Mac 'n Quack


Or call it Duck-aroni if you prefer. If airplanes can land in the Hudson River, then seeing a stuffed toy duck making a landing on a plate of macaroni and cheese ought not to be all that surprising.

Actually, my poor pup tries to bury her food so that it will be available to her during time of famine (i.e. bedtime). She digs imaginary holes in the wood or tile floors, and tries to use her nose to push imaginary dirt on top of the food she imagines she has buried. It's all instinct. It makes her mad that after all her efforts, the food is still exposed to the sight of anyone and everyone, because you never know when some cruel humans may want to take her food and eat it themselves. So, as a last resort, she finds something to hide the food from sight, which is sometimes a tissue, sometimes a sock, and sometimes a duck.

Innocence

"Who, ME?"

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Birthday Backpacks

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Here are our new backpacks. Mimi's will hold a pack of kleenex and a pooper-scooper bag. We're all set for new adventures. If only the weather will warm up now.

Turning the Pages of Time

Mimi turned a year older today. I went out and bought her a doggy backpack that she can wear on walks, a new dress (that is a wee bit too tight), and some snacks. She is four. I don't really know Mimi's birthdate, but when I got her on March 3, 2005, the lady told me she was six weeks' old, so I chose this as her birthdate.

I also turned that same "page" today. I also bought a backpack for myself this week (I tried to live without one for a few years, but it just makes sense in this setting to have one). I won't buy a dress, because Mimi and I have the same problem with clothes bought here. I may go out for snacks later though. I'm in the mood for ice cream. How old am I? Like Mimi, I am four -- with another numeral at the back of it to form a two-digit number (lest you think my age is a three-digit number like Methusaleh's).

I'm in the 8th day of a major crick in my neck that makes it hard to move. So if I don't update this blog much in the next week or so, it may be due to the pain in the neck when leaning over the computer. Or it may be because I am going to the beach in Thailand 11 days from now. I'll try to update it though. :-)

The Center of the Universe

Hi, Mimi here, just checking in to say hey. Mean Master won't let me have my own blog, so I have to borrow hers. Not much going on in Bamboo Forest these days. It's kinda cold and Master makes me wear clothes outside when it is below freezing. I really hate wearing clothes. But if I gotta wear them, I prefer the denim dress and the pink suede suit. The green striped polo shirt's not too bad either. But enough about clothes, let's talk about food. Master puts out dog food for me to eat sometimes, as if I would actually eat that stuff. Who does she think I am? I like cheese, chicken, eggs, and Eagle Brand. And cats. Mean Master never lets me catch them though. If she would just let go of the leash sometimes, I could catch 'em easy. 'Cept I hate when they climb trees. That is so unfair. MM (Mean Master) also won't let me bite the guy who delivers the bottled water. Man! I can't have any fun. When Master leaves the house, she leaves the TV on for me to watch. I don't get it. There's some guy named Wolf Blitzer, but he doesn't look like any wolf I've ever seen before, and I ought to know since I descended from them. He's just a wannabe. And face it, who wouldn't wannabe like me!?! Master just told me I ought to be more modest. I don't even know what that word means. I hate it when she uses big words. Well, I better go for now. I feel a nap coming on. I'll write again another time when I take over the computer. Love and licks, Mimi

Mopsalot

Have you ever seen so many mops in all your life? And wouldn't you think that any place where so many mops were would be CLEAN? If I counted right, there were about 21 mops here, made of bamboo, making it a "bamboo forest" of its' own. Not that you care. But it is kind of weird, no?

History and Legacy

Yesterday I went to the Chinese city of Zhenjiang. I had never heard of it this time last week, but it turns out it has significance in history. The American author Pearl S. Buck (winner of Nobel prize in literature 70 years ago and author of The Good Earth) lived in Zhenjiang (jen-jahng) for at least 18 years, starting when she was 4 months old. Also, it is where Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission was buried with his first wife and three children who all preceded him in death.

Taylor's cemetery was destroyed by Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. The land has buildings on it now. A church in Zhenjiang has a small memorial to Hudson Taylor. I went to see it.

