A Flying Chinese National Flag

Today is October 1, the Chinese National Day. I need not go to neither Golden Bauhinia Square nor Tiananmen Square to watch the flag raising ceremony because below me a National flag is flying peacefully and quietly at the roof of a school.

There is no procession, no national song nor ceremony of any kind because all schools over Hong Kong are closed today.

It is very windy, so the flag flies high and flaps all the time. It is definitely different from the “hard” flag the first U.S. astronaut was holding when he landed on the moon.

雨中等過馬路

我拍這兩張照片時，相隔只是幾秒，但觀感不同。

今天下午時晴時雨，無聊得向窗外望，找拍攝靈感。就在這時刻，眼前的景像很特別─有打著傘的行人正等著過馬路。

看著他們很有耐性地等候行人過路燈轉綠的情景令我佩服不已。

右面那一張照片構圖及色彩很美，原因是行人拿著傘的分佈很平均，有不同顏色的雨傘出現，大家不約而同的望向前方等給自己開步走的訊號是有趣的，你是否同意呢？

數學題:右面那幅相比起左面那幅多了幾人？

觀察題:有幾多位行人是原封不動，無移動過一步呢？

What animal is it?

Hints:
[1] It has the ability to run at maximum speeds of about 97.5 kilometres per hour (60.6 mph).

[2] It lays the largest egg of any living bird.

[3] It usually weighs from 63 to 130 kilograms (140–290 lb).

[4] Its eyes are said to be the largest of any land vertebrate – 50 millimetres (2.0 in) in diameter.

[5] It has three stomachs.

Run, Run, Run

Our two grand-children, Abby and Elly, ran round and round a children’s park the day before yesterday. It was safe to run on that soft-to-bouncing ground. Abby started the run and little Elly followed her sister from behind. Though Abby, light-weighted and tall, won several metres before Elly, the latter did not give up the run. She strove on with her own short legs.

Before this, the two sisters went to the top of a slide. They found the slide too hot for sliding because they could feel the heat of the sun when sitting at its top. We told them to play at a lower and shorter slide near by. They both welcomed the idea. Their climbing, swinging, steering at a wheel and tip-toeing over the bars (with my close supervision) occupied almost an hour at the playground. All through the time, their spirits were high. I wondered if they would have nightmares that night.

Buondolce

Finding new things each day is rewarding.

Today from a rack in a “P” Supermarket, I discovered small sponge cakes in packets of ten. Each packet cost about twelve ninety Hong Kong dollars. There ought to be four flavours, which I found only three, namely, chocolate & honey, strawberry and milk. I thought the missing one was orange.

The attractions of these cakes come from low prices, beautiful outlook, “milk & yogurt” and their special flavours. To me, they are a little sweet, but they satisfy me.

The moment I picked them up and studied its "country of origin", I was astonished to see the language used was Japanese. Later I learned from the web-address that the product was from Italy.

Buondolce is just the brand name of cakes while Freddi was the company’s name. This is similar to Camry as to Toyota.

This company produces other products, say, Swiss roll, Omamma, PicNic, Dolcetto and Moretta. Their outlooks are more or less the same, rectangular, except those Swiss rolls.

It is very nice to see Italian food become popular in Hong Kong markets. I do support Italy’s food products.

一個不用上班的日子

今天八月廿九日早上颱風納沙 (Typhoon Nesat) 帶給大部分的香港市民一個不用上班的日子。昨晚我臨睡的時候，天文台仍舊發出三號風球信號；睡醒了，天文台已發出八號東南烈風信號。學生們、老師們不用上課固然開心，上班一族，除了服務性行業的員工，亦不用返工，享有額外半天甚至一整天假期。太太及我今天都無需照顧孫兒，自然放假一天，確要爭取多些時間休息。

今天的快餐店、餐室、酒樓、超級市場、街市、報紙檔、麵包店都照常營業。上述的正正是市民在打風的日子要去的地方。

早上附近的麥當當坐著幾枱青灰間隔制服的九巴司機們 (這裏其中一幅照片中，可見在巴士站過夜的一批巴士還未開走)，因為天文台已經在早上四時四十分宣佈八號烈風信號，全港的巴士停駛了。港島的電車、過海渡輪也不例外。除小巴、的士及港鐵(有限度服務)之外，公共交通工具的停駛帶給在風暴下還要返工的市民不便。

今次納沙只是在香港南面三百公里外掠過，所帶來的災害不大──只是一些大樹及一個巨型棚架倒塌壓著一部的士(的士司機無恙，乘客受傷)。也許清晨一艘浮塢斷纜漂浮向杏花邨岸邊撞擊，威脅民居的事件算是比較嚴重一些而已。

Glue and Oil paint

Abby made two mischievous acts, one on this Wednesday and the other Thursday.

First act: She took out a bottle of glue from her dad’s desk in the reading room, returned to her tiny blue desk in the sitting room and began to squeeze glue onto a page of a single-lined book. Next she used coloured pencils to dip into the glue and draw. Certainly the colour could not go through the sticky glue onto the paper. I warned her not to do this, but she did not listen to me or stop right away. A second thought came to me that in that instant, I should not stop her “creativity”. I let her do it, but warned her that she would dirty the table. Abby went on adding glue onto the page and spilt some onto the table. I was a little agitated.

