A mixed Chinese Shar-pei

Here is a female thirteen-year-old Chinese Shar-pei mixed with Rhodesian Ridgeback. She is quite protective and guards a house and backyard very well. When a stranger or car is near the house, she produces scary low-pitch growls from her abdomen. When she goes out, she often sniffs the ground and things more than other dogs.

Please note these:

A Chinese Shar-pei (沙皮狗) has typical wrinkled skin and is raised by Chinese for dog fight -- supposedly the loose skin makes it difficult for another dog to establish a firm bite on the body so she can easily escape being held down by another dog.

A Rhodesian Ridgeback is often used as a hunting dog and has very sharp sense of smell.

像水墨畫的相片

原來在煙雨濛濛下照出來的相是那麼有詩意，像水墨畫，有山巒層次，亦有夢幻水城感。

相中的摩登水警輪把恬靜的吐露港海水破開了，留下來的是漂過的痕跡。若果把這艘水警輪換成一艘孤舟配一個船伕搖曳著櫓向前進的話，是另外一番味道！

Lemon tree

It was the first time I saw lemons growing on a living tree in the garden of my old classmate, Fred. They reminded me of an old song sung by Everly Brothers:

When I was just a lad of ten, my father said to me,
'Come here and take a lesson from the lovely lemon tree.'
'Don't put your faith in love, my boy,' my father said to me,
'I fear you'll find that love is like the lovely lemon tree.'

Chorus:
Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet,
But the fruit of the lemon is impossible to eat.
Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet,
But the fruit of the lemon is impossible to eat.

One day beneath the lemon tree, my love and I did lie,
A girl so sweet that when she smiled, the stars rose in the sky.

We passed that summer lost in love, beneath the lemon tree,
The music of her laughter hid my father's words from me.

Chorus

One day she left without a word, she took away the sun.
And in the dark she left behind, I knew what she had done.
She left me for another, it's a common tale but true,
A sadder man, but wiser now, I sing these words to you.

Chorus

吃喝玩樂

親家老爺奶奶在我生日前一日非常客氣地請我飲中午茶，為我做生日，當然開心不已，這裡要說聲多謝。我們也帶同兩位孫女一齊前往附近酒樓吃個飽。

桌上擺滿蒸飯，腸粉，粥及點心。這邊廂艾莉辦完「大事」後吃得特別開胃，喝著粥也是挺開心的，表情趣怪。那邊廂阿比吃少少是循例公事。正因為距離上學的時刻尚早，要打發時間，她向我借部手提電話玩遊戲，總算得到些微樂趣！

祝大家龍年行好運

明天是農曆新年年初一，也是龍年的新開始，我在這裡借用以上幾張相謹祝大家
財星拱照，龍精虎猛，財源(像繡球)滾滾來！

鴨腳木果實

今天有大發現，一早經過火車站附近往第一城的通道。幾串紅、橙、黃的袖珍果實從路旁的鴨腳木鑽了出來，它們足以吸引我和太太駐足一看。可愛、細粒、圓渾得像小波子的果實實在吸引雀鳥來啄食。

從網上資料得知鴨腳木的花也是很小。白色的星狀花特別精緻，有天線似的五柱雄蕊向外伸展，簡直是鬼斧神工的植物設計。下面相中的果實是綠色或紫色和我所見果實顏色有很大分別。究竟差異原因為何，我尚未觀察到，或許諸君可指教一下。

可愛的芍藥

今年出現在屋苑的年花有芍藥和菊花。前者特別驕艷奪目，就讓我展現它們給大家欣賞。

這些芍藥長出的花很大，成半球狀。花瓣微妙地向內及外捲曲，中央部分新出的則捲成蛋卷狀。所見顏色大多是深紅至紫紅色。最神奇的是有一些芍藥花的花尖部分竟然是白色的，給予人一個變幻的感覺。在相片右下方那朵漸變顏色的芍藥花正是我的最愛及令我雀躍不已的特異奇花！

A Cathay plane was going to land on Sydney Airport

Thanks to Yin Ping who was busy taking photos of the landscape of Sydney from her small window before the plane she took landed on Sydney International Airport.

She was sitting at the port side of the plane, so she could see the shore line of Middle Harbour, North Harbour, North Head, South Head and the large Port Jackson. The modern buildings of Chatswood, in the centre of the photo, stood higher than the others in the district Willoughby. Further south-east was the district of Mosman.

Soon the plane flied over North Sydney. The Harbour Bridge, Opera House and the busiest city proper of Sydney could be seen. The most conspicuous building was the Sydney Tower, the tallest in the city.

