A Dull Blade

I am in Chiang Mai, Thailand getting some much needed rest and sharpening. I am painting again after months of moving around and  not having any time in my studio.  I am feeling dull.  I have two works underway today and this one is not finished, but is of Little Gung's Grandfather.  He had a stall in the market at the end of our lane, where he sharpened farm tools and kitchen knives while also trying to look after his grandson. His grandson is Chen Wei Jung, who is now in his fifties and an engineer for one of Taiwan's large electronic firms. I ran into him recently in the Hong Kong airport as he was returning home after a long stint in China. We chatted for awhile about how we were both feeling dull.

But a good rest will sharpen us both up.

Happy New Year

The Bath

Han Zi Ming loves his son very much.  But like a very good Taiwanese father, he has never told his boy  how proud he is or how much he admires him.  When his son won second place in a class essay contest, Mr Han took him to the surfer pits where they enjoyed a good scrub and relaxed in the hot warm soothing waters that spill out of Taiwan's guts.

静静

All was quite and calm after Jin Jin’s cousins had gone home following the hot noise of the Autumn Festival family feast. Alone in her courtyard, enjoying the warm autumn night, Jin Jin relished a rare moment of peace. 

Sailing Away

   I am seven and crossing the river at Stone Turtle Creek.

A New Brother

New Work--work finally

It has been a long time since I have painted.  It's been a rough year.  Recently, my husband and I moved.  Downsized.  Empty nest.  So it has only been really recently that having finally gotten a studio put together, I took up two commissions that have been on my list...long overdue.  The top one was for a birthday.  The bottom  one for a wedding.  Feels good.

Double Happiness

This past week, I spent the day with our four year old twin grandsons, Neko and Finn.  We spent the morning playing "traffic" which means grandma is instructed to write tickets for tricyclists who are "peeders."  The afternoon was spent playing hide and "peek".  They have trouble with esses.

I had made this painting when the twins turned one and now it hangs in their home.  While they ate their lunch I photographed it for my records. They came along side me as soon as I started clicking.  Unaware that I had painted it for them, they felt it needed some explanation,  "Dhat one is Koko and Dhat one is Sinn and that is Shy shy, our dog. And Dada and Mommy.

Neko and Finn are twice the joy.

Fast Food

Chiang Kai Liang is nervous and usually in a hurry. In all the years I have known him, I have never seen him sit down to eat. It was therefore not surprising to learn that when his wife turned up for an impromptu visit from the far provinces to the north, she found him devouring his lunch.



~participating in the art walk the first weekend in June in Anacrotes@ Ryan Chanel

and for more fun(my latest project in Taipei-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWP5YiB595M

Maggie Catherine

Maggie Catherine Brantingham

Maggie with her best friend (from Bunnies by the Bay) and here with her Papa, my brother Jonathan

Flying High

Yu Sheng was flying high. In a short time, many things had changed in his daily routine.  He was excited.  He also felt terrified.  He was soaring.

Getting Ready to Sell

Ah Sai was very busy.  Her husband had put their home up for sale and there was a lot of cleaning to be done before interested buyers came to inspect her rooms. Ah Sai always felt these invasions were like having stranger go through your laundry.

Double Happiness

When Little Lin 小林 had finished all her work, she would rest in the doorway, wondering about the house across the street and the people who lived behind the gate.   She wondered if they were happy.

Everyone was surprised, when she later married the son of the family who lived behind the gate. His family said, that having Little Lin join their family made them very happy.  In fact, they were double happy.

  for the 小 林's and the 林's of Japan
  Congratulations Mie

Heading Home

Gong....Gong.....Gong....Ah Song had been planting rice all day.  The Pong Yang temple bells  began to ring just a few minutes before six.  All the farmers of the Mae Sa Valley understood that this low metal vibration, echoing through the fields, meant work for the day was done.  If the exhausted laborers gathered their tools and headed home when the last bell sounded, they would reach home before dark.

For Ah Song, her work would not be done.  There were still children to tend and men to feed once she trudged up to her mountain top home.


~Painting and posting from  Mae Rim, Chiang Mai
Where I have been watching Ah Song from my veranda for several years.

林嘉生

Lin Chia Shen and Lin Yu Shen left their home in Chung King by train, traveling overland to the big city of Shanghai.  There, they were to board a boat to KeeLung, a small harbor on the northern tip of  Formosa.  They had never met their large extended family in Taiwan and their father had not been home since he was a youngster.  Now that the war was over, they could at long last go to meet their long separated family.

But on the way, their  mother fell ill and died. Mr. Lin decided to continue the journey home to Wu Fung in central Taiwan.  The journey, once started as a joyful reunion, now became a trip of necessity.  He needed a haven, a home to raise his two grief stricken sons.  There, he knew they would all be loved and well taken care of.

