Early one morning

The sun wasn't just rising (anyone know that one? Raise your hand!), but I went out for a walk, silent, mostly, so's not to wake up the whole block. Or, at least, just a few teachers. I can sing pretty loud when I want to. I actually looked kinda funny. I wrapped a length of cloth 'round my head, kind of as a shawl. This cloth frays very little, so I keep it to use in such purposes. I also carried a basket and umbrella. The basket was for collecting some plant, I call it an "herb" but I don't know what it is. It just smells wonderful. Sachet central. Anyway, that's what I was doing this morning, and there's nothing else to blog about, so I will close now. May your days be rainy and bright ;).
Saro

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures! from Kunming

December feeling

Goodness, all that's missing for December are winter clothes and Christmas trees and Advent Wreathes and Christmas lights and all that--it is raining. Yesterday was a totally rainy day, and I tell you I do not feel so worn out with China now. The rain was long due for me, and is at a perfect time for farmers. Well, sinced this's the climate, I'll let the farmers have their rain in their time without complaint. But I was worn out, for there was endless sunshine and passing showers and now I just want to be soaked.

Funny moment yesterday: Outside in the rain I almost turned into Gene Kelly. Everyone was putting their umbrellas up and not stopping, and I just stop in the middle of the basketball courts and belt out the first verse of "Wintergrace" (apologies to Jean Ritchie) (but then again, why would she read my blog anyhow?), then I start thinking, "I don't know any good songs about rain--not any with any verses even. Hm..." and then once home I got out my notebook and jotted down a few things. Stay tuned....

So I'm back in the apartment and while getting ready for showering, I sing, "'Twas in the Moon of Wintertime". But by the time I was in the shower I was working on singing "There Were Roses" allowing for really fast costume changes on my sister's part--argh, does she have anything orange?! Just a shirt, wheras I am doing the "wearin' of the green" to the utmost...green hat to hide my hair, green shirt, green socks...well, the green capris don't quite fit. Well, anyway. Huh huh huh. And as the narrator, I was sick of masquerading as a man or something so I decided to do that part as a woman or something. Long, flowing hair, flowered dress, all that. Then I jump backstage and stuff my skirt into the capris and throw on a shirt and hide my hair under the hat. Phew! Anyway, I tell Susie she's got the easier part...she's not playing female narrator and male character and she dies first anyhow. And I have to figure out how to look succesfully scared, sad and pleading all at the same time. And I also have to figure out how to keep the audience from laughing when Susie comes on stage with her ears carefully plugged--with cloth or something--because it makes sense as soon as you hear the lyric it's for. Anyway, I'm learning something about getting creative with symbolism and pantomime...by the way, does anybody have motions for the lyrics, "Well, Isaac he was Protestant and Sean was Catholic born"? There's two people onstage, one for each guy, so you could get creative. Drop me a line (on the comments page) if you've got one.
Saro

A strange happening

Yesterday, the internet was completely down after early morning. We heard it was going to be fixed by Sunday or later, but it seems that late at night it got up again. Now early in the morning! I thought that weird. Now, I realize that it's only a little after eight, they probably haven't started working today yet. Anyway, I will write everyday, but whether you get it every day is another matter.

Anyway, I've looked at my map and a lot of little dots everywhere, it seems. The big dot in Germany is me, and I know who's on the Illinois place. I wouldn't know what the big dot in the New York area is, except when I clicked "map with smaller clustrs" I found it was several little visits from a large area in the New York/Connecticut/Massachusets area (how I know where New England states are approximately when I have little idea of other areas is a looooong story, okay?).

Well, I will write soon, and as soon as I can, it'll be posted. Okay?
Saro

Hope Valley strikes again!

Hope Valley. Hm. I'm beginning to (almost) think it's a real place! Believe me, I wouldn't be surprised if I was up in Skagit county and I found it living and thriving on a slightly more realistic level. But, don't worry, I wouldn't be looking for it and I don't think it's anywhere around, either. It's just that I wouldn't be surprised, truly.

