The beginning is the end is the beginning

If 1587  萬曆十五年 was "A year of no significance" in Chinese macro history according to Ray Huang's famous work, then 1997 - 2012 could be "15 years of no significance" in the same sense.  


Do a quick search online for "Hong Kong handover 15 years", news media will tell you something about the promise, the protests, the changes or not, and the uneasy.


Here I want to tell you a number of seemingly insignificant incidents happened lately, which might mean something or nothing in history. 


Paul Mooney 慕亦仁: THE prize-winning foreign correspondent who wrote "Beyond belief", "Silence of the Dissidents", "Darkness at Noon" and "Dangerous Element" last year was driven out of South China Morning Post after 20 years: THE English newspaper in HK or no more.


Li Wang Yang 李旺陽: A pro-democracy activist from 1989 crackdown, who has spent the longest time (21 years) in Chinese prison "Was Suicided" in hospital. Tens of thousands of HK people who had never heard Li's name before his death, marched to protest. 


Hong Kong Police: Took a journalist Rex Hon, away and detained him after he asked the Chinese President a question during his visit, and on the same day, fired volleys of pepper spray against protesters. These kinds of actions may be common in the rest of the world, but were almost unheard of in HK before 1997.


Leung Chun Ying 梁振英: THE property surveyor lied about the illegal additions to his mansion again and again, sworn into office today as Hong Kong A.R's chief executive (No S, because it's no longer Special). 


It just happened that "Smashing Pumpkins" released this song "The beginning is the end is the beginning" in 1997, the year of handover. Sometimes, I do imagine, in the darkest time, some dark heroes will appear. We might need Batman & Robin very soon.

End of a beginning

At some points in life, you just know it's an end of a beginning. Like at a point, one chose to get marry after ten years of dating the same person, or one started to pursuit a PhD in biochemistry after eighteen years of education, or one dared to become a concert pianist after ten thousand hours of practice. For me, I decided to build a kiln this summer after twenty something years of playing with clay. Also taking the chance to renovate the studio.

A very handsome, affordable, stand alone working sink from IKEA after hours and hours of looking. (No, they didn't have it in Sunrise, so we had to go get it from Orlando.) Since, it's a new location for the sink, there are some very innovative pipings behind the wall.

 I love stripping ugly wallpaper, and repaint the wall. Then maybe cover it again with images......

A new back door (that red takes 3 coats) ; direct access  to the kiln area.

 Foundation of the chimney. First time, 做紮鐵; reinforcement fixing . See the little tool in my right hand, it took me a while to understand how it dances. Don't hold on too tight,  just twist with the flow. 

Kathy suggested to put a luck charm in the foundation. Here's a fish I made when I first started with clay in high school. It is heading east, if you wonder. And yes, this is an after thought  (after tool cleaning ) posted photo. As concrete setting, propane tank and piping permit is in the process. Once permit in hand, we will order bricks to start the kiln construction.

雷霆雨露 莫非天恩

 暴雨連埸, 家中種的各種忽然又長了幾吋。鄰居們都說種得太密, 但總是捨不得拔掉些, 而且它們的根大概已經纏繞難分。 密得像小樹林, 是好看, 但可能不會有好收成。

 昨天發現這小肥蟲, 好好的番茄葉給吃得七零八落。 當然知道不用農藥, 自然就會有蟲來吃 (那些有機防蟲方, 都不太有效。), 但總痴想它們不會吃太多。

看翠翠吃得忘形, 心軟, 也任得它罷。 小時已這麼迷人,  化成蝶身, 一定不得了。 換個背景, 再影一張。

這幾天聽到李旺陽的事, 鬱鬱屈屈, 無法釋懷。《山海經》中有一凶獸 - 窮奇, 牠往往會把忠信之士吃掉；遇到奸邪之輩，牠就會獵取野獸向他進奉。是一頭善惡觀念完全顛倒的惡獸。

如今 窮奇當道, 莫非國運之天數而已, 又莫非天恩另有安排。

這跟花園有什麼關係, 一點也沒有。只是夏日亂想, 發噏風。

The Toughest Race

Every sailor, no matter how young or old at some point in their life, will read/ dream about the former "Whitbread Round the World Race", now the "Volvo Ocean Race". People like me who can not stand huge waves, frozen ocean, extreme sleep deprivation and have no physical endurance whatsoever, can only fantasize over the concept of racing around the world. 

