Figure/Ground: June 2006

Tulip Time Festival

Come to visit Pelle, Iowa's Dutch Village!

Deers in the Woods

Deers live in our neighborhood. One morning I went jogging on the trails around the Mormon Handcart Park, near the entrance area of the apartment complex I live in. My first encounter with a deer there was on a trail along the soccer field. Some noise stopped me, and I looked around. Ten feet from my left-turned body, a deer jumped and quickly ran away into the woods. Few minutes later when I came to a different trail, another sound caught my attention. Again, it was from a deer, who was staring at me from a distance. I smiled, said hello, and then kept on running. Suddenly, in front of my path, yet another deer friend, just about crossing the trail, appeared. But, it got scared by me and turned around running into the woods.

Deers shun people when we intrude on their territory. But sometimes people run from them. Of course, small people. On an evening last weekend spent with Raleigh and Lo-lin in a playground near a railtrack in our backyard, I first spotted a deer hiding in the woods. I told the two sisters that there was a deer in the front looking at us. Lo-lin became neverous. As soon as she saw the deer jumping and running away, she started to run herself, thinking that the deer came after her. Meanwhile, Raleigh got a chance to laugh at her poor litter sister.

The Closest Thing To Crazy --Melua Songs

The melodies, lyrics, and singing of these two Katie Melua songs will take you to the land of memory and imagination. They let you re-unite with yourself and yet reach out to another person. Here I can only provide the lyrics.

The Closest Thing To Crazy

How can I think I'm standing strong, Yet feel the air beneath my feet? How can happiness feel so wrong? How can misery feel so sweet?

How can you let me watch you sleep, Then break my dreams the way you do? How can I have got in so deep? Why did I fall in love with you?

[Chorus]

This is the closest thing to crazy I have ever been. Feeling twenty-two, acting seventeen. This is the nearest thing to crazy I have ever known. But I was never crazy on my own. And now I know that there's a link between the two, Being close to craziness, and being close to you

How can you let me fall apart? Then break my fall with loving lies? It's so easy to break a heart; It's so easy to close your eyes.

How can you treat me like a child, Yet like a child I yearn for you? How can anyone feel so wild? How can anyone feel so blue?

Tiger In The Night

You are the tiger burning bright
Deep in the forest of my night
You are the one who keeps me strong in this world

You sleep by the silent cooling streams
Down in the darkness of my dreams
All of my life I never knew
You were the dream I'd see come true
You are the tiger burning bright

I was the one who looked so hard I could not see.
Now I could never live without the love you give to me.

I lived like a wild and lonely soul,
Lost in a dream beyond control.
You were the one who brought me home down to earth.

For you are the tiger burning bright
Deep in the forest of my night
All of my life I never knew
You were the dream I'd see come true
You are the tiger burning bright

Wired Love to Mom

On Mother's Day this year, I chose this present from the internet shop to be delivered to my Mom in Hong Kong. She told me later that all the teeny-tiny buds on the stems bloomed into purplish pink flowers. This ornament of orchid plant lived for more than a month before wilting

Three Ladies' Tea Party

On the day after I passed my Prospectus Defense and the Comps Exam in April, Mei and Hsin-Yen surpirised me with a celebration tea party in my office. They brought a delicious cheese cake, snacks, and plates, cups and napkins with cute pictures on them. That was another great tea time shared with these two dear frineds. Now Hsin-Yen is in Taiwan for the summer, and Mei called me yesterday on the phone to catch with each other.

Cute Kitty

This cat now lives in my brother's apartment in HK. Isn't she or he cute?

Summer Vacation in North Carolina

On the USS North Carolina Battleship, Wilmington

Our comfortable bed in the Captain's Quarter

六月北卡之旅

大家好! 我們一家上週六從北卡返回愛城. 一路開車都算順利(單程共需十六小時, 琳琳表現不錯, 小麗也有進步). 先在洛麗市與老朋友及老師相見甚歡, 隨後花兩天時間帶孩子去東岸海灘玩沙嬉水, 可惜天陰有雨, 沒有久留, 連去到城中心河濱公園也一路被風追著跑. 沙灘之行後再返回洛麗市, 並住進一間家庭式飯店. 這棟大房子就坐落在士賢十多年前舊居旁邊, 隔街相望, 不由增添一絲歸屬感. 如預料一般, 這間Cameron Park Bed & Breakfast Inn 與一般飯店相比別有特色. 裝潢美觀雅緻, 格局寬敞舒適,每個廳堂角落當然就進入士賢相機鏡頭裡及供我們母女三人在此擺首弄姿留影紀念. 旅途中拍下百張照片, 從中選出一些與家人朋友分享,希望大家喜歡！