A Field Trip (戶外教學)

#2014-0322

There's no need for Jean and me to create a teaching plan; the nature will be a much better teacher than us!

And what we did, what we're doing, what we think we'll do again, is all nothing but taking our little boy outdoors. Once he is in the nature, he can really learn something -- something valuable! Something more interesting, more fascinating, and even more important than what we can give or teach!

Look! Our little boy has had another field trip today. And Jean and I, his grandparents who are both retired teachers, have had a wonderful time walking around The Memorial Park of the Provincial Assembly together with this curious and quick-learning boy, Little Bee.

A Real Map: 「蛋花湯」地形圖

#2014-0320

Between four-thirty and five-thirty in the afternoon I took a walk near my house. The sunshine was bright and warm enough to make me comfortable this whole hour.

I was pleased about the sunshine, which made it possible for me to "see" such attractive scenes as "real maps" -- See each of the photos below. Can you distinguish the land from the water? Do you know how the water was really formed? . . .

Well, the waters, or the parts in gray or light blue that you see in each photo, are not made of water! While I was taking a walk this afternoon, I saw a huge concrete mixer (also commonly called cement mixer) parking near the spot where I halted and took a few photos as "real maps." Then I realized that this concrete mixer must have been parking there often, and that it must have been "cleaned out" before parking there for the night. In my imagination, the waste stuff removed from the mixer has formed the brooks, the rivers, and the seas or oceans!

But Jean said to me, "I see egg yolk and egg white! Where did you get these scrambled eggs?"

烏溪橋上暫停靠 -- Waiting for a Tow

#2014-0317

Antony and Anita were taking their son Little Bee back to Yuanlin, where this three-year-old boy would stay for another three days with his mom's parents. And now Jean and I felt a lot more relaxed, thinking that it might be a good idea to have an "outing" ourselves. (In the past few months I had been troubled by my waist problem and therefore she and I had rarely gone far from home for recreation.) I suggested that we should visit Xitou Forest Area or Sun Moon Lake again. But the telephone in the living room rang. We got the news that Antony had pulled his car somewhere out of the freeway exit because . . . . Oh! His car broke down and was now waiting for a tow! At the very first moment, Jean and I thanked the Lord for all of them, our offspring, were safe from a "possible accident" on the freeway. Then, as quickly as we could, we hurried to where they stayed. We wanted them to use our car for the rest of the day, and tried to drive his car back to a car-repair center run by our good friend Ming-Xun Zhou. But we failed to take the car all the way back by ourselves. We did need to hire a tow truck to pull it from Wuxi Qiao (the Bridge across the Black Stream) to Zhou's Repair Center.

院子裡開了什麼花？-- Flowers Unknown to Me

#2014-0311

院子裡有個狹窄的，長條形的小花圃，裡面所種的花草屈指可數：一棵桂花樹、一盆紫紅色酢漿草；兩棵展露青春氣息的馬拉巴栗 、幾株把頭和手探出了矮牆外的「日日春」；還有好幾叢躲在圍牆角落，葉子的形狀、大小很不一樣的蕨類植物。

這花圃中，更有一位美麗大方的「花葉小姐」，在她還沒開花之前，我還以為那是枝高葉大，卻永不開花的「葉青先生」呢！

老婆透露了一個秘密，說她在過去這段日子裡，為了不讓這棵「樹」長得太放肆、太凌亂，常常用剪子將它修枝剪葉。跟我一樣，她從沒想過它會開花。直到最近，鄰居看見她又要動手「修理」了，這才忍不住好心勸阻，說：「花期就要到了，還是讓它開花吧！」

哦！果真開出我們意想不到的，美麗動人的花朵 ---- 不管是「花葉小姐」或者「葉青先生」，都不是它的真名。我家院子裡，今兒「亭亭玉立」的這一「欉」，有誰能告訴我它的真實名稱呢？［看下面第 1 至 7 圖，知其芳名者，歡迎留言。謝謝！］

Taiwanese Folklore: 土地公的生日

#2014-0302

According to the lunar calendar, it is the second day of the second month today. And this is the birthday of the Earth God in Taiwanese folklore. Do you know what people usually do to celebrate the Earth God's birthday?

Here is an example! If you are interested, the pictures that I've shared on this page will give you some ideas about this folklore custom -- Yes, it's the Earth God's birthday celebrated in a splendid way!