I was invited to a 3 days Team Racing ISAF Umpire Clinic run by the Volvo Ocean Race Academy during their stop in Miami. The clinic has nothing to do with the teams of 70 ft. seagoing sloops. In fact, it has nothing to do with the ocean race. It has something to do with the top 8 teams of smallest but fastest turning boat with young sailor age below 14.

For me, it was an intense learning experience. Learning new language (and non-stop talking), new angle to look at different situations between boats, focus on the present, make instant decision and communicate with the other umpire on the boat. I found making instant decision the toughest.

And I like this new phrase I just learned,"Incident Closed", which means whatever just happened, is passed. Let's focus on the next incident.

Planter

We went to have a look at Mike's and Rusty's (the dog) new planter around the corner, and decided we want to have one too. Here's at the end of week 1.

 I put just about every kind of seeds I got in it.  Tomato, Lettuce, pea, beet, onion, cilantro, sage, chives, gladiolus and cosmos flowers. As of today -end of week 2, everyone has pop up except chives.

The shade cloth will come off next week, as they get bigger and stronger.

Kiln Roof Project

 Most of the building project break ground by digging holes.  Without the post hole digger, it is no way we can dig 8" diameter x 4' deep hole by hand. Lucky that Matt and Brian know what they're doing.

 However, even with the digger, we still couldn't get through some spots. Obstacles like tree root, stump, metal chain..... made the process very difficult and slow.

 With persistence and determination, we managed to avoid some tough spots.

 7 posts in ground with concrete at the end of the frist day.

 I forgot photo in day 2, and absented in day 3.  Here we see what happened today (day 4), after about 15 man day of work.

 Screwing down metal roof panel.

 Justin said he told his kiln "no more rain on", so we got to finish the roof today. Think about no more loading/ unloading under the sun, stoking under the rain.

Final roofing team. Just in time for the down pour. 

Kalaloch, Quinault and such

 These will be the last post of the O.P. trip. I have been taking my time to tell the story, which in fact happened last month. Here's hundred years old (feel that way) Kalaloch Lodge, right on the bluff next to the beach. Rustic is the key word. The only choice within 20 miles radius. It reminded me that we're here to be close to the wild and majestic coast line. Fortunately, their restaurant (also the only choice) does a good job in feeding their guests.

 Sunset Kalaloch beach. I couldn't decide I should shoot on the bluff, or down on the water. So, I end up in the middle.

 Bunch Falls in Quinault. One of the beauties you can catch without hiking. For some time, we were worry about driving on the unpaved road (about 10 miles in Quinault loop), with our borrowed non-4WD. It turned out with no problem and really worth it.

 One of the surprise on the full moon, extreme low tide at 7am. We found hundreds of people digging in Pacific Beach.

 It happened to be their razor clam season (only 2 days permitted, and limited to 15 clam per person). Next season could be months away.

 Very brave men, going to the moon. No, they're going kite boarding in one of the most windy and cold water area - Ocean Shores. They had wet suit under dry suit. First time I saw an Indian kite boarding.

Last town of the trip - Olympia, capital of Washington. Only spent less than a day there, but we can tell; it can easily be on the top of the "best town to live" list. This is their farmer's market logo. Yes, the flying pig.

Anybody there?

 Clallam Bay is tiny. We drove by without seeing a grocery store or a restaurant. Then we drove back to find our B&B, but no body was there. The notice board on the side tell you to call who & who, but there was no cell signal. Finally, the neighbor showed up and let us in. Owner wasn't home, we got the whole house to ourselves .

 And the whole back porch. BTW, the neighbor did come back the next morning to make us a big  nice breakfast.

Nobody on Rialto Beach. In fact, for most of the beach we went along the coast, there were hardly anybody there. If you don't mind the chill, beginning of the season is the time to be there.

Same thing here in Forks - Wood Street guest house. We got the secret code (I think it might not be that secret) from the confirmation email, let ourselves in and out, without seeing another soul.

