Sunday, June 24, 2007
Posted in Sharing at 10:50 pm by flower
Dave, I went to your website today and found your wedding pictures. It's amazing! You have a beautiful wife and a lovely family. I hope I can visit Chiang-Mei someday! People there are like where I am from in Guan-In, Taiwan. A traditional Thai wedding looks having a lot of fun. I always enjoyed the trips to Thailand, the food, the people are so great! You are really lucky. I guess you must be a good person. Maybe next TESOL convention in New York, I'll go to your session. See you then.
-A stranger, Yin-Wei
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Friday, June 8, 2007
Posted in Sharing at 11:09 pm by flower
Monday, April 9th
The Seattle weather cooperated to send me on my way at 8:05 AM on a blustery, but dry, day.I joined families with children and other "special" people at the station to get a "head start" boarding the train. My seat location was good, but the mechanics of the seat back were broken. No way to lean back. But I chose to stay put, since my seatmate was getting off in Eugene and that gave me two seats for the night. Catherine, my seatmate, on the way to meet her sister, was pleasant company. Her concern was to be on time, which she was. Shortly after Eugene, the rest of us had to wait three hours while a freight was repaired in front of us. Being late is rarely a problem for me because I do not have people meeting me and therefore I do not become a problem for Amtrak. Whatever time we are late, there are a number of people who have to be connected at Amtrak expense to whatever transportation is necessary to get them where they're going.
While Catherine and I had been visiting, we noted with concern the young couple who expected their young 3-year-old to either sleep or sit quietly across the aisle while they slept or chatted. After three hours of sleep, her good behavior was rewarded with a huge piece of daddy's candy bar (all three of them seemed never to stop snacking). When young Isabella seemed in line for some form of punishment from her parents, I asked if I could read to her, only to find they had not brought any toys or books. However, 
she was content to come and sit in my lap and look at a magazine that I had, which was about parks and had some animals and trees, so she was content. I had guessed correctly that Isabella was going to be high as a kite by nighttime, so her mother and she spent a restless night while daddy was totally oblivious. I managed a good night in spite of the other people's distress.
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Friday, June 1, 2007
Posted in Sharing at 1:33 pm by flower
A 90-year-old’s Amtrak Experience –(1)
Planning for a month-long trip and anticipating it are almost as satisfying as the trip itself. This particular Amtrak adventure was prompted by months earlier expressing in my daughter’s presence, regret that I probably would not see my friend Penelope, a London resident, again. She immediately made an offer to bring Penelope to see us. Letters exchanged, faster than usual, brought a delighted “yes” from London, and suggested dates followed: we would meet in New York City in April.
As before, I mapped out a list of possible stops going to and from the East Coast. Next, the Amtrak options for my timing. Since there is a penalty for changing reservations, I waited for confirmation from friends and relatives before paying for the tickets (later, Amtrak would call and make some changes to my schedule around Chicago)
Packing then became the concern. Essential were listed, everything compounded by the weird weather that was being experienced and forecast all over the nation. Until the morning I started my trip, I debated what coat to take; happily, I made a good guess.
To be continued….
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