HAPPY NEW YEAR!

OK everybody, time to list all your New Year's Resolutions!

Somebody else go first, I will put mine up in a sec.

What I've Been Doing

Eric and I have been doing some serious consideration of our wanting a home of our own and our finances. I have been giving thought as to how much longer I will be able to continue working as my strength is becoming a real issue for me these days. So, we have talked about it and looked at the budget to see not what we could afford to pay right now on a mortgage, but what we would be able to pay if and when I decide to call it quits and go on disability. It is our opinion that a manufactured home is the best way for us to go. We still have a lease at the apartment through July, but I know that finding something might take a while so with that in mind, I have been looking online at what is available out there. I don't really want to break the lease, but I would if the right thing came along. Also, I'm in no hurry so I might be a little picky about what I'm looking for. I'll keep you all posted as things go along.

Las Vegas

So Barbara...did you make that trip to Las Vegas?? Tell us about it!!

Happy Birthday John!!!!!

Happy 25th Birthday!!! Hope you had a great one!!

Reading Blogs

Good afternoon one and all! I've been checking in here at Far Flung Family quite regularly and I'm wondering why so few people are posting these days? There are a few comments on a few new posts, but I'm not seeing the original post participation that we had several months ago and I'm disappointed.

I've been trying to keep the last "add a line" story going, but I sure could use some help.

David's new blog needs some comments. Check out his new story.

I went back to visit David's other blog "Interview You" to see what was new as I hadn't read all the comments on those first questions. (David, it's been a while since you added any new questions) I was saddened by some things I read in Fred's comments. I remember that there was always tension and stress in his relationship with his father, but I never realized that he didn't feel love at all at home. If I failed to show you love Fred, I apologize now for past mistakes. I'm glad you had Brian's mom and his family to fill in the blanks. I also never realized the reason you didn't go to Thomas Nelson like you had planned and I don't remember at all you applying to and being accepted by another college. Either I've just forgotten, or you didn't feel like sharing that news with us at the time. I'm sorry we failed you in so many ways. No, we could not have afforded to send you to a big four year college, but I would have done everything I could to get you through Thomas Nelson.

I wish you could know just how much you were, and are, loved, but if you didn't feel it back then, telling you now won't heal the pain of it. I didn't know what to do to make your life better. I kept expecting to wake up and find that you had run away or something but, thankfully, you didn't. You stuck with it and got through it and I was proud of you for handling it as well as you did.

I guess it really doesn't matter what any of us plan for our lives, God has a way of sending us in His direction to live by His plans. It's just too bad that people often get hurt in the process of "becoming" what He wants us to be.

Well, I guess I've expressed myself enough for one day. Everybody just keep writing.

A Thousand Words or Less

I wrote another story last night and decided that I'm going to post these short photo-inspired stories in their own blog. You can visit it at http://athousandwordsorless.blogspot.com/

The Lamp Post

I found this photo on the internet and it made me think of a story so, this morning, I jotted it down. Let me know what you think.


The Lamp Post
By David MacKenzie

“I wasn't always a thug, you know.” Carlo whispered to me as he raised his head slighlty. Our eyes locked. “I was a kid once, a good kid, a clown, even.”

I studied Carlo's watery red-rimmed eyes. I peered past the green irises and tried to see beyond the tainted soul of the multiple murderer to find the innocent youth he was remembering, but I lost my way among the dead bodies. I closed my own eyes and swallowed hard, then opened them again, determined to get on with my job, but Carlo was still staring at me.

“I remember one winter when it snowed and my best buddy...” a brief smile danced across his face. “He dared me to lick the frozen lamp post and...” Carlo's already soft voice trailed off and he blinked, freeing me from his hypnotic grip.

I quickly moved behind him and busied myself with the routine tasks so I wouldn't think about his words and I wouldn't meet his gaze again. I tightened the bands around Carlo's head and chest then moved to the controls on the wall behind him. I stood ready.

The warden’s perfunctory voice came from the overhead speakers. “Carlo Anthony Fuguerro, do you have any final words?” A heart beat passed, then another, and another, but Carlo was silent. A red light blinked on and I flipped the switch, closed my eyes, and tried to forget the snow, the lamp post, and my childhood buddy.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone in their native language.