From the bottom photos, the landscape of Sydney Harbour appeared indented and complicated like a maze. It comprised of many headlands, inlets and islands.

武直九

前天在馬鞍山竟然見到一架駐港綠色中國武裝直九直昇機在吐露港上空遊弋，大大小小轉了幾個圈。飛得最近最低的正是最先那一次，可惜我來不及拿相機，錯過了良機，但是它帶給我一個驚喜。所見，這直昇機最遠飛到八仙嶺那一邊。現考一考你的眼力：左上方那張照片應該隱約見到它的踪跡。

「武直-9」直昇機機是中國版的法國海豚式直升機。其動力和飛航系統十分先進。函道式尾槳，極大提高了貼地飛行的安全性。這對多數時間在超低空擦樹梢飛行的武裝直升机來講是很重要的。

「武直-9」机上的柔性槳葉在技術上相當先進。它還有2套獨立的液壓系統，提高了直升机 的戰斗生存力。

「武直-9」由于攜帶大量外掛，無可避免的增加機的重量，為了減輕重量，「武直-9」的机體最大限度地採用了複合材料，不但減輕了重量，也使它的最大航程非常惊人，達到1，000公里。同時自動導航儀和GPS 系統等精密飛航系統非常使得。但是「武直-9」也存在著重大缺陷，薄弱的裝甲和缺少夜戰能力使這種直升機在最近和將來都不會大量裝配部隊用。

功夫熊貓

最近早上艾莉和阿比愛看自家影院的功夫熊貓2，對片中肥胖胖的主角功夫熊貓有深刻的認識。

就在今個星期三中午阿比上學後，我們和艾莉往附近商場逛一逛。一個巨大的功夫熊貓忽然出現在艾莉的視線內，我試探式問她想不想和功夫熊貓一齊拍照，當然她立即點點頭，微笑著在不同位置給我擺甫士。她的甫士有功夫熊貓打功夫時的姿勢，有型有款，但缺乏力度。其實她平時不斷作角色扮演，模仿餐廳侍應，問客人(即是公公婆婆)叫什麼食物或飲品，或扮護士替我探熱，或扮木偶奇遇記裏面的木偶。這裏統統都是她看電影VCD的得著。

庫茲涅佐夫號航空母艦

最近走訪叙利亞是俄羅斯現役最新型的航空母艦─庫茲涅佐夫號(Kusnzov) 航空母艦。該母艦是在蘇聯時期(1983年)開工建造，為重型航空巡洋艦。在建造過程中吸收了約800個學科的專家參加，7000多家工廠提供了材料和設備，可謂集蘇聯科技發展大成之作。

該艦建造時期原名蘇聯號、克里姆林宮號、布里茲涅夫號、提比里西號，但1991年服役時易名庫茲涅佐夫號，舷號063。和其他俄制航空母艦一樣兼具巡洋艦的武裝，扣除艦載機仍有相當強大的戰鬥力量。現部署於北方艦隊，是俄羅斯唯一一艘航空母艦。

The Dying and Flowering cosmos

In this composite photo, there is a cosmos (秋英) plant at the edge of dying, the one inside a small white cup. That is Abby’s plant taken home from her kindergarten. Abby is supposed to look after it, but she is incapable to do that at her age of six.

The unfavourable conditions which lead the plant to death are:
(1) Lack of watering.
(2) Planted in too little soil (around 27 cu. cm)
(3) Receives inadequate sunshine.

The cosmos plants that grow in a secondary school near my home (see the other photos) are different. They are planted in pots, some arranged in rectangular shape and some isolated ones. It is amazing to find beautiful flowers in yellow and orange growing out of their buds.

Cosmos are herbaceous perennial plants growing 0.3–2 m tall. The leaves are simple, pinnate, or bipinnate, and arranged in opposite pairs. The flowers are produced in a capitulum with a ring of broad ray florets and a center of disc florets. They attract birds and butterflies. The flower colours are white, red, yellow, pink, purple or even chocolate brown.

Cosmos is native to scrub and meadow areas in Mexico where most of the species occur, Florida and the southern United States, Arizona, Central America, and to South America in the north to Paraguay in the south.

CCSC OSA新春團拜

張祝珊英文中學舊生會「聚賢閣」將於二零一二年二月四日（正月十三，星期六）舉辦「新春團拜」是次活動將有老師出席，與歷屆舊生一起歡渡新年。活動詳情如下：

日期：二零一二年二月四日（正月十三，星期六）

時間：下午二時至四時三十分

地點： 學校禮堂

活動形式包括遊戲、表演、昔日照片放映及茶聚等

Modern Titanic

On 13 January 2012, at around 22:00 local time, Costa Concordia, after three hours of sailing, ran aground on a reef just off the shore of Isola del Giglio on the western coast of Italy. The ship began listing heavily towards the starboard side and sank partially. As a result of the impact on the rocks, a 150-metre wide hole, was made.