People like the O'Haras are directly based on my family and friends, but they've taken their pencils (remember yesterday?) and written themselves. My sister with a quiet personality, Susie, suddenly turned into mischevious Becca O'Hara who is a prankster and funny while she's at it. I--and actually this didn't change me much--turned into the girl who is the only one who likes children's choir for the singing and motions, Katy O'Hara. My friend Evonne who is also quiet and pretty docile (in a good sense if "docile" can mean an insult) turned into Eva Wang, a quiet girl who is just apalled at what Becca comes up with sometimes. My friend Rachel turned into Leah Nelson, the girl who is mischevious on a smaller scale and actually quite good. Finally, a teacher I once had (choir director, actually), Rhoda, turned from an Asian woman with a heart of gold, a way with kids, and big ideas, turned to Rhody, a frusterated choir director who can't seem to tame Becca and who has big ideas and always wants to practice.

These changes are not meant to make fun of anybody, but to take certain personality traits (Becky is a little trickster sometimes, I love to sing, Evonne is quiet, Rachel boisterous, Rhoda has big ideas that sometimes take a long time to learn, etc.) and exaggerate them, to make them funny, but not for ridicule, instead, to make new people with slight traits. A lot of my characters are based on people. Hope Valley was supposed to be the strongest, and it was by accident that they were veiled in exaggeration and fiction, but some people in my other story (there's a person named Amalia, besides Miriam and her friends Yolanda and Sian) are based partly in reality, partly in fiction, and then veiled purposely to hide their real bases. It's fun to do--and I must say, if you start with people you know, you can really understand your character.
Saro

stupid glibs

Being Famous today I went out of my dulcimer to go singing and was mobbed by a huge crowd of frogs. I danced to get out of there as fast as I could. I met up with Aubrey Atwater and we went to eat at Azteca. We left there and went to the tin whistle and saw something amazing. It was a large lonesome valley and we were in awe. Next, my songs came up to me and asked for my autograph and I gladly did so. Aubrey Atwater and I went to my banjo and had a sleepover. We ate SweetTarts and Chinese Microwave Popcorn. We watched Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and played Musical Chairs. Photographers tried to take pictures of us, but my harmonica kept them away. We had lots of fun and we wailed all night long.

Anyway, isn't that great?

Greetings, Earthlings! In the book War of the pianos, the main character is an anonymous folksinger who records the arrival of swans in KY. Needless to say, havoc reigns as the swans continue to sing everything in sight, until they are killed by the common dance.

Mad, as always

Well, not always. Not even most of the time, but...

A moment in the Castle FEMALE PERSON FEMALE PERSON NOUN NOUN MALE PERSON FEMALE PERSON PL. NOUN BODY PART (PLURAL ADJECTIVE NOUN

It's fun, anyway.
Saro

Of music and families

I know I want to post today, but I don't know what I want to write about. It's interesting, just writing what comes to my head. Except, now, my head is pretty empty except for a story of mine which is going out of control. I never intended to kill off this one character, but she just...died. It happened suddenly, and I think I was as surprised as the heroine was. And then the heroine suddenly developed a talent for the violin that both she and I never heard of before! If this girl (Miriam) was real, I would like to call her up and ask her, "Do you know who's writing the story here?"

Does anyone here write stories? Is this normal? Do characters generally grab the pencil and start writing? Almost literally, I mean.

Right now I'm listening to Folksounds. I really like listening to folk music, and I like to sing folk music, and all that, but then with the instruments I take Celtic music and...um...other stuff and play that. I think that even if you don't like a folk song, the origins are interesting. What I wonder, is, is this part of every American's heritage or just for those that come from the right areas? I don't know. I guess you can listen and sing that stuff anyway, 'cause I do that to Jewish music and I'm not Jewish (actually, some members of my family has this joke that they might be, and they might have a very little, but I'm probably as much Native American as I am Jewish if that has any truth to it).

Family heritage! My family is mostly German, and a bit Austrian (Emma, my great-grandmother on my dad's dad's side that neither my dad nor I ever met, fascinates me and she's Austrian) and technically, Czech, I guess, except at that point, the Czech republic was part of Austrian. Then there's the Scottish streak, except an Isaac Stuart immigrated to Canada around the right time from Ireland, so who knows? One or two of those Stuarts married into Native Americans, and you can see it in my dad, but the one time I've told somebody and they said they could see it, I was wearing stereotypical pigtail braids (and not for that reason). Whew! Well, I'm mostly German, and it's only around Christmas that that heritage interests me. Oh, sure, I'm going to study German when I have to study something, but the problem is I'm more interested in Gaelic, if you must ask! Well, German'll probably be easier...

