In early August in Beijing, while Facetime videoing with my daughter, she noticed me flexing my right arm and asked, “What’s wrong with your right arm?”

I said, “I think it got hurt carrying my suitcase up and down many times while I was transferring between train stations from Kyoto to Tokyo’s Narita Airport.”

The discomfort in my right arm has subsided considerably after my cousin treated me to a traditional Chinese medicine hot foment at Xiaotangshan Hospital before I left Beijing, and after my daughter treated me to a Thai massage in San Jose yesterday.

Today is Friday. After dinner, I’m still subconsciously flexing my right arm because it still hurts a bit.

On a happy Friday evening, I am sharing the sad story of my injured right arm, on my last day of Japan after my tour group which started in Tokyo. This injury was a result of when I was in a hurry to get from Kyoto to Tokyo’s Narita Airport. Looking back, it was a pretty exciting moment.

After arrived to Tokyo, I decided to stay in Kyoto one more day to explore this old city, so I had to leave Kyoto early in the morning to catch my flight to Beijing that takes off at Narita Airport at 3:15 PM. My plan for getting from Kyoto to Tokyo’s Narita Airport was to take the Shinkansen to Tokyo, transfer to the JR Yamanote Line (Green Line) to Ueno Station, and then walk to Keisei-Ueno Station to take the Keisei Skyliner to Narita Airport.

Suica, a prepaid, rechargeable electronic smart card in Japan. In Tokyo, I used it for train fares, restaurants, and shopping, but not in Kyoto, because many shops didn’t accept Suica.

As Suica can’t be used to purchase Shinkansen tickets, I bought the earliest and fastest Shinkansen ticket from Kyoto to Tokyo, departing at 9:00 AM on the 28th (arriving at Tokyo Station at 11:15 PM, 17,400 yen), online using my credit card. Suica can pay the ticket from Tokyo Station to the JR Yamanote Line (Green Line) Ueno Station. Strangely enough, Suica only covers the basic fare (the ticket portion) of the Keisei Skyliner, not the seat reservation fee. Following the recommendation, I used my credit card and passport to buy a discounted one-way ticket from Keisei Ueno Station to Narita Airport for 2,310 yen, online.

My flight from Narita Airport to Beijing will take off at 3:15 PM, since international flights require passengers to arrive two hours in advance, I have to arrive at Narita Airport around 1:15 PM. After arriving at Tokyo Station at 11:15 PM via the Shinkansen, I needed to transfer twice to reach Keisei Ueno Station. The Keisei Skyliner to Narita Airport would take almost an hour, as it departs at a fixed time slot. Therefore, I only had one hour to transfer between train stations.

As I knew I easily get lost even with directions, after pre-purchasing my train tickets, I hand-copied and reviewed the detailed instructions for each transfer station using ChatGPT and the internet a few times to ensure a smooth transfer and arrive at Narita Airport on time so that I could catch my 3:15 PM flight to Beijing.

Just after 8:00 AM on the 28th, the weather was already scorching. In the hot and humid morning, I pulled my suitcase and walked more than ten minutes from my hotel to the Kyoto Shinkansen train station, ready to catch the earliest and fastest Shinkansen train from Kyoto to Tokyo, which will arrive Tokyo at 11:15 AM. I checked in using the QR code I downloaded on my phone and carried my suitcase up the stairs to the elevated Shinkansen station. I felt a relief as my suitcase wasn’t heavy, but I didn’t know about the many steps I’d have to carry it up and down later. While standing on the very hot platform waiting for my train, I already felt a bit exhausted.


(The NOZOMI 80 Shinkansen train I took)

I arrived at Tokyo Station at 11:15 AM and discovered that the handwritten guide of using Suica to transfer from the Shinkansen train station to the JR Yamanote Line (Green Line) Ueno Station was incorrect, because I couldn’t use Suica to pay for the ticket and pass the gate. I looked at people rushing passing me, unsure what to ask. I pulled my suitcase to a staff member, showed him my handwritten JR Lines Ueno on the paper, and asked him which way to go. He pointed to a guarded window next to the automatic gate. I pointed at it and looked at him, and he nodded. I pulled my suitcase up to the guard, and she asked in English if I needed any help.

I quickly said, “I want to transfer to the JR Lines to Ueno, but my Suica could not pay for a ticket. What should I do?”

She said, “You need to show me your Shinkansen ticket.”

I said, “I don’t have a ticket. I bought it online.”

She asked, “Do you have a receipt for your online purchase?”

I said, “Yes,” and quickly pulled out the email receipt from my phone and showed it to her.

She said, “You should have an e-ticket too. Can you show it to me?”

I gave her the QR code ticket I had downloaded on my phone. After she checked the ticket and let me through the gate manually, I suddenly realized I was only exiting the train station but not buying a ticket to enter JR train station.

I walked along the green line with my suitcase, swiping my Suica successfully to enter the JR Lines.

The handwritten guide said the train to Ueno was on platforms four and five. I reached the entrance marked Platforms 4 and 5, carrying my suitcase and walked up the stairs to the platform. Being directionally challenged, I cautiously pointed to the name “Ueno” which was written on my handwritten guidebook to a fellow passenger. He peeked over, shook his head, and pointed to the platform across the way. I took a closer look at the names of destinations on the platform wall and realized I had reached the station for the train heading in the opposite direction. I hurriedly carried my suitcase down the stairs and up again to the right platform, catching the subway bound for Ueno.

After getting off at Ueno Station, I realized my handwritten guidebook for the Keisei Skyliner station also wasn’t working. I exited the station and stood under the blazing sun, unsure whether to turn left or right or go forward, as Google map had since given up. After a moment’s hesitation, I pointed to Keisei Ueno Station on my handwritten guidebook and asked a passing mother and daughter for directions. After understanding my question, the mother took out her cell phone, entered Keisei Ueno Station on the map, then pointed to the left said: “You can get there by following the yellow line on the ground.” I thanked the kind mother, pulled my suitcase and walked along the yellow line on the ground for a long time, took a elevator down to the lower ground, crossed a road with traffic lights, and finally arrived at Keisei Ueno Station.

(The yellow line on the ground leads to Keisei-Ueno Station)

(Keisei Ueno Station)

Inside the station, following oral instructions from a staff member, I lined up in front of the ticket counter, took out my passport and pulled out the QR code on my phone, ready to exchange for a one-way ticket to Narita Airport. I was lucky to get the ticket departing at noon, which allowed me to arrive at Narita before 1:00 PM and not miss my flight to Beijing at 3:15 PM.

(Keisei Skyliner train to Narita Airport)

(A scene on the way to Narita Airport: vast fields of rice)

(A corner of Narita Airport)

On July 28th, I left my hotel in Kyoto a little after 8:00 AM and arrived at Narita Airport just before 1:00 PM. After carrying my suitcase up and down many stairs while walking a long distance, in addition coupling with the heat and the stress, my right arm was injured.

After arriving in Beijing, I began to experience a constant pain from my right wrist up to my shoulder, which bothered me a lots.

A month has passed in a flash. After enjoying traditional Chinese hot foment therapy in Beijing and a Thai massage in San Jose, I still feel a slight pain in my right arm. I felt I am aging and time really has taken its toll!