In one corner of the courtyard, I saw two other tombstones leaning against the fence. One little white tombstone was for a little girl named Isabel Sibley who died at as a child in 1916. The other larger grey tombstone was for a Leonidas William Pierce. This is what his tombstone said:

"Leonidas William Pierce, born Oct 24, 1864 in Fannin County, Texas, USA. Thirty-one years missionary of the Southern Baptist Convention at YangChow China. Lost his life by the capsizing of the mission launch, the Morning Star on July 16, 1922 at SooChow, China."

The lady at the church said that when the cemeteries were destroyed in the Cultural Revolution, the poor farmers used the tombstones as building materials for their homes. Now that the economy is better in China, those homes are being torn down, and both the Sibley and Pierce tombstones were discovered in 2008, and brought to the church by the farmers who discovered them. There are no telling how many other tombstones are out there yet to be discovered.

They were not well-known or until now even remember by the world, but they left a legacy that cannot be hidden or destroyed.

I Finally Caught On

When I lived in Bedrock, I didn't get out much in winter. It was really way too cold. I would invite Chinese people over to my house a lot instead. They never complained about going out in the cold. Now I'm in Bamboo Forest, and it is really frigid here too. But I don't know enough people yet to invite folks over to my house, so I have a need to get out of the house more--I'm feeling the cold a lot more than I ever did before.

So, finally, thirteen years after arriving here, I finally realized that everyone, yes EVERYONE (but me) has a down jacket. They are relative cheap here. Yesterday I went down and bought one. Now I know why they never complained about being cold. Man! Why didn't I think of this a long time ago?! Never mind that I look like the abominable snowman when I wear it, I am finally warm!

Disturbing the Peace

I've lived long enough to know that staying up until midnight on New Year's Eve, especially when you are home alone with a dog, serves no useful purpose. Really now, who cares? The new year comes whether you are awake or not. Staying up late only serves to make one sleep late the next day, and perhaps be a little crabby if you can't.

Are you surprised to know that Chinese celebrate this holiday? They have "Chinese New Year" which this year occurs on January 26th and is based on the lunar calendar. But they also celebrate the regular new year, that occurs according to the solar calendar. January 1st is a public holiday. This year everyone gets three days off of work: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. "Chinese New Year" is the BIG HOLIDAY where everyone goes home and has special memories, comparable in its' importance to our Christmas. The January 1st New Year, everyone watches TV, goes shopping, goes out to eat with friends, etc. January 1st is no big deal and most Chinese don't stay up until midnight, unless of course it is their usual habit to do so.

Chinese people exercise moderation in many parts of their life. They eat in moderation, use electricity in moderation, and even speak in moderation (except for a few people who talk into their cell phones at volumes indicating their ignorance of phones having speakers built in). But for some reason, the Chinese have absolutely no self-control when it comes to shooting off fireworks. Yeah, sure they invented them, but I wish they would make them take classes in how to use them politely.

Which brings me back to my early bedtime on New Year's Eve. I went to bed at 10:40 p.m. All day long, there were no indications that anyone even knew it was New Year's Eve (except they all got off work). It was quiet, calm, and peaceful. I surmised it wouldn't last. Sure enough, at the stroke of midnight, I bolted up in bed as the sounds of missles and bombs going off woke me.

Well, they sounded like missles and bombs. Some were right outside my building. They were all over town, in every direction you looked. Boom, boom, boom. It was like nothing you ever saw in America, not even at Disneyland. And it went on and on and on and on and on and on. I thought it would never end. How can they afford that many fireworks? It went on for half an hour. I didn't even have to go stand at the window. I opened the curtains, went back to bed, and lay there watching the light show. Since fireworks surrounded me, I had a view even from bed. I tried to fall back asleep, but it was impossible with the building shaking as it was.

And the scary thing is that they don't even care about this holiday. I dread January 26th like the plague.

In all these years, there are some things about China that I have never endeared myself to, and fireworks (along with firecrackers and canons used at weddings and grand openings) I cannot seem to embrace. I just want a little peace and quiet.

Bottom line...I was accidentally awake to see in the new year.