The ship was carrying 3,200 passengers (around 1000 Italians, 500 Spaniards, 160 French and some Chinese) and 1,000 crew; in the next few days the bodies of 11 people were found. Two South Korean passengers and an Italian crew member were rescued from the ship on 15 January, more than 24 hours after the accident. As of 16 January 2012 around 16 people had not been accounted for. By 18 January, the figures had been revised to eleven confirmed dead and 23 missing.

It was originally an 8-day cruise, starting from Civitavecchia (奇維塔韋基亞 Italy) to Savona (薩沃納 Italy) , then to Barcelona (巴塞隆納 Spain), Palma (帕爾馬 Spain), Tunis (突尼斯 Tunisia), Palermo (巴勒莫 Italy) and back to the starting port.

She was built at Fincantieri's Sestri Ponente yards in Italy. The name Concordia was intended to express the wish for "continuing harmony, unity, and peace between European nations.

Elly poses

Chinese New Year is drawing near. Elly first feels its atmosphere at a shopping plaza close at home.

Recently, the public display of puppets at Sunshine City is closed and replaced by Chinese New Year decorations. Chinese costumes, embroidery crafts, necklaces, huge knitted balls and walled pictures filled the hall of display. Since the coming Chinese New Year will be the Year of the Dragon, a large beautiful dragon, knitted by high skilled craftsmanship, is displayed. The eyes of the dragon are not conspicuous.

Elly is happy to see such decorations at this time of the year and does not miss the chance of posing and have some photos taken. Here she is, holding her "Minnie" handbag, smiling and standing on both legs (she sometimes stands on one leg like a crane for poses). Whenever a photo is taken, she asks to see it.

Cartoons on Bus Advertisements

The cartoons on this bus attracted my attention this morning. The males appear fat to neck-less and the female is slim and beautiful. They are interesting and obviously make the advertisement filled with life. The theme of the advertisement is to promote tourism in Taiwan.

The cartoons here reveal the daily life of the people of Taiwan. As the advertisement says, “Enjoy the music”, “Taste good food” and “Watch fireworks”. The fireworks before the 101 building make the outstanding landmark of Taipei look radiant and show that Taiwan is a city full of attractions.

Wrinkles

Wrinkles in the sky are usually created by the jet engines of planes which leave behind tails of white gas. These tails are usually straight and continuous, sometimes thick and sometimes thin.

At peaceful sea, wrinkles are made when a boat or ship sails and cuts the water surface. The water that wrinkles creates regular parallel lines of waves to the shore.

Two Reunion Dinners with Old students

Some of my colleagues, Miss W. Wong, Miss M. Ng, Mr. Law, Mr. Fung and I attended the reunion dinner organized by Andy Ho at Wanchai on December 30, 2011 because some of our old students in the early 70's would gather to meet their classmates from Australia, Chung Hau Tim (Tim), Cheng Mei Yu (Ivy) and Ng King Por (Paul) [plus children of two families].

The students attended were, Hiu Kong Wai (Jane), Chung Yim Har (Eliza), Kwok Shuk Fan (Silina), Chan Chor Wan, Chung Yik Cheung (Raymond), Chan Chun Chung (William), Ip tak Ming, Kong Hin Kee (Henry), Leung Kwok Yuen (Stephen), Ho Yiu Ming (Andy) and Lau Kam Chuen.

During the dinner, Miss Wong shared the photos taken during her travel to India. The happy voices of Cheng Mei Yu sounded all through the night. She also called everybody for taking group photos.

Yesterday, January 9, 2011, we, past teachers, Mr. Fung, Miss M. Ng, Miss Winnie Wong, Mr. Law and his dear wife were invited to have dinner at Causeway Bay with Yeung Bud Kuen (Max) and Li Yim Wan (Judith) from Toronto and their classmates in the 70's, namely, Chan Chun Chung (William), Chan Ka Sing, Cheng Sau Kuen (Ada), Chung Yim Ha (Eliza), Chung Yik Cheung (Raymond), Ho Yiu Ming (Andy), Ip Tak Ming, Kwan Kit Man (Kitty), Kwok Shuk Fan (Silina), Kwong Po Keung (Patrick), Lau Kam Chuen, Leung Kwok Yuen (Stephen), Leung Wai Ming, Ling Yiu Keung (Richard), Tsang Po Wan (Paula) and Yip Sai Hung.