Traveling sometime is about seeking hardship and yet finding joy in it. After planning and implementing a very short trip from Kyoto to Tokyo’s Narita Airport, I’ve learned that planning a tight schedule and a feasible plan requires a highly precise mind. A heartfelt tribute to all the travel experts out there!

Happy Friday!

I joined a tour group which started in Tokyo. To help with jet lag, my daughter planned my trip from SFO to arrive at Tokyo two days earlier than my tour group. As such, I also planned a two-day Tokyo trip for myself: I bought a ticket to see the TeamLab Borderless light show; I am going to buy rare gifts and to catch special Pokémon at the Pokémon Centers in Tokyo； I am going to eat Wagyu beef, to drink sake, and to wander the streets of Tokyo; I am going to visit the Tokyo Iris Garden and many other gardens…

Tokyo’s humid and muggy weather challenged the carefully planned outdoor trips and its complex subway system challenged me more, as I don’t like to ride on subways and easily get lost. Plus, Tokyo’s parks close around 5 p.m., so I didn’t have time to visit many parks in Tokyo. As a result, I only visited Hinocho Park (which I stumbled upon) and the Tokyo Iris Garden.

When I learned about Tokyo’s Iris Garden during the pandemic, I imagined the irises, shaded by trees, along winding paths, and beside flowing little streams, would create a magnificent, layered sea of ​​iris flowers during their blooming season. I was eager to see my imagination come to life, so visiting the Tokyo Iris Garden was on the top of my 2-day Tokyo to-do list.

It turns out the iris garden is inside the Meiji Jingu Inner Garden. Although the iris season had passed, I still bought a ticket to see the narrow, winding garden nestled in a shallow area, lush with iris leaves. Strolling along the edge of the iris garden, which was so different from my imagination, I felt that I teased myself using overactive imagination and I laughed silently. When I saw the unique names of irises: Kamari Nishiki, Satsuki Haru, Wada Tsukai, Sunset Stream, Fukamado Beauty, Monkey Dance, and Okitsu Shiranami, I stopped to take pictures and imagine the shapes and colors of the flowers that matched the names, immersing myself in the virtual game of Flower Delight.

(Names of various irises in the lush, leafy little garden.)

While passing by a large bush of after blooming season kerria in a corner of the Iris Garden, I recalled how I first learned what kerria flowers look like during the pandemic lockdown, and the places I’ve seen them: on the side of the entrance of corridor pavilion in Zigong Park, outside the Brandeis University campus in western Massachusetts, in front of the Wall of Love in the Jehan Rictus garden square in Montmartre, Paris, France, and the lyrics “Clusters of kerria, misty morning, quiet waterwheel huts” in the song of “Spring in the North”. “Flowers delight me like a virtual pen, repainting vividly the previous sightseeing of flowers in my memory and bringing joys back again.” Thinking of the longer adjectives that will be associated with this bush of kerria in front me: the kerria flowers by the Iris Garden, in the Meiji Jingu Inner Garden, in the Meiji Jingu Shrine, Tokyo, Japan, I can’t help but smile. The striking beauty of Kerria is unforgettable for flower lovers, as I still remember the large bush of blooming kerria flowers I saw in Zigong Park in my childhood. As a flower lover with good memory, I felt even in their off-blooming season, flowers can still delight me.

(A bush of kerria flowers, past their blooming season, next to the Iris Garden, in Tokyo July 22, 2025.)

(Kerria flowers blooming in the rain outside the Brandeis University campus in western Massachusetts, April 29, 2021.)

(Single-petaled kerria flowers in full bloom in front of the Wall of Love in Paris. 04-18-2022.)

There is a thatched pavilion high above the Iris Garden. Its thick thatch reminds me of the line “The triple thatch on my roof blew away” from Du Fu’s “Song of the Thatched Cottage Destroyed by the Autumn Wind.” I suspected this pavilion might bear traces of Du Fu, as his poem “The country is broken, but the mountains and rivers remain…” is often found in Japanese junior high school language textbooks.

The Inner Garden has few buildings, but abundant flowers, trees, and mosquitoes. The interplay of cicada and bird calls creates a low-key, natural beauty. I read in the tourist brochure that Emperor Meiji admired this place so much that he wrote a poem praising it which reads: “Deep in the woodland of Yoyogi, the quietude creates an illusion of seclusion from the city.”
(The cover of a brochure of Meiji Jingu Inner Garen: the iris garden in bloom, a thatched pavilion, and lush trees.)

Kiyomasa Well

Because I wasn’t in a hurry, I wondered around the Iris Garden for a long time before heading to Kiyomasa Well which provides a constant source of water year-round for the irises who thrive in a moist environment. While lingering by the well, I bumped into a Japanese family of four: father, mother, and two school-age daughters. I watched the couple kneeling down for a bow, then stood up and gently faned the air from the well onto their faces. Curiously, I asked the mother, “Why are you fanning like that?” She explained that they were absorbing the energy from the well, as the well is famous and has magical, and that by fanning the air towards us we can absorb its energy. I thanked her and imitated her, gently fanning the air from the well onto my face. She was delighted to see this, and we stood by the well and chatted for a while. The two daughters stood quietly next to her, her husband facing her nodding and acknowledging her occasionally. I felt it was a picture of family harmony. Hiromi Oguribayashi, unlike typical Japaneses ladies, is talkative, she wrote her name in Chinese for me and told me that she studied economics at a university in Tokyo, that her family flew here to visit Tokyo Disneyland (she told me where her home was, but I didn’t understand) and will fly back home tomorrow. She also said and that her daughters are 11 and 8. After they left, I stayed by the quiet well, continuing to appreciate its magic. Then a young couple came, and the boy skillfully bowed and gently fanned the air from the well onto his face with his hands. I felt that the sincere look on his young face added energy to Kiyomasa Well.

After leaving Kiyomasa Well, I followed the signs to the exit and sat on a stone bench under the shade of a tree on the top of the Iris Garden. Two girls passed by and asked, “Could we sit here for a while?” I quickly moved to one side of the bench and said, “Of course.” We sat on the same bench and chatted for a while. They were from the United States, third-year college students majoring in accounting. Wendy, who spoke Chinese, was born in the United States, she will stay in Japan for a month; Victoria, a tall Caucasian, will return to the US after a week in Japan. They were planning to leave after resting for a while. I asked if they had visited the Kiyomasa Well. They said no. I repeated Hiromi’s words: “Kiyomasa Well is famous and has magical. We can absorb its energy.” I enthusiastically demonstrated to them how to fan air from the well onto my face to absorb its energy. After hearing my introduction, they stood up and walked towards the well. I was happy to put my newly-acquired knowledge into practice as a tour guide for people who had come from afar. Of course, I knew that Kiyomasa Well might not have magical powers. I remembered what the priest said to Eileen in the movie “Miracle Club” which I had just watch during my flight: “The real purpose of the pilgrimage was to sustain one’s faith even in the absence of miracles.” I felt that what I saw and did at Kiyomasa Well was a reflection of the priest’s words. The Kiyomasa Well may not has magical, but Hiromi’s family, the young boy, and I all felt its magical energy at the well. I also passed this magic on to the two American girls. The magic is human love.

(The isolated and tranquil Kiyomasa Well.)