I'd really like to know more about Great-Grandma Emma and my Scottish (or Irish) (or Scots-Irish!) relatives, hm.
Saro

I'm back!

Back from Kunming Monday morning, eight thirty and stumbling off a sleeper bus feeling a bit carsick. Ugh. It was worth seeing everybody, though, Rita, Aunt Laina, Uncle Tim and Aunt Pat, Uncle Charles and Aunt Sarah, Sandy, Kelly, and Neal. We even saw Matt, the Australian who moved from this lonesome valley (and it is, literally!) to Kunming!

Friday we ate dinner at a Cantonese place which was delicious because they had those little shrimp dim-sum balls...argh, how do you describe it? Okay, if you have a Chinatown or something, and you really want to know about the dim-sum experience (and can't wait 'til I get around to telling you) find a restaurant that advertises dim-sum, or look for one that has people pushing around these little carts. Okay? And if you want stuff like we usually eat (when we eat Chinese, I mean) go to a Sichuan place. Uncle Marty says it's similar. Anyway, this wasn't dim sum but we still had dim sum dishes. Yummy yummy. Then Kelly invited us over for a sleepover and we eagerly accepted. We played all evening, and in the morning, Aunt Sarah produced homemade boisenberry jam from the 'States (they'll probably never read this, but I thank their friends or relatives for sending a care package to Uncle Charles and Aunt Sarah including such delicious jam) to put on hot buttered toast, and some Trix to go with it. Mmmmm.

Saturday we went to the "Yannan Wind Animals Park". Actually, the proper name is "Yunnan Wild Animals park, but it's an example of "Chinglish"--that is, funny English typos, grammer errors, and other stuff some of which is from automatic translators. Anyway, the map says, "Dear visitors, welcome to the Yannan Wild Animals Park to make a sight---seeing," and the tickets proudly boast that they're for "Yunnan Wind Animals Park". There was other funny Chinglish too, like a sign on the grass, "don't trample me" and another, "Breast of Prayer Area." That made us scratch our heads, and finally, Rita said, "I know, it's supposed to be Beast of Prey!" So that was figured out. I just hope if they illustrate the signs they'll illustrate the Chinese, not the English! Oh, yeah, there were wild animals, too, including a trained monkey--

--whom I had to escape by telling the guy who wanted to give me similar treatment with it, "bu shi bu shi bu shi" and ended up stumbling into the (unlit and empty) fire pit! There were also peacocks and peahens and (enviromentalists who don't like this, this was not up to snuff with American zoos these days, but they are on the road to progress) we got to feed them. Uncle Tim and Aunt Pat gave us a photo where I have this extremely weird coaxing expression and Becky's giving me a weird look. I fed mostly the females (they were gentler) but I made "friends" with a blunt-beaked male that really liked my food and followed me around.

After that we had a special time together and dinner (two "dinners" in fact) (don't worry if you don't get it), and then we left. Sunday we had a quiet day, Rita and Aunt Laina and Matt and a colleague of Rita and Aunt Laina's, Anna, and us all went to Pizza Hut and ate to our heart's content. We had a lot of fun.

Then, at 7:00 we had a hairy bus ride, I'll betcha Daddy'll post about that, so I won't bother because I have too many songs I sang to relate, including some I can't post about. Anyway, we're home and I will post more regularly, and here's a poem about being on a sleeper bus. Title suggestions are welcome.

Did you see the night,
I ask you.
Did you see the night?
Did it wrap you gently
In its gray-blue shroud?

Did you see the stars,
I ask you.
Did you see the stars?
Were they dancing their dance for you
While you lay silent by?

Did you see the dawn,
I ask you.
Did you see the dawn?
And was it shining off the mountains
With the sheen of dew?

Did you see the day,
I ask you.
Did you see the day?
When the dawn's fresh brightness ended
And the sun shone on?

Did you see the twilight,
I ask you.
Did you see the twilight?
When the sun went down in glory
And the night started again...

The Hills are Alive...

Just watched the Sound of Music on Easter. I love that movie. Say what you will, but I love that movie and I will not be persuaded otherwise!

It's really boring around here. After Kunming (heading out Thursday night!!!) I should have something, something to write about.
Saro

SPLASH!!!

