我為何愛花....

This is a translation of what I wrote in our Jan-Feb 2009 newsletter.

因為花不作假。我以它們被創造的樣子來欣賞它們：簡潔、美艷、燦爛悅目的顏色和形狀，能把最有才華的畫家的作品比下來。然而，它們不會為你妥協：奶白色的玫瑰絕對不會因為你喜歡粉紅色而變為粉紅色，除非你強把花剪下來放入粉紅色的水中。它們全心全力地盛放幾天或幾個星期，然後它們的工作就完成了。

自然界中有很多動物基於不同的原因會作假裝，主要原因是防護自己的生命，像變色龍或八爪魚那樣。相反地，人類假裝不單單是為了掩蓋真相，而且還故意造成別人的痛苦和傷害。為什麼呢？因為我們違背了上帝，犯了罪了、花郤沒有犯罪，花不能犯罪。花存在的目的是要彰顯神的榮耀，花不作假，只是靜靜地從土裏生長出來，展示令人眼花繚亂的美態。

這就是我喜歡花的原因。春天來了，是鮮花綻放的時節。我喜歡替花拍照，捕捉花的美姿，因為我每次通過鏡頭看見花的時候，它們提醒我耶穌所說的話：（馬太福音第六章）

「你們那一個能用思慮使壽數多加一刻呢？何必為衣裳憂慮呢？你想野地裡的百合花怎麼長起來；他也不勞苦，也不紡線。然而我告訴你們，就是所羅門極榮華的時候，他所穿戴的，還不如這花一朵呢！..... 所以，不要憂慮說：吃甚麼？喝甚麼？穿甚麼？..... 你們需用的這一切東西，你們的天父是知道的。你們要先求他的國和他的義，這些東西都要加給你們了。所以，不要為明天憂慮，因為明天自有明天的憂慮；一天的難處一天當就夠了。」

誰畫的？Who painted it?

有見過這麼美的小鳥嗎？牠的名字叫 Painted Bunting，是誰畫出這麼美豔的衣飾？
馬太福音6:26 「你們看那天上的飛鳥，也不種，也不收，也不積蓄在倉裡，你們的天父尚且養活他。你們不比飛鳥貴重得多麼？」
Have you ever seen a bird that beautiful? Wow! Its name is Painted Bunting. Who painted its stunning coat?
"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" Matthew 6:26

http://birdsbybaranoff.com

When that day comes....

When that day comes, when we don't move to another continent every few years, then I will start growing a bonsai. I always love Japanese Maple, I think this is what I am going to grow, a Japanese Maple bonsai. Let's see if that day will come. If upon research that growing a bonsai is more than I can handle, maybe just a regular Japanese Maple in the backyard, if we have a yard wherever we are living.

Mathematical broccoli

Kioni found this in the supermarket, she immediately calls it the pyramid broccoli. I at first didn't even think it was a vegetable, but then a saw that it was put together with a little head of cauliflower! It is a vegetable! How can that be, it just looks so...so...so...mathematical! And out of this world! Must have watched too much X-Files. Don't know if I would buy it a second time, it just look so different, maybe I will change my mind after I taste it. By the way, it has a name: Romanesco broccoli. It is was first documented in Italy (as broccolo romanesco) in the sixteenth century. It is sometimes called broccoflower and coral broccoli.

Worry about the squatters

2006 Leyte Mudslide


If you look out of the window in this video, and listen carefully, you can hear the strong wind pounding on the trees and the rain pouring down.

It has been raining for a week, and in the past 24 hours, the sky just opened up and have been dumping rain non-stop. Looking out of the window, there are squatter houses all over our neighbourhood, in fact, our helper's family live in a squatter house just about 10 minutes walking distance from us. Above those squatter houses is a big hill, where the government has started about a year ago digging away the dirt to make a road. Though we haven't see much activities for a while, they still claim that they are working on the road.

Sitting in our office room, we can see clearing a big area with red dirt that was dug out with no vegetation on it. With the rain coming down like this, it won't take long until the soil is saturated and comes sliding down.

A huge mudslide in Leyte, Philippines in 2006 that buried the whole village was still fresh in my memories. The causes for that mudslide were a 10 day period of heavy rains and a minor earthquake. 12 days ago, we experienced a small earthquake here in Cebu. It seems like the ground underneath us is not that stable.

If anything happen, we will be fine, it is the squatters that I am worry about. Lord, please protect them from another Leyte disaster.

Earthquake

After having left Taiwan 20 years ago, I have not experienced another earthquake until today in Cebu.

It was 12:12pm, Kioni and I were in her school room just finishing up her Kumon Reading. Suddenly, our chairs moved, and when I looked at the fan, which was turned off, it was moving also. I was pretty sure it was an earthquake by then. I pointed the fan out to Kioni, and she said, "It is an earthquake, mommy, we have to run outside."

At that time, Dan came into our room asking if that was an earthquake. That was his first experience with earthquake, and it was also Kioni's first.

I was about to agree with her, but then it all stopped, it lasted only for about 4-5 seconds. I told her we didn't have to run outside, because the earthquake was small, "See, the ostriches are still sitting on the shelf, they haven't fallen down."

After my reassurance that it was OK, she finished up with the last page of Kumon, and ran out to talk about the earthquake with daddy. It was quite fun.