This should cover it but let me know if I missed somebody.

English - Merry Christmas

French: Joyeux Noel

Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ùr!

German: Froehliche Weihnachten

Greek: Kala Christouyenna!

Hawaiian: Mele Kalikimaka

Hebrew: Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova

Holo - Seng-tan khoai-lok!

Irish: Nollaig Shona Dhuit - or - Nodlaig mhaith chugnat

Italian: Buone Feste Natalizie

Mandarin: Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan - or - Sheng Dankuai Le

Pennsylvania German: En frehlicher Grischtdaag un en hallich Nei Yaahr!

Philipines: Maligayan Pasko!

Romansch: Bung Nadal

Scots Gaelic: Nollaig chridheil huibh

And for those of you who don't celebrate Christmas, there is always the Festivus For The Rest Of Us.

Sunday In Vancouver

Early Sunday morning...too early. I went to bed last night about 9:30 and had lots of dreams. Dreams, for me, usually come early in my sleep. They're usually very active and I'm fairly certain their accompanied by a lot of talking in my sleep. Like the one I had a few nights ago. In it, the producers of SUIRVIVOR thought I'd be a good team captain on their next season's show. I tried to tell them that I'd only ever seen one episode and that I wasn't really impress with it, but they were insistent. I kept telling the producers that I was not a backstabbing, conniving, do anything to win kind of guy, that I'd likely place "nice" and not be good for ratings, but they never listened. There was an elaborate ritual (isn't there always on that show) to pick the teams and it was something weird about standing in circles then walking backward until you hit someone and that person was part of your team. Hey, I said it was an active dream, not one that made sense. Then, because I was a team captain, they wanted to give me a bunch of "secret" info that I couldn't tell my other team member but was supposed to be helpful to the team. Don't ask me how that was supposed to work...I have no idea and besides, I woke up about then and looked at the clock and it was only 11pm. Sheesh! I felt like I had just won the island all by myself and I was asleep for less than two hours.

Like I said, that wasn't the dream I had last night, it was just a memorable one...which is another aspect of my dreams, I remember having had them but I seldom remember any actual events from the dreams. Last night was like that...I know I had active dreams, I remember waking up around 11pm, and again at 12 and again at 1 and then finally at 3:30, but I do not remember the dreams. That is quite aggravating at times because sometimes I think the dreams would make great material for a story.

Anyway, none of that has much to do with Vancouver, I just went on a tangent. So, how was Saturday in Vancouver? As expected, it was dominated with food, but unexpectedly it started out with religion. Justin and Venus are Buddhists and they took us to two large temples in Richmond. They were stunningly beautiful and peaceful places. Justin urged me to take photos and I did take a lot of them (and he and Venus took pictures too) , but I felt sacrilegious doing so. I felt that I was objectifying their beliefs rather than revering them...by taking photographs I turned the Holy into the building, or the sculpture, or the landscape. I'm not one for organized religions and I wouldn't think twice about photographing a nice Cathedral from the outside, but this was different because we were inside the temple. True we did not take photos in the inner-most temple but even there were were free to come and go and watch and examine. I felt like an intruder while people were coming and going with offerings of incense and prayers to their saints and angels. If I ever do "find religion" I think a cloistered life...like that lived by the monks in these temples or perhaps even a Christian monastery...would have a certain appeal to me. It was also interesting to learn a little about Buddhism. When ever I think Buddhist I put a Chinese face on an orange clad monk but the religion started in India and I don't remember seeing anyone in orange. Clearly, I have much to learn.

After the sacred we delved into the lust of the body--well, the lust of the food, anyway--Dim Sum! The Dim Sum was great. They had a lot of the same stuff we get at the Dim Sum place in Kent, but they also has some new and delicious additions. There were some flat fried fish cakes that were EXCELENT. There was steamed beef tendons that were OK...kind of like a beefy flavored gelatin but a little chewier. There was another type of Taro Cake that was drier than the ones we normally get. Oh, and there was this desert item that was really good. It was a slice of mango surrounded by whipped cream or cool whip, and wrapped up in a soft pastry wraper like a really fat flat dumpling...Very GOOD!

