Last day

Got home last night, totally exhausted. Found out the shower wasn't hot, and the 50 gallons water heater was leaking all over the place. Call the plumber this morning, he say maybe he can come today, maybe not. Still have a kiln to unload, pots to glaze, books to pick up, party to go to. We will see how the day pans out. Any how, happy new year to everyone reading this. Received an email from Annie this morning; Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. (Keep this in mind if you are one of those grouches! If you've received this email from me, you're indeed my cheerful friends whom I cherish...)

Day 3, no wind

After 2 days of good wind, there is very little left today. Only barely enough to run a race, and it's not fun. Even still, we have plenty of protest to keep us busy. Some are interesting, some are painful. I'm not use to this 12 hours work day and late night dinner. I'm longing to go home tomorrow to see my cat and have some good sleep in my own bed.

Orange bowl regatta again

I considered myself a beneficiary of the affirmative action in the United States. I'm truly honored to be invited back to this world class regatta, working with top sailors and excellent race management. Sometimes, being the ethnic minorities and female and inexperience is not a disadvantage. At last, now the organizer can say, one third of our 6 protest committee member are female,from 4 different ethnic group and with different level of judging experience. The economy is down, but the enrollment for the event is way up, for whatever reason. Could be the weak dollars? Could be sailor all around the world just love the warm gentle wind in Miami? We got perfect 12-17 knots east wind whole day long, ride on a very wet Boston Whaler for couple of hours, only 4 protests at the end. Another day in paradise!

HOT Now

This one is for Walter. Remember we talked about sign for "HOT Doughnuts" when they freshly come out of the assembly line, here you go! I even sampled a couple for you. They're like hot ice cream. Sorry that all the Krisy Kreme in HK went belly up, but they will come back someday. May even have hot sign too.

Little Kenji

Two brothers can be so different from day one. Little Kenji is like a little old wise men who knows everything about the universe. Kiyoshi cannot wait to find out everything about this world. I would love to see how their stories unfold. But, I know one thing for sure, there will be surprise.

Miracle

It's the first snow here in Paducah, Kentuchy these winter. Also the first time little Kenji ventured out since he came home 2 weeks ago. He's so calm and sweet from the very first moment. For friends who don't know about little Kenji yet; he is Kiyoshi's little brother. Another miracle baby. In fact, with the Hasegawa family, I have a few miracle friendships and wonderful memories over the years. Now, with another new member, I expected more to come. Lily well done!

ICE Q

For some people, christmas comes early (or anytime they want). But, not every christmas you get to re-live the feeling of getting your first bike, making new flag for it, wanting to sleep with it, getting up early and ride, being chased by big dog, and go ride some more, and not feeling tired at all. Even the name catch my imagination. Inspired Cycle Engineering - Quick Trike. Sure enough, very nicely engineered.

Beyond Wherever

一連讀了兩本‘不能放手’的旅行日誌。如果你問過 “ 我們還可以用什麼心情／態度去旅行？“ 之類的問題，這書可能可以給一點激勵和啟發。
其實，如果你也問過 “ 我們還可以用什麼心情／態度生活下去？“ 這也可能用得著。
New York Times has a good write up on 'The Naked Tourist'. And if you like 'The motorcycle Diaries', 'Chasing Che' is one step beyond.

Net

The wind is perfect, the waves not too big, sail fast, but safe distance from the sand bar, everything is under control. At least that is what I thought the moment before. BANG! The board stops dead, but I keep going. It's something about physics, I was taught :). The problem is I'm still attached to the boom and the board. So, instead of free flying off, my head smashed into the mast and my knee swung anatomy the wrong way. OK, it's not fatal in this case, but it hurts. The worst thing is, it stays in the back of my mind. It was a net, caught the fin of my board. It reminds me one of National Geographic photo. A dead wild dolphin, since caught in an abandoned fishing net in the middle of the ocean. It gives me goose bump every time I think about it. There's no safe place on earth.