 I would like to believe the guest house owner is a designer. The setting is very cozy, comfortable and clean. I would recommend this place to small family who would like to cook, or eat in.

 Ruby Beach from up the hill. For the week we were in Olympic Peninsula going anti clockwise (first week of April), the weather was kind to us, other than some serious snow up the mountain, other than some light shower in the late afternoons, other than the hours of rain the day we decided to do our longest boardwalk hike in Ozette. Overall, we're thankful.

Another Ruby Beach to show how blue the sky could be. BTW, there are always signs to tell you those drift logs could be very dangerous, especially when the tide is high. 

Photos of myself

I was told that people are not interested in photo without familiar face. So, here you go. The only few pics with my face in the Olympic Peninsula trip. Please let me know if you think otherwise.

 Found a matching color float...... match to my outfit. 

 We spent a night in 'Forks', where the twilight series based. You can see how "Vampire tourism" breathes new life into the small town.

 I want to talk about my shoes and outfit. I got to confess that it is the first time in my life, I was able to stay totally dry after hiking in the rain for hours. Shoes were always the weakest link. We both had Vasque this time and couldn't be more happy about them.

Sol Duc or Sole Duck

I hope I had a lens wide enough to show the whole length of Dungeness spit. I also hope I had a lens long enough to shoot the sea otter who swam along. However, I'm glad that I didn't have either with me that morning. From now on, that spit is the longest, and that otter is the cutest, in my mind. 

Went up Sol Duc hot springs road, and seeing Sol Duc river in it's winter from.

 Sol Duc or Sole Duck, it means sparkling water. It is so true.

The hot spring has only been open for a week. They only do 6 months of business in a year. I guess it's the kind of place you cannot get in or out, once there is thick snow on the mountain. Remind me of "尋羊的冒險".

They have different pools' temperature 100F to 108F.

Further up is Sol Duc Falls. I don't recall seeing big water falls with snow background before.  Strangely beautiful and dangerous. The cross bridge with 2 feet of snow make the railing knee high. If anyone slip, no one will hear the scream over the falls.

 Lucky or Not? Extremely lucky to be able to hike up without snowshoe, and without sinking, as long as we stay in the middle of the hard packed trail.

 Lucky to see the lime green with white background.

Next morning, lucky to get out before getting So Stuck. In fact, it wouldn't be a bad place to get stuck in, with no internet, no cell, no TV. As long as the hot spring got enough food for everyone, your mind will be sparkling clear, body sparkling clean after a couple of days.

Olympic Peninsula

It was a 3 hours drive from Seattle (including the 30 mins ferry ride to Bainbridge Island), to Port Angeles (only 90 mins to ride a ferry from Victoria, BC, Canada). I love to ride on train and ferry, the kind that you can stick your head out the window. I guess for one thing you can feel the wind, breathe fresh air, another thing is you can escape if anything happened. Yes, I do have experience of exiting through a train window.

It's was a bright warm morning when we try to get up to Hurricane Ridge. Only found the road was blocked by lock gate. The ranger in visitor center showed us these pictures taken that morning up the mountain. The National Park map show "Road may be closed weekdays in winter.", but being a Sunday in the 1st of April doesn't help. What a fool! ;->

The ranger gave us a hiking trail list of the National Park. So, we headed west to a 600ft deep turquoise crystal Lake Crescent. It's amazing that a relatively small lake can be so deep. Of course, it has it's spooky stories, including soap people. 

For the rest of the week, we had seen a lot of lime green moss on big spruce, maple and cedar, which  make up the largest old-growth rain forest in the Pacific Northwest. 

With up to 240 inches of moisture annually and almost 8,000 feet snow cap mountain, there are no lack of interesting landscape.  I like taking photo of waterfalls - this one is Marymere Falls. But, I hope, someday I can learn how to do it without getting the lens wet.

Fallen trunks everywhere along rivers.

Lunch (twice) in Blackberry cafe, trying to have blackberry smoothie twice, but they ran out of ice-cream.

Head back east to Dungeness wildlife refuge. 

Shy little Bambi

5 miles of drift wood along the longest spit on earth.

It was almost 8pm when we decided we like this little cottages enough to drop in and try our luck. They were very nice, cozy and clean. They even mailed back the power supply we left on the wall.