If anyone here is in Dai territory (and there may be some, in the United States) I would advise you to stay in the house. It is wet out there. We were out walking, and we were meandering through side streets to avoid getting wet. A bucket brigade got me with about three of their big buckets. Yeesh.
Saro

Correction!

Okay, my first MadGlib was terrible. But here's one that's been tested and is...well, it's not perfect, but it did work.

Spring Cleaning at Hope Valley PERSON IN ROOM (MALE) PERSON IN ROOM (FEMALE) FAMOUS PERSON KNOWN PERSONALLY TO YOU OR AUTHORITY VERB ENDING IN -ING PLURAL NOUN NOUN VERB ENDING IN -ED OLD FEMALE CELEBRITY MUSICAL GROUP MUSICAL GROUP FAMOUS PERSON YOU REALLY DON`T LIKE LIQUID PLURAL NOUN

Saro

There's another side to it

You have heard about the good things about expat life--new friends, new places, new foods...but that's all new, new new. If you have no old, there isn't much left. I didn't say nothing, but not much. And if you spend a holiday with little tradition (or none) there isn't much left. The things that depend on tradition (as some of the very important but not the most important certainly should) are meaningless now.

And it's lonely, to spend a holiday you usually spend with certain person(s) without them, even for one year. No matter what you eat, there's an empty space at the table. And the empty space at the table is one that--perhaps--will never be filled.

Well, I'm certainly blessed that Grandma and Auntie are, if not in good health, still around. For, if still alive on earth there is an invisible cord that binds us besides the ones of love and blood. But to spend Easter without them is incredibly lonely.

I feel like Tommy Sands (no, not really!) saying, "My song for you this evening, it's not to make you sad," (that song brings tears) for this little tidbit of poetry I will share with you. But that's the honest truth, don't let it spoil your Easter (if you celebrate it, I don't know exactly who reads this). In fact, to take it a step further, I'm posting it on Good Friday, instead of on Easter Sunday. Tomorrow will be busy, so I will probably abstain or just say hi...no, I can't post on Easter, okay, tomorrow I'll tell you what we would've done and will do as substitute.

Lonely Easter
A lonely dinner for two
Where six should have gathered
A festive Sunday laced with...heartache.
White-gold, spicy smelling trumpets
Smelling of butterflies...
A house, empty of them--
Empty as a long-ago grave, but there is no happiness in this emptiness.
Oh, the world is full of people
And no different in the Eastertime--
But I'd take two, if offered me;
I think they would take four.

Grandma and Auntie, we're thinking of you.
Saro

I'm goin' Mad!

Letter to a Former Music Teacher LAST NAME NOUN ADJECTIVE PLURAL NOUN PAST TENSE VERB NOUN NOUN ADJECTIVE VERB YOUR NAME

Have fun...show me the results on the comments page if you can! Feedback is welcome.
Saro

Ribbit!

The largest toad found commonly in Europe, the Bufo Bufo species can grow up to 20cm in length with a rotund body. Active mostly at night, this toad will walk about slowly, sometimes making short jumps, in search of insects, worms and other invertebrates. This makes it of great help to farmers. At the end of autumn it buries itself in the soil where it remains until good weather arrives again.

What kind of Frog are you?

I have a streak of silliness and an ex-passion for the cutest animals on earth. Wish I were a White's treefrog, though...
Saro

Spring Fever

Literally. So, between getting to bed real early and being real hot, I'm up now at 7 AM. For some of you that's late or just on time but I'm usually up at seven thirty.

Hope everybody who reads this is feeling much better than I am (healthwise, my emotional woes are actually not bugging me right now), and that they will continue to do so.
Saro

(Believe me, nothing really happened worth blogging about)

Dance to the music

Well, here I am, three or more months away from going home, and I'm hoping--this may be possible--that we'll see Balkanarama again. If that's the case, well, then--I'm going to wear a dress. Lately, I've been wearing my one spring dress a lot (it's the perfect degree of warmth and coolness) and I love the way it swishes 'round my shins, though it's not a swishy skirt. Susie, however, likes to point out its resemblance to the type of dress that somebody else wears, but I can't see any resemblance--okay, it has flowers on it. Lots of my dresses do. But despite the teasing with no grounding, I love the dress. Problem? It's supposed to be dry clean only! Well--it's been washed once, and all it did was take a certain sheen off the buttons. And in cold water and line drying (like it will definintely get here) it'll be fine.