Sitting next to me were Kwan Kit Man, Kitty and Tsang Po Wan, Paula. I have not seen Paula for a long time and I was happy to see her again. We talked for some time during dinner.

Yeung Bud Kuen made a short speech, mostly in English, before the start of dinner. He looked plumper than before. He was accompanied with his wife, Judith Li.

Doctor Kwong gave each teacher a small calendar of 2012, inside which he placed an album of beautiful professional-class photos he took in China.

Californian oranges return

Starting from today, Californian oranges come back to Hong Kong.

Early in the morning, we had breakfast at Super Super (一粥麵). Before the close-by supermarket began service, I passed by, peeped through the transparent gate and saw some familiar oranges. The labels looked like those of Sunkists, but I was not so sure since I was still ten feet away from where they were displayed.

After breakfast, the supermarket had opened. There laid my favourite Sunkist oranges. I always consider them as sources of “Californian Sunshine”. These “3107” oranges looked new and fresh. They cost $9.9 for three. I chose 30 of them. My head kept saying, " If you don't them now, the better ones will be bought and taken away by other people."

Later in the morning, my wife and I turned to another supermarket and found the same kind of oranges but at a cheaper price, $7.9 for three. My heart sank a little because if I went to this supermarket first instead of the previous one, I would have saved twenty dollars.

The lesson I learned today is similar to “ Look before we leap”. It is “Compare prices before we buy.”

A Happy Lunch

Grandma announced that she forgot to bring food to cook for lunch at MOS on January 4. Instead we would have a meal at a Mc Donald’s. Our two grand-daughters cheered at the news.

As usual, it took five to ten minutes to reach the nearest Mc Donald's.

We ordered a big Mac with chips and coke, two double cheese burgers and a box of Mc Chicken nuggets (9 pieces).

We supposed Elly liked the nuggets because she loves eating meat especially sausages and ham. To our amazement, she ate only one.

My wife and I fed one grand-daughter each a double cheese burger and let them eat the chips afterwards. The result was that they ate only haif a burger.

Abby and Elly took turns in drinking the cup of coke and they were eager to eat the chips. Abby and Elly dipped the chips into the sweet sauce provided before they ate them. We, grand-parents, ate the unfinished burgers and carried away the big Mac home for afternoon tea. It seemed that we had small appetites, not the girls.

It was a happy lunch for our grand-daughters after all.

M & M Birthday Cakes

Mother Connie baked two birthday cakes for Abby since the latter will be six in a few days’ time. There is news that she will bake the third in the coming days. Three cakes are used in different parties.

The cake is made from powder cookies or biscuits and water. This ingredient is bought and brought from Canada. The hard blue crust at the top should be rich in sugar content. The eyes of the cute M & M face are white marshmallows covered by eyelids. The face is further decorated with eyebrows, pupils for the eyes and a smiling mouth, a number “6” for the age of six and the usual signature of “m” which stands for M & M.

These M & M birthday cakes are filled with love and it must be very sweet to taste.

Cirrocumulus stratiformis

Looking up at the sky is rewarding because clouds appear in various forms. On my birthday, I found these thin clouds in the sky over Ma On Shan. It is not difficult to find their names from the Internet.

Well, this kind of clouds is a type of cirrocumulus cloud, called Cirrocumulus stratiformis. The name cirrocumulus stratiformis is derived from Latin, meaning "stretched out".

Cirrocumulus stratiformus occurs as very small cirrocumulus clouds that cover a large part of the sky. This type of cloud always occurs in thin layers. There can be spaces or rifts between the individual cloudlets in the layer.

It is quite interesting to know that clouds are abbreviated and even have symbols. Let us study the following precious information from Wikipedia:

Abbreviation: Cc str
Symbol:

Genus: Cirro- (curl of hair) -cumulus: (heaped)
Species: Stratiformis (layered) Altitude Above 6,000 m (Above 20,000 ft)
Classification: Family A (High-level) Appearance horizontal layers
No Precipitation cloud

The bottom-right photo shows a plane that flied in to Hong Kong from the east and, I guessed, was heading for inland China.

Children’s camera targets

Abby took my camera while she was waiting for the school bus. I noticed that she pressed the shutter button several times, but I did not know what snapshots she had taken. Later I found that her target was this motor-bike from Towngas.

She did not take only one photo, but a series of five. The Chinese and English characters of “Towngas” were not clear in the photos showing that she could have shaky hands when pressing the shutter button.