At first, Elly, sitting next to her sister, was doing something quietly. Soon she joined her sister and wiped her hands onto the thick spread of glue on the page. I was filled with fury at this point because Abby had started the mischievous act which caused her little sister’s hands and fingers all dirty with glue. I seized the bottle of glue and the book, and threw them into the dustbin and carried Elly quickly to the toilet to have her hands washed clean. I feared that Elly would swallow the glue, a chemical which might be toxic to her. I shouted to Abby, too, to clean her hands. I looked like a "mad" man at that time. Obviously, Elly would not like my idea of forcing her to wash her hands. Afterwards, I let grandma to calm and settle her down. I thought that I had to show to my grandchildren that they were wrong and that I was angry at their naughty acts.

Second act: Abby, this time, took out another book and picked an oil-based marker pen to draw on it. I warned her that if she drew out of the pages of the book, she would dirty the table and make the table difficult to be cleaned. The consequence came out that she did dirty the table with a spot of yellow when she flipped the wet page of paint onto it. I was sure that yellow spot would stay there forever. If we use an oil solvent to do the cleaning work, the solvent may as well solve the blue paint of the table. That was an unforgettable “scar” Abby made on her lovely blue table.

Opal

Two young men travelled from Adelaide to Darwin. They stopped at Coober Pedy (in South Australia) which people called it the opal capital of the world. They met several workers at the mine drilling and insert small explosives into holes and blast the red soil up. What they aim at is the opal (蛋白石).

Opal is the national gemstone of Australia, which produces 97% of the world's supply. It is an amorphous form of silica related to quartz, a mineraloid form, not a mineral. 3% to 21% of the total weight is water, but the content is usually between 6% to 10%. It is deposited at a relatively low temperature and may occur in the fissures of almost any kind of rock, being most commonly found with limonite, sandstone, rhyolite, marl and basalt.

Opal's internal structure makes it diffract light; depending on the conditions in which it formed it can take on many colors. Opal ranges from clear through white, gray, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, magenta, rose, pink, slate, olive, brown, and black. Of these hues, the reds against black are the most rare, whereas white and greens are the most common. It varies in optical density from opaque to semi-transparent. For gemstone use, its natural color is often enhanced by placing thin layers of opal on a darker underlying stone, like basalt.

Besides the gemstone varieties that show a play of color, there are other kinds of common opal such as the milk opal, milky bluish to greenish (which can sometimes be of gemstone quality); resin opal, which is honey-yellow with a resinous luster; wood opal, which is caused by the replacement of the organic material in wood with opal; menilite, which is brown or grey; hyalite, a colorless glass-clear opal sometimes called Muller's Glass; geyserite, also called siliceous sinter, deposited around hot springs or geysers; and diatomite or diatomaceous earth, the accumulations of diatom shells or tests.

功夫新星

繼魔法擂台之後，無線推出新節目功夫新星，前者帶出娛樂給觀眾之外，同時吸引喜歡玩魔術的人才出來表演，霎時間使香港產生玩魔術熱潮，是一個不可多得的節目，而後者亦發掘了好些習武的年青人大顯身手(表現拳腳功夫、 舞動不同的兵器)，切磋武藝之餘， 亦訓練其膽量，不斷接受新挑戰。評判團都非常有份量，當中有武術前輩，大師和武打明星，所給予參賽者的批評非常中肯。

參賽者共有十二人， 經過幾輪比賽之後，只留下六位比較出色的賽員角逐最後兩名香港區武術代表資格與另外六位從外國回來的選手比賽。

在決賽中，香港區有一男一女做代表 (穿黑色服裝那兩位)， 其餘六位來自英國、馬來西亞、美國等等不同的國家(穿白色服裝那六位)。最後由香港女代表何佩珉得到評判一致的讚賞奪得功夫新星的榮銜.

評判認為何佩珉耍的棍比很多的演員打得狠，亦很出色。最後何佩珉從武打女星及最佳影后惠英紅小姐手中接過冠軍腰帶成為功夫新星.

Playing Balloons

Elly and Abby play balloons in two ways:

[1] They strike them to me from the top berth of their twin beds and I hit back to them.

[2] They ask me to pump a balloon to a suitable size first and release it with the air escaping from the mouth. The ball will then thrust forward and fly freely before them. No matter where the balloon will fly to, they cheer.

What’s on TV?

Yesterday when I took this photo, Elly was watching TV.

What’s on TV at that time?

She was imitating an action. There are 4 options below.



[1] Someone was licking ice-cream.
[2] Someone was drinking coca-cola.
[3] A dog was licking his master.
[4] A dog was panting in the heat.

過中秋節

今年中秋節很特別，我們在馬鞍山與Connie一家人渡過。

菲臘煮了幾碟精彩的餸菜給大家分享，包括魚手指、釀蟹柳菇、蔥花白切蒸雞、豆豉蒸排骨，清蒸石蚌魚、白灼白菜仔和脆(菲臘形容給艾莉聽)菜芯。

這次又是大廚出馬，有兩菜四肉(豬肉、雞肉、鮮魚和雪魚)，尤其豐富，我們只是在等食而已。

大家的胃口都非常好，除雞骨豬骨之外，全部飯餸都食清光。

飯後每人吃八分一個雙黃月餅，應一下節，又經濟，又保健。

我們一行七人(包括兩位孫女)試闖馬鞍山公園去賞月。未入公園之前，已見人群從四方八面走往公園。大大小小都拿著最近興起的液體塑膠彩環，也有傳統的燈籠，不過用蠟燭燃著的為數不多，現時大多數的燈籠都用乾電芯。

