An Affair to Remember

It was love at first sight.  His attractiveness shines through the brilliant colors of his appearance and his body lean and compact.  I couldn’t take my eyes off of him.  As if I were 17 again, falling in love for the first time, I found ways to get closer to him at every opportunity.  Every encounter left me smiling and every glance and every touch made my heart soar.  I didn’t wonder why people smile when they saw us – the constant goofy grin on my face was sure to entice the same response.  I was hopelessly in love.

Taking him places were truly joyful experiences.  He takes such small amount of energy to move around yet he gets us everywhere without delay.  He may be slight and small in appearance; his heart is roomy enough for me and my purses and the gym bag and the groceries.  How about the kids?  Someone asked.  What about the kids? Who’ve heard of the children involve in their parents’ love affairs? Of course I am NOT taking the children on those outings with him.  HELLO!?!

Unlike other people in love affairs, I didn’t care that Mr. D would find out.  He certainly noticed my young lover when I brought him home.  Mr. D cautioned and pointed out all the flaws and dangerousness of being in this affair.  Even though he admitted that my new love was charming and delightful; the negative qualities of the object of my affection made it difficult for Mr. D to consent to my new relationship.  As generous as Mr. D his patience is not limitless.  He wouldn’t give his blessing to allow my new toy, uh, I meant, new boy, to be part of our family.

I wasn’t really torn- just miffed - for I have been a willful adult and a spoiled wife.  Waking up early one morning, I roused Mr. D from a sound sleep.  “Hey, I have something to ask you. Wake up for a second.”  (I really just wanted him to be awake for one second.)  “Huh?” he said with a deep sigh.  “I want Puddles (yes, his name is Puddles.  Do you have a problem with that?) and I know how we can make it happen.” I said quietly and guiltily.  “Ok, …unintelligible mumbling…” Mr. D said something that I couldn’t quite make out but I did hear this clearly “…if you want it just get it…” It is not a whole sentence but his answer was clear.  The fact that he was not really conscious is not a concern of mine as long as I have the affirmative of his response.

With Mr. D’s sanction (well, sorta.) I went out with Puddles and started our day together.  The reality of having Puddles as a partner gradually set in like a brick sinking in the river and I am feeling anxious.  The sky was a brilliant shade of blue and the sunshine bright and beautiful.  It was a lovely early summer day and I kept thinking about my one and only love affair.  I started setting up two huge columns in my head: one said “pro” and one said “con” and was getting rather depressed to see the list on the column for “con” is getting longer and longer.   Well, Puddles is a little bit difficult to steer and he is rather lazy when we need to speed up.  And it is true that he is rather thin skinned and probably can’t handle any pressure from the outside world.  Why couldn’t the depth of my love overcome his shallowness? Arrgh!

Then something happened, something so typical and ordinary: I picked up Mer who was away from me for a check-up appointment (that’s how I got to keep Puddles for three days) and I took her home.  When I sat with Mer, I actually let out a sigh so deeply and contentedly – it is such comfort and convenient to be surrounded by Mer’s beauty and security.  Mer moves gracefully on the way home and I was glad that the practical part of my personality emerged and I parted with Puddles.

Maybe, Puddles, maybe someday I will have a chance to sing you the love song by Art Garfunkel “ I believe...” 

Midnight pizza and beef fried rice

Yup.  That's how we rang in the year 2013.  Pizza delivered right to our door during Mr. D's preparing the beef fried rice which recipe he looked up on the internet, not from yours truly.  Does that make you wonder what his opinion is of his wife's cooking skill?  Mmm-hmmm, I suggest you don't answer the question.

New year's resolutions? I have none.  After many years of making new year resolutions and forgetting most of them by the second week of January, I've decided to spare myself the embarrassment and disappointment this year.  Instead, I picked one word as my guide for this year:  ORGANIZE.  Interpret it whichever way you want.  Better yet, do what the kids do: make a word with each letter.  O for Oregon? R for Raspberry? You get the idea.  I'll try to pick some words that do relate to the word "organize" and carve them onto my thick skull.

A very good start, physically, for Mr. D and me.  Indeed it was:  we ran 2 miles together, outside, in the cold.  While I was clothed in long-sleeve running shirt, jacket, a pair of thick running leggings, a hat, ear bags and gloves; Mr. D was in a sweatshirt and shorts.   Yes, the sun was shining but the temperature was freezing 36 degree.  He did well (or to repeat what I said to him "Man, you kicked my butt!")  There is going to be much running around togetherness between us...oh, it's going to be so much fun!

