicious! After a few brewings (3~5) scoop out the used leaves and make fresh tea. It's
important to have really great snacks. This time we had: watermelon
seeds, dried mango, swirly cookies, pistachios, chewy milk candies and
preserved plums. Yum!! Then enjoy! As always we brought games. With two sets of Kalah the compeition was serious!
Sophie,
Angela, Stacey, Tsai and I had an excellent day in Jou Fen two weeks
ago. Jou Fen means 'nine knives' and was thus called as there were nine
families who lived there. So the story goes: if anyone went to town (a
long trek as the roads were almost non-existent) they would get nine of
everything, one for each family. Later, when Taiwan was under Japanese colonial rule, there was gold mining here and it became a bit of a boom town. After
the Mainland Chinese took over (1949-ish) Jou Fen became like a ghost
town. It is beautifully situated on the coast and rent was cheap, so
after a time artists started to move here. Later, the movie 'City of
Sadness' was filmed here and Jou Fen became 'in' again! Jou
Fen is very touristy but lots of fun! We go about once a year to our
favorite tea house for a day of eating, brewing and drinking green tea
and playing games. BTW: I *may* have a fact
or two wrong here--if you think so please let me know in the comments
section so I can correct it. Thanks! First, we had to choose what to eat. Our menu was written on leather. Cool, eh? Jou Fen is built on the side of a mountain with stairs to go up and down. Phew, hard work getting to that tea house! And stairs going down. To get to our favorite tea house you have to walk through a narrow tunnel. Not so great if you are claustrophobic. Sophie made it! Inside the tea house you are greeted by all these pretty lanterns and charming staff.