We were STUFFED after all that and more. We all squeezed into my Element and drove to a couple of nearby malls where I bought Mom's stocking stuffer of next year...and yes, I stayed within the guidelines we set.

This area, Richmond, is about 90% Chinese and is affectionately known as Chanada (China + Canada). Justin told me it was a fairly new city that grew by leaps and bounds in the mid 1990's when people from Hong Kong were packing up and leaving before China took over the city in 1997. After 100 years of British rule, no one was sure how China would run the place and a lot of people didn't want to hang around and find out. As a result of the rapid influx of immigrants the real estate market soared like crazy in the whole area and even now prices are way out of bounds. Justin tells me the area is made up of mostly two types of people...the one's who have money and don't worry about it and the ones who have to work three jobs to afford to own a home.

Later we drove back to Vancouver and through downtown to visit English Bay. It's the place where the city meets the water. It's quite beautiful at sunset though quite cool this time of year, so we did not stay too long. We watch the sun go down, we took some pics, and we walked around a little then we went back to the car and drive through nearby Stanley Park, a large nature park on a peninsula at the NW corner of downtown. Traffic downtown was stunningly slow. Seattle has a big downtown area compared to what we knew back in Hampton and Norfolk, but Vancouver's is way bigger still and it seems to be everyone's destination or on everyone's path to get where they're going...ours included.

A long slow drive brought us back to Richmond too early for our dinner reservations so we stopped off at a nearby casino resort to kill a little time. Justin and Venus went off to play some table games and Chunnan and I headed for the slots. We only do the slot machines when we gamble and even then it's only the quarter slots. I was the only one with any Canadian money left so I whipped out $10 and doubled that to $20. We cashed out, but my original $10 back in my wallet then divided the remaining $10 between us. I quickly won again and cashed out just shy of $60. I $55 into my wallet and went to play some more. Luck left me just as quickly as it arrived though and I did not win anything else worth cashing out. Chunnan was likewise shorn of his $5 stake but we left $55 richer than when we went in and had some fun too. Venus won $25 at roulette and said that Justin always brought her bad luck when they gambled. Still, we were all winners so that's a great way to walk out of a casino. Off to dinner!

In line with yesterday's post, I can't tell you the name of the place. It's near the intersection of No. 3 Road and Westminster Road and I can't decide if I want to call it "That place with the Juicy Buns" or "That place with the Barbecue Lamb". Maybe it will just be "That Shanghai place in Richmond". So, as you may have surmised, they served Shanghai style food which, I'm told, is a little lighter in flavor and a little sweeter than the Cantonese style that most people think about when referring to Chinese food. We started off with an appetizer of cold sliced beef and crunch jellyfish. Stop cringing! The jellyfish is served cold, it's very light in flavor, and it is indeed crunchy, but it's a soft crunch not a potato chip kind of crunch. It's good by itself but dip it in a little basalmic vinegar and it is divine.

Next came steamed Chinese eggplant (a thin cousin of our fat American eggplant...think of a purple zucchini and you're close) served on a bed of crunchy noodles and smothered in a beefy flavored gravy. Excellent! Then the aforementioned Juicy Buns. First off, they're not buns as you think of them. They're more like a dumpling but kind of ball shaped and inside is a nugget of seasoned ground pork swimming in a bath of meaty juice. These buns are delicate and it is something of an art to grab them with your chopsticks and gently lift them from the steamer where they want to stick to the paper on the bottom of the steamer. You gingerly transfer them to your mouth whole, and bite down carefully so as not to burn the inside of your mouth when the juice gushes out. I waited a few minutes for it to cool a little before eating mine, but everyone else had mouths of steel and devoured theirs lickity-split. We also had some pan-friend buns like the one's I like so much at our local Dim Sum but these too were swimming in juice on the inside. It was new to me and, even though Chunnan warned me, I bit down injudiciously and got squirted with hot juice on the underside of my nose as a reward.