艾莉拿著的是小小的楊桃形燈籠，心情是靚絕的。阿比的則是白兔燈籠，難得有四個比五元大些的小輪子可以給阿比拖著走，不過在凹凸不平的行人路是非常難控制的。

進入公園大門，已經發覺這個馬鞍山「維園」充滿著人，其大部分都是大小家庭成員盤坐在草坪上，各自各精彩，有玩弄手上的彩環，輕談說笑，四處竄跑，也有吃月餅、楊桃等應節食物。菲臘不忘教兩個女兒去賞月。

回想兩年前在加拿大過中秋，當晚菲臘興致勃勃地駕車載我們到溫哥華烈治文近機場的河濱賞月。到了河泮，燈光微弱，空無一人，我們還以為找錯了地方。兜了一個圈子，最後都是在路邊停下來，原因是我們是帶來月餅，多少都要找個地方吃掉它(們)。

踏上堤岸(稍高於馬路)，才發覺這堤壩很窄，我們約走廿步已達水邊。在這裏遠望對岸正是溫哥華國際機場。在頭的右方是高掛的月亮，它令我即時想起兒子正在地球的背面放著假(因香港是在中秋節翌日才是公眾假期)。

當時那裏有點寒意，大家怱怱吃過月餅，想著快些鑽進車子回航，忽然遠處駛來一輛汽車，在我們的車附近停下來，走出車外的人彷彿見到這裏已經有人家在賞月一定是沒有找錯地方，來趁一趁「熱鬧」(其實熱極都是大大小小六個人)。不消一兩分鐘我們已經將車開走了，留下了另外一個家庭去賞一個冷清清的中秋月。

10-year pain on 911 attacks

I remember the breaking news on television at around 9 p.m. Hong Kong Time on September 11, 2001. The camera lens stayed for long on a burning skyscraper, later two, from a long distance. Smoke was coming out of the building. Later on I learned that the twin towers of World Trade Centre in New York City were attacked by two hijacked passenger planes.

These are the facts of the attacks (from Wikipedia) on that single day:

Early on the morning of September 11, 2001, 19 hijackers took control of four commercial airliners en route to San Francisco or Los Angeles after takeoffs from Boston, Newark, and Washington, D.C. Planes with long flights were intentionally selected for hijacking because they would be heavily fueled.

The four flights involved were:
[1]American Airlines Flight 11 (from Boston to Los Angeles)
[2]American Airlines Flight 77 (from Washington to Los Angeles)
[3]United Airlines Flight 93 (from Newark to San Francisco)
[4]United Airlines Flight 175 (from Boston to Los Angeles)

At 8:46 a.m., 5 hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Center's North Tower (1 WTC), and at 9:03 a.m., another 5 hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower (2 WTC).

5 hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m.

A fourth flight, United Airlines Flight 93, under the control of 4 hijackers, eventually crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh at 10:03 a.m. after the passengers fought the hijackers. Flight 93's ultimate target is believed to have been either the Capitol or the White House. Flight 93's cockpit voice recorder revealed crew and passengers attempted to seize control of the plane from the hijackers after learning through phone calls that similarly hijacked planes had been crashed into buildings that morning. Once it became evident to the hijackers that the passengers might regain control of the plane, one hijacker ordered another to roll the plane and intentionally crash it. Soon afterward, Flight 93 crashed into a field near Shanksville.

Three buildings in the World Trade Center Complex collapsed due to structural failure. The South Tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m. after burning for 56 minutes in a fire caused by the impact of United Airlines Flight 175. The North Tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m. after burning for 102 minutes. When the North Tower collapsed, debris fell on the nearby 7 World Trade Center building (7 WTC), damaging it and starting fires. These fires burned for hours, compromising the building's structural integrity, and 7 WTC collapsed at 5:21 p.m. The Pentagon also sustained major damage.

I can feel the pain in the hearts of families of the victims and those who sacrificed themselves to save people from the burning twin towers and at the burning section of the Pentagon. Tribute should be paid to those heroes that fought against the terrorists on Flight 93 plane, thus avoiding it from attacking the White House.

Shogun Burgers

I like Shogun Burgers (將軍漢堡) because of the taste of its sauce. The burgers landed in Hong Kong several times before, but appeared for a week and two and then disappeared. I did not understand why. Maybe it was one of the tactics used by Mc Donald.

Tonight, we went to dine at the Mc Donald at City One. We ordered 2 shogun burgers with chips and cola, a cheese double burger and a Mc Chicken. The shogun burger in my hand was so familiar and the taste had never been forgotten. The success of this burger is the sauce. I hope these burgers will not disappear once more.

Looking up from the square outside Mc Donald, I could see two fast food restaurants, Café de Coral and KFC. Today at 5 p.m., Café de Coral was closed down because it was going to be renovated. From the mouth of one of the service ladies, I learned that Café de Coral would re-open in December. The next-door KFC had a different fate. It would be closed down by 9 p.m. three days later. Probably it would not be found in this area any more.

Recently, I find new information on Mc Donald’s food packages. This time, on the paper container for chips, I see the description of the potatoes used. Earlier, in 2009, I found information on Mc Donald's food in terms of words and cartoons on their packages in Canada. I agree that the information gives effective promotion of the food sold in the restaurant. That is the customers know what they are eating, where they come from and what ingredients there are in the restaurant.