By the way, where was I? Oh, yeah, Balkanarama. Well, I have a certain disorder that means that when I hear Balkan music live--I'm not gonna sit quietly. I'll just jam with my own dances. One time Susie wanted to dance--this was at Third Place Books--but hey, she's shy (didn't want Eva Moon to see her, I guess--this was because I found out that she saw me once and now Susie's "spooked"), so she tagged right behind me. I want to lift my leg backwards--AAAAAACK! I caught her with my foot by mistake. And I told her, "Stop it!" and she wouldn't do it. I told her that if she's sitting in the audience (in the front row like we were) she'll still be within sight of the band. She doesn't care.

Come the intermission. Susie and I are playing this crazy game, and we look up to find the keyboardist afore mentioned speaking to Mum and Daddy. Susie darts behind me, leaving me to do all the answering (because, it's interesting, a lot of times when people are standing right in front of you facing you, they will actually talk and it's very polite that you should talk back).

Well, I know that now, if we go to Third Place Books, I'm getting out there at the first song because I can't bear to sit in a seat any more.

But if we go to their restaurant venue...well, that's a different place. I'll eat the yummy Greek food before I dance.
Saro

Yessss!!!

A tune that I just couldn't seem to learn, "Hag at the Churn" has been bothering me for months. Finally, today I learned it from two different recordings, a bit o' memory, a MIDI, and finally, for the last little phrase I broked down and looked at sheet music. But that's almost by ear!
Saro

P.S. If anyone who reads this has ever heard that I used to pick up a lot of things by ear, that has not changed. A couple weeks after we packed up all our CDs, I got to missing some tunes and started playing them on the violin and tin whistle, just--like--that!
Saro again

A Link

Here y'are--you've heard that I like to fiddle with music. Well, I wrote this myself (a couple Wednesdays ago I wrote it but I was waiting to see if the link would stick).

People who seem to think everything I do is wonderful (Grandma, this means you!) can sing this to that little tune. Actually, anyone can, or nobody can, 'cause there's some slurs you have to do. Anyway, I like to do this and this might happen again. Happy listening!
Saro

P.S. Tell me that link doesn't work even if it's long after the post date. I check my comments regularly.

P.P.S. If you read this, drop me a line in the comments section, pretty please!

P.P.P.S. Yeah, I know it doesn't fit the words too well...

Just as the sun was rising

Here we are with a few little poetic ramblings in prose (what are those called) about memories...

Summer Morning
It was chilly, for it was just morning, and already the windows were open. The windows and the door, that is, and through the screen door, you could see the sun slanting on the porch. Slanting across smooth brown treated wood, golden with early-morning grace. The dew sparkled on the grass, and the clear skies in the west promised a beautiful hot day. The cherry tree out front was green and it blew in a gentle breeze. The rose bushes were laden with their fruit--that is, their dew-sheathed flowers, so red, red as blood, redder, in fact. Robins and crows sang their regular duet, the whistle of robins perfectly timed with the hoarse caw, caw of crows.

Rainy Night
Dark shapes tossed wildly where trees used to be in the daytime. The madrona and the birch, a thick stocky tree and a slender graceful one, respectively, were now a waving black mass. The streetlight shone gold in the gloom, and it seemed dripping with gold, the rain, the prettiest thing you ever did see. The neighbor's top window went out, leaving the streetlights and a few miscellaneous headlights to shine through the gloom.

I'm in that sort of mood right now.
Saro

See, your king comes to you

G.A.P.!
--Saro

Do you have a boyfriend?

Hm. Sharon says she saw me on TV. The tea-drinking program. She said that I said I liked Chinese tea better than Western tea. I think I did say that. Anyway, if I did, that's the absolute truth...

Then she said that she thinks I really came to China to get a boyfriend. I was insisting this was not so and everybody was laughing and I pointed out that I really don't like boys...okay, I have had crushes (used to!!!)...so of course I didn't want a boyfriend.

Rose said that she wanted to be a "baby's mother". She then added something to the effect of "so I'll have to get married." I thought, inwardly, "yeah, that might help," but I didn't say so. She said that if her boyfriend (nonexistant, when she gets one, she means) didn't send her a rose she wasn't gonna be too happy.