Still more food was coming...a big pot of wonton soup with chunks of chicken and ham and baby bok choy, a plate of steamed bread with bits of chive rolled into it, and that wonderful lamb dish mentioned before. It was thin slices of bone-in lamb, probably pan fried, served with slices of green onion in a sweet sause that was somewhere between barbecue sauce and au'juis. Really really tasty but a little messy to eat since it was a little too big and a little too boney to just pop into your mouth on a chopstick...fingers needed to be employed.

What's that they say on the infomercials? But Wait...There's More! Dessert! Chinese have some strange notions about dessert. Say dessert to an American and they think chocolate cake or apple pie or fruit and ice cream. Say dessert to a Chinese and they think sweet tofu, or sweet red bead soup, or, as we had at dinner, rice balls filled with black sesame paste in sweet saki egg drop soup. I'm sure they have a much better name for it, but that's what it was and it was GREAT!

Needless to say, we were STUFFED again and walked off a little of it in another large mall near the restaurant. Then we headed home, I went to bed early, and had all those dreams I discussed earlier. Today we pack up, head out for breakfast somewhere, and drive on home. I can't wait to crawl into my king-sized bed!

Hugs All
David

Saturday in Vancouver

The US Government has decided that Chunnan can come home to Seattle. Yeah!

He says the worst part of the whole affair was actually getting into the consulate. Everyone had to pass through metal detectors of course, but they also had to get by guards that would have done a Mafia boss proud. These guys chucked you out of line for even the tiniest thing...and they weren't nice about it either. People were tossed out of line for having cell phones, back packs, large strollers, more than one family member. Chunnan himself was chucked out of line twice...once for his back pack and once because one of the manilla envelopes he was carrying all his documents in was sealed. Yet ladies with purses went through without raising anyone's ire. What the heck is that about? The first time some terrorist puts a bomb in a Prada handbag though, that's all gonna change and you ladies better watch out!

It seems to me that the ugly American is not a tourist in France...he's a security guard at any US consulate around the globe. America has become a paranoid and petulant child and we might just as well take down the Statue of Liberty because it doesn't seen to hold any meaning after Sept 11, 2001.

Ok, enough treasonous ranting for me...the rest of Friday was great though. We shuttled back and forth on ther Skytrain (kind of a cross between a monorail and a subway) from downtown to one of the largest malls I've ever seen out in Burnaby, a Vancouver suburb and the town where Justin and Venus live. It didn't have an amusement park inside like Mall of America (which I haven't actually been to) but it was BIG.

We seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time eating, but that was one of the main things Chunnan wanted to do here in Vancouver. He spent two evenings just planning what restaurants he wanted to visit. Vancouver and Richmond (another suburb) and Burnaby are the closest things to Taipei for good Chinese food.

The restaurant names, of course, are unpronounceable to me. They're just know at that rice hotpot place, or that japanese-taiwanese place, or that place with the fish-balls and gravy, or that place with the lobster and sticky rice dish. But all of those names are badges of honor for the good food we found there.

Today we're heading to Dim Sum with Justin and Venus and John (another friend from Chunnan's office who used to live here in Vancouver before he got a job at Premera). Dinner will be another place with another signature dish and in between will likely be one or two Chinese bakeries and a Bubble Tea stand or two.

Bubble Tea is an interesting thing all by itself. It's a cold drink and comes in many styles from simple fruit flavored tea to milk shakes and fruit smoothies but what makes it "Bubble" Tea is that they add in a large serving of blackish/clearish Tapioca balls. Each ball is about a quarter of an inch in diameter and they sit around at the bottom of the cup like a bunch of bullfrog eggs clinging to a rock in a lazy stream. They give you a large-bore straw and you suck them up with the drink and chew them up...The bubbles are pretty much tasteless but it's a very interesting texture mixture as you chew your plum tea or mango smoothy. I did not like it at first, but it's grown on me.

Friday In Vancouver

I'm sitting in Blenz Coffee at the corner of Robson and Bute downtown on Fridayt morning, sipping a caffe mocha with dark Belgian chocolate and surfing the Internet. Ya' know, Cocoa beans don't grow in Belgium so how can it be Belgian Chocolate?