In my opinion, it is a good idea to give a light camera to a child like Abby who may find interesting targets for photography in her surroundings. We definitely need to give freedom to a child to explore more things around him/her. We shall marvel at their "masterpieces".

News about the new Cabinet of CCSCOSA 2011 - 12

A new cabinet 聚賢閣 for the year 2011- 12 replaced 誠閣 (2010-11) last September, 2011.
The posts are listed as follows:

Chairman: Tsoi Sze Yeung, Simon (蔡斯洋) 2002 (F.5)
Vice Chairman: Fong Wai Mun, Helen (方惠敏) 1974 (F.5)
Vice Chairman: Ang Wai Ming, Wilson (洪偉鳴) 1993 (F.5)
General Secretary: Kong Tsui Yan, Jenny (江翠欣) 2002 (F.5)
Financial Secretary: Lam Yan Ki, Adrienne (林欣琪) 2009 (F.5)
Publication Secretary: Chan Kin Yu, Erik (陳建裕) 2008 (F.5)
Information Technology Secretary: Mok Chi Hong, John (莫子匡) 1992 (F.5)
Executive Committee Member: Lau Kam Chuen (劉錦泉) 1976 (F.5)
Executive Committee Member: Li Yi Lut, Lawrence (李懿律) 2008 (F.5)
Executive Committee Member: Li Chiu Lok, Clara (李昭樂) 2009 (F.5)

Coming up will be two activities organized by the new CCSCOSA cabinet in 2012:

(1) On 4th Feb 2012 (Saturday), there would be the Chinese New Year Gathering (龍年新年團拜) in the CCSC school hall. This is an event for retired teachers and alumni to gather in this special festival for Chinese.

(2) On 23rd Mar 2012 (Friday), OSA Annual Dinner will be held. Details will be announced shortly.

OSA members have been and will continue joining regular lunch gatherings for alumni and retired teachers on the second Saturday of every month in Choi Fook Restaurant in Fortress Hill (炮台山彩福海鮮酒家).

For contact, please visit:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7212514292

Suggestions or enquiries may be made at osa@ccsc.edu.hk or simonsytsoi@gmail.com. (please address to Simon Tsoi,Chairman of CCSC OSA, year 2011-2012)

My Collection of Metal bottles

So far this is my collection of Metal bottles. Yesterday evening I got the fifth bottle from Philip and Connie. It was going to be my birthday present today.

I love this new member to my group because its lovely “green” colour sprinkles my heart with delight. The moment I saw the bottle, I blinked my eyes a little and my heart jumped a little too.

To collect these metal bottles is better than postage stamps because they are long lasting unless they are scratched. The painful experience of collecting stamps is that they turn yellow and mould in warm wet weather.

The merits of these bottles go to the mysterious change of colours, the design and the slim shape. The surprising taste of coffee mixed with coke comes from the “Czech” brown-to-black bottle which is full of a language (most probably in Czech) that I never know. The souvenir bottles of the Winter Olympics in 2010 become my favourite twins. Last year I got the red bottle of Coke from Philip and yesterday, the Sprite. I have not decided yet when to taste the so called “Lemon-lime Soda, 100% Natural Flavors”, maybe on a day which I need some sweet taste.

阿比高了

阿比最近給我的印象是高了，牙齒卻少了幾隻，繪的圖畫開始有規律，形象，完全沒有胡亂落筆的感覺。一個好現象是阿比放學回家時都有餓的感覺，嚷著要吃東西﹝其實她在學校已經吃過了茶點﹞，只希望她可以吃多些，令自己沒有這麼瘦就好了。

上星期二在旺角新世紀廣場和孫女們見見面。她們和母親及嫲嫲有下一個約會，但時間尚早，大家往五樓兒童遊樂場一走，打發下時間。兩位孫女見到有得玩，當然不會拒絕啦。走在孫女後面，見到她們的頭髮是給母親結了短短趣緻的馬尾辮子。

艾莉專攻滑梯和吊橋，由母親照顧。而阿比較喜歡盪鞦韆，她選了我幫助她推高。艾莉也有單獨騎搖擺鐵馬。看見她騎著一隻有睡意的馬那種肉緊的表情，尤其覺得她特別可愛。

阿比打了一陣子鞦韆之後，轉到一個小得可憐的兒童氹氹轉，給我機會照了幾張相。她不到三分鐘，就跳到地面。一轉身又跑回去盪鞦韆。

曾有一段時間阿比和艾莉好有默契地擠在一起玩滑梯。那時候，一對好姊妹一齊滑下來，非常溫馨。

Countdown to 2012

On New Year Eve, I waited to see on TV the countdown to 2012 at the waterfront of our Victoria Harbour.