Because we burnt some calories (isn't this always the best excuse to have an open season on eating?)  I made beef noodles for dinner.  This gesture certainly had NOTHING to do with Mr. D's beef fried rice the night before.  None whatsoever.  However, I did take a picture of beef noodles.

So here is a Happy New Year to us all.

The Scales Top Ten in 2012

The Scales’ Top Ten Happenings in 2012 

No. 10   Despite a year full of mischief and “adventures” by the boys, they each made it to their birthdays, 10 (Ethan) and 4 (Henry) respectively. Here is a picture to prove it.

No. 9   Henry started potty training. While he is entirely in control of his bladder, sometimes playing with an iPad makes him forget about the other. Don may have the same problem…sometimes.

No. 8   Don hit the city bus with Deb’s van. He was fine; the van was totaled.

No. 7   And that’s how Deb got her Mer. (Ladies, guilt trip does work.)

No. 6   Ethan played at Autzen stadium again and his team won again, 30-0 this time.

No. 5   The boys loved their first trip to Kona, Hawaii.

No. 4   Henry didn’t love his flight to Taiwan. Our friends and family in Taiwan loved him.

No. 3   Henry was traumatized at Disneyland. His favorite place in Disneyland was “the HO-TEL.” Every time we invited him to a ride, he told us “No, thanks. I want to go to our HO-TEL”

No. 2   Our first year as season ticket holders for the Ducks football games.

And now, the Scales’ Number 1 happening in 2012 

No. 1   We welcome our newest a family member, a brother and son, Zack! Xan and Zack were married in April. A party in their honor will be hosted in the near future.

Merry Christmas, everyone.  It's been a blessed year for the Scales and we are looking forward to another year of happiness, joy, health and peace.  Love to you all, our dear family and friends.

A beautiful reservoir or 餵魚記

This was the first place we visited when we were in Taiwan.  A beautiful reservoir called Yong-He.  A simply decorated cafe where you can rest and have lunch in serenity.  To avoid ruining the particular calmness of the experience, this post will be pictures, mostly.

苗栗縣的永和山水庫 - the Yong-He Reservoir 

My sweet niece, Elaine.  沂倫和阿姨

Sisters and best friends. 妹妹和我

The Maitreya Buddha (Budai) 峨嵋湖的彌勒佛

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budai

Looking out from the cafe where we took our lunch. 

三灣鄉的大池塘

Mr. Bob and Madeline - our fabulous tour guide and hostess.

After lunch we took a walk around the manmade pond.  Here is Henry taking off...

...because, "Look, mama! A duck!" How could he not want to chase after the duck, right?

The duck is smart... it hid itself under the porch so Henry couldn't get to him.

I think we single-handly provided enough fish food for the entire population of this pond for at least one week.  Who knew feeding fish can be so much fun!

My sister, niece and Henry feeding the koi fish.

And they went wild when the fish food was toss in the pond!  Aren't the colors beautiful?

Ah, more ducks.  Trying their luck with Henry, perhaps?

Run, Duckie, Run!

Time to take a break on the hill.

Henry stood on a suspended bridge and it's a good thing that it's sturdily built because Henry ran and jumped and no one was hurt.

The owner of the cafe knelt next to Henry, together they made sure the fish of this pond was well-fed. 

A few of my favorite things

Lychee - 荔枝

The rumor has it that the major element of my deciding to visit Taiwan in June is the Lychee fruit.  The rumor has it all wrong - - it is the only reason.  I’m kidding of course...or am I ? I do love this gloriously extraordinary fruit.  Here is a Wikipedia link for more information about it.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lychee

  

A Lychee tree - right in front of my nieces' house.

 

These are ripen chilled Lychee.  YUM!

A closer look.  Truly a beauty inside and out... taste awesome, too.  I have made up my mind that I lack the ability to describe the taste of Lychee.  The first adjective comes to mind is "Heavenly!" and it still seems insufficient.  Do not make the mistake of comparing the taste of the fresh Lychee to the canned version of this fruit.  It is borderline sacrileges and I mean it. 

Shoes 鞋子 

I shall admit that I love shoes regardless of where I find them.  The ones I found in the department stores in Taiwan are simply amazing.  The selections, designs, qualities and best of all, the prices are outstanding and so fabulously attractive.  I wish I had more room in my suitcases and a higher credit card limit ;)

Check these out! 

