Raking Leaves

Today was a glorious sunshine filled fall day. My parents and I headed out to work on the lawn in the afternoon. I just loved raking the leaves! I know this may become tiresome for those who have to do it a lot, but today I was in a happy place. My mom and I raked both the back and front yards. Then I carried our loot to our compost at the back. My dad was on compost duty. Did you know that adding water and ashes to leaves helps them ferment? There's a little fall fact for you :) Raking is also an excellent core workout. No need for pilates when one has a rake in hand!

You can also see a picture of my first classroom – our backyard shed. My dad made me a classroom inside with a chalkboard and a row of desks. The fact that I wouldn't let any other kids play the “teacher” must have been a sign :)

SPARKLE!

“Catch a falling *sparkle* and put it on your pocket. Never let it fade away . . . “

I had my mom's coat on as I went to the eye doctor's office. While I was waiting for my appointment, I put my hands in the pocket of her coat and what did I find?

A sparkle!

It was an advertisement my mom had put in her coat pocket, but what a little sparkle! Check your pockets, you may just find a sparkle :)

Out and About

It was my first day home and I was truly home again. My dad woke me up just as he always did when I lived here – my door opens, light on, and a “Good morning, Mausi” is heard. Yes, my parents still call me “Mausi” from time to time. :)

Then we were off to Kitchener to run some errands together. The fall colours are coming to an end, but I'm thankful to still capture the wonder. The leaves are falling to the ground now and there is a cripness in the air.
We went to Harvey's for lunch. Harvey's is one of our family favourites. My parents enjoyed their “Angus” burgers, and I had my charbroiled veggie burger.

We also had frings! Only at Harvey's.

My mom found this cookbook for me at a book sale in New Hamburg. The inscription reads, "Elvisly Yours". It is now "Elvisly Mine" :) All the photos in the cookbook are from Elvis' Canadian concerts in 1957. The proceeds from the sale of the book went ot the Arthritis Society. I've had fun looking through. Daniel, get ready for some good Elvis cooking when I return :) Thank you, thank you very much!

The Journey Home

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. The Hong Kong airport – it's always a land of discovery.

2. An Airport Chai – I had saved my coins from past trips to HK and had just enough to enjoy a Starbucks Chai Tea Latte. We can't get those in Taiwan. Each sip was savoured as I waited to board my 15 hour direct flight to Toronto and watched the big birds take off!

3. Cathay Pacific is terrific! They bring comfort in the sky and totally get my prize! Their entertainment system and seat positions are formidable.

4. Sitting next to a dear lady from Guangdong province. She was visiting her child studying at the university of Toronto. She spoke no English, but we had fun exchanges in my limited Chinese. She offered me fruit and nuts so we had a kindred snacking spirit.

5. Flying over the night lights of Toronto. The CN tower was illuminated!

6. Meeting my mamale and papale in Toronto. :)

Pajamas!

The dear Changs brought us these pajamas with “footsies” for out “tootsies” from Target in LA. We had to slip them on right away in our kitchen and grab “Chi Chi” for a little photo shoot :) Putting these on brought back so many fun memories. We look forward to wearing them when cold weather hits Taiwan. Right now it doesn't seem possible, but it will actually happen. :)

The LeoBeth Wedding in Taipei!

Mr. and Mrs. Wei!
Leo and Beth had a most joyful Taiwan wedding day on October 18th! The bride and groom were radiant. It was a lively ceremony and reception celebration. Campbell and Linda did a great job as the masters of ceremonies. Naomi was the maid of honour and also caught the bride's bouquet! Notice her holding her two blessed bouquets? What a blessing to share this day with our dear friends!
Since Daniel and I were in purple we had to include a couple of our purple outift pics for our purple peppers. Sounds like a tongue twister, eh? Eh! :)

Looking ahead for more purple peppers! :)

10/10

Today is national day in Taiwan. It's 10/10, a national holiday to celebrate Taiwan's birthday! We headed to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall in Taipei to join some of the festivities. Here's Daniel with the CKS memorial in the background. It was fun to be tourists in our Taipei again. It was also just the most beautiful fall day - the sun was shining, clear blue skies and white fluffy clouds. October truly is Taiwan at it's best. A great day to celebrate!