Good news to me this morning (September 13, 2011): KFC will re-open at City One after 2 months' time. This is what the staff tell the customers.

Angry birds

Angry birds is a game I like to play in an i-pad. In the game, players use a slingshot to launch birds using suitable projectiles (拋物線) at pigs stationed on or within various structures, made of wood, ice or stone, with the target of hitting the pigs directly or damaging the structures, which would cause them to collapse and kill all the pigs on the playfield. As players advance through the game, new birds appear, some with special abilities that can be activated by the player.

There are several different types of birds used in the game. In the earliest levels, the basic red bird, the weakest power it possesses, is the only one available. A blue bird can separate into three birds; a yellow bird which can speed up while in the air; a black bird explodes and a white bird can drop explosive eggs. The pigs themselves also appear in different sizes. While small pigs are relatively weak and are easily destroyed either by direct hits or by debris from the damaged structures, larger pigs are able to sustain more damage. Also, some pigs wear helmets as armor, making them more resistant to damage, while pigs with crowns can take the most damage.

It is an interesting game to play, but successes base on the projectiles one choose. Tactics must be taken to break the wooden structures, not the stony ones.

Valencia oranges

Here is a good-looking Valencia orange grown in South Africa.

Let us read about the history and specialities of these oranges from Wikipedia:

The Valencia Orange is a sweet orange first hybridized by California pioneer agronomist and land developer William Wolfskill, on his farm in Santa Ana, United States.

Its name comes from the city of Valencia, Spain, known through history for its sweet orange trees, originally from India. The patented orange hybrid was later sold by William Wolfskill to the Irvine Ranch owners, who would plant nearly half of their lands to its cultivation. The success of this crop in Southern California led to the naming of Orange County, California. The Irvine Company's Valencia operation later split from the company and became Sunkist. Cultivation of the Valencia in Orange County had all but ceased by the mid-1990s due to rising property costs from urban sprawl, which drove most of what remained of the Southern California juice orange industry into Florida and Brazil.

Primarily grown for processing and orange juice production, Valencia oranges have seeds, varying in number from zero to six per fruit. However, its excellent taste and internal color make it desirable for the fresh markets, too. The fruit has an average diameter of 2.7 to 3 inches (70 – 76 mm). After bloom, it usually carries two crops on the tree, the old and the new. The commercial harvest season in Florida runs from March to June. Worldwide, Valencia oranges are prized as the only variety of orange in season during summer.

The following are my opinions towards the oranges:

The colour of the outer skin of these oranges is a “rich” orange and the shapes are good. It is a disappointing thing to find that these oranges are without navels. I agree that these oranges are fit for orange juice because they are sweet, but the skin of each slice of orange is too tough to bite open.

What has happened to this bun?

Look at this piece of bun with a circular hole at its centre. It is the hard work of Elly who makes the hole.

Elly loves sausages. Whenever she is given a sausage bun, she eyes on the sausage alone. Eating only a small bit of bread, she presses her face against her target (sausage) and bites. Her drilling skill for the meat is best when the bread is soft. She is a carnivore, isn’t she? To save food, I am always the person who deals the left-over, which means she eats the meat and I eat the bread.

Summer in Greenland

It is warm in summer Greenland since it has long hours of daytime. The photos here reveal a harbour view in the southwest.

Greenland (part of the Kingdom of Denmark) has an area 10 times as big as that of England. Eighty percent of its land is covered in ice. Its capital is Nuuk (formerly called Godthab). The chief means of transport is by boat or ships.

Its total population is around 56000, eighty-eight percent of which are Greenlanders and the rest Danish and others. The people speak Greenlandic, Danish and English. Their houses are in strikingly bright colours. The National Day is on July 21, which is the longest day of each year.

吃鳳爪

昨天是八月底最後的一天，阿比和艾莉在酒樓首次食豉椒鳳爪。艾莉用手吃雞肶和雞翼已經熟練到不得了，何況是區區半隻雞腳(原因是送上枱前已被切開了)。阿比見妹妹開始吃鳳爪，馬上嚷著要吃另外一隻。

雖然艾莉今次吃的並不是雞肉，而是雞皮，但她吃得津津有味，這是可以從她滿面笑容的食相見得到。阿比見我和妹妹映相，也要我映她吃鳳爪的樣子，那是我求之不得的。鳳爪的吸引力是來自醬汁的味道，我相信兩位孫女是喜歡的。

A Mini-van

Today when I stepped out of a “W” supermarket, I was shocked to see a lovely small black-n-white van at the side of the road. From its classic design and look, I could figure it out to be a Volkswagen.

“When was it first made?” suddenly came to my mind. It seemed to me a toy car rather than a van.

I wonder how the driver drives it on the road without a number plate. Some words (Japanese and English) and numbers were written on its windscreen. Awkward enough, there was a paper strip at the metallic part just below the windscreen. Was it rusty there?

After all it is a clean interesting car. I love it. The words written on the windscreen reflect to me that this car may have been bought back by someone from a deposed car “graveyard” and have its second life.

Joshua Trees

Dated back to March, 2011, Tony found a few mysterious-looking Joshua trees before the gate of University of Berkeley, so he took a few photos of these trees and their shadows on the ground. My wife and I saw quite a great many such trees with rough barks on the way through the desert land to Grand Canyon, Arizona in 2006.