NitroFill

Want it or not, these days you will get nitrogen for free (at least for the first year) when you get new tire. It has been used for decades in Formula One, Tour de France and the Military for better performance (steering/ braking) and longer tread life. BTW, after two decades of driving, I finally picked new tires by myself, with hours of research on the net and study of reviews and calling all dealers in town. After all, I pick the same Michelin to replace the ten years old ones. :)

山中歸來

She comes to visit every dusk, looking for food. Perfectly wild and young.
Georgia mountain range south of Lake Arrowhead.
Still too early for yellow/orange/red.
Reminds me of the animation Ice Age.

Mountain Launch

Mountain Flying

It has been a couple of years since l flew in the mountains. Autumn is a good time for Lookout Mountain Flight Park in north-west Georgia to host the Women's Hang Gliding Festival. I revisited the training hill to touch up my basic foot launch skills in the morning. This time, though, I'm prepared for total wetness from rolling in the morning dew. Then I learned how to deploy a parachute, which is not included in normal training. (Even you must carry one to aerotow, most people don't know how it works. It's kind of like a lot of people buy insurance, but don't actually know how it works when they need it, or will it work the way they expect it to. Being able to try it, and see how it works gives me more confidence.) And then there's more in-depth clinic in launching. We in fact did a lot of running the glider on flat ground. Another observation, if you look up, you will go up. If you look down, you will go down. I hope tomorrow the conditions will be calm enough to do some real mountain flying.

生命中不能克服的事情

看了一部巴西片‘The house of sand’，故事講及三代的女人，多年來都想離開這與世隔絕的沙丘。片中有迷人的連連沙丘，和令人心痛的「生命中不能克服的事情」。但到最後，不能克服的卻變成了習慣，而且不想改變。片中最後的對話；已經是中年的女兒告訴一把年紀的母親，有人上過月亮。母親興奮地想知道他們找到什麼, 卻失望和失神地得知，找到的只是沙。

Studio upgrade

There are two major upgrades in my studio recently. Both involved a bit of work after purchase. A new Samsung window AC replaced the 18 years old Kenmore. Firstly, it took some help of a friend to get the heavy unit out. Then some wood works around the smaller unit. In fact, I almost never use the old unit because of the amount of noise it makes. So, it's a lot of sweats in every piece of my works. :> Second upgrade is from a boomboxes to a shelf system with built in iPod dock. (The remote didn't work, had to get a replacement). Now, I can truly control my environment with my sticky muddy fingers with remotes (in ziploc). What a life improvement after only 300 bucks.

Classic & Modern

The two most important people in the history of animation are Winsor McCay and Walt Disney. Even most kids don't know about McCay, it took Disney a decade to match his works. In this almost a century old collection of silent film, it's the piano music catch my attention. Amazingly classic & modern, composed and performed by Gabriel Thibaudeau.

Wet

It has been very wet since the last storm. This little friend's home may get flooded. It is very strange to have him claw above your head, trying to find refuge.

Inflatable Art

Accidental found while doing research on inflatable toys, objects, molds........ In these case, Wind Art maybe a better name, since it's the dynamic of the subway gives the monster life.

French Quarter

Heard a lot about how bad the hurricane has done to New Orleans 3 years ago.
Glad to see the result of the rebuild.
We know he must be Ha Gau reincarnated. We just don't know he can weave.
Yes, this is the Forrest Gump theme restaurant. And their Cajun shrimp on rice is very good.

Out of the desert

It rained on and off the whole way home (mostly on). I found driving in the rain on highway is very hypnotic, windshield wipers surely does its' magic. Good that we decided to make side tours to New Orleans and Pensacola.

Desert VI - Cactus

They're called "Prarie dog". People in town hate them, since they dig a lot of holes in the field. But, people like me who have never seen one before think they are cute.
There may be over a hundred of windmill around the out skirt of town.

I think the Desert series is not complete without a cactus picture.

Desert V - Big Spring

This is the 7th time they have flown here. I guess other than the unlimited supply of sun shine and heat, Big Spring has it's small town charm. Even the waitress in Pizza Hut knows about the event, and said she will bring her family to watch again.

Desert IV - broken wing

Here you can see our little princes. Unfortunately, one broke his wing and his arm yesterday.