Once inside the courtyards of the Lin family home, two year old Yu Shen refused to eat.  He cried for his Mama.  It was only his brother who could get him  to eat, and only if he fed him himself.  Yu Shen would also wake in the middle of the night, calling for his mother and that is when Granny Lin began leaving a light burning in the boy’s room while they slept so that Chia Sheg could comfort his little brother in the middle of the night.

When Chia Shen passed away at the age of 71, he still slept with the light on.

 

Together At Last

Shaista Tayabali  and I met in Kuala Lumpur.  I met her adorably lovable parents and one newly wedded brother and sister- in- law too. Wonderful!  Now,  suddenly, after a full night of talking,  I can't find any words. 


Well, maybe these words...


"A red thread connects your heart to mine.  We are together at last."


~Jeanne-ming
   Kuala Lumpur
  Jan 1, 2012
                                                                       


                                           

Ah Gwai's Love Birds

On December 14^th Ah Gwai’s father passed away while running around a public track.  In a single day, the young 23 year old Special Education Major, learned that not only had she just lost her beloved father, but that another family with aunts and uncles and a half brother and sister existed; a huge extended family existed right under her nose, hidden from her.

Still, Ah Gwai knew only love.  In her short sheltered life, all she had known was love.  And that was enough.

~True Story

Mrs. Ma's Houseboy

                                                      Ma Tai Tai's houseboy was very clever,
                                                      but it was clear to everyone, except Mrs. Ma, 
                                                      that her kitchen cleaner was capable of so much more.


                                                     ~for Ranjan

Shiao Jen Decides

Little Jen visited her NiNi, a days journey by foot from home.  Her granny kept chickens and lived alone.  On the morning Shiao Jen was to return home, she thought long and hard and decided to stay and live with Granny until time to go to high school.

~these days I am in Chiang Mai, Thailand trying to relax and paint.  It is raining hard here in Mae Rim.  I have been traveling all over Asia since the beginning of September for work, and I am not done.  I return to Japan next week.  Hopefully I will get back to my mountain top retreat soon to finish what I have started.

Ah Hwa’s Helping Hand

Ah Hwa had a bad time.  She had endured a period of several years where she had dropped out of school in order to help her family on the farm. She had nearly given up on any kind of future when news came of a scholarship.  “I will miss you little ducklings.”

Ben and Leigh, my children.

~posting from Sydney Australia

Shaken

Following the great Chayi earthquake of 1963, the Chen family arrived on Wu Fung Road to help with the rebuilding of Uncle Tu’ s house which had been shaken and tossed like tiles on a  mahjong table.
Mr. Chen was an expert in tile work.  This migrant family were in for many surprises when they took up residence in a small store room at the back of Uncle’s ancestral courtyards while they repaired the roof.  None of Uncle Tu’s  unusual  habits delighted them as much as the daily release of Exceeding Joy, a much beloved and love sick song bird.

Lyrics To Fly By

No one knew, except for her close neighbor Mrs. Hao, that Miss T’ang wrote poetry deep into the night.  Mrs. Hao could hear the faintest musical murmur drifting to her open window.  She would stand straining to hear the beautifully crafted phrases and her heart soared each and every time she heard her young neighbor reading her poetry aloud to herself.  

Frequently, Hao Tai Tai stole across the alley bearing a pot of Jasmine tea.  “Dear friend,” she would whisper, as she let herself in to T’ang Shiao Jye’s study, “would you mind to read me that last poem again; the one about flying free?”

For Shaista~ a poet who makes my heart soar.
Fly to her poetry here Lupus In Flight

A Cure

When An Ni Da Jie saw the return of her flock before the sun had set, she wondered, “Wa! I wonder  if anything is wrong? I hope my chickens are not sick!" 


 She took this same care with her garden.  If any vegetable looked unhealthy or if any her her livestock seemed faint, she administered a  handy cure.  

A Red Lantern

Miss Wu thought it lucky that her master’s home had not flooded during the great Typhoon Gloria. There were many small inconveniences that she dared not to complain of in light of the many neighbors who suffered from leaky roofs, drenched courtyards and saturated fields.  In her case, her employer’s home was plunged into darkness when the electricity failed. It seemed a small matter to everyone but to Shaio Wu who had to make her nightly rounds to prepare the bedrooms with a single lantern.  As quickly as it takes a mighty wind to pass overhead, her master  discovered that his heart was flooded with a new raging passion for Miss Wu.

Brother and Sister

Jia Li was twelve years older than her little brother. They adored each other and were a great comfort to their Mother.


~My son graduated from high school this past week and his sister Leigh was home to celebrate.  All is well in my household when she comes home.

Reconsidering

Third Brother had a terrible arguement with his older brother over  feeding Granny's chickens. Afterwards, he considered running away from home.

But the smell of Granny's dumplings made him reconsider.