May 24, 2008

Cissy

(1907-2008)

Smiles and good cheer

make up the memories

she has bequeathed

upon those

who knew her.

A hundred and two

years of gracious life

end with a serene

thought of being

again among those

who have gone

before.

Rostropovich -- Dvorak

This is the third movement of Dvorak's Cello Concerto, with Mstislav Rostropovich, and Carlo Maria Giulini conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra. One of the most beautiful slow movements in the classical repertoire.

Sit back and enjoy, as I have.

Faure's Requiem - In Paradisum

Last night in the office of the lady acupuncturist, where I was being treated for the pain in my right shoulder and arm, a version of this beautiful piece was playing on her small stereo system. It was not the usual chorus-and-orchestra version, as here, but only a background music adaptation.

Nevertheless it soothed.

Steel Tape Measure

It's a small thing, but I did get something accomplished today.

It was an old half-inch by 10 foot steel tape measure that someone had caused to jam, so that the tape would not return into its casing. You can't leave something like that lying around; the edges of the tape are darn sharp. If you aren't careful, they can cause a nasty cut. So you either discard it or fix it.

I decided to do the latter.

Took it apart, tried a number of times to rewind the spring. Not an easy job for someone with large clumsy fingers. Not much to hold on to. Got nicked a bit. Wrist still painful because of the carpal business. Tape got twisted along its ten-foot length, but luckily no kinks or wrinkles. This thing is American-made, Craftsman by Sears. Had it for maybe thirty years. They don't make them like it anymore, I don't believe. Most of these come from China nowadays. Plastic parts for the case nowadays. Flimsy. Nothing like the solid metal of old. This tape is worth repairing.

Long story short -- I did it. Took me some thirty minutes start to finish. Time well spent. The thing is good as new. Might last another thirty years. Be an antique by then. Great-grandkids can then sell it on eBay to a collector of good old American craftsmanship.

If eBay is still around, that is.

The Dreaded Tunnel

Well, folks, it finally happened. My mouse hand has been immobilized. They call this condition 'carpal tunnel syndrome'. Went to an acupuncturist yesterday and got some relief. The upshot is that I will have to give the wrist a rest more often than I have been doing.

Funny how this thing sort of creeps up on you.

So while I can still blog, the intervals between posts may be longer. Check back from time to time. Interesting things can and do happen.

Remembering Mom

Today is my late mother's birthday. She would have been ninety-four years of age.

She had her wits about her till her death at 88. Would that all six of her surviving children have an equally long and graceful life.

Happy birthday, Mom.

Another day, another destination

We go again in a few days. This time to Canada to attend the fiftieth wedding anniversary of old friends who have often been our traveling companions as well.

While there we will see many more old friends (and by old I mean 'of long duration', for their years are kind to them).

So The Occasional Blog will take a vacation for about eleven days.

The Li River

We had been to Guilin before, and the cruise down the Li River to the town of Yangshuo was then and still is spectacular. It helped that the weather was heavily overcast, with a steady drizzle (just keeping my camera lens dry was a challenge.) Those mountains and hills in that part of China have inspired thousands of Chinese landscape painters through the centuries.

Travel

'Sfunny. We go traveling and surprisingly the energy is still there. At our age. (We are in our seventies. Yup, seniors. Have been for years.)

Getting up as early as 4 o'clock in the morning does not slow us down. Packing and unpacking can be trying, true enough. Not something we enjoy doing, that part. Or hauling heavy bags out of the airport carousel. Or long lines at security checkpoints. Or long waits in airport lounges. Or flight delays, airline food, tight spaces.

We endure it all just so we can see a bit more of the world before the joints doth protest too much.

China - The Land and The People

Hong Kong -The boyfriend is late

Hong Kong - A gathering of flamingoes

Hong Kong reflections

Xi'an - Old-timer with cane

Xi'an - Courtyard of a village house

Xi'an - Kitchen of a village house

Xi'an - Village schoolyard

Hong Kong - Park benchers

Xi'an - Cellphone, cigarette, camera, and coat

Xi'an - Mother and child with bicycle

Xi'an - Toy vendor

Xi'an - Lunch break

Xi'an - Muslim breads

Suzhou - Bridge over the Grand Canal

Suzhou - One child per family

Suzhou - An orange after lunch

Suzhou - The Painter and the Critic

Suzhou - Young woman in a museum

Guilin - Old man having breakfast

Guilin - Bicycle repair

Shanghai - Hi-rise apartments

Shanghai - Youthful energy

Suzhou - City Father

Chongqing - Floating Dock

Chongqing - Panda and a bamboo feast

Chongqing - Tricycle Taxi

Chongqing - River view

Chongqing - Elderly couple at the zoo

[Click on the pictures to enlarge]

Smog over Hong Kong

This short video will give you an idea of the pollution over the beautiful harbor of Hong Kong.

A dense layer of smog comes down the Pearl River estuary from the manufacturing plants of Guangdong province in south China. Great sunsets, though, if you can see them through your smarting eyes.