I just head a screech of tires and looked up in time to see a white sedan nearly wipe out a guy in a wheelchair in the crosswalk, The guy was in the right, in the crosswalk and with the light and he was cursing out the driver like crazy and shaking his hand at him. The driver did look apologetic, but I think he didn't expecv tthat reaction, either. Peg, you might want to be careful if you and Eric come up here at some point. :-)
Chunnan is in the US Consulate being interviewed for his Visa renewal. They would not let him carry a backpack or a cell phone into the building so now I'm lugging around two backpacks. Oh well, I needed the exercise. :-)

I'm supposed to meet him at the cafe across the street from the consulate at 11:30. After the interview he has to go back in the afternoon to pick up his Visa or be told that he better start making plans to live in Vancouver if they reject him. I can't see that happening, really, since he has a good job and home in the UAA already.

The weather is sunny and bright but cold...just over freezing at the moment. We're staying with a friend of Chunnan's from work and we had to squeeze into a full sized bed last night...wow, talk about tight? When we're used to a king sized bed this was a real squeeze. I felt like I was gonna roll off onto the floor a couple of times. :-) Still, it's cheaper than a $150 a night for a downtown hotel. Thanks Justin and Venus!

Well, I'm gonna check my email at work now and see what I'm missing. :-)

Heading To Vancouver BC Canada

Hi All...Chunnan and I are heading to Vancouver, BC, Canada for a long weekend. Chunnan's main purpose is the renew is US Visa so that he can come and go as he likes. We're staying with a friend of his from work, Justin Wang (no relation). He lives with his wife in Vancouver but works in Chunnan's office near Seattle. He only goes home on weekends and keeps an apartment here for use during the week.

Anyway, we're gonna tour around Vancouver and Richmond and Chunnan's already made a map of all the Chinese restaurants he wants to visit. I'll get some pics while we're up there and try to post them (and the Christmas lights pics from ThanksChristmas holiday) when I get back.

Hugs To All

Death and Destruction

I just thought David might like to see what Pepper has done to his Christmas toy. On another note, Pepper has bagged his fourth squirrel. We don't know how he caught this one, but saw him carrying it around the yard after he's spent about ten minutes making himself hoarse barking under our bedroom window. After I returned from Walmart that night I found the squirrel on the front porch in front of the door where he had left it for me to see and I disposed of it.

Happy Birthday Doug!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

So, you're 923 years old today, huh?

You don't look a day over 638. :-)

Hugs and Love
David

Happy Birthday Doug!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

So, you're 923 years old today, huh?

You don't look a day over 638. :-)

Hugs and Love
David

Snowy Seattle

Just when you thought you had Seattle weather figured out, we get an EARLY snow. It didn't really amount to much, but I think it caught a lot of people off guard.

Early on Dec 1st, Peggy, Eric, and I drove Dad to the Everett hospital for his surgery...they implanted a difribrillation devide in his chest to help monitor his heart rate and everythng went fine. When we got there is was cool and cloudy. Two hours later I called my office in Seattle (about 30 miles south of Everett) and was told it was snowing there...still cool in Everett but it was drizzling a little now too. Another two hours passed and I called the office again and was told the snow was sticking...In Everett the clouds had lowered a bit and the rain was a little more persistent.

An hour later Dad was finishing his lunch in his hospital room and we packed up and went home. My office manager in Seattle was panicy about driving home in the snow so I told him he could go...in Everett it was raining now. We loaded up the van and headed for lunch at Taco Bell. By the time we got out of there the rain was lumpy and by the time we hit the interstate snow had finally come to Everett.

As you might expect, the interstate was slow-going as poeple were extra cautious and a fifteen minute trip to Peggy's took us about an hour. My car, which I'd left at Peggy's, was covered in a couple of inches of snow and Peggy first act on getting out of the van was to drive her chair through the street spelling her name in the slush. She did a good job until that car drove by and oblitterated the last G and the Y.

I brushed all the snow off my car, drove home slowly, went grocery shopping, then considered a dip in the hot tub. Well, the pic above is what I found. I decided that I didn't want to wrestle the snow-covered tree for possession of the hot tub. As luck would have it, I had a meeting scheduled with a contractor the next morning to discuss putting a sun room style cover over the deck...In the end, I plan to win our hot tub back from that possessive tree!