To explore more about these trees, we better refer to Wikipedia:

Joshua trees are supposed to be fast growers for the desert. The trunk of a Joshua tree is made of thousands of small fibres and lacks annual growth rings, making it difficult to determine the tree's age. This tree has a top-heavy branch system, but also has a "deep and extensive" root system. If it survives the rigors of the desert, it can live for hundreds of years with some specimens surviving up to a thousand years. The tallest trees reach about 15 m tall. New plants can grow from seeds, but in some populations, new stems grow from underground rhizomes that spread out around the Joshua tree.

The evergreen leaves are dark green, linear, bayonet-shaped, 15–35 cm long and 7–15 mm broad at the base, tapering to a sharp point; they are borne in a dense spiral arrangement at the apex of the stems. The leaf margins are white and serrate.

The flowers are produced in spring from February to late April, in panicles 30–55 cm tall and 30–38 cm broad, the individual flowers erect, 4–7 cm tall, with six creamy white to green tepals. The tepals are lanceolate and are fused to the middle. The fused pistils are 3 cm tall and the stigma cavity is surrounded by lobes. The semi-fleshy fruit that is produced is green-brown, elliptical, and contains many flat seeds. Joshua trees usually do not branch until after they bloom (though branching may also occur if the growing tip is destroyed by the yucca-boring weevil), and they do not bloom every year. Like most desert plants, their blooming is dependent on rainfall at the proper time. They also need a winter freeze before they will bloom.

Once the trees bloom, they are pollinated by the yucca moth, which spreads pollen while laying her eggs inside the flower. The moth larvae feed on the seeds of the tree, but enough seeds are left behind to produce more trees. The Joshua tree is also able to actively abort ovaries in which too many eggs have been laid.

Swinging Together

Together Elly and sister Abby swung in our public park this Monday, August 29, 2011.

To my surprise, Elly uttered “swing” to me as she first saw it. It was the very first game she chose for the morning. Abby played with other children for a while before she joined her younger sister at the swing.

變身男女 Chok Chok Chok

In one of the segments in the TVB programme “Chok Chok Chok”, the faces of the guests are split up, dragged and fused together again at a new new angle to make up funny faces.

Here they are.

Please match the face of each guest in the game with the new face formed.

必經之路

這些都是我以前讀書時走過的必經之「路」

[1]用copy book學寫大小階英文字母
[2]用鉛筆在大格簿上寫中文字
[3]用細格簿去計數，橫式直式都有
[4]當時用九因歌記乘數表是一件痛苦的事
[5]用中華牌鉛筆─紅黑或黃黑相間，其擦膠是擦不清鉛筆痕蹟的東西；從鉛筆刨刨出來成圓形的木屑片可以構成美麗的圖案
[6]因節儉的關係，把快要用完的短小鉛筆塞進去鉛筆接駁套裏面，直到無法再寫為止。

Opera House

The Opera House in Sydney looks beautiful from all sides. The tourist guide told us at time of visit that the idea of the design of the House came from slices of orange.

Here you may see the “Lego” Opera House as well as the real one.

To me, the actual Opera House looks smooth and the curvature of each “slice” of orange is perfect. The plastic one has rough, fish-scale like curvatures.

The colour of the base of the real Opera House is brown while the “Lego” one is yellow.

There are quite a number of steps on the staircase of the real, but there is none on the model.

The sizes of people are out of proportion when they are compared with the plastic house. It means that the people look too large in the model.

The lamp-posts in the model are too thick.

On the whole, the “Lego” Opera House does not look too bad in itself.

Women’s Water-polo Final at Universiade 2011

It was stunning to see the Chinese Women’s Water-polo team beat the U.S.A. team in the Final at Universiade 2011 on August 22.

A water-polo game, mixed with swimming and handball skills, is played in 4 sessions, 2 for the first half and 2 for the second half. There are seven players on each side, one of whom is the goal-keeper. If anyone who is fouled, he or she has to swim to the penalty area, a "shoulder" of the goal of his/her side (see the double white lines) and stay there for 20 seconds. For a severe penalty, there will be a penalty goal like one at the football field.

In this match between China (in blue hats) and U.S.A.(in white hats), China was on the upper hand because the goal keeper on the Chinese side was, like an “iron” door, able to catch the ball or strike it out of the way. The Chinese players should be praised for their ability to shoot the ball into the net, by bouncing it on the water surface before it went into the net or at the spot where the goal-keeper of the opponent side could not reach.

The score extended to 9:0 in the first half. The game became tighter when the Americans scored its first goal. Both sides won several goals until the end of the game. The final result was that the Chinese team won by 14: 4. The Gold medals went into the hands of this young and energetic Water-polo team of China.

Summer Activities for Elly

To two year-old Elly, her legs are not long enough to pedal a tricycle herself, but she never fails to ride on one.

On Thursday, August 4, 2011, I helped her mount onto a modern powerful-like toy tricycle and pushed her all the way from behind. I thought it was too early to teach her the rules of driving at this playground.

Besides riding, Elly likes to swing herself on a cross bar of a slide. At one time, Elly speaks into a simple communication system through the trumpet-like loudspeaker which I suppose has connected to an underground pipe that leads to another loudspeaker near by. Voices are transmitted in this way from one side to the other. Unfortunately Sister Abby was at that moment out with her mother and could not speak to Elly at the other side.

Elly gave me a big surprise that morning because she walked behind the board of a clown with three holes automatically. She jutted her face near holes one by one so that I could take a photo of her. This was her second time of showing her face for photos. Last time, I remember, she took photos with grandma through two different holes.