Visiting Tokyo’s Iris Garden, I once again experienced the feeling of “following my interests, obeying my physical strength, exploring foreign lands, and being enchanted by all the beauty, it’s like a dream come true.” How wonderful!

In late July, I went on a four-day Japanese tour. Our first trip was one-day in Tokyo, and the highlight of my day was eating crepes at our last stop, Takeshita in Tokyo, which came as a surprise to me.

Unexpected encounters on a trip could easily surprise me. And when the surprise is connected to one of my favorite foods that was first tasted at a faraway place, the encounter becomes a story that I will tell repeatedly later. Food preserves beautiful memories which are rich and vivid.

I like crepes because it contains the Sichuan flavor that I am familiar with. Enjoying crepes is always a warm and sweet experience for me, because crepes cross my European, American, and Asian memories.

Our tour group visited Takeshita Street, our last stop of our one-day Tokyo tour, for a free activity. I strolled along the over 300-meter-long short street and looked around randomly without purpose. The small shops along with the crowds on the street reminded me of Chunxi Road in Chengdu in China in the 1980s. While strolling on Chunxi Road in Chengdu, I was a poor college student with a strong desire to buy things. Now strolling on Takeshita in Tokyo, I am a contented 60-year-old without worldly desires. I said to myself: “Time flies quickly and time has refined me nicely!”

Strolling freely amidst the bustling crowd, a small crepes shop caught my eye, because crepes awaken the happy moments I shared with my daughter vividly. I had my first taste of crepes which was bought for me by my daughter, in Wuerzburg, Germany. In 2017, at the Country Inn Cafe in San Jose California, I ordered a fruit crepes, chatted with my daughter while eating, and made a deep connection for crepes. In 2021, at my daughter’s friend’s house in Waltham, Massachusetts, I enjoyed Rachel’s home-made crepes with a variety of savory and sweet fillings alongside my son. I suddenly remembered that when I was studying in Chengdu, I went to Chunxi Road to eat egg-baked cakes, which I defined as Sichuan style crepes.

With these memories in mind, I happily went to the Tokyo shop, stood in line, and bought a basic crepes. I held the crepes as a souvenir to take photos on Takeshita Street joyfully.

(Two entrances of the Takeshita Street, the crepes I enjoyed on Takeshita Street.)

My daughter is always in my memory of crepes. Eating Japanese style crepes on Takeshita Street in Tokyo Japan also has my daughter’s present, as she planned this Japanese trip for me.

There are many stories about our one-day in Tokyo, but enjoying crepes is my favorite story today, which shows I am a high-end foodie.

After enjoying the crepes, I felt that the taste of crepes all over the world are similar: juicy, delicate, and soft. Crepes can be folded, rolled, and paired with various fillings, to easily present the charm of delicious food.

（The set of fruit crepes I ordered in the Country Inn Cafe in San Jose California in 2017.）

（The set of fruit crepes I made for myself in Rachel’s house in Waltham Massachusetts in 2021.）

One day tour in Tokyo

Our Japanese tour group consists of 14 people who are originally from California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Washington, all states from the United States. Our tour guide is an Indian with a Japanese green card. He is short, wears earrings, has a shaved head and a goatee beard. Because he wears pants in the sagging style of high school boys in the United States, I had difficulty guessing his real age.

Our one-day tour in Tokyo started at 10am. Under the scorching sun, the tour guide took us for a quick visit of the Imperial Palace East Garden, where the large stone walls were eye-catching. While bypassing the large stone wall, I saw that there were gaps and cracks between the stones, and I felt that the masonry process was very rough and could not be compared to the seamless masonry process of the giant stones in the Inca era Sun Temple in Cusco, Peru. The experience of previous traveling has been awakened during a journey, this is a truly satisfying pleasure for a traveler. I think the ancient people liked to show their strength by playing with giant stones, such as Stonehenge in Britain, Machu Picchu in Peru, Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area in China, and the stone wall of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

（Our tour group approaching the big stone wall while visiting the Imperial Palace East Garden in Tokyo.）

（The stone chamber in the Inca era Sun Temple in Cusco, Peru, 11-2023.）

Afterwards, we went to Asakusa Temple/Nakami Sei for free activities and individual lunch.

Asakusa Temple is small and crowded with people; Nakamise street is short with small shops along both sides. We went to the temple to pay money to shake bamboo tubes to seek fortune, and went to small shops filled with eye-catching goods for purchase on Nakamise street. The atmosphere here was very harmonious because visitors could easily obtain spiritual and material satisfaction in close proximity to one another.

I went to a small restaurant on the street near Asakusa Temple and asked for Wagyu beef, the waitress recommended the Black Haired Wagyu set meal, which cost over 5000 yen. She brought to me a serving tray with many dishes and bowls, and the Black Haired Beef was even placed with a piece of paper indicating “黑毛和牛” on the top. Each dining table is equipped with an open flame stone pan. The waitress lit up the pan on my table and told me, “If you’re not used to half cooked beef, please use the pan to fully cook it.” She also explained various beef dipping methods to me. At the table next to me sat an elegantly dressed elderly lady, and we studied each other silently using eye contact. I guessed she is a local.

After lunch, our tour group gathered at the Asakusa Temple, then took the subway to Shibuya to experience the Shibuya “Scramble Crossing”, when light is green, people flood the intersection from all directions. I felt this sightseeing is a bit boring, as I was grew up in crowded crowds in China and I don’t understand how a flood with people place became a tourist attraction. While crossing the road in a dense crowd, I saw a pretty lady asking four friends to take photos of her posture in the crowd from different directions. Imagining her “high” appearance from different angles in the photo, I smiled.

Then, we took the subway from Shibuya to Harajuku Takeshita for free activities, which brought me memories of and new stories of crepes, so I was overjoyed.

(Photo collections: Today’s weather in Tokyo, taking the subway, I’m at Asakusa Temple, my black haired Wagyu lunch, strolling around Nakami District, crossing Shibuya Cross Road, and at the entrance of Takeshita Road.)

Our Tour Guide

He has never been to the United States and speaks fluent American English because he attended a bilingual school in English and Japanese since childhood. After graduating from high school, he went to Canada to attend university for a year and missed home. He returned to Japan to attend Tmple University, where students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in four years, but he said it took him six years to graduate. After getting his bachelor degree, he became a tour guide, then the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. He had to switch to a job doing bilingual telephone services. Now, being a tour guide is his side job, and he is 31 years old single without a girlfriend. He has a younger sister who was studying remotely from home during the pandemic when she was in college. She is very good at studying and graduated in four years. She immediately started working in the government and recently switched jobs to a large energy company in Japan because corporate pays higher than the government does. They live with their father, who is an engineer, and their father cooks at home because their mother has passed away. His father has a car. he and his sister use public transportation as they don’t have cars.

I like wintersweet flowers very much but have not seen them blossom since I came to the U.S. in 1989.

During the Spring Festival in 2017, I visited Sansheng Plum Village Happy Plum Forest in Chengdu in Sichuan. I stayed in the forest for a whole day after noticing the forest was filled with wintersweet flowers that were fully blossomed. I realized that I needed to see, smell and touch the wintersweet blossoms in person in order to fully enjoy their beauty, fragrance and texture.

I wished my children could have experienced the multidimensional enjoyments of wintersweet blossoms with me in Sichuan. Sadly, they were in school during that time that wintersweet flowers blossomed in Sichuan.