The sound of cicada - 蟬聲


How do I describe the sound of cicada?  Let me try.  If good-bye and hello; friendship and love; memory and loss have a sound and it would be the sound of cicada… screechingly loud, intense, full of longing yet so tender and patient.  I could never tell how many of them together can create such a sound or if just one cicada can make a music so strong, so touching and magical.  It’s a sound I haven’t heard for many years; and when I heard it this time around, I closed my eyes to make sure that it will stay with me always.


I finally found a live cicada on the tree.  It looks like a giant fly on the main branch of the tree closer to the top.

Thanks to Zack, here is a closer look at the cicada.

Shaved ice - 銼冰

Nothing better than a bowl of shaved ice topped with cooked mung beans or peanuts or fruit or milk or all of them in the hot summer afternoon of Taiwan.  This one is sold at Costco (Yes, I did go to Costco...three times.)  The shaved ice is topped with mango chunks, mango jam and vanilla ice cream.  It's a very clever and delicious combination. 

Juicy dumpling - 湯包

Mostly served at breakfast but I could easily have it for lunch and dinner.  The filling is similar to the fillings of dumplings 水餃 or pot stickers 鍋貼 which is a mixtures of chinese cabbages, green onions, ginger roots and ground pork.  It is shaped like a bao (包子). Though I don't know what the trick is to make it so that when you take a bite out of this steamed dumpling, the flavorful juice of the dumpling flowing into your mouth and you are in love instantly.

Rice paddy field - 稻田

I love the view of rice paddy.  The stories that grow from it, the whispering of the crops on windy days and the ever changing color - so many different shades of green - except when it's time to harvest then it's golden.

The two pic above were taken the first few days when I was in Taiwan; the next one was taken the last day I was there.  By the end of July, early August, the rice field will be ready for harvest and the color will be an intensified gold.

Guchol and Talim

Honestly I don’t know what I’ve done to these two to have them shown up on the days we planned to drive to northeastern part of the island. Before the days of our planned trip, the warnings of their upcoming visits to Taiwan were constantly on the news. To avoid any clash with them, we canceled our trip and instead sitting in the house watching them did their usual dances that involved speedy wind and heavy rain.

Just as fast as their presences were known, they left quickly. I looked out of the window and wondered if I’ve dreamt the two days of excessive rain. Until I watched the news I saw the reality of their strength: Lives lost and home destroyed; roads and bridges washed away; many fruit trees were ruined so did the owners’ livelihoods. The pictures on the news spoke more than a thousand words. All of a sudden, my missed opportunity of traveling to a new place, to see the Pacific Ocean from this side of the world, seemed very insignificant.

In the midst of Guchol’s and Talim’s visits, one boy welcomed them with open arms - - literally. He stood outside, faced the sky with his arms wide open and let the rain pouring down on him. He laughed and hollered “Mama, the rain is warm!” While his relatives nervously requesting me to get him back inside the house before he gets sick, I smiled at this adventurous little guy and holler back “Yeah, isn’t it cool!?”

Everyone should have such an experience – at least once – and I forgave Guchol and Talim because of it.

Chubby girl too can run?

One thing I brought with me to Taiwan is my awful habit of jogging/running/shuffling.  It is more preventative than the actual desire to run in this inhumane humidity.  Beside visiting family and friends, I am in Taiwan for one important purpose: eating.  To make sure I don't end up rolling home like a ball, I run in the morning.


There are two places I go for my run: one is this quiet path in the science park where it is like an oasis among the industrial buildings; the other one is the sports park where a standard running track exists and an Olympic-size swimming pool with a fun kids' pool where the boys love to go and we've been there just about every other day.


I love running on the path of the science park because it's much quieter and cooler with the trees lining the path.   To get to the park though, I have to hike up a .8 mile of 12% grade two-lane freeway. ( I know the exact distance because I have my Nike plus with me.)  During morning commute hours, the exhaust from the cars and motorcycles are just too much to bear for the hike.  So on the days I don't get up early enough, I go to the sports park.


There are always people on the track either jogging like I do or walking.  After I've finished my 8 laps, I was doing the stretching and trying to cool down.  A guy walked past me and said: "小姐胖胖也可以跑哦!" (Translation directly: Chubby miss too can run, huh!) I was half amused and half shocked and all I could utter was "WHAT?!" in English.  That startled him because he looked sheepishly and nodded his head with apologies in Chinenglish "So-ree, so-ree."


Later on my way home, I thought his comment is actually a compliment, at least I've decided to make it so.  Yes, chubby girls can run too and I'm the proof of it!  So for breakfast I added another order of juicy dumplings - yum!

I run around this man-made pond.

The path around the pond.

The path lined with trees.

Juicy dumplings (湯 包.）  Will post more about it later.