Snow