Unexpectedly, my wish was granted the next year and I was overjoyed.

It was in early February 2018 that my children and I saw wintersweet blossoms in Kew Garden, London. There is the Duke Garden, which is known as a mysterious garden, inside the Kew Gardens. The Duke Garden is a quiet small garden surrounded by brick walls and iron gates. Since I like gardens, we visited Duke Garden and were surprised to see a wintersweet blossom leaning against the brick wall next to the iron gate of the garden.

I feel that this old and tall wintersweet, which stood in the most noticeable front of the Duke Garden, must have quietly displayed her beauty both now and in the past. I also remember the wintersweet in the Jingqi Pavilion of Yong’an Temple where Emperor Qianlong studied in Beihai Park in Beijing; two big bushes of wintersweet grew on both sides of the stone stairs in front of the Pavilion.

Then I realized that wintersweet is a prominent flower in both Eastern and Western royal gardens, I was very happy because the wintersweet blossom is also a prominent flow in my hometown. I used to see wintersweet blossoms every year in my childhood in my hometown Zigong, in the Park, in the Salt Administration Bureau where my mother worked, and in front of the kindergarten of Shuguang Middle School.

The chain of thoughts led me to see that people throughout the world agree upon the beauty of the wintersweet flowers, regardless of nations or class rankings.

I think of the couplet in the Jingxi Pavilion of Yong’an Temple in Beihai Park, Beijing: “Enjoying in a calm and quiet state, comprehending without go faraway (悦性适应静，会心何必遐).” comprehending without going faraway is a kind of cultivation; comprehending at a faraway place is a kind of harvest.

Going faraway made me appreciate my hometown more and made my love for flowers stronger.

(I am in front of the Duke Garden, 2018-02-08.)

(Introduction to Duke Garden.)

Postscript

After returning to Germany from London, one day my daughter asked me if wintersweet is the national flower of Taiwan, because Taiwan has adopted the national flower of the Republic of China, the plum blossom. After checking online, I told her that wintersweet is a shrub, plum blossom is a tree, and wintersweet is not plum blossom, thus is not the national flower of the Republic of China.

Wintersweet blossom is a prominent and elegant flower. “Wax: its petals are like beeswax, and its texture is like twisted wax.

My daughter then said that she thought wintersweet was also a tree, since the wintersweet in Kew Gardens looked like a tree (I guess the Western gardeners had done a lot of pruning, leaving only a very few branches to grow), but the wintersweet in Jingqi Pavilion had the characteristics of a shrub.

Today was a chaotic day. But receiving some good news in the afternoon left me with a story about babies, wine, and our cat princess Kara.

Yesterday was Tuesday, which was Ben’s school day, Ben is my first grandson and my daughter’s first born baby. Because there was no car at home for me to drive to pick Ben up in the afternoon, I asked my son to pick me up and then for us to go to school together to pick Ben up. I told my son who was driving: “Ben is very cute now. He started to make sounds, clap his hands, cover his eyes to play peekaboo, and sometimes bow and wave good bye. You come to play with him tomorrow, as he will stay home.” My son asked: “What time is good?” I said: “Ben usually takes a nap at 10:30 in the morning and gets up around 1 in the afternoon. You can come at 12 o’clock, have lunch with me, and then play with Ben for two hours after his nap.”

Ben usually wakes up at 8 o’clock in the morning and starts talking to himself or crying and making all kinds of noises to ask us to get up and serve him. But this morning at 8:30, Ben’s room was still very quiet. Although I was awake, I didn’t get up. Alex overslept and was late for his 8:30 online meeting, as he was hoping that alarm clock Ben would ring at 8 o’clock.

Today, Ben didn’t wake up until 9 o’clock, and his nap time was postponed from 10:30 to 11:40, so the regular schedule was disrupted. After Ben took a nap, as I was under intermittent fasting, I didn’t take a meal and went to lie down for more than half an hour. I didn’t get up until my son came over.

Then I experienced a familiar reaction to hunger: easily getting sad or angry.

While looking at my son who was playing with his phone at the dining table. I felt that he was very tired and suddenly felt very sad… I knew that this was a loss of composure due to hunger, so I quickly ate an apple to calm myself down, but I still didn’t feel calmed down. I took out the wild rose liqueur from the refrigerator and drank a sip before I felt better. I sighed silently in my heart: “Wine is really a good thing!”

It was almost two o’clock when Ben woke up. My son who was now an uncle said he felt sick, so he just fed Ben 7 ounces of milk, took some home-cooked dishes, and went home earlier. Seeing his back as he left, although I can no longer be around to take care of him now, he and his wife can care about each other and love each other more closely, I felt happy that this round of my life relay was smoothly.

My mood improved significantly in the afternoon also, because of news from New England.

Marta, the new owner/slave of our Cat Princess Kara in Rhode Island, sent my daughter a photo of Kara along with news about Kara. Kara is a cat babied by my daughter and myself. My daughter and I were worried that Kara who was born and lived in the East Coast would not be comfortable during the long-distance migration to the West Coast. Because of this, before we moved from Waltham, Massachusetts to San Jose, California, my daughter interviewed several cat lovers and ended up giving Kara to Marta to be taken care of.

The details of giving Kara to Marta in August are still vivid in my mind. Today, the news from Marta that Kara is doing well in Rhode Island, far away from us, brought a happy ending to my chaotic day, because I felt the sweetness of the successful relay of love.

Good news really makes people happy. Thanks for my daughter who adopted Kara and found Kara a good care giver.

Today, our happy Kara in Marta’s home:

(Kara in 2020)

（Kara is babysitting my grandson Ben。2022-05-13）

A story of Wine is really a good thing in 2021 in Waltham Massachusetts.

For three weeks, my nest is empty once again. My mood now is completely different from when my children were studying in Europe. At that time, I was filled with worry, now I am filled with peace.

I have time to savor home slowly. I think a warm home can really make life full of sunshine.

This February, my beloved second aunt, my father’s little sister, passed away. I realized my pain while paying my tribute to her while far away from her. She, the last parent-generation relative who cared, loved, and watched my brother and I grow up, is gone, and there is no more such relative who remembers our childhood stories. The end of her life is also the ending of some stories of life, which is painful…

Letting go of the pain, thinking that although my parents have passed away for many years, my brother and I can chat about our dear parents and relatives in heaven and talk about our hometown and the relatives and friends there, those chats warm my heart! I am grateful to my parents for showing us the warmth of home throughout their lives, so that my brother and I can always talk about trivial matters across the ocean and understand each other and encourage each other.

After my brother encouraged me to create a channel to publish my short videos, whenever his friends praised my short videos, my brother would forward the chat records to me in time. My original intention of making short videos was to help my brother and sister-in-law’s business, after some time, I started to entertain myself by telling stories in my heart, which I enjoyed a lot; the pleasure of bringing entertainment to others through my short videos is an unexpected enjoyment to me. This is the feeling of human love, floating and flowing warmly in the world by words, by messages, and by short videos.

Last night, while chatting with my daughter on the phone, I heard an interesting story about my little grandson, Ben. After his one and half year old little sister tore off the duck attached to the head of her plush toy, she was very upset but was not able to express it in words.

