Easter with friends

I spent Easter with a group of six friends. We usually have more friends with us when we get together, but some had to work today, two had to attend driving school, etc. We seven celebrated Easter together, then took some photos at a local park. The young man in the striped shirt is a senior in college, and the others are already working in their professions. The only girl in the photo is married to the young man in the blue shirt. Happy Easter everyone!

Week in review

Here is my week in review:

The 19-year old son of one of my good friends from high school died in a car wreck last Friday night. It's been on my mind all week. I don't really know what we are supposed to do to bear one another's burdens, but I felt like I should try to imagine life in her shoes. And since for her the world has stopped, I thought I should take a few days to stop and acknowledge that the world will never be the same. Pray for RT and her family as they bury her son in a few hours.

It feels like winter here. It feels colder now than it did during the real winter, and I think this is because of the moisture in the air (spring rainy season) coupled with strong winds. So I have not enjoyed getting out much this week. And the sun didn't shine much at all.

The only good grocery store in my neighborhood that had several American products closed down. It was near a massive road construction project, and traffic couldn't get there to keep the store in business. Now I have to go a lot further to buy what I need.

Mimi's morning walk today got halted by the presence of a gorilla-size dog who came out at the same time, unleashed as usual. That big dog looks at Mimi like she's a Big Gulp. I have to pick up Mimi and throw her over my shoulder like a baby and run when I see that dog.

I sent out a newsletter this week. If you didn't get one, write and let me know your e-mail address. Lots of emails bounced, and my own parents didn't even get it (I know for sure I have their email address right; I don't know why it has so much trouble getting through to some people). If you want to leave me your email address on a comment, please know that all comments come to me before they are published (for approval), and I will be careful not to publish any comment that has an email address in it.

Last summer I broke down and got on Facebook. First I got my college friends on, along with a few Colorado friends. I wanted to see how Facebook worked before I committed to use it much. Then a little later I connected with my Australian friends. In the last week, I've finally connected with some of my old hometown friends. Facebook is part wonderful and part weird. For 30 years or more, I didn't know a thing about my old friends...didn't even know if some were dead or alive. And now for some I know the exact spot where they had lunch yesterday! It leaves me with that Twilight Zone kind of feeling. I reserve the right to ignore Facebook at any point in my life when it starts to overwhelm...like it did a few weeks ago.

There you have it, my week in review. Some days are more exciting than others, and this week wasn't really very exciting at all.

Subway fashion

Check out the latest in young men's hair fashion in the Middle Kingdom, as seen on the local subway!

Spring's rainy season

Saturday afternoon after meeting up with my local friends at a teahouse, I walked alone through the cold, slow spring rain. Rainy days are about the only days you can walk along a path and not run into crowds of people, so I walked as slowly as possible, to take it all in without interruption. The pink buds on the trees and the bright green hue of newborn leaves on the trees made the otherwise gray day seem bright and hopeful. 

I thought back to the old days of walking through the rain in the Middle Kingdom … when walking through mud to get to work or biking through potholes of undetermined depth made it more treacherous than inspiring. This is better.

Having grown up in a desert (where, you know, seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day), I usually have mixed feelings about rain and the depressing clouds that accompany it. It's not going away though, so I'm trying to learn to like it.

Our second rainy season comes in mid-summer, during typhoon season.

 

iOSx photos

Invisible people

While the woman waits, the shoe repairman turns her shoe onto his stand and works diligently to repair it. Almost every day of the year, regardless of the weather, he can be found on the sidewalk near the park. He carries his machine and tools back and forth each day to the spot under the trees. 

On this day, the Chinese woman informs him that a foreign woman is taking his photo. He smiles, continues his work and tells her it is no problem because the foreign woman is his friend. I live near his sidewalk shop and pass by on a daily basis. I don't know his name, but I smile, talk to him, and acknowledge his worth as a human being. I think that most people walk by him and don't even notice he is there. Some treat him as if he were less worthy to stand on the planet than they themselves are. He's one of those people on the periphery, the kind of person that we block out of our minds unless we need them to do something for us, like fix our broken shoes. There are others like him in my neighborhood, considered poor on the socio-economic scale of things. The trash collectors, the egg seller, the fish vendor and the guards all come to mind.

There was a time when I probably wouldn't have noticed the shoe repairman either. But these days I make a conscious effort to acknowledge every person I meet, with a goal of making each one feel better about themselves than they did before I crossed their paths. I think that's how Jesus would treat them. They are created in the image of the God who made them. 

I'm reminded of the Chinese ceramic bowl that was purchased at auction last week for 2.2 million dollars. The most recent owner had found the bowl at a garage sale for $3. For a thousand years, the owners had failed to realize the value of the item in their midst. The very thing that was tossed aside and treated as junk turned out to be superbly rare and expensive. 

It's like that with people. We tend to undervalue the very ones who are priceless.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/19/us-art-chinesebowl-idUSBRE92I17H20130319

Who are you talking about?

"He lives very austerely. He has no car, he rides the bus or the subway, or walks," says Maria Elena Bergoglio, 65, about her brother Pope Francis. 

The pope and me both.

No mention of the pope-mobile. Or whether he had to walk through spit to get where he was going.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20683450,00.html

The calendar's revenge

My calendar says today is the first day of spring. But as if the heavens were laughing out loud, blustery cold air swept into my city today. It is COLD outside. In a mad fit of wishful thinking, I had already stashed my winter stuff away -- but had to drag it back out today.

Pictured: My Tokyo tweed backpack, my Mimi-like fur earmuffs and neck wrap (fake fur, I'm sure, based on the price I paid). Earmuffs and backpacks may not be worn by women my age in America, but when women in America start using a motor bike for their main mode of transportation, I will start to care.

Separated at birth

I'm seeing a similarity here. Is it just me?

One of the above photos is of one of my brothers. In fact, it is his Facebook photo, although I'm not sure that anyone who has never gone on a hunting trip with him before would recognize him in this photo. Perhaps he did that on purpose to maintain his incognito status. (Or maybe he's hoping to be an extra on Duck Dynasty. That would be fun. 'Cause that's a show you need to watch. I fear the beard is way too short for that show though. Thank goodness.) Anyway, the EARS on these two makes for such an uncanny resemblance that I couldn't pass commenting on it. 

If I spot a Chinese false deity that looks like YOU, dear reader, I'll be sure and let you know. So far this is the only resemblance I am aware of.

P.S. This photo was already public. I would not use a photo in this manner if it wasn't.

Calm and beautiful

In case the last post of fireworks left you feeling agitated, here's a sight of beauty to calm your nerves...the lovely and talented Mimi Barkley, age 8, a ray of sunshine if there ever was one. I have trained her to "kiss" me on command (she gives me a sometimes painful nose butt). That's how we entertain all the neighbors. They break into fits of hilarious laughter when she does it. Their dogs don't know any cool tricks.

Fire in the night sky

Warning: Turn your volume down to low before playing this video.

This is the view from my south/southeast facing balcony on Chinese New Year's Eve. The video doesn't really capture the horror of it all, but it's the best I can show you. This is by no means the most fireworks I have ever seen at one time. Yeah, it is even worse than this sometimes. I wish they would ban individual use of fireworks but apparently they are not going to do that in my lifetime.

Video from February 9, 2012. Time: 29 seconds.