Today is the first day of the Lunar calendar and it's the Year of the Dragon. I wish everyone a very happy and blessed new year ahead. Here are some of the things that I enjoy each year to ring in the new year with Mark. The green rice cake is a tradition for this holiday. My mom has made this every year as long as I can remember. She's not able to make them anymore but she can oversee my older silblings making the cakes. They did a great job and we sure are glad they took on the project. It's about the equivalent of making tamales here in this area. Labor and time intensive but well worth it. The ancesteral table holds offerings to those who have passed on already that they will watch over us and bless us this year.
From happy, happy us. Here's to a wonderfully crazy busy 2011 - let's hope 2012 will be even better, filled with more adventures I will share with you all here. I hope to be able to do a better job posting to this blog - that's my one resolution! :) Meanwhile, be careful out there and be safe. Meet you back here in 2012, my friends.
Happy 2011 everyone! I thought the new year deserved an appropriate new shot. This is our new county justice center. It actually opened a little while ago but I had forgotten to show it to you. I like the color and the modern look. And behind here is the Walnut Creek project, which I posted on before and which I need to update this weekend if I have a chance to go photograph the progress. It's all coming along nicely.
Hope your year is off to a great start and that you have a wonderful year ahead. I'm off on a work trip soon so not sure when I'll post again. Take care, in the meantime.
Today was the best way to wrap up 2010 - spending it with family. I hope you also got to spend some time with those you love as we wind down this year and welcome 2011. We got an awesome visit with our Mark's uncle and cousin and his wife. We don't to see them very often and it had been too long. Granpa, as we affectionately call our uncle, started keeping bees with my honey bee about thirty years ago. I have loved listening to all their crazy, fun adventures and they never fail to make me wish I had been there for the entire ride.
Granpa is getting up there in age so we appreciate any time that we get with him. To see him out in his element with the bees was a truly amazing gift for which I cannot even begin to express my gratitude. It's moments like today that make life worth living. I hope you have many of those in 2011 and I hope we will also.
Thank you stopping by here and checking out my photos and my talk. I met some of you this year and it really always made me wish I had more time to devote to roaming the city and countryside in search of things to share with you here. And just when I think I should hang it up since I'm neglecting this too much for my taste, one of you tells me how much you enjoy the blog, even now that it's sporadic in posts...and then how can I bring myself to stop? It really means a lot to me and I just wanted to thank you for all your kind words this year. Happy new year, my friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today is a big day for many Asian people -- it's Lunar New Year and this year is Year of the Ox, one of twelve Chinese zodiac animals (sort of like Capricorn, Taurus, etc.). Though I had to take off for Dallas today, we took time to celebrate the new year together before Mark dropped me off at the airport. I had a wonderful weekend with my darling man -- even went to the Hong Kong Market in Houston for some goodies. These are persimmon cakes; I'll have to let you know how they taste as we haven't tried them yet. Below is a shot of the flags we saw as ate lunch at Pho Saigon in Houston, on Bellaire. (BTW, the food there is FABULOUS!) I included the shot because I am so happy to be Vietnamese, American and Texan (and I'm still North Carolinian, though I'll never be a Tarheel -- those of you who know of the NC State/Chapel Hill rivalry understand where I'm coming from on this.). LOLI hope everyone has a wonderful week and a great new year. I love having the opportunity to celebrate two new year's days. And as my niece Clair said this evening, it's not every year we get to have two celebrations in one month! (Lunar New Year's day changes each year based on the moon phases.) Good thinking Clair!