In one photo, Elly was playing “Up and down”. What do you think "it" should be normally called?

At home, Elly watched her favourite programme, “Sesame Street”. She loves to see “Elmo”. See her smiling face here!

At last, Abby returned with her mother, so the babysitting of Elly ended and the two kids took turns mounting onto the beautiful tricycle before they left for home.

跳水新星

今次在深圳舉行大學生運動會出現了很多跳水新星，他們都是為了明年在倫敦舉行的奧運會作熱身賽。 跳水強國中國今年不能拿盡所有跳水金牌，原因是其他國家引入中國跳水教練，令自己的國家隊跳水實力增加了不少。

所見今年跳水運動員,有很多新面孔湧現。
以下是幾位樣子不錯的女子運動員出現在鏡頭前面，尤其面貌清秀,足以參加選美有餘。

這裡有中國、墨西哥、美國、俄羅斯和烏克蘭的女子三米彈板跳水選手，當中中國和墨西哥選手囊括了金銀銅牌。 她們的名字及所得分數是:

HE Zi (何姿) (384.70分)
WANG Han (王涵) (370.00分)
ESPINOSA Paola (323.60分)

泡沫圖案

在一杯 Cappuccino 咖啡泡沫上面做出這個簡單又賞心悅目的圖案，可說是另一番藝術。

帶著笑容的太陽會令飲用咖啡者心花怒放，一切愁緒都暫時消失得無影無踪。

對上一次我在麥記見到的圖案是一個充滿愛的「心」，我希望日後可以見更多可愛的咖啡圖案就好了。

The Seventh day at Universiade 2011

China hosts Universiade 2011 at Shenzhen this year. It is still the leading country in sweeping gold medals.

Yesterday, Wang Xin (王鑫) and Chen Ruo Lin (陳若琳) if China won in the Women’s 10 m Synchro Platform. Their opponents were from Mexico and Malaysia. Thanks to their perfect “twin” match that they performed extremely well in their synchronized jumps.

Lin Jin and Sun Zhi Yi came first and second respectively in the Men’s 1m Springboard. The former beat the latter by 16.8 points which meant that Lin Jin had great performance in his jumps.

Women’s Table-tennis Doubles Final was played by two Chinese teams in which the members in yellow suits beat their opponents in red ones by 4:0.

Sun Ye won in the 100m breaststroke women swimming final with a record of 1:07.53. She had beaten her Canadian and Japanese opponents by short distances.

生日會的歡樂時光

艾莉參加Jasmine表姐的生日會，間接自己也做了主角之一，因為兩個小妮子是同日不同年出世的。艾莉的大伯婆真好記性，記得艾莉也是在八月三日這個日子出生，告訴給親家聽聽。

第一樣艾莉參與的玩意是自己最愛的波波池，從上梯級至滑下來的動作，都顯得很純熟。心想艾莉一定覺得這個約兩米直徑的池是迷你型，而她玩慣的大池面積足足有三米乘七米那麼大。這裡有一張艾莉上到滑梯頂的時候的照片，她笑得那麼燦爛，露出潔白的牙齒，足以給牙膏商賣廣告用。

對於艾莉來說，她對玩具紋身貼紙是陌生的。她初時看了幾看手中的那一張貼紙，沒有多大興趣就遞給了我。及後因阿比家姐手腕給印上一個貼紙公仔，艾莉也茫然接受這種玩意。後來她叫婆婆把手腕上的「紋身」抺去，我們相信她不大喜歡有這麼樣的「外來物」依附在身上吧。

艾莉對於真動物有點怕，例如狗隻。她對不會動的動物是一概不怕的，所以她在這個生日會騎上一隻又一隻，大概是紅鹿和鱷魚吧。

會中，阿比家姐在四處出現，和妹妹及表妹們跳舞，入波波池，也有參與音樂傳遞生日禮物遊戲─禮物是「重重疊疊」的報紙包紮著。艾莉不識玩集體遊戲，一早就退到婆婆的懷抱中。遊戲中，阿比拿到的是頭箍，而Hayley表妹弄到手的禮物巧合地是一樣；阿比曾經跑出廳外獨自看維港風景，不要我的「監視」；對於生日會的食物，阿比沒有多大興趣，相反來說，艾莉就吃了不少。到手拉糖果的環節時，阿比除了自己一份之外，也很關愛妹妹，拿多一份給她。

喜見今次參加生日會的每一位小朋友都可以得到一個美麗米奇老鼠系列氫氣球。艾莉及阿比都非常喜歡手中的氣球，一刻都沒有放開繫著氣球的繩子。

2011世界大學生運動會開幕式

上星期六，八月十二日晚上2011世界大學生運動會開幕式在深圳「春繭」舉行。
今次運動會有152國家或地區參加，運動員約八千人。
開幕式中有升旗禮、運動員列隊進場、傳遞火炬 點火儀式、運動員宣言及五花八門的表演。
文藝表演的四個偏章為:
第一章: 世界在這裡相逢
第二章: 未來在這裡剪綵。
第三章: 文明在這裡交融
第四章: 夢想在這裡起航

Sunset Apples

Today, I discover some attractive apples called Sunset apples (日落蘋果) from a nearby "W" supermarket.

Let us look briefly at these apples:

Sunset is a popular Cox-style apple, which is much easier to grow. Disease resistance is far better, and cropping is good. It is also self-fertile, which is fairly unusual in apples and means it can be grown without the usual requirement for a pollination partner.