Ben saw his sister was upset and said to his mother: “Use tape (to stick the duck back)!” When I heard it, I laughed and replied: “He really is your son! He already knows the power of tape.” My daughter also knew early on that tape can repair walls, fix books, and things, which made me very proud, as when I was a child, I did not known about tape. Until one day, my daughter told me sadly that the tape failed to fix the fallen hem of her skirt.

Her words made I felt sad and regretful because when I was my daughter’s age, I liked knitting, crocheting, cross-stitching, embroidery and other handicrafts. I remember that my father bought a shed and special needles from Chengdu for me to do embroidery; but my daughter has never seen me do any needlework, because I was busy working and never had the time. This is a glimpse of the tiredness of the first generation immigrant working mothers. After that incident, I began to consciously let my daughter and son see or enjoy me needlework (my daughter learned mending when she was a graduate student, but my son never learned it). I felt at ease knowing that I had tried my best. The three circles in the photo are three embroidery sheds of different sizes.

My daughter also told me on the phone that people praised the trousers I made for Ben using the two long sleeves of an old sweatshirt. I was very happy that my daughter could chat with me about trivial family matters in an interesting way.

Before my mother had Alzheimer’s disease, she often talked about her needlework on the phone, such as altering a piece of clothing or mending an apron. Unfortunately, at that time I was too busy with work and housework and didn’t have the energy to praise my mother.

My daughter also asked me if I had a good dinner last night. This is because I told her the day before yesterday that her brother and sister-in-law would come to dinner on Saturday. I told my daughter that on Saturday morning, Shan (daughter-in-law) said she wanted to eat porridge, but didn’t say what kind of porridge; I cooked three kinds of porridge: millet and pumpkin porridge (millet itself needs to be cooked for two hours), rice and sweet potato porridge (add sweet potato and cook for another hour after the rice blooms in the pot), and rice, glutinous rice and green bean porridge (these three things are soaked in water for a few hours and then put into the pot with cold water to start stew). After hearing this, my daughter praised me. I told her that I made two versions of twice-cooked pork: one that her brother liked, and one with garlic sprouts and steamed bread slices, fried a plate of carrots, lettuce and pumpkin cubes and a plate of broccoli, and boiled a lotus root soup.

There are people to eat, people to listen, and many pots to clean, this is a great joy that only chefs can enjoy.

When I was cooking the sweet potato porridge on Saturday, I suddenly remembered my tiredness of working in the past. There was a period of time I wanted to eat sweet potato porridge and knew how to cook it, but I didn’t have the time or energy to make it. I often went to the deli next to the Chinese supermarket and paid three dollars to buy a cup of very watery sweet potato porridge. At that time, I said to myself: “When I have lots of free time, I will cook a big pot of sweet potato porridge and eat it slowly.” After I became free, my desire to eat sweet potato porridge faded, so I still haven’t cooked a big pot of sweet potato porridge for myself to eat slowly. Today, as I cooked sweet potato porridge for my daughter-in-law, I felt very happy after thinking of this past, because I finally had time to cook sweet potato porridge and eat it slowly.

It is very nourishing to savor the taste of home in my spare time, in my temporarily empty nest.

Today is another rainy day. While sitting by the window watching the rain, I thought of one of the joys of this Chinese New Year, taking a morning walk with my daughter on a cloudy day.

The fifth day of this Chinese New Year is Sunday, my two grandchildren who don’t usually go to the daycare on Sunday will go because Teacher K is free this Sunday, also because they didn’t go Friday! My daughter suggested we visit the San Jose Rose Garden after dropping the babies, I replied: “The roses haven’t bloomed yet, and it is cloudy. Let’s take a walk at the nearby Lake Cunningham Park.”

I was in a rush before going out in the morning and didn’t wear a windbreaker. My daughter only noticed it while driving. She was worried that I would catch a cold if I went for a walk while wearing so little, so I said, “I’ll be warm after a walk, or we can go home get a windbreaker, after dropping the babies.”

Once we arrived at Teacher K’s house, my grandchildren went to play with their favorite toys immediately, and my daughter said to K: “Do you have a thick coat to borrow? As my mother doesn’t have a windbreaker and we are planning to go for a walk in Lake Cunningham Park on the way home.” K went to her closet and brought out five coats for me to choose from. Her thoughtfulness made me happy and my daughter’s flexibility also made me happy. I was in a good mood before I even went for the walk. I picked a beige windbreaker that fit me well. After my daughter thanked K, we left and drove to Lake Cunningham Park. The parking lots there were all empty.

After my daughter parked the car, I took her to the trail along the lake for a walk. At 9:30 on a Sunday morning, there were very few people on the lakeside trail. The occasional runners, dog walkers, and bicycle riders were probably people who really liked outdoor activities, except for the two of us who came early because we had to send the babies to daycare.

I actually like to sleep in. Some time ago, I read a small post saying that it is good for the physical and mental health of the elderly not to sleep in and get up on time in the morning. I thought of my father who went to bed and got up early and was in good health, and thought of how before he passed away at almost 93 years old, he could still read and wrote articles online every day. I started to get up early and on time since then. Although I haven’t felt the benefits of not sleeping in, I think it won’t hurt to stick to it. Maybe it will show health benefits in ten years. I feel the familiar “have an immediate effect” lifestyle is really fading away for me now.

While walking on the lakeside trail, we looked at the lively ducks, geese, and seagulls on the water, I told my daughter: “In the summer, you can see small fish in the water and turtles basking in the sun on the rocks.” We continued walking along the lake, and a while later, my daughter said she saw a turtle sticking its head out of the water, but unfortunately I didn’t see it.

After the turtle, I can’t help but remember Walden Pond in Massachusetts, a place where my daughter and I often went for walks. According to Wikipedia, Walden Pond is a famous example of a kettle hole, it was formed by retreating glaciers 10,000–12,000 years ago. Walden Pond attracts more tourists because of a leading transcendentalist, Henry David Thoreau’s book “Walden”. Once when we were walking on the waterside under the slope next to the railway, my daughter said she saw a turtle floating on the water. I followed the direction she pointed and saw a big green turtle over a foot long. I was very surprised to see such a big turtle. After that, every time we passed that section of water, we always stopped and took a closer look at the water, unfortunately we never saw the green turtle again. At that time, my daughter was single and now she is a mother of two kids, and we also had been away from Massachusetts for almost three years. Time flies!

We passed an open field with fitness equipment and came to the dock. As I like chairs under the shade, I pointed to the chair under the tree by the lake and said: “Look, the chair under the tree is very popular in the summer because of the shade.” The bankside of lake my grandson Ben and I once watched the ducks is gone because the water level of the lake is high during the rainy season. While watching the vanished bank under the dark clouds, I saw many seagulls taking off and landing on the lake, I feel it is lively here.

We changed the route at the end of the lakeside trail and walked to the water playground, which has been renamed CaliBunga Waterpark after switching owners in 2024. The parking lot there is also empty because it is closed in the winter. My daughter still remembers the happy times she and her brother went to the Ranging Waters, used to be called. She said that she will take Ben back to visit the old place in the near future because children love to play in the water.

It took less than an hour to walk a large circle in the park, we felt very relaxed and not tired. On the way to the parking lot, I asked my daughter to take a few photos for me.