As usual, HKTVB arranged some singing, dancing and other performances to raise the new year atmosphere for viewers at home, on buildings or along the shores of the harbour.

The chief executive of SAR, Donald Tsang and his wife together with some high officials witnessed the arrival of the New Year at Tsimshatsui waterfront.

One special guest from America was invited to join the VIP New Year Witness team was Miss Nancy Ryan, the 40 millionth visitor to Hong Kong.

The large countdown was on the wall of IFC and the numbers were large enough to be seen from greater parts of the harbour.

The countdown then began and it went, “15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 " and then fire and smoke blast off from IFC and various buildings along the harbour. This signified the beginning of a new year.

Hope that the newly-arrived year will bring prosperity and good health to everyone in Hong Kong and worldwide! Happy New Year to you all!

復古色彩巴士

今午眼前一亮，我幾乎不相信自己的眼睛。從行人天橋上向下望，竟然給我一大驚喜─一部以復古顏色的奶白色頂和紅色車身的九龍巴士在總站停泊著。

最令我懷念是出現在下層車身中央那個古老的九龍巴士(一九三三)標誌。

其實這部巴士不是較新型號，而是稍為舊款的巴士，這正好配合復古的味道。這樣獨特的仿古巴士在我們的街道走，一定帶回大家舊日一絲絲的回憶！

Six Furlong

Brother Anthony and sister-in-law invited my wife and me to have lunch at Six Furlong Restaurant at Happy Valley. They said that it would be a pre-birthday lunch with me because my wife and I would be busy again in January in babysitting businesses.

Through two tunnels, facing a little congestion at Cross Harbour Tunnel at Hung Hum and up a narrow uphill road, we reached Shan Kwong Road JC Clubhouse.

This Six Furlong Restaurant has high ceiling, but not as comfortable as that of Ladies’ Purse at Shatin. [Note : 6 furlongs (an old British unit for distance) = 1320 yards]

The prices of food in the red menu had risen. I did not know if the prices are special for Christmas, but anyway eating out should be more expensive than at home.

There was cream soup or Chinese soup or duck’s meat as appetizer. The main course were beef steak or lamb chop or others. For desserts, we ordered Black forest cake, Chocolate Musse cake, cream on jelly and orange-flavoured cake.

Wow! Such set lunch priced at one hundred and forty-five dollars each. Probably it is the most expensive lunch I have ever had. Thanks to my brother’s hospitality.

A Spinning chair

Elly, Abby, Hayley found a shell-like plastic chair which can be spun round and round. Uncle HL Wat worked as the spinner. Every time when one of the girls sat inside, the orange curtain/blind was lowered and Uncle spun them as if they were on a Merry-go-round.

Hayley was the first to spin. We laughed several times when she walked out from the capsule chair on the lawn with unsteady steps. Probably she was a little dizzy after such spinning motions.

Doctor Sung suggested a method to reduce or minimize the dizzy effect. When one spins the chair in one direction, say clockwise, he should spin it in the the opposite direction, that is anti-clockwise, before he stops.

Abby was the next to try, then followed by Elly. At one time when Abby was sitting inside, Hayley and Elly attempted to spin the chair, but it was really difficult for them to do so.

Once Elly sat inside the chair and I acted as the spinner. What did she say to me inside when I was spinning the chair? Guess what she shouted to me. Below are the options.

A. Slower, slower!
B. Be Gentle!
C. Raise me up!
D. Faster, faster!
E. Stop, stop!

Christmas Eve 2011

Four cousins (in rosy pink, white, light pink overcoats and a red jumper) sat together at the dining table to witness the cutting of a birthday cake by their granduncle/grandfather.

Blowing of candles and singing birthday songs went over and over again because all the six girls at the party liked this game. Abby was the chief blower of the candles.

Finally the birthday cake was cut and shared among the diners. Elly and Abby eyed on the chocolate chips at the top of the cake and no doubt, they were given what they wanted. They ate them with fingers instead of spoons. As if a make-up, the chocolate melted at their fingers and round their mouths casting up two funny, but dirty faces.

The Green Lantern

Fresh News from Australia about a new roller-coaster

The Gold Coast theme park hopes that the Green Lantern, regarded as “the steepest inverted drop on a rollercoaster in Australia", will appeal to those visitors who enjoy gut wrenching, heart pounding, blood curdling action. Plummeting face-first down an “120-degree inverted drop" while travelling up to 66km/h is enough to turn some white with fear.