And Sharon started teasing Kirstie about her (nonexistant) boyfriend, and then Kirstie started anouncing, "I am very angry with you," which I've not heard yet, so I don't know the...I don't know...I don't know how much she really was.

Finally, at English corner, my group was begging one of the better English speakers (a teacher with really amazing English) to tell a story. She laughed and said, "You wanna hear love stories?"

I told the "Two Old Women's Bet" twice yesterday. It went over well. I will post my own version told in more complex English (though not in Appalachian dialect!!!) later, but if you can't wait, go to the library and check out Grandfather Tales by Richard Chase.
Saro

P.S. Check out the book anyway. It's a great book!

P.P.S. Now I've a dot in Georgia!

When the sun shines again

Well, it seems the cloudy spell we've been going through has ended. Maybe some people (if you lived here) would say, "FINALLY!" but I will miss the rain. I had to miss a rain yesterday because there was too much schoolwork. It's awful, when each rain in its "proper" month must become an occasion. Next to people, it's climate that I miss most of all.

My mum is doing a song, that goes "Weave weave weave me the sunshine out of the falling rain," and she's explaining that in our culture rain is sad and sunshine is happy. Well, I have a hard time with that, because while if the sun never shone it would be awful, rain is what I want from September to May. A sunbreak? Sure, but the rain is the best.

I hate living in an apartment where if I must miss rain I cannot hear the sound of it. It'll be interesting going back home and sleeping in the downstairs bedroom and maybe having to hear it outside on the porch.

Fifty-two visits since March 31st! I like this Clustrmap thing. I just wonder why people have googled or just checked out all over the midwest!
Saro

Crazily Speak English

This is no joke--the title of this post is the title of a TV show! We saw it on TV. It had this one Chinese guy, and a foreigner. The foreigner was saying things, and the Chinese guy was translating them and explaining them. They were doing "How can I..." and there was stuff like, "How can I thank you?" "How can I afford it?" "How can I accept it?", and finally, "How can I marry him?"

Now, the lao wai was supposed to say this with some expression, so he nods and says, "How can I marry...her?"

So, the Chinese guy turns around with this very weird look. They had a quick conversation, and then he says something in Chinese, probably in explanation.

Believe me, nothing happened today that I haven't blogged about!
Saro

P.S. on my Clustrmap, there is a dot in the Seattle area! That's probably Auntie, that's my guess. But who are all those people in the midwest and the rockies area???
Saro again

You know you're an expat when...

...you get a care package with chocolate jello mix in it and you eat the chocolate jello covered Pringles anyway.

Thanks, Grandma! Except for one pack of chocolate covered Pringles and no chocolate jello, everything else came in okay condition!
Saro

Poetical moods

I feel in a very poetic mood. I just finished drawing a highly symbolic picture based on Tommy Sands' There Were Roses, and drawing pictures like that, well--it generally puts me in a poetic mood.

Unfortunately, there is nothing to write about! That does pose a problem (anybody who likes to write who reads this will know this feeling, needing to write, but having nothing to write!), so I guess I'll just ramble...if something comes up, I can write about it...I guess.

It's a cloudy day today, just right for April. (even out of Seattle, "April showers bring May flowers") I'm listening to KBCS. It's pledge drive time again. Daddy used to do that, but we're kind of squeezed for money, so I doubt he'll do that right now. If he ever does again, I'm going to push for him to do Folksounds which is, without a doubt, my favorite radio program.

Random
My mind is a picture,
My life is in a tapestry.
The picture is painted on a huge piece of canvas,
Whipping around in the wind and calling,
Calling to me to see it again...
If only it weren't water damaged, so I could see it all.
The tapestry is woven on a great loom
And the threads of different people intersect
To create the picture of the world.
And when they're cut, they'll never be seen again.
Snipped threads left their mark on my picture
The only way to call them back...
For a time.

Sorry, I don't give autographs...

I've been on TV twice now, and finally saw me on TV too. The second time was what I saw on TV yesterday. The first time, I missed it. Pity!

Well, got to go now. Seeya!

'Bye!
Saro

Joy shall be yours in the morning

Hey, I woke up to thunder and lightening and rain! I got up and hurried into clothes and ran out onto the hallway balcony. A woman and her little baby were walking down the hallway and also observed the rain. I heard "dje-dje" a lot, so I imagine that she was explaining that dje-dje is very crazy and if you do that you will catch cold or something. Oh, well.