Like Cox it is a mid-season variety, ripening slightly ahead of Cox - so ready to be picked around mid-September in northern Europe. Sunset does not keep especially well, and is best stored in a refrigerator, where it will last a month or so.

The fruit tends to be small, often with a slightly more yellow hue to the characteristic orange flush, but here the apples blended beautifully with red and green.

The flavour of Sunset apples can be very variable. There is no doubt that in principle it is quite close to Cox, with similar aromatic qualities and good sweetness. It remains a crisp and sweet apple though the flavour can be very disappointing in a poor year.

However, taking it purely on its own merits, Sunset is undoubtedly a good apple for the northern European gardener, crisp, sweet-flavoured, reliable cropping, easy to grow ... and in a good year the promise of some of the aromatic flavours of Cox too.

The quality of these apples is still a mystery to me, but I dare to find out. To fulfill my curiosity, I can’t wait to taste one before ending up my investigation report, so I cut one. Although it takes some strength to peel off the skin with a knife, it promises me with a crisp feeling to each bite, totally sweet to my satisfaction. The apples come from South Africa and from now on, I consider them as first-class apples which beat the tastes of Washington apples, Canadian apples, Chinese Fuji apples and even New Zealand crunch apples.

愛心生日餅

這個充滿愛心的生日餅是母親康妮為艾莉親手製作的，所用的蛋糕粉是由加拿大帶回來的。康妮對做這類餅富有經驗，舊年一月她特別為我和阿比做了一個生日餅，當然我和阿比尤其吃得開心。

今次餅面設計是艾莉心愛的芝麻街卡通人物Elmo。康妮用紅色糖漿做Elmo的面，白色棉花糖做眼球的部分，再用朱古力色糖漿做瞳孔和咀唇。我覺得全個餅最吸引的部分是黃色蜜桃作鼻子，因為它是最突出，軟和甜的部分；如果Elmo有多幾個鼻子，那麼就好了。我個人覺得餅面糖漿的顏色稍怪，太甜，相信美國人是喜歡的。我現在還未知道艾莉是否喜歡這個充滿愛心的生日餅呢。

Flamingos

Flamingos (紅鶴) are large long-legged, long necked wading birds with pink feathers. They live in Africa and areas eastward to NW India, Southern Europe, SW Asia, South America such as Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina and the Caribbean Islands.

Flamingos often stand on one leg, the other tucked beneath the body. Some people suggest that the flamingo has the ability to have half of its body go into a state of sleep, and when one side is rested, the flamingo will swap legs and then let the other half sleep, but this has not been proved. Recent research has indicated that standing on one leg may allow the birds to conserve more body heat, given that they spend a significant amount of time wading in cold water. As well as standing in the water, flamingos may stamp their webbed feet in the mud to stir up food from the bottom.

Flamingos filter-feed on brine shrimp and blue-green algae. Their beaks are specially adapted to separate mud and silt from the food they eat, and are uniquely used upside-down. The filtering of food items is assisted by hairy structures called lamellae which line the mandibles, and the large rough-surfaced tongue. The pink or reddish color of flamingos comes from carotenoid proteins in their diet of animal and plant plankton. These proteins are broken down into pigments by liver enzymes. The source of this varies by species, and affects the saturation of color. Flamingos whose sole diet is blue-green algae are darker in color compared to those who get it second hand. Zoo-fed flamingos, which often lack the color enhancer in their diet, may be given food with the additive canthaxanthin.

Flamingos are very social birds that live in colonies that can number in the thousands (see the photos here). These large colonies are believed to serve three purposes for the flamingos:
[1] predator avoidance, [2] maximizing food intake and [3] exploiting scarce suitable nesting sites.

The most basic and stable social unit of flamingos are pair bonds which are made up of one male and one female. The bond between them tends to be strong, however in larger colonies, where there are more mates to choose from, mate changes will occur. In pair bonds, both the male and the female contribute to building the nest for their egg and defending it. Before breeding, flamingo colonies split into breeding groups of around 15-50 birds. Both males and females in these groups perform synchronized ritual displays. These displays serve to both stimulate synchronous nesting and establish pair formation for birds that do not already have mates. A flamingo group stands together and display to each other by raising neck, followed by calling with head-flagging and then wing flapping. The displays do not seem to be directed towards an individual but instead occur randomly.

A Grand Birthday Party

It is like a miracle that two cousins, Jasmine and Elly have the same birthday on August 3. Mother Karen and Father Innes held a birthday party for three-year-old Jasmine yesterday.

It was a big party for about 12 children and their parents and the first time that four cousins could together meet in this occasion.

Besides food, there were games and lots of presents for the children. Taking photos was one of my jobs, but I found it difficult to take good, sharp and beautiful shots because the four cousins (all girls) took part indifferent activities – Elly stuck to the ball-pool with a slide, Abby and Jasmine wandered about and Hayley sitting quietly or eating beside her mother.

Calling for a group photo, Dr. Sung was able to collect all the relatives together. With this “union”, all the four cousins could have a photo together with their parents or grand-parents.

At one time, Abby and Jasmine miraculously danced in the centre of the room. Dr. Sung and some others created the beats by hand-clapping and shouts like “AB-BY, JAS-MINE, HAY-LEY, AB-BY, JAS-MINE, HAY-LEY……” to encourage the children to dance together. Hayley with her ballet legs also joined in. Elly was too young or may be a little shy. She held her grandma’s hands to dance as well.

