生態霧峰 (Ecological Wufeng)

#2019-0415

生態霧峰？..... 還是霧峰生態？.....

這些日子，我習慣午睡醒來就整理行囊，備好茶水之類，趕著踏出家門，走入燦爛的陽光裡。目的是尋覓一處似曾相似、又有點陌生，好像跟睽違三十年的老友再次相遇，彼此實在不知應聊些什麼，卻是「話匣子」一開就沒完沒了的那種「境界」。

一路上，兩眼四處瞧，已經夠忙的了，而腦海裡的思緒，更忙，好比快速轉動的電影畫面，一幕幕，瞬間變換、跳接、轉進、甚至新舊不分，虛實難辨。同一時間想到未來，也想起從前。有許多「昨日事」揮之不去，歷歷在目；而眼下（腳前）的真實情況，竟然也敵不過前方遠處的「風景」-----那引人入勝的景和物啊！在陽光照射下，真的很絢麗，夠有意思。

然而，光彩奪目之餘，我的心，也被逐漸低垂的夜幕給籠罩了，因為我在外頭遊蕩已久，時間在不知不覺中溜走，消逝。已經是大多數生物（生態）由動而靜，漸次回巢休憩的時候了。此時的大地，慢慢失去原有的溫熱色彩，而另一群生物（例如「阿罩霧」的貓頭鷹）卻正要活躍起來，牠們蠢蠢欲動，躍躍欲試，並不擔心天變黑、地轉涼。

牠們-----哦！是他們！他們的熱情和勇氣，讓我有種奇特的感動，於是，我開始注意周遭的「小細節」，比如說，園區小巷道上，有個大大的黃色字，「慢」；又例如天橋的上、下、前、後，有多少強弱不一、各具特色的燈光組合；還有，那..........

誰能細數「霧峰生態」呢？..... 這可是道地的「生態霧峰」咧！

Palm Sunday (棕枝主日)

#2019-0414

Holy Week, the week just before Easter, is already beginning.

We celebrated Palm Sunday this morning at St. James’—this was the first time St. James’ English congregation included the Liturgy of the Palms (The Book of Common Prayer, pp. 270–272) in the Palm Sunday service. The Chinese congregation here, however, has it every year on Palm Sunday.

Many thanks to Ms. Catherine Lee for the photos she took and shared (see below). Thanks also for her preaching in the English service today! ...

Note: The Sunday of the Passion is also known as Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is a Christian movable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. It initiates Holy Week, the last week of Lent.

故鄉的茄苳老樹

#2019-0413

感謝妹妹和妹婿，他們常利用假日帶（載）媽媽到不同的景點去逛一逛、散散心。對於 "中台灣" 有哪些好玩的地方，他們顯然比我和琴更瞭解；而如何「玩」（正面意義的動詞！）也比我們經驗豐富。

有一天，他們帶（載）媽媽到國姓鄉北港村去看一棵茄苳老樹。那棵樹矗立在「北圳步道」旁，乃是龐然巨物，根據描述，樹圍達 6 公尺，要四個人才能環抱，樹高約 20 公尺，樹冠面積達 300 平方公尺，地方推測樹齡已超過 300 年，已列為南投縣珍貴老樹進行保護。

令我興奮的是，國姓鄉 "北港村" 就在 "長流村" 的隔壁，兩村僅一山之隔，而後者（長流，又稱 "水長流"）便是我的出生地，我童年生活的村子。從小到大，我未曾聽過有那麼一棵茄苳老樹，就在離家不遠之處。

這回與媽閒聊，我問她對那棵樹有何印象。她說，先前從未聽聞，一直到親眼目睹的那一日，她才「知影」(tsai-iánn; be aware that ...) 那是很特別、很有趣的一棵老樹，樹身有個大洞，穿過洞，可以清楚地「看見台灣」！

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The following information is taken from Wikipedia

(以下資料分別取自英文及中文維基百科)

Bischofia javanica, or bishop wood, is a plant species of the family Phyllanthaceae. It and the related Bischofia polycarpa are the only two members of genus Bischofia and tribe Bischofieae. These species are distributed throughout southern and southeast Asia to Australia and Polynesia -- also in North America (brought to North America as a decorative plant but now considered to be an invasive species). The tree is commonly used by tigers to scratch-mark territory in the jungles of Assam where it is locally called uriam. They also occur in southwestern, central, eastern, and southern China, and also Taiwan, where aboriginal people consider it a sacred tree.

茄苳 (學名：Bischofia javanica)，亦稱重陽木、秋風、萬年青樹 (雲南元謀)、赤木 (日本、山東、安徽懷寧)，茄冬、加冬 (台灣、福建)，秋風子 (江蘇)，木樑木 (廣西蒼梧)，加當 (南京)。為大戟科重陽木屬的常綠大喬木。

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底下這張照片

《媽媽的菜園》

Little Boys Enjoyed an Outing (那日我們走過阿罩霧歷史廊道)

#2019-0411

I have formed a habit -- a very good habit, I think. When my grandchildren Little Bee and Shine (or more formally, James and John) are together with me, I will usually take a few pictures of them, so that I can "recall" them easily later while they're far away from me.

Now they are in Taipei City, so far away from me again. I suddenly thought of them. And I took out some photos of them and enjoyed seeing (with my eyes) what we had done a couple of days ago. On the morning of that day we went through Ataabu Park (阿罩霧公園) and visited the Provincial Memorial Park (省議會紀念公園) and finally came home via a particular footpath named "Ataabu Historical Passage" (阿罩霧歷史廊道).

It's obvious that my two grandchildren are very imaginative and creative. All the way out, they kept talking with each other about what they imagined they were doing.