Seeing that, I just had to get out in it. I rushed back in and threw some leggings under my dress and a jacket over it. Then, in sandals at that, I went out to the gate where the vendors were setting out breakfast. The pancake lady looked very amused to see me easing my umbrella under her stand's big umbrella. I bought a pancake and went into the warm house, the rain in my hair and toes and hands, and extremely happy.

Now, the sun shines again, and the people are back to changing a verdant rice paddy into a brown and red plateau. And yet, it rained! My heart is singing. It rained! It rained! It rained!

April Showers
My feet are wet and muddy--
But I wish them so.
They're feeling the rain.

My hands hold tight to a cold umbrella handle--
But I with it so.
The rain has come again.

My nose is cold and reddening--
But I wish it so.
The smell of rain is here.

My ears are cold and wet--
But I wish it so.
The pattering of rain--a sound gone, but not forgotten.

My eyes are shining--
Because I wish it so.
The rains have come, again.

It's a beautiful day when it rains. No mistake, just a matter of personal eccentricities.
Saro

Daylight Savings Time

Nyah, nyah--in China there's no such thing as Daylight Savings Time! Thus, there's no wake-up schedule...

But things are different and we have our own inconveniences. For example, on Mondays and Wednesdays I listen to KBCS, during standard time, from 11 to 12 or 11 to 1 respectively. But now, I will listen from 10-11 or 10-12 respectively. That's actually kind of inconvenient. Also, For Better or For Worse will update earlier.

Have you seen my ClustrMap? The small dots can just mean a google search or an accidental link to it. So it's a little misleading. And the big dot in Germany is us because we need to access it through a German server. But otherwise...I'll be able to see the big Illinois dot get really big because of a certain grandmother of mine!!! But I honestly don't know a soul in Florida, South Dakota, Poland, or New York. The one up almost in Canada is probably a friend of my dad's. And the one in Hong Kong is probably a friend of my mom's. Probably. But otherwise...my dad got accidental or just checking out dots in all habitable continents. Wonder if I'll ever reach that point?

The tin whistle is going real well. I am playing a lot of Irish tunes on it, as well as one Klezmer and one Balkan and one Bach (give me any ethnic instrument and you'll get the same thing) (Chinese instruments included) (Oh, yeah, I can play a few Chinese songs on the whistle, too!). It sounds cool, except I like to add a snap and trill to a few things. Which kind of changes things.

Oh, well. Nothing much happened today.
Saro

April Fool!

Well, I must confess--yesterday there was an April Fool's joke on my blog (besides the fact that the post was just plain silly!). There was one on my dad's blog, too, besides the absurdity of the post. If you really want to know, go to the comments section of my very first post (should be at the bottom of the January archives) and read what is written there. If you have questions or comments, please post there instead of here or on the actual joke.

It's April second, so this is no April Fool!
Saro

Another poem for you

Here's another poem:

The Goat Without a Boat

Hey, now, there's a little goat,
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside,
Hey, now, there's a little goat,
Down by the riverside.
Actually it's just a little creek.

Chorus:
Actually it's just a little creek,
Actually it's just a little creek,
Actually it's just a little cree-ee-eek,
Actually it's just a little creek,
Actually it's just a little creek,
Actually it's just a little creek!

She's a-chompin' up all the grass,
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside.
She's a-chompin' up all the grass,
Down by the riverside.
Actually it's just a little creek.

Actually it's just a little creek, etc.

How'd she get a way down there,
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside?
How'd she get a way down there,
Down by the riverside.
Actually it's just a little creek.

Actually it's just a little creek, etc.

I hope there's no toxic waste,
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside.
I hope there's no toxic waste,
Down by the riverside.
Actually it's just a little creek.

Actually it's just a little creek, etc.

That's one way to avoid the trucks,
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside.
That's one way to avoid the trucks,
Down by the riverside.
Actually it's just a little creek.

Actually it's just a little creek, etc.

Now some cows got down there too,
Down by the riverside
Down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside.
Now some cows got down there too,
Down by the riverside.
Actually it's just a little creek.

Actually it's just a little creek, etc.

This song came to me as we came back from a hike and saw water buffalo grazing down by the, well, you know.
Saro