Guilin - Apartment building

Apartment buildings are fascinating subjects. This one is located on a pedestrian street in Guilin, China, not far from the Li River, and a short walk from the main city square. The building has features that are similar to others I have described for Macau

apartments-in-macau

in previous postings to this blog – mainly middle-class dwellings with balconies, weather stains, metal windows, and air-conditioners.

In Asian cities, laundry hung to dry in balconies is a common sight, and this is visible in the balconies in the picture.

This building is unusual in that one level above where the shops are located is a raised sidewalk with a wrought iron railing and street lamps. On this level, which can be described as the ground floor for the residents of the building, there are no balconies, but instead the sidewalk provides a space wide enough for a children's swing to be installed. It also allows tenants to engage in commercial activities, the "Lady Keep Slim" shop being one colorful example.

The sign outside this establishment advertises membership rates ranging from 5 to 300 yuan, for different services and times. It is a fitness club, and the slim young woman pictured in the sign may be typical of the clientele. The two young women approaching from the left seem to be going shopping rather than to the club.

Under the awning to the right of the air-conditioner hang a striped red and white t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, which probably belong to someone inside the club, perhaps the owner or a worker. The blue-green door is not the one used for the club's clients; they enter through the glass door with the metal collapsible gate to the left of the sign. There is a red welcome mat outside.

To all appearances the fitness club is for women only. It does not, however, seem to be very busy.

Hong Kong Veggies

Don't have time to add more than this one image today.

China Trip: Beijing

Here is where I have posted some pictures of Beijing. We returned last week from a trip to China that took us to Beijing, Shanghai, the Yangtze Gorges, Chongqing, Xi'an, Guilin, and Hong Kong.

Gallery

As time permits, I shall upload more pictures, along with a narrative. Stay tuned.

The Inchworm

A young inchworm struggles to get ahead, while being annoyed by a party of ants.

3.14159etc

I was listening to Talk of the Nation Science Friday on NPR today as I did my three-mile walk. Today is Pi-day (March 14 = 3.14...).

It is also Albert Einstein's birthday. Here's the link to some interesting happenings:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88239845#share

Tristan und Isolde - Liebestod

The lovely Waltraub Meier sings this classic love aria

Daylight Saving

Daylight Saving returned while we were asleep last night, and it's good that these days our computer through some magical internal procedure recognizes the change. So to check the correct time and reset all the clocks in the house we now look at the clock on the bottom right-hand side of the screen.

In the old days you would pick up the phone, call P.O.P.C.O.R.N. and a woman's voice, pleasant enough though a bit robotic, would say the correct time at ten second intervals: 'At the tone, Pacific Daylight Time will be nine-thirty-five and fifty seconds.' No more. Either the phone company has decided that this useful resource is no longer needed by the populace at large who care about the correct time, or it has found that there is no pay-out for the cost of tying up their resources in the face of increasing competition.

Adjusting all the clocks in the house is a chore, especially since we have a few older clock radios with digital readouts that can go only forward. So if you make a mistake and go past the time you were trying to set, you have to cycle through another twelve (or sometimes twenty-four) hours in order to get it right. On newer clocks you get buttons that allow backward as well as forward adjustments, and you can also easily toggle between A.M. and P.M.

The older hand-wound clocks and watches made life easier still – you just moved the hour hand a complete cycle forward in the spring, and backward in the fall.

And please, people, it's Daylight Saving, not Savings. (It ain't a bank.)

Sad

The death last night of a friend and business associate makes us sadly aware of how fragile life is. Three months ago he was the very image of good health; at age sixty-seven he was active and fit and full of joie de vivre. Then he developed what he thought was a case of bronchitis that affected his breathing. A series of tests over the past two or three weeks traced the source of his breathing problem to cancer. Only two days ago his family was notified that the disease was terminal. And today he is gone.

Julia Varady sings 'Im Abendrot'

My favorite among the 'Four Last Songs' of Richard Strauss. Kurt Masur conducts the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.



"Im Abendrot"

Wir sind durch Not und Freude
gegangen Hand in Hand;
Vom Wandern ruhen wir
nun überm stillen Land.

Rings, sich die Täler neigen.
Es dunkelt schon die Luft,
zwei Lerchen nur noch steigen
nachträumend in den Duft.

Tritt her und laß sie schwirren,
bald ist es Schlafenszeit,
daß wir uns nicht verirren
In dieser Einsamkeit.

O weiter, stiller Friede!
So tief im Abendrot.
Wie sind wir wandermüde
Ist dies etwa der Tod?


We have willingly and joyfully
walked hand in hand;
now let us rest from our wanderings
through the silent land.

The valleys close in on themselves;
already the sky is darker;
a solitary pair of larks still soar,
dream-rapt in the dusk.

Come close and let them fly about;
soon it will be time to sleep;
let us not lose our way
in this solitude.

O vast, tranquil peace!
so deep at sunset.
How weary we are of wandering -
Is this perhaps death?

Composed: May 6, 1948