Another big chance came when Jasmine and Elly were sitting on a rocking sea-saw. Abby joined them by sitting in the middle. We grasped this golden moment of asking Hayley to sit in front her three cousins. This photo was taken fast because I never knew when they would stand up, dismiss and mix with the other children.

The Dreamliner

The first flight of a Dreamliner (夢幻客機), Boeing 787, will be launched this October by ANA (全日空). It will fly from Tokyo to Hong Kong. From then on, these medium-sized long-distance planes will fly to and from different cities of Japan.

On December 15, 2009, Boeing conducted the Dreamliner's maiden flight with the first 787-8, originating from Snohomish County Airport in Everett, Washington at 10:27 am PST, and landing at Boeing Field in King County, Washington at 1:35 pm PST. Originally scheduled for four hours, the test flight was shortened to three hours because of bad weather.

Boeing claimed the 787 would be lighter, faster, quieter and near to 20% more fuel-efficient than the 767, with one-third of the efficiency gain from the engines, another third from aerodynamic improvements and the increased use of lighter-weight composite materials such as titanium, aluminium and carbon fibre, and the final third from advanced systems.

The planes can carry about 300 passengers each and the cabins are newly designed.

馴斑馬記

艾莉的騎術一向都不俗的，話說她歲幾的年紀在加拿大已經可以輕而易舉駕馭她那匹有彈力的木馬(有橡膠繩索把木馬凌空繫在一個架上面)。最初她是需要別人參扶上去的，稍後她已經像一位小小柔軟體操選手似的攀上馬背去了。看她騎馬時那種滿足及自信感，我也替她開心不已。

艾莉一早已經辨別出斑馬這種動物，我猜想她一定是從家中的英文ABC的書籍學回來的。

相中這匹氫氣球斑馬是韋亦信叔叔及蘇珊娜嬸嬸早一個禮拜六送結她的生日禮物，幾天來它都是精神奕奕，飄浮在半空，由下面兩塊膠片持著的；艾莉只可以看著它，想騎上它上面簡直無可能的，因為它是懸掛在空中及身太軟。

昨天早上氣球斑馬已經洩了一些氣，軟下來。在客廳坐著的我突然間發現艾莉將這軟體斑馬一下子拉了下來，極力將它按下去，情景像大力士在古代鬥獸場與獅子老虎搏鬥一樣。畢竟這塑膠斑馬飄浮不定，艾莉弄了一陣子都無辦法制服它。我耐心地看艾莉怎樣馴服這隻馬呢？結果是：艾莉把斑馬塞入去她面前姐姐做功課用藍色小桌子下面，然後跑開了。虧艾莉可以想出這個好辦法來，我真欣賞她努力不懈、絕不放棄的精神，佩服！佩服！

Looking at San Francisco from mid-air

By chance, Tony took a few photos of San Francisco from a north-bound plane to Canada on March 4, 2011. Here they are.

The sea water in San Francisco Bay looked like a mirror at that time. It reflected the clouds in the sky and everything remained peaceful. The skyscrapers in the city centre did not look tall any more, but there were lots of people working inside. The north-east shore-line of San Francisco was filled with piers. It was interesting to see some ships kept sailing in or out of the Bay area.

A Guessing Game

We had dinner at eight with our family members on August 3, 2011.

Please study the photo and guess the answers to the following three questions:
[1] There were four people in the photo. Who were they?
[2] There were eight dishes of food on the table. What are they?
[3] I learn the term “Lazy Susan” recently from TV. It appeared on the table in the photo. What is it?

Christ the Redeemer

Corcovado, meaning "hunch back", is a mountain in central Rio de Janeiro(里約熱內盧), Brazil. The 710-metre (2,329 ft) granite peak is located in the a national park called Tijuca Forest.

Corcovado hill (基督山) lies just west of the city centre. It is known worldwide for the 38-meter (125 ft) statue of Jesus at its peak, entitled "Christ the Redeemer". On July 7, 2007, in Lisbon, Christ the Redeemer was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

The peak and statue can be accessed via a narrow road or by the 3.8 kilometer (2.4 mi) Corcovado Rack Railway, opened in 1884 and refurbished in 1980. The railway uses two-car electrically powered trains, with a passenger capacity of 360 passengers per hour. The rail trip takes approximately 20 minutes and departs every half hour. Owing to its limited passenger capacity, the waiting time to board at the entry station can take several hours. The year-round schedule is 8:30 to 18:30.

From the train terminus and road, the observation deck at the foot of the statue is reached by 223 steps, or by elevators and escalators. Among the most popular year-round tourist attractions in Rio, the Corcovado railway, access roads, and statue platform are commonly crowded.

Two years old

Today, August 3, 2011, Elly is two years old. She, sister Abby and Mother Connie arrived at our home before noon. The first thing the children did was to play the toys stationed here. Next, they drank cream milk. Grandma cooked some spiral pasta and mixed it with ham and mixed fruit. The mixture was stirred up with Miracle Whip.

It was time for lunch. The children liked the ingredients of the meal in this priority:
[1] ham [2] mixed fruit [3] pasta.

We gave birthday ‘Lai See’ s to Elly. Abby also wanted hers. Grandma was so generous as to give her too. Of course, we took some photos together right at this moment. What we were looking forward to was the evening meal with a bigger party of our family.