The photo captured the cloudy sky on Sunday morning, the empty parking lot, my joy after a walk, K’s beige double-layer buttons windbreaker, and the pink scarf I knitted for my daughter when she was in middle school. This scarf has been with me from California to Massachusetts, and from Massachusetts back to California. The color and texture remain the same, and the memories are clear. It is a souvenir with manyfamily stories.

On rainy days, staying at home is a good time for replaying the fun of walking and chatting with my daughter and the thoughts triggered by it! At age 60, I pray for family harmony and purposeful unity.

Little Episodes

In September 2023, I spent a day at Lake Cunningham Park and watched the sunset before going home, and I started to like this park, and wrote a story。

In March 2021, it was still winter at Walden Pond, we walked on a downhill trail covered with ice, though it was very difficult to walk there, we still finished walking a circle around the pond, and here is the story.

In December 2020, I went for a walk at the snow covered Walden Pond, the peaceful scenery led me to enjoy the rich sounds of nature more story.

In September 2020, we went for a morning walk at Walden Pond, which was full with the COVID-19 pandemic atmosphere. Here is the story.

Today is Labor Day and the whole country is on holiday，as am I. At home, watching grey green leaves of lavender, using one hand to gently rub them to collect the incense on my hand, and smelling my hand with the calming lavender incense relaxed my mind and I started to think about trivial things in heaven and on earth.

I found it was very relaxing and pleasant to flow in the long memory stream of my late parents, as I recalled the stories and love they left behind without any substantial duties.

After retiring, my mother and father had very different hobbies: my father liked reading and writing, and my mother liked watching TV. As I saw her watching TV so often, I chatted with my daughter about this many times: “Your grandmother didn’t like reading after retirement, but liked watching TV.” After hearing this enough times, my daughter said: “Could grandma’s Alzheimer’s disease be related to her lifestyle of not reading after retirement?” I said: “We hadn’t heard of Alzheimer’s disease at that time (mid-1980s).”

The first time I heard about Alzheimer’s disease was in the United States in the early 1990′s. When I read that excessive aluminum intake may lead to Alzheimer’s disease and that using aluminum cookware daily brings aluminum into food, I thought of my parents at home using aluminum pots to steam rice, boil water, and cook soup, so I wrote a letter to tell them to get rid of the aluminum pots and basins in order to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Then my brother wrote back: “Your letter worked, as Mom and Dad finally get rid of all the aluminum cookwares now, although we have said it many times earlier without success.” I think that this is an example of elderly and stubborn parents who are more likely to accept the same suggestion from different children. Actually, I am also more likely to accept the same suggestion when it comes from both my daughter and my son, which is why sometimes my daughter asks her younger brother to chat with me about things on the side. I fell lucky to have two children!

After my mother retired, she not only liked watching TV but also liked learning health related new knowledge. However, there were no such books for sale in Xinhua Bookstore in my hometown Zigong, and the library was not open to the public there. My mother learned bits and pieces of knowledge from the newspapers she subscribed to. She cut out health-related articles and collected them into a book to review and share. After I started graduate school in the United States, my mother attached a newspaper clipping about eye exercise in a letter from home and wrote: “You will use your eyes a lots in your studies now, so you need to pay attention to protecting your eyes. I am sending this article about simple eye exercises. You can try it out.” My habit of rolling my eyeballs in the morning and evening came from that small newspaper clipping, because it carried my mother’s thoughtful love from afar.

Later, when I heard that a neighbor was experiencing Ocular Hypertension, I also recommended the same rolling eyes exercises, which didn’t work, because simple preventive exercises need to be practiced over time to take effect. After my son went to college, he spent longer hours on the computer, and he sometimes said that his eyes were tired. I told him to take a break from the computer screen every hour to rest his eyes and to look far and green leaves outside; I also told him to spend one or two minutes every morning and evening to roll his eyeballs, which can strengthen the muscles around the eyes over time. Passing on the healthy tips my mother taught me is the joy of having children.

My daughter reminded me a few weeks ago: “You should pay attention to oral hygiene and avoid having bad breath like grandma used to.” My daughter’s care for my oral hygiene reminded me of my caring for my mother’s bad breath many years ago. After graduating from college started my first job as a high school teacher in middle 1980′s, I bought a bottle of mouthwash for my mother to help with her bad breath. My mother said that she felt the water was burning in her mouth, but it didn’t help her bad breath. The caring of mother’s oral hygiene in two generations of daughters in my family also shows the joy of having children.

Labor Day is a day to labor, I labored in thinking that the joy of having children is a way of conveying the love in heaven and on earth, which made the world lovely and lovable.

Yesterday, I went on a planned day trip with my son and daughter-in-law for the first time, and I had a great time. In the evening, while reporting to my daughter, who was far away in China, about my day trip, she suggested: “Mom, you should write a story about this trip.”

Planning

Last Saturday, my son texted me: “Do you want to go Mystery Spot with us around next weekend?” I immediately replied: “Yes” He then texted: “On Sunday, April 21st, around 12. I bought the tickets.”

This Friday, I texted them: “On Sunday, after visiting the Mystery Spot, do you like to have dinner at home?” My son replied: “It is close to Santa Cruz Beach so we can go to there and eat something.”Later he texted: “Tomorrow we’ll arrive around 11 to pick you up.”

before Leaving Home

I started to dress up at ten o’clock on Sunday morning. The weather is warm today. After trying floral skirts with light-colored tops several times, I felt that black was better, so I wore a knitted black long-sleeved shirt with a black and white pattern short skirt. I also wore additional things, a necklace with the word “love” written in more than a hundred different languages which was a Mother’s Day gift from my daughter-in-law last year; a pearl ring, which was given to me by my daughter many years ago; and a silk scarf, which was given to me by Ben’s grandma last year. After getting dressed up, I felt happy even before going out.

My son and daughter-in-law came to pick me up at 11 o’clock. I specifically recommended them to inspect the peach tree that was now bearing thumb-sized peaches, as my son was the one who labored to plant this peach tree in our backyard last year.

the Mystery Spot

“The Mystery Spot is a gravitational anomaly located in the redwood forests just outside of Santa Cruz, California. It is a circular area of effect around 150 feet or 46 meters in diameter. Within the Mystery Spot you will be stunned as your perceptions of the laws of physics and gravity are questioned.” The admission fee is 10 US dollars. It is an extremely short tour so the tour guide needs to slow down the tour to make it a 40 minute long experience.

My son booked our tour at 12:20, with a group of more than ten tourists, our tour guide was an eloquent pretty young girl. While following her around, our group enjoyed spending time at this nearby small scenic spot. After the visit, I felt that language is also very mysterious, as the tour guide often made fun of herself to amuse us and by changing her cadence to pique our interests to prevent boredom on this very short tour around this small place.

I’ve been to the Mystery Spot many times and never felt sick before. Today, while climbing uphill to the cabin, I felt that my legs were heavy and my chest was so tight that I had difficulty breathing, a bit like the altitude sickness I experienced not long ago in Cuzco, Peru. This sudden physical discomfort made me think that it would be best not to come here often.

