TTFN

There are more than one reasons.

But I just can't run away from the original objective.

It started on the cold night of 12-31-06 when I became so painfully aware of the harm we all do to this beautiful planet called earth and decided to start a blog about it. I so wanted to protect this planet, like a Mother Hen protecting its chicks.

Along the way I lost that objective... or maybe it isn't really lost, but as I spend more and more time with the old, the sick, the down and out and forgotten, seeing the souls who have lost all hope and faith, seeing frail human bodies which will soon crumble into dusts, somehow everything in "reality" seems so superficial, so abstract, so distant, as if life, every love and hatred, every passion and every argument, all are nothing but just a breeze passing through some space, leaving no trace, and no memory.

Then there was the first snow fall this year. The air temperature had dropped overnight, and one beautiful snowflake fell from the grey sky. Then another one, and another one. The snow was a wake-up call. Suddenly there was this urgency to go for one more mushroom hunt, one more kayaking trip, one more hike, and many more get-togethers before we wax the skis, bake cookies, huddle before the fires drinking whisky and waiting for Santa Claus.

My social calender is packed, work is demanding, volunteering effort is increasing; amidst chaos and peace, I find myself not able to sit down and write a blog that is meaningful to me.

Instead of continue neglecting this blog, it may be better to take a break.

But I still plan to read your blog.

Lastly, I thank you for reading this blog.

Tata for now.

PS: oh before I forgot, picture of golden chanterelles that some of you have requested.

It's The Season of Gold

It's the golden chanterelle season! YEAH!!! :)

So I have been out picking - beaten by bugs, stung by bees - still can't stop me from picking. This evening I spent 4 hours drying and freezing batch after batch of golden chanterelles, but gave most of them to friends as I don't have a proper freezer.

Anyway, it is the process of finding mushroom that I enjoy the most, so I'm going to continue picking, yeah! :)

Of Course It's All About R***

We all heard it - a while back, a Harvard professor, a black dude I should add, came home after a long overseas trip to find himself locked out of this house. He tried to enter, someone thought it was a break-in and called the police, police arrived, Prof Gates must be tired and cranky from the long plane ride, so some heated exchange followed, and he was arrested. At that time, plenty of people said, nah, that had absolutely nothing to do with race. I kept my mouth shut.

Fast forward to mid August when I came home from a long overseas trip, a long plane ride and a long drive home. Feeling tired and hungry and cranky, I went to get a pizza when I pulled into town. I ordered one and waited patiently. Finally my number was called, I got the pizza and left. At the corner of my eye I saw a man hurried to his wife (who was also waiting for a pizza) asking her what was her number. None of my business. I turned and started walking out of the pizza place. Then I heard someone shouting at me, "hey you, did you take my pizza?!"

I looked up.

Shocked.

He was just next to the counter and he could have checked with the server who was just there. But no, he chose to come after me for he honestly thought that I had stolen his pizza.

Of course race wasn't the issue there - I know some of you would say that! But come on, if I were a big white man, or a blonde girl with big tits, you think he would shout at me?!

Nah, I'm just a bloody Asian who looks exactly like a pizza thief!

Of course race is THE issue in many of the unfortunate situations - you know it IF you are non white and at the receiving end.

Now suddenly President Carter talked about it openly, Maureen Dowd wrote an excellent op-ed about it, it is as if the clouds have lifted and people can suddenly see that, oh, many of the outburst against President Obama is actually about race.

DUH!

For those of you who want to know what did I do to the man. Well I actually chose to tell him, politely, to check with the server. I know, I should have pulled out a gun and started shooting.

But I did say to myself, "welcome back to the land of the free!"

Here Comes The Sun

I woke up at midnight, all anxious, and couldn't go back to sleep. I counted sheep. It didn't work. Oh well. I got up.

By 2am I was ready, driving to TD's house, loading up his truck.

By 3am we were driving in the dark, watching out for deer. There were a dozen of us in 4 cars - who would have thought that our crazy little idea would attract so many people?!

By 4am we arrived at the trail head and started hiking immediately. We chose an almost full moon night, but unfortunately the moon set at around 430am... nonetheless we got a glimpse of the moon reflecting on one of the lakes. Stunning.

By 6am we huddled behind a rock up on a ridge at 8400ft, our feet and hands were numb, the 40mph wind with gusts up to 60/70mph showed no mercy. Plenty of sands got into my eyes as I tried very hard to stay still (not blown away, literally) and looked east.


The dawn cometh... I half expected the clouds to part and an angel appear before me.


For the love of photography, some friends were brave enough to hike up to another ridge.


"...here comes the sun" we started singing. By now our face was numb too. And despite I was using just a point and shoot, I could hardly get my index finger to press the button.


Brrr... we just couldn't hang around much longer.

We had thought we would be back at around noon... nah we were back in town by 10am. We went for breakfast, parted ways, and apparently all of us fell asleep the moment we got home.

Would we do it again? Absolutely! :)

Just To Say Hello

I went for a short hike last week with some friends. About 3 miles in, I felt unwell. Then we came to this lake (left pic), I sat down, and couldn't get up again. My face turned pale white. I quivered when every little wave of cramps in my stomach hit.

That was supposedly a short hike, which meant I didn't have my medical kit with me. Finally someone found 2 tablets of Ibuprofen. I took them like they were some elixir of life. I urged my friends to get on while I rested... but they came back soon and suggested to piggyback me to the trail head. Ok... did I mention that the average age of my hiking buddies is 65? Somehow I couldn't take the chance, so I struggled to hike back, thank goodness the Ibuprofen did the trick half way and I was ok again. In fact by the time we pulled into the nearest town, I could jump out of the car and order a root beer float.

But I sure ain't going hiking again without my medical kit!

--

When I was away, a friend of mine came over to water my plants and took care of all the little stuff for me. She must have some magic touch because all the plants thrive under her care. My tomato plants, which were about to die when I left, are now 3 feet tall and have all the little fruits. Wow. Now I wonder if my money will grow and have babies if she takes care of that for me! :)


--

There is a big retirement community in where I live, which means most of my friends are in their 60s and beyond. I love all of my senior friends and enjoy their company tremendously. The only downside to that is, I have been to more funerals in the short space of time since I've lived here than my time spent in other places. I see a friend in the farmer's market one week, and a few weeks later I read about his/her obituary. I get an email from time to time informing the passing of so and so... and each time when I get the news, each time when I sit in the memorial service, I sincerely hope that my friends have gone to, for lack of a better word, a better place. Rest in peace. Be a spirit, free spirit. And at the same time I always feel guilty for not having one more cup of coffee, giving one more hug, hearing one more story, before it's all too late.

Then I'll go home and start emailing/calling the friends that are still alive, just to say hello.

Just to say hello.