We heard a band playing an ran down the road to find the police marching band. They later marched into the CKS Square. Notice the one band member smiling for the picture? So many kids were taking this photo, so I joined in :)

The view from the CKS Memorial Hall.
There was great JOY and DELIGHT when our friends (Jeremiah, Angus and Naomi) joined us! Talk about jumps for JOY!

Bless Jeremiah's heart. He is just a trooper. Today was his first outing since his scooter accident six weeks ago. His broken ankel is healing nicely. Jeremiah is new to ORTV this summer. We are very thankful for all the new staff here.

The lovely ladies getting ready for dancing with flags attached to their skirts.

Tubas in Taipei

Winnie is another new dear ORTV co-worker. She and Daniel were capturing many pictures with their matching cameras.

We give this day a perfect 10! :)

Tickle Talks

So I'm just hanging out on the roof doing the usual sleeping and sleeping thing when Daniel pulls out the camera. I'm not quite ready for a photo shoot, but he's that "artist type" and really gets into it. I'm a cool cat, so I go along with it.
Do I get cat nip for this? I'm getting into the cat model thing. I give Daniel my "turkey" impression. He caputures it. Notice how I remain instense with the eyes?

This is my "up and beyond" look.
Don't make my bottom look big! Oh no. My bottom looks big.
The Mrs. is fun. She talks a lot and gives me advice. She acts like she's been on many photo shoots before.

This is my trailor. It's roomy and I get free peanuts. I'd rather have grass.

Back to work.

I'm a pretty cat.

I feel this is a very "cat power" kind of pose. My eyes look really good here. And my fur really shines.

After a long days work, I can only stop and reflect. Living on the roof is grand. I'm tickled.

WATER LOG

Another extended typhoon weekend and surprise holiday Monday has come to a pass. This one "Jangmi" was the fiercest of the season. At one point I thought our little rooftop was going to fly away. But thankfully we are all well and in tact.

Well, not quite all of us. Our poor Bro Mo lost her lid.

SHE LOST HER LID!

Our scooter (Bro M0) didn't weather the storm that well. She fell over and crushed a side light. But what's worse is that her seat went for a little flight. Daniel found her seat less while heading to the Family Mart. He later found the seat around the corner of our building. Talk about taking flight!

Now her lid is bungied in place. The Bro Mo has gone ghetto. But she's still our faithful steed.

MORE TYPHOON TIDINGS

THE BAKER

Baking chocolate chip cookies has become a typhoon tradition now. The wind and rain got me into a baking mood again! I tried out a new recipe from my dear mother-in-law and just loved the German style fruit cakes turned out. I made an apple one and a blueberry one. They were perfect for some birthday sparkles. We had pre-birthday sparkle for Campbell before the Chang's holiday Stateside. And for Angus' 30th! We love our neighbours!

THE ARTIST

Daniel created art . . .
With a paintbrush in hand Daniel's work was set a blaze. I so appreciate his work.

This is one of my favourite paintings of his. Daniel gave it to me after our engagement. To me is speaks of “sunrise to sunrise we will seek His face”.

Another favourite drawing Daniel drew while we were dating. I had put it in a book for safe keeping and found it again after we'd taken our Taiwan wedding photos. Daniel certainly drew forward with this one.

BACK TO OUR WATER LOG

Our cats also did pretty well. They sure do get cuddly during storms. We did venture out to get them their greens. They go a little wild when we bring home freshly "grabbed" grass for them. We grab and go from green patches we can find around our place. Feeding time is a fine time for our felines.

FAVOURITE TYPHOON SNACK

ants on a log

FUN TYPHOON WORK OUT
10 minute solutions BOOT CAMP

Another typhoon is expected for this coming weekend . . .