When we walked into the tilted wooden cabin, the visual illusions immediately intensified, our group crowded into this small space and became excited, I felt my surroundings were very noisy. Looking at the familiar layout of the cabin, I asked my son: “Do you remember you have been here?” My son said: “I don’t remember.” I said confidently: “You have been here!” My son replied: “You said I’ve been here, XXXX?” Because it was so noisy here, I didn’t hear clearly what my son said, so I asked, “What did you say?” Zelene, standing next to Duke, said, “Duke is talking in Chinese. “I said to my son: “I didn’t hear it clearly, could you please say it again?” My son repeated it, but I still could not pick up what he meant, so I started to suspect that the altitude sickness had made me slow. Zelene smiled and said, “I think Duke said it very clearly. He was saying if he had been here, there should be photos of him here.” I laughed and said to Zelene: “I really didn’t catch it. You know Duke’s Chinese best.”

My son was hanging on the doorframe of the cabin to show us his feet tilted to the right noticeably.

After visiting the Mystery Spot, I suggested we go hiking a bit, but my son said: “Sorry, my shoes are not good for hiking.” I looked down saw he wore a pair of slippers and I asked, “Are you comfortable walking in these slippers?” My son said: “I’m used to it.” Zelene said, “Oh, I suggested that he wear these slippers to get some air for his feet, because he has sweaty feet.” I laughed and said to Zelene: “I have sweaty feet, Eileen and Duke have sweaty feet, Alex also has sweaty feet, Ben already has sweaty feet. Do you have sweaty feet?” “I don’t,” Zelene replied. I smiled and said: “Your baby will have more chance not having sweaty feet.”

Actually, my own father does not have sweaty feet, but my brother and I both have sweaty feet. In the past, when we didn’t change shoes and socks every day, I really wished I didn’t have sweaty feet, because sweaty feet are very uncomfortable and shoes of the sweaty feet smell bad.

There is no cell phone signal at the Mystery Spot, so we can’t use GPS navigation. At the first fork in the road leaving the site, my son made a right turn sign. Remembering he turned right into the Mystery Spot, I reminded him: “You should turn left.” My son said, “We are going to the beach, which is on our right.” I looked at the big map in the car and sure enough, the ocean is on our right. I suddenly felt very happy as I really don’t need to worry about the route and direction when going out with my kids. While my son was driving, Zelene was looking for a restaurant for lunch. Though we were near the ocean, my son doesn’t eat seafood and I don’t eat fast food so there were very few choices. She picked a Korean restaurant.

Korean lunch

It was already one o’clock in the afternoon when we arrived at the restaurant. The restaurant was very empty, I sat face to face with my son and daughter-in-law at a table next to the window. I’m not familiar with Korean food, watching they discussing what to order, I joked: “Eileen said that nowadays we need to ask you for good restaurants as you eating outside often.”

After ordering a today’s special of stewed beaf rib and a typical Korean fried rice noodles, we ate the free Korean cold dishes and chatted while waiting for our dishes to be served. I told them about Ben’s trip in China: “Ben’s grandma is teaching him how to speak Chinese and Ben can count one, two, three, four and five in Chinese now.” I also told them a story of Ben’s behavior change: “After Ben turned two years old, he started to cry and got up to open the door to get out as soon as we put him on the bed in his room. Eileen asked Alex to install a door lock, so Ben could not open his door from the inside. Then Ben stood by the door alone in his room and cried for many days, finally he stopped crying and stopped trying to open the door. He stays on his bed playing until he is tired, then falls asleep.” I concluded: “When raising a baby, you have to be firm sometimes.”

The two dishes were not small. Zelene likes vegetables, my son likes meat, and I like everything. The stewed beef rib also has rice noodles and very big carrots. The noticeable red carrots in the stew reminded me of my late aunt’s saying: “Carrot is the poor man’s ginseng.”

As my son started to teach high school students, in one-on-one classes for math and economics, I asked him: “How is your throat?” My son said: “I drink more water now, and it’s fine.” Zelene added: “I asked him to bring chrysanthemum tea and honey to his office, so he often drank chrysanthemum tea now.” I was very pleased to hear this. Zelene added: “Duke likes teaching. He often talks to me about his students.” I asked my son curiously: “How many students have you taught now?” “More than twenty.” he replied. I asked again: “Are they all taught face-to-face in a classroom?” He said: “Some students are still taking online classes.” Zelene smiled and said: “Duke has DaBaiTu candy in his office, and some students asked him what it was. I told Duke, if students ask you, tell them they are candies and let them taste it. ”

I also chatted with Zelene about her job and very happy to hear she is doing well.

The stewed beaf rib and the fried rice noodles were delicious and we finished them all, only the rice was not finished. Today’s lunch plus tip is $100. After lunch, my son drove us to the beach for a walk.

Walking along the beach

My son drove to the Santa Cruz Board Walk and saw the parking lot was full. I said： “I always park my car on W Cliff Dr near the Lighthouse. Let’s try parking there.” Unfortunately the parking near the Lighthouse was also full. Not long after driving pass the Lighthouse, the road to the Natural Bridge Beach was still closed for cars and only bicycles and pedestrians were allowed to pass. My son parked the car on the roadside in a residential area not far from the beach. We walked to the seaside in a few minutes. Smelling the unique saltiness in the seaside air, I shared the reason why I like to visit the beach: “I specially like to go to the beach during the pollen season because there is very little pollen in the air at the beach.”

We walked towards the lighthouse together and passed by the beach for unleashed dogs under the cliff. Watching the dogs having fun on the beach, I asked my son: “Do you remember us coming here before?” My son said: ” I remember we went to a beach with dogs, but I don’t remember where.” I smiled and said, “We came here after Eileen went to college. After seeing a lot of dogs playing happily here, you said you want to have a dog too. I told you: ‘Okay, if you get straight A’s on your final this year, you will have a dog.’” After hearing this, Zelene said, “Oh, I didn’t know you wanted a dog when you were a kid.” I continued: “Duke didn’t want a dog too much, as he didn’t get straight A’s that year, then he never mentioned wanting a dog anymore.” Duke said, “I thought it’s too troublesome to have a dog, so I was not interested anymore.” I asked again: “We were excited about getting a dog. Do you remember that we already named the dog?” Duke said, “I don’t remember.” I said, “We said we would name the dog Eileen, because Eileen always orders us around at home. Now we can throw a ball out and command the dog: ‘Eileen, go fetch!’ Later I told Eileen how we named the dog, she joked we were so mean.” Zelene was very happy to hear this story. I told her: “When I went out with Eileen’s family, I often told stories about Eileen on our way back home. Alex enjoys listening too.”

I told another story about Duke when he was little: “When Duke started eating solid food, he ate Gerber’s canned baby food. Those foods were saltless, tasteless and very unpalatable. We had a neighbor who was a stay-at-home mother with two children, her daughter is younger than Eileen, and her son is younger than Duke. She often makes delicious noodles for her children. One day when I came home after work, I saw several children playing outside, and the mother was feeding her son noodles. I saw Duke really wanted to eat the noodles. The mother happily gave me a bowl of noodles to feed Duke. I felt so sad and full of regrets because I didn’t have the energy to make delicious noodles for Duke at that time.” I paused a bit and said: “I now feel that it is not bad to live with regrets. Making up for the regrets brings deeper satisfaction, this is why I often make soft noodles for Ben now.”

While walking along the beach, I was mostly talking, they were mostly listening. We also watched the people surfing on the sea for a while.

We took a group photo before leaving the beach. On the way home, I fell asleep because I was very tired from the fun day today.