The ride on a 488-metre electric green track pulled “3.5Gs on hairpin bends". Oh, I am sure it is not a game for me, but to astronauts or pilots.

A Touch of Christmas

Here are some photos of Christmas Decorations on the window curtains of a few tall buildings in Wanchai and Christmas trees at different plazas.

May I wish, on this day of December 24, 2011, my readers especially, Felix, David, Sc, Ho Keung, Yin Ping, Connie, my students, classmates, relatives and colleagues a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and thank you all for your endless support to my small corner of writings. Hopefully I can write further on.

Elly turned into a baby Reindeer

Mother Connie put these pink antlers (hair clips) to Elly’s hair before dinner on the night of December 5, 2011. In a matter of a few seconds, Elly was turned into a baby Reindeer. Elly did not pull them off, but accepted them as funny ornaments on her hair for a while.

A Golden-coloured Christmas tree

A huge golden-coloured commercial Christmas tree is erected and placed in front of i-SQUARE, Tsimshatsui. It is not a real tree, but looks like a cone built up by golden balls of a famous brand of chocolate.

I believe there is no chocolate content inside these round balls because the heat of the sun would have melted the chocolate and turned it into a mess if there were really any.

This Ferrero Rocher chocolate (金莎朱古力) has deep-rooted in the hearts of my family because we eat quite a lot of them at Chinese New Year.

Volkswagens as taxis

It is amazing to find Volkswagen beetles as taxis in Mexico. The models of these beetles are not the latest versions like those I saw in Vancouver, but the versions much much earlier with flat windscreens. The reason for so many such green beetles running in the city was that they were very cheap at time of sale.

Deep Bay at night

Yesterday I was invited by Mrs. D. Chan, my good friend and old colleague, to attend her daughter’s wedding banquet at Deep Bay Yacht Club (深灣遊艇會) .

After chatting with Mrs. D. Chan, eating snacks, drinking cocktail and some photo-taking, my other colleagues and I walked out to a third-floor verandah where we marvelled at the beautiful night view of the club and Aberdeen Harbour.

Below were swimming pools decorated with light bulbs over trees and pavilions. Further out in the harbour were two floating restaurants, Jumbo (珍寶海鮮舫) and Tai Pai (太白海鮮舫). Both restaurants sparkled with bright light. On the shore, on my right, were two piers where shuttle boats were carrying tourists to and from the restaurants.

Without such a chance of visiting the Yacht Club, I would not have taken such night-view photos.

Mrs. Garfield (Flower)

我發夢都估不到原來花也有嘉菲太太之稱。

這裏照片中高貴優雅帶有粉紅色花朵的朱頂蘭正是嘉菲太太。四朵同高度的花長得很奧妙，剛剛向著東南西北四個方向, 擁有指南針般的功能。

朱頂蘭的花莖通芯，花朵較大（13-20厘米）； 荷蘭培育品種先出花後出葉；南非培育品種先出葉後出花，其他品種多數花葉並出。 不同品種在不同季節開花，春夏秋冬都有，通常一年一次，少數一年兩次，有常綠及休眠兩種。

朱頂蘭較早在南美洲被發現並帶返歐洲培育；十八世紀開始，由荷蘭人大量地培育用作商業買賣，所以一路以來園藝培育的品種愈來愈多。

不同的朱頂蘭原生環境差別可以很大。Hippeastrum elegans 來自溫暖濕潤，陽光充沛的草原，Hippeastrum aulicum 卻附生在樹枒之上，樹蔭之中；有些品種的朱頂蘭長在懸崖峭壁，另外一些又會長在沼澤或河邊。

東南亞地區例如廣東，福建，台灣，馬來西亞等，水土和氣候都很適合朱頂蘭生長，並且能夠露地越冬。很多品種的朱頂蘭在這些地區都只會半休眠，甚至不用休眠。

3-D spectacles

Little sister Elly wore a pair of 3-D spectacles after taking her nap in the afternoon of November 29. I did not know how and where it came from. The paper spectacles were of the very primitive kind with one lens red and the other blue. Elly asked me to help her put them on because the thin blades did not fit well on her ears. The spectacles were supposed to be tightened by a rubber band round the head at the back.

Elly considered it big fun to add something new to her eyes. Since Elly did not watch any book, film or TV which is designed for three dimensions, I guessed she would soon become dizzy with things that were mixed with red and blue colours at her eyes. Luckily she did not wear the spectacles for long, otherwise the latter would make her eyes confused for a short time.

