Wufeng Lin Family Mansion

#2021-0920

中秋節前一天，遊賞霧峰林家宅園 . . . 

It is the day before the Mid-Autumn Festival -- "Mooncake Festival" -- that we had an enjoyable (and memorable) visit to the Wufeng Lin Family Mansion.

Our good brothers and sisters at St. James' (including Dr. Annie Y. Tsai 蔡亞平 and her friend Jessica Wang 王友箴) came to us and, as Jean had suggested, we went together to the national historic site near our house. Another good friend of ours, Mr. Fuli Lin 林福立, acted as a tour guide telling us lots of stories -- which he would rather called "history" -- of the Lin family and about this remarkable architectural complex (See the first photo below).

We were especially impressed by the splendid and magnificent buildings such as 宮保第 (The Hall of Gongbaodi) and 大花廳 (Great Follower Hall)!

Later in the afternoon we walked up 望月峰 (Wangyue Feng, the Moon-Viewing Peak) and enjoyed the beautiful sunset. Jean and I had planned to entertain our brothers and sisters with some more Nice Chat during the simple pizza-and-bamboo-soup supper after the sunset; however, they said they had to leave right then. -- "Goodbye! Goodbye . . . until next meeting! . . ." We thanked each other for having spent such a good afternoon together, and we also thanked the Lord.

= = =

相關文章 (See also)：

1)  Playing for Formosa (再現風華)     (2018)

2)  春遊 ~ 霧峰林家花園     (2021)

3)  "走春" ~ 到霧峰林家     (2021)

A Special Joint Birthday Party

#2021-0912

As soon as the Morning Prayer* at St. James ended, Jean and I returned to Dajia, where her mother (my yuèmŭ or zhàngmŭniáng) gathered all his children and their spouses today for a special Joint Birthday Party. 

My yuèmŭ told us about the Birthday Party: It was originally meant to celebrate my brother-in-law Zhonghe's birthday; he's 70 years old this month. But my mother-in-law, who is 92 now, said she didn't really know if she will still be alive when the rest of us are 70 . . . 

Anyway, she decided to give each of us a present for the 70th birthday.  So now, when celebrating Zhonghe's 70th birthday, she fulfilled all her wishes ahead of time -- she has given each of us a big hóngbāo** (very big, indeed) to celebrate everyone's 70th birthday!

Note: 

*     We usually have Holy Eucharist at St. James' Episcopal Church on Sundays, but this morning we had Morning Prayer instead because Rev. Lily was asked to help at the Church of the Leading Star and no other priest could come to preside over the Eucharist.

**    The term hóngbāo literally means "red envelope": You may click and see the explanations in the Chinese or English Wikipedia for more information. 

= = =

相關文章 (See also)：

1)  A Joint Birthday Party    (2021-0826)

2)  Happy Birthday to My Mother-In-Law     (2021)

3)  岳母九十歲生日快樂 (A Birthday Party)     (2019)

遇見表姊、表姊夫

#2021-0905

那天，遇見幾十年未曾碰面的表姊和表姊夫，是在大姨媽的喪禮告別式中。他們是我二姨媽的女兒及女婿，也來參加這場親戚攸關，能喚起好多共同回憶，且屬於人生歷程中至為重要的禮儀。

受到疫情影響，族人親友來參加追思奠禮的，都戴著口罩，似乎也都刻意減少交談。而家祭過程中（註：訃聞上僅寫明家祭時間，並未出現「公祭」一詞）大姨媽的子孫，身著黑袍，人數眾多，除了幾位年紀較長者坐（立）於室內（採取「梅花座」）之外，其餘晚輩們都列隊站在門口外，依序禮敬。那些站立於門口的年輕人，氣質不凡 ---- 顯然很有「都市青年」的氣質，我心想，若哪天路上相遇，彼此能認得麼？答案必是「相見不相識」吧！

雖無「公祭」之設，但「家祭」時，禮廳一旁已有不少親友 (good friends and relatives) 等待著參祭、致敬；我和大弟也在其中。其中有一女士，不時望向我和大弟這邊，雖然她戴著大大的口罩，可是眼神 "似曾相識" 就好像印象中二姨媽那樣，雙眸蠻漂亮的。我心想：「那會是誰呀？」

.........

（「會是誰呀？」答案 ➔➜ 在本文第一段，或見於下列 "相關文章"。）

= = =

相關文章 (See also)： I Miss My Mom and Her Sisters and...

《九二咖啡》附設 Kám-á Tiàm

#2021-0903

 

九 二 咖 啡 故 事 館

附設 Kám-á Tiàm

(白話字 / 台語發音)

What's a Kám-á Tiàm? Here's a Chinese definition: "雜貨店; 販賣日常零星用品的店鋪." In English it may be understood as a grocery store [AmE] or grocer's shop [BrE] -- also referred to as a dime store, variety store, or general store in American English. Anyway, it is called Kám-á Tiàm in Taiwanese; "kám-á tiàm" itself is a typical Taiwanese pronunciation.

Today the four of us -- Xiuzhi, Xiuqing, Jean and I -- visited the 92 Coffee (九二咖啡故事館) again. We were surprised to find they had set up a new and special Kám-á Tiàm right next to the romantic coffee house where we spent even more than four hours today enjoying ourselves -- chatting and chatting, as well as having lunch and coffee and other drinks! Finally, just before we returned from the 92 Coffee, we entered the newly opened grocery store again and bought quite a lot of things.

= = =

相關文章 (See also)： The 92 Coffee     (2020)

開學 + 祝福

#2021-0901

９月１日「開學日」，兄弟二人準備上學去。

今天是小宣 (Little Shine, also called John) 進入國小就讀（同時哥哥升上五年級）的第一天。猜想他（們）一定很興奮吧！

身為爺爺奶奶的，跟小孩的父母一樣，由衷祝福這一對寶貝兄弟 James and John -----

~~ 上學愉快、學習認真、品學兼修、進步再進步！~~

(Thanks to Anita for sharing these photos with me.)