Little Episodes

04-11-2014, two photos of the beach for unleashed dogs under the cliff near the Lighthouse:

Our family trip at the end of 2023 was planned by my daughter a few days in advance: taking a train ride on Saturday, December 30, at Felton’s Roaring Camp. After she made the online reservation, it started to rain for several days in a row. As she was worried the rain would spoil the fun of the train ride, she talked about the forecasted weather for December 30 at home daily. It sounded to me the weather forecast was unreliable as the forecasted weather for the 30th changed day by day. She also quizzed Alex and I about the speed of the train to increase our participation, awareness, and interest. After hearing the speed of train is only three miles per hour, I felt the ride would only be fun for kids, but I didn’t say so as I didn’t want to spoil the fun.

This morning, my daughter packed extra clothes, diapers, and snacks, also bottled different milks for her children; Alex took the driver seat and we hit the road right after nine o’clock. On this rainy Saturday morning, the southbound Highway 17 had very light traffic and the distant mountains were shrouded in white mist, a very pleasant morning view! While seeing the white fog and the dark mountains, Alex commented: “When I was little, I thought spirits are living in those places.” I agreed: “That scenery is the fairyland of imagination.”

After Alex parked the car in the gravel parking lot of Roaring Camp, it started to drizzle. As I didn’t bring an umbrella, I put my head down and quickly pushed my granddaughter’s stroller forward and enjoyed the tender green grass and the moist fresh air, thanks to the rain! Walking on the gravel road and crossing a white-roofed short bridge, I arrived at a spacious area with small buildings on both sides: schools, blacksmith shops, a small garden, small shops, etc. which reminded me of the TV series “Little House on the Prairie”. The sight brought a fresh yet familiar feeling.

The railway and the train station are on the right. While waiting for my daughter to get the ticket from the train station, I pushed my granddaughter’s stroller towards the train to see. This train had six carriages, four carriages has plastic transparent roofs in the front, the seats were filled with passengers of all ages; there were two carriages with wooden roofs at the back, most of the seats were empty. As I started to worry about the seats on the train filling up very soon, I was suddenly eager to take the train ride. After she got the train tickets, an attendant on the platform asked us to leave our strollers on the platform. Alex carried his daughter’s carseat, my daughter carried Ben, and I held a bag of clothes and scarves, we got on a carriage with a wooden roof and two rows of back-to-back seats. Five of us took almost half the row of seats because my granddaughter’s carseat was wide.

In the rain, sitting on the steam engine small train that was slowly moving up the hillside, my daughter and Alex took care of Ben who kept on walking on the narrow pathway between the carriage wall and our seated legs, they held him up to look at the lush green and damp ground of the forest from time to time; I sat next to my granddaughter, who was quiet in her carseat. I was immersed in the changing green colors of the forest and the flowing white mist while breathing in the fresh and damp air with a high concentration of negative ions in my imagination. Though the train conductor plus tour guide was enthusiastically talking about the forest, the redwood trees and the steam trains, his voice was vaguely heard and his words went past my ears like the wind. However, when I heard the tour guide saying: “This steam engine can climb about 20% of the slope under a low speed of three miles per hour, modern trains with high-speed cannot climb a similar slope.” I quickly made a calculation in my mind as I love geometry: “Geometry common sense, 90° is vertical, guess 18° is 20% in slope.” Doing geometric conversions let me entertain myself silently. It suddenly occurred to me that 50 years ago, my parents’ generation had a slow paced life and few opportunities: bearing hardships and standing hard work with resilience was a common thing; modern people have a fast paced life with many opportunities, carving instant success and benefit with anxiety is noticeable. The differences between generations may have similarity to the differences between old steam engines and modern train engines, as the difference of environment alters the functions and purposes which humans fit into.

Because of the rain, the train only stopped once at Bear Mountain (it usually stops three or four places in a ride) to let passengers take a walk and to enjoy the scenery. Many people got off the train and walked along the railroad to see the thousand-year old redwood trees in the rain. Alex and Ben and I did too. I asked my daughter to go along, but she wanted to stay with her daughter on the train. So I got off the train, followed the crowd to see the ancient redwood trees, and walked back, then I saw Ben leading his father while still strolling along the railroad. This scene reminded me of when Ben who had just learned to walk was leading his father on the beach, in Carmel-by-the-Sea on July 1 2023. At that time his sister was not yet born. Now his sister is over 5 months old and is coming along to ride the train with us. Time flies so fast! I accompanied them back to the ancient redwoods and took pictures of them. In the rain, we walked back in no hurry, as Ben wanted to cross one railroad track at a time, which was very slow. When the rain became heavy, Alex had to carry Ben on his shoulder to speedup the walk. After I sat on my seat in the train, I saw two ladies standing beside their bicycles and the wooden sculpture of a giant bear in the heavy rain, waiting for our train to leave so they can cross the railroad downhill. I quickly took a photo of this vibrant landscape in the rain out of admiration for those ladies.

After the train returned to the platform and we got off the train, the rain stopped. While walking back to the parking lot, my daughter pushed her daughter’s stroller, and Ben pushed his own stroller. Ben wanted to walk sideways again, so he tried to push his stroller up a ridge but failed, then he stepped up to the ridge and tried to pull the stroller up still failed. Alex pretended to fail at helping to pull the stroller so he could convince Ben to sit on his stroller. Finally we started on the way home.

While following the “two under two” family of four, I enjoyed watching them and also saw a beautiful spring scenery in California’s winter: a clear blue sky with white thin clouds, dark tall green trees with tender green grass.

Right after Alex drove out of the parking lot, we saw a very low rainbow that was mostly blocked by buildings. We enjoyed our year-end family trip and wanted to come back here in the future.

Roaring Camp’s narrow-gauge steam engine dates back to 1890 and was first used in the 1880s to haul giant redwood logs out of the mountains. Here is a more standard description of Roaring Camp.

Back home, I learned that the train slope is correlated to the value of tangent, not angle, such as: 10% slope = 5°, 18% = 10°, 21% = 12°, 58% = 30°, 100% = 45°, etc. Because both the wheels and railroads of the train are made by metal, the friction coefficient between metal is relatively small, so the slope that the train can climb is much smaller than that of the car. Thinking about the road in life, if you are used to a smooth road with small coefficient of friction, you probably need a much longer time to adjust yourself for going uphill or downhill with high slopes. However, if you are used to a bumpy road with high coefficient of friction, you probably can quickly adjust yourself going uphill or downhill with high slopes.

Little Episodes

1. We were sitting in one of the wooden-roof cars with two rows of back-to-back seats facing outside：

2. In the rain, sitting on the steam engine train that was slowly going uphill, I was immersed in the changing green colors and the flowing white mist between the trees：

3. Ben and his father together：

（Ben leads his father on the narrow railroad at the top of the Bear Mountain，2023-12-30。）

（On the narrow railroad at the top of the Bear Mountain, Ben walked on one railroad tie at a time carefully.）

（At Carmel-by-the-Sea Beach, Ben held a computer mouse in one hand and led his father forward with another hand, 2023-07-01.）

4. At the top of the Bear Mountain in the rain，two ladies with their bicycles

5. The spring scenery in California’s winter is beautiful: blue sky, white thin clouds, dare green tall trees and tender green grass：