After school, big Abby picked up the same spectacles and put them on at her forehead for different poses. She just spent little time in wearing it too.

I remember that when I was watching 4-D “Shrek” inside a theatre at Universal Studios, LA, the spectacles were made of plastics and they were definitely more comfortable and enjoyable than those paper ones Elly and Abby wore.

Latest news: The ends of the blades of the paper spectacles attaching to the rubber band were gone because either Elly or Abby had torn them with force.

The Lacerda Elevator

The Lacerda Elevator is one of the most interesting spots in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Since Salvador was so populous a city for most of its history, city planners tried to figure out ways to help transport people to and from work over the rough landscape. The Lacerda Elevator was devised as a solution for moving workers from the harbour to the city proper. It is situated in the Cayru Plaza in the neighborhood of Comércio next to the Modelo Market, and connects the Cidade Baixa (Lower City) with the Cidade Alta (Upper City).

It first appeared in 1873 and became electric in 1907. By 1930, the elevator was renovated and expanded. Still working and transporting people over 130 years, the Lacerda Elevator is a must on any trip to Salvador. Built by Augusto Frederico de Lacerda with steel imported from Europe, the elevator was actually the most important method of transport in those times. Today it is estimated to carry approximately 30,000 passengers per day. It costs 5 centavos to ride the elevator and the entire trip lasts about 30 seconds.

At the top of the elevator, tourists can see a beautiful view of the harbour with luxurious yachts and boats anchored inside a shallow-watered typhoon shelter. The sea water beyond is in darker blue.

Elly’s first interest on birds

It was the first time, on November 18, that Elly saw a sparrow walking on the floor of a wide footbridge at an estate. Never had she seen such a small creature so closely with her eyes. She was holding her grandma’s right hand, so she was never afraid. She watched every move of the sparrow with interest. Her smile showed that she would like to accompany the bird and be her friend.

I was busy taking photos of her at that moment, not knowing if she spoke to the bird or not. The little fat sparrow, on the other hand, was not scared by the approaching couple. It did not fly away immediately, but remained calm as if it knew that there was no threat. It hopped a little towards the open and at last jumped to the railings and flew away to join its family.

Ayers Rock

Ayers Rock 艾爾斯岩 (Uluru 烏魯魯) is a large sandstone rock in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia. It lies 335 km south west of Alice Springs; 450 km by road. Uluru and Kata Tjuta (卡達族達) are the two major features of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (烏魯魯卡達族達國家公園). Uluru is sacred to the Anangu (阿倫特人), the Aboriginal people of the area, and listed as a World Heritage Site (世界自然遺產).

Uluru is one of Australia's natural landmarks, 3 km long and 2 km wide. The sandstone rock stands 348 m high with most of its bulk lying underground, and has a total circumference of 9.4 km. Uluru is an "island mountain" left after the slow erosion of an original mountain range.[Uluru appears to change colour at different times of the day and year, most notably glowing red at dawn and sunset.

To look at the rock, instead of walking, riding a camel and a helicopter are more comfortable choices. Ayers Rock Resort and Ayers Rock Airport provide respectively nice lodging and fast access for tourists around the world.

棘海棠

最近在屋苑公眾花園的「展覽舞台」喜見兒時日日見的棘海棠(鐵海棠)。那一刻的它立即勾起我往日觀花的閒情逸緻，原來小小別緻的紅花及佈滿尖刺的莖，巳經足足陪伴了我十幾個年頭。

根據資料，這樣的常綠灌木，全株可達2公尺；莖幹粗肥有溝，密生黑色棘刺長2至2.5厘米。當年，我每每步步為營地將長出的新莖穿插在舊有的之間。一不小心的話，那些刺的確可刺破手指.

葉子少數生於嫩枝頂端，倒卵形至長橢圓形，長2.5至4.5厘米，兩面光滑，革質，葉柄短。花序有長花軸，長在枝梢葉腋，總苞2片對生卵形鮮紅、粉紅或黃色，花期5至9月。花苞顏色有紅、黃、橘、粉紅、白色等，而我見到的始終都是紅色的。 我希望日後可以見到其他顏色就好了。

有時，花中心湧出蜜汁；雄蕊有花粉，雌蕊有花柱。總苞片與花序之間有黃色蜜杯4至5個，吸引昆蟲來吸食花蜜及傳播花粉。果實又綠又圓，但我還未親眼見過。若果莖有任何破損或折斷的話，立即流出白膠槳似的汁，像受了傷流血一樣。不過我估計這些汁液十居其九是有毒的。