Desert III - "No Land" Land

Imagine that, the sun is getting low, you've been break neck flying for the whole afternoon, traveling at great speed and covering huge distance. Every inch of your muscles ache to the bone, all brain cells orchestrate reasons to land. But, your soul is in Nirvana.

All of a sudden, after 180 miles of desert flat land, there's a great canyon right in front. All you can see is amazingly beautiful, but dangerous " NO Landing Zone" land. Even though you might get really lucky with a landing, there's no road out.

Here comes the struggle every man in history has experienced before. Do I take the leap of faith? Committed to the destiny, even I cannot see the other side, even there's no return? or you will take a rest on this side of the canyon, and call it your destination.

Desert II

While the sun is going down, here comes another character in the little prince. No, I decided not to get too close to get a better picture. At least not this time.

Out to the desert

Heading out to the desert and try to find dreamers who fall out of the sky. Made 800 miles in 14 hours, but still in the green and swamp.

Made another 400 miles in the second day. Got to the edge of the desert.
A friend said:「從天上丟下來的做夢者」，不就是小王子嗎？
To some extent, they all are.

Finally, after more than 1600 miles total, we get to the desert. Before we find any little prince, we found these cute creature everywhere. Also experienced the first desert storm. It was so windy and sandy, I can hardly open my eye behind sun glasses while everybody tried to tie down their wings.

Quest

I sail mostly in small bay or river on little dinghy or wind surfer through out my life. Come to big sea and ocean, I'm an armchair sailor. I enjoy pages after pages of how crazy sailors trying to break others record by sailing closer and closer to hell (which normally means farther south, iceberg and gale force wind). Just happened to pick up "Maiden voyage" by Tania Aebi, not about any race, but a poorly prepared, inexperienced young girl went around alone, because of her father's challenge. Along the 30 months quest, she found a lot of friends, first love and herself. That was 20 years ago. " What happened to her now?" I asked after I finished the book. Few days later, I read her article in "Cruising world" about she taking her two teenage sons retrace her route. Interesting how life goes around and not necessary about going somewhere in a hurry.

Contemporary Furniture

It's a delight to share Ye's trip album. She's a designer and enjoys going to different shows and fairs. In fact, we met in a ceramic conference when we first came to the states. Humm.... I think I might need a new lamp....

Flying a chopper

A friend's son got to fly for the US Forest Service in the Arctic circle this summer. Proudly shared pictures of the wilderness. I pull out the flight simulator game and crashed dozens of chopper in no time. Maybe, this is another thing I will never learn.

侘寂

看見友人寫到「物哀，幽玄」，自己也想起 Wabi Sabi「侘寂」。同是日本傳統藝術審美觀。

註：以下為網路轉錄文章

「侘」，意指困頓，但安於貧窮。字面上是「人」加上「宅」，人找到身心安頓的歸依。
「寂」，意指寂靜，孤獨，但精神上喜悅自足。
侘寂的生活美學，是放棄速度、效率；轉向緩慢、適合人的節奏與步履；
放棄過度依賴物質與科技；轉向手工、簡樸與自然
放棄機器大量製造的一次性消費商品；轉向手作的、投注時間與心力的用品
欣賞天然材質的陶器、木器、鐵器與布疋；遠離合成與塑膠的製品。
生活重心從不確定的未來目標，轉向真實的當下。
順勢簡約，在變化的世界中看見靜止，從而照見自己生命的核心。
生活何其尋常、何其重覆，新意不再。
普魯斯特說：「真正的發現之旅，不在探訪新世界，而在擁有新視野。」
我們眼睛所見，常困於三度空間的實體， 看似不著痕跡的時間，其實常常給人驚喜。
在簡居中享受閑樂, 在貧乏中悠然望天。
在清寂裡, 觸摸到禪意。
一種情境, 讓人們能夠安靜下來, 看見簡單的價值, 與自然和諧共鳴。

花園

亞媽有個好漂亮的花園，因為氣候和土壤跟南方不一樣，種的也不同。其實她也試過勉強種香蕉和大紅花，結果，跟像要改變一個男人一樣，還是把他殺了好過，避免無謂的折磨。：＞

Rocks in the garden

Sometimes, small home project became big project without warning. Steve, I guess you might have missed out one of the most exciting project of the summer.