Swirling Conclusion...

I stroll along English Bay to calm my thoughts with life, religion, and education swirling around in my head. One conclusion I come to; I find happiness walking the shore line crunching empty mussel shells beneath my feet. To see the waves smashing into the sand creating a foamy blanket that melts away into the earth. I love the sound of the rolling waves meeting their destiny.

Fallen Leaves
False Creek, Vancouver

By Chance

Is it by chance or was it meant to be? I left work an hour early feeling tired and hungry. I walked to the stop lights at Beatty and Nelson to find police barricading all intersections along Nelson Street. Something was up and I knew some one important was about to drive by. I had a hunch and it turned out to be true. Slowly gliding along was a black sedan with a man dressed in those stunning colours of crimson and canary sitting in the back seat. The man leaned forward looking out the window and waved his hand to me. I was ready for this and I waved back with a massive grin. Yep, it was the 14th Dalai Lama, waving to me personally, like he knew me. Of course he doesn't but he has this ability to care for all living things and takes the time to show it. He doesn't have to do it but he puts forth the time and energy even for something small like waving to strangers. Did he know, I knew it was him coming down the street and that I was waiting for him? I don't know, but I was left with that same peace I felt a day or two earlier. After he passed and the police went there way, I walked across Nelson street thinking how remarkable it was that I just happened to be there at that moment to have a small interaction with the Dalai Lama.

Long Live His Holiness The Dalai Lama

I've been to the Potala Palace, walked around his living quarters and even took pictures of the cat living amongst the relics of Buddhist history. Tibet is a long way from Vancouver but some how the Dalai Lama has showed up on my door step with blessings and greetings for all. I received a phone call from an excited husband telling me to get my shoes on and get down to Canada Place A.S.A.P. So I did. I scrambled to find the camera and a white scarf I had brought back from Lhasa but only found the camera and headed out the door. I made it just in time to.....wait. I waited patiently with tourists, Buddhists and security guards to catch a glimpse of a man I have read and heard so much about. I don't know how long I waited but when he arrived, there was almost complete silence as he walked the red carpet going through the usual rituals. He waved to the crowds wearing a smile and with out delay, he turned his back and walked into the coolness of the hotel. He was gone. It was over so fast; I didn't have time to really take it in. But from what I saw, the 14^th Dalai Lama looked exactly the way I had pictured him. I left feeling a peace I couldn't find in the dark, quiet monasteries of Tibet.

Home Cookin' Dreams

I get tired of living away from my country. I'm tired of living in other people’s culture that doesn't accept me as part of it. I grow very tired of the pollution and crowded streets. Where is the grass? Where are the blue skies of my childhood? I dislike a city that does not embrace the word "weekend". Where is the joy if I can't have a Saturday off to do the needed relax and catch up on things that didn't get done during the week? How I miss my home country. I dream of the day when I will be home. The first thing I will do is get on my bike and ride it until I can't ride it any longer. The freedom I will have.

Two

This man was so cute I had to take a picture of him. He turned around just as I was about to press the button on my camera when he lifted up his arm. After I took the picture and put my camera down, I noticed he had two fingers pointing at me. At first I thought he was telling me in his local dialect of Longshen (Guangxi, China) that he didn't want his picture taken. I nodded my head and said okay. But those two fingers were persistent. Two, Two...then I realized after I had walked past him that he was asking for two Yuan for taking his picture. In retrospect, I wish I walked back to this gentle old man and but 5 Yuan in his hand because this picture (to me) was worth it.

Life's Grass Issues

I use to wish on green grass when I was younger. I wanted the future to come, I always wanted to be somewhere else and my dad would always coin the phrase, 'the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence'. He taught me to live in the now. If I couldn't enjoy where I was now I would never be happy with the future. If I was to busy looking for the future, I would miss it when it finally became the present. Well I have grown up and adulthood has finally solidified at age 25. I recently had a discussion with my dad about life and the subject and it played out like this:

J: To me now the grass is brown on both sides! I haven't seen green grass in a long time, I am surrounded by concrete.

D: Don't worry, Heavenly Father keeps you close to green pastures, you just have to focus on what is in front of you.

J: Yeah, I know but sometimes I wish I could just be a horse and live on it.

D: Yes, real grass is nice but horses probably need prairie grass.

J: Yuck

D: It's not too green, mostly brown.

J: Not if I live in Scotland!

D: The weather is not so good there.

J: Bottom line, I am not a horse and I can only look at it. I like green grass. It makes me feel happy. It's plentiful in Canada.

D: Kids eat it.

J:Ha ha!

Picture: North Stradbroke Island Australia, looking for grass.

SPCA Kittens

It's been way to long since my last post. I've been waiting for the right thing to add but it just hasn't come. But for the past month McKay and I have been fostering kittens from the SPCA here in Hong Kong. Our first Kitten was Mao Mao who was a beautiful tortoise shell coloured creature that loved to fight, fight, fight. I had a hard time giving her back to the SPCA but I'm happy to report has already found a permanent home. I wanted to be selfish and keep her to myself but our circumstance wasn't fair to the little cat. So now we have a new foster in our midst. Her name is Ducky. When we first took her home, all she did was meow which didn't really sound like a meow but more like a quack. This tiny ball of fur waddling around quacking, was just too funny. She sleeps, sleeps, sleeps all day long. This one is not a fighter but a lover. She loves to be pet, and soak in as much attention as she can get. Two very different characters. But lovable all the same.

Canadian Modernist Painters of Beaver Hall

In 1929, the Montreal Daily Star's Morgan Powell - clearly Quebec equivalent of Toronto critic Hector Charlesworth, who liked to bear-bait the Group of Seven - denounced paintings by the Beaver Hall women, saying they were "marred by crudity of colouring, harsh tones, and neglect of drawing." - Alison Gilmore

Quebec's Group of Seven - CBC Arts & Entertainment