The 56th Anniversary of NNCS (投商校慶)

#2011-0506

南投高商創校 56 年校慶，我受邀返校參加慶祝大會並擔任「創意化妝遊行」評審，倍感榮幸與欣喜；因為，此乃我一生中，任教為時最久（長達 22 年）之職場也。藉此良機，與「舊雨新知」會面寒暄，不亦樂乎！

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New Era Art Resort (牛耳藝術渡假村)

#2011-0504

As Mother's Day (the second Sunday of May) is approaching, my sisters and I as well as my brother-in-law organized an outing for our parents to New Era Art Resort (NEAR), which is located in Puli, Nantou County.

NEAR is usually called "Niu Er Shidiao Gongyuan" in our language, literally meaning "Cow Ear Stone Sculpture Park." There are numberless stone sculptures displayed indoors and outdoors. Most of them are such "animals" as pigs/boars, cows/oxen, hens/roosters, sheep, deer, and horses.

Obviously my parents and I were interested in these stone works under the trees. But my sisters seemed to prefer the Tung-oil blossoms -- It is now the season when Tung-oil Trees (油桐) are blooming! [Note: The last three pictures are taken by my brother-in-law.]

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宗盛和阿祖

#2011-0503

我在樓上書房，正在看網路新聞，說什麼「掀起美國 911 恐怖攻擊事件的主謀賓拉登 (Osama Bin Laden) 已經被美軍殂擊死亡 . . . . . 」突然聽見樓下傳來小男孩清脆的叫聲：「姑婆！姑婆開門！. . . . 請開門 . . . 我們來了！」我立即關機，下樓來，跟老婆一同到門口迎接客人。老婆（宗盛的二姑婆）早已把客廳的門打開了。

宗盛和阿祖今天到霧峰來，是住在清水的大姑婆（阿祖的大女兒）開車載他們來的。他們三人同行，大人們來台中辦事，小孩子跟班，似乎稀鬆平常的事。我倒是被這個「小不點兒」的能言善道----超成熟的語言表達能力----給嚇了一跳。才幼稚園小班的年紀，竟然講話像大人似的，措詞豐富，語句流暢。（再過一些時日我的孫子「小蜜蜂」是否也是如此呢？）

我突然覺得，自己現在更喜歡小孩子了。從前的人把自家小孩稱作「小犬」之類的----英語用 kid (小羊) 表示「小孩」的意思，是不是因為「小狗小貓小羊」比「大狗大貓大羊」還要可愛？尤其宗盛，特別貼心，據他阿祖（我的岳母）轉述，前幾天她老人家走路跌了一跤，緊跟在身邊的宗盛立刻就說：「阿祖！我扶你起來 . . . . 以後你走路的時候，我走在你的後面，我可以照顧你！」

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