Sunday Fun

Started Early enough.
I woke up around 6:00 and could not go back to sleep. Nervousness tends to do that occasionally. Today (Sunday) was the Day Care’s annual Christmas program. I had to cancel the actual drama part of it and have the kids just sing the songs. It seems when I was on vacation the practices did not go over so well. Of course it is hard when you do not know which kids will be there and which will not. Especially if their parents don’t give you an answer themselves on whether or not they will attend. Fun Stuff.

The service started at 10:30, so naturally I asked all the parents and children to be there around 9:45. No big deal. Unless my choir director, the one who plays the piano for most of the songs, does not show up until well after 10:00. Ah the enjoyment continues.

Add in a few grumpy parents, a couple of kids who refuse to take part, one who started to ignore me and an unsure entrance time and you have yourself the makings of a…

… normal Christmas program. After all the parents were there just to see thier kids on stage. We had a few snags…actually having to redo one of the songs because none of the parents could see the kids. But all in all it was a very good Sunday morning worship. Amy sang a very nice solo by the way.

So the plan was to have a nice relaxing afternoon. We were invited to Dave and Kim Lowe’s house for a B-day party for Dave. Being the good son and daughter in law, Michl and Alicia were there as well. That made for a very good lunch. Nothing else would of made it a better way to start the afternoon. Except the hit and run of course.

I’m sorry did I forget to mention that?

On our way to the Lowe’s we were coming up to a corner and a silver sedan comes barreling around the turn and does not see us until it was too late. The sound made it seem worse than it was. I get out of the car just to see the other vehicle actually pick up speed and jet away. Amy and I, who are both perfectly fine and not injured, inspected the damage and overall not bad. A dent, a loose light and a wandering hub-cap were the extent of the damage. When the police office got there we were basically informed that there was not much we could do. But the office did notice our inspection sticker had expired. Lucky she (the officer) was in a generous mood.

So my conclusion:

A pretty good day. The Christmas program went well and I don’t have to worry about it anymore. Amy and I are not injured. Our car is not too badly damaged, and in a minute I will go to bed and be able to sleep the night away.

Ends well enough.

Happy Anniversary!!

Happy 13th Anniversary to Eric and I!! I love you Eric!!

Flying to Seattle was a long overdue experience for me, but one I dreaded after 9-11. I'm glad I bolstered my courage and made the trip as it turned out to be a most enjoyable one. Some of us experienced boarding delays and some of us missed flights and had to be rerouted, but all of us made it to Seattle and had a wonderful ThanksChristmas celebration together.


Of course we were all in an eating frenzy and my scales show the results with a 6 lb gain this morning! I guess we know who's going straight back on her diet. All good things must come to an end they say and I had a VERY good week in Seattle. I particularly enjoyed the Dim Sum Chinese restaurant where I experienced so many new tastes and textures. Also enjoyed getting acquainted with Starbucks and several of their concoctions... all highly caloric I'm sure!

We made crafty ornaments for Peggy's Christmas tree, had fun opening gifts and stocking stuffers and worked out the rules for next year (Stockings only, $10 max for each person's gift, gift must fit in stocking). We had a game party night and David purchased several games which we played and enjoyed (some more than others)several times over the week we were together.

The photo above is of the family (minus Eric who was behind the camera)at Garden Delights, a botanical garden all lighted up for the holidays. David and Peggy also made sure I was able to visit three different quilt shops (and spend lots of money there) while in Seattle and visit Pike's Place Market. Alie, Amy, and Chunnan (and I don't know who else) went to the Christmas parade (in the rain)and some other shops. Amy, John, Fred and David went rock wall climbing at REI one day, but I don't think all of them climbed the walls. Perhaps someone else can tell you about that experience and hopefully will add more of their own thoughts about the trip in general.

A week is a long time to impose on your hosts and there may have been a few tender nerves and relief at the prospect of getting back to normal by the time we all departed. But, we appreciated all that David, Chunnan, Peggy, Eric, and Doug did to make our visit a fun and entertaining experience for the whole family. And to all of them we say "Thank you! You're the greatest!"