The month of May

The days are flying by -- here it is the end of May already. Not much time to add to the blog, so here's a selection of our pics from the past monthThis year's family photo, taken at the France-Paris studios on ZhongShan North Road. They did a pretty good job on this one ...and we brought along all of Vivian's family for a group photo too Vivian's parents with all their grandchildren. Sunshine and WeiWei are Fiona's cousins One of Vivian's brother's colleagues used our group photo as inspiration for this caricature. I'm not sure my likeness is the best, but some of the others are spot on :-) Back at home, Fiona enjoys a nice glass of grape juice

It must be very delicious!
Recently we had a surprise visit from our friend Nya, back in Taiwan on home leave from her job at Club Med in Indonesia. That evening we went to Keelung to visit the MV Doulos boat which was visiting for two weeks. Then we walked over to the famous Keelung night market for some snacks
More crazy Fiona behavior, this time getting ready for her bath
Sometimes Fiona gets a little restless sitting in her car seat. Here she passes the time by putting on some of Mummy's lipstick
Fiona paying a visit to our neighbors Rose and David

After Vivian's visit to the chiropractor on ZhongXiao East Road we popped into Alleycats for some of the best pizza in Taipei Another visitor: Dustin from Canada. In fact Dustin is living in Taiwan at the moment, down island in Kaohsiung. He took the new bullet train up to Taipei to spend the weekend with us

After we dropped Dustin off at the train station, we stepped outside to see this beautiful evening skyFiona can now hold her own food and take bites as she pleases. Here she tucks into a whole banana
Going for a walk... when Fiona gets tired she doesn't mind hopping into her stroller and taking in the sights. More often than not she prefers to get out and run around on her own!
Back home again, playing with her ring set

Sunrise 'n' Snorkel

On our ORTV annual retreat we enjoyed a little free time. Since the retreat location was in Green Bay, the grand rocky coast of Taiwan was right at our doorstep One morning I got up extra early to watch the sun rising over the Pacific. This was about 5:20 am Slowly peeping out from the clouds

Later that afternoon I returned to the rocks where I first watched the sunrise. En route we passed a little fishing harbor
The little highway running around the north coast of Taiwan is quite pretty. Lots of places to stop and enjoy the view and the sea breezes
Cool inviting water, green seaweed, funky rocks

Some couples were having their wedding photos taken here. Certainly a popular location

Getting ready to jump in! I like the fact that in Taiwan you can easily find a place to jump into the ocean and go snorkelling. It's close and free, all you need is your gear and some knowhow about where the good spots are

Plenty of fish, crabs, coral, shells and even a few sea cucumbers to be seen down there

Rally 'n' Retreat

Last Saturday Studio Classroom celebrated our 45th anniversary. We held a big rally at Taipei's World Trade Center Auditorium, and invited a few thousand people. It was a fun show. Jamaican/American piano genius Huntley Brown hammers out a calypso tuneHazel and Larry perform a magic trick Angus and Zorina deliver another song Song "Oh Happy Day" -- some of the Studio Classroom teachers came out to do the backup vocals, and also a little rap. That's me, second from the right

...and the crowd goes wild ;-)
The following week we had our annual ORTV retreat, out at Green Bay on the northeast coast of Taiwan. A nice time of rest and reflection. Here Heavenly Melody serenade

Doris and the rest of the audience listen to another speaker It was fun being in the band and make music for the introduction of each session. My treat to play alongside Angus and Solomon and Steve. Thanks also to Bob for lending me his red Stratocaster while mine was getting a tune-up! Hanging out with Dale Wine. Dale has family living in Calgary, of all places. Maybe our next meeting place will be there

Taipei, naturally

As a great urban metropolis, Taipei isn't exactly the most attractive city to look at. Sure, there are pockets of pleasantness to be found, but for the most part the city is a vast collection of concrete boxes. It can be dense and oppressive at times.
Yet there are some special things to be seen here, if one slows down for a closer look. Things like flowers and birds.

Buckets of magnolias and lilies ready for sale. The magnolias have a strong natural fragrance that lasts for days. Most of the contents of these buckets will end up as car air fresheners.
This fellow has set up his magnolia stall near a busy intersection. Whenever the light turns red, he walks between the waiting cars and looks for customers. If we were driving, I would have hung the bouquet on our rear view mirror. For this day I hung it on Fiona's backpack instead.
During the springtime, swallows descend on the city to roost and raise a family. These birds have adapted well to urban living, opting to build their nests in the places people frequent. Here's one above a popular tea shop in our neighborhood. Mama swallow gets ready to take wing in search of more food for her chicks. As the chicks get bigger you can see their open beaks poking out of the nest, waiting for mama to return.
This swallow has found a home above a dentist's office. And this one outside a restaurant. Some shopkeepers will install a wire for the swallows to sit on. A bona fide birdhouse here! These two have nested on a little platform, also installed by the nearby shopkeeper.
Here we can see the mother swallow returning to feed her family -- four little beaks are waiting for a meal
A fallen cotton tree flower lands on the back of a scooter. Near my office there are rows and rows of cotton trees that shed dozens of these blossoms every year. A nice contrast to the concrete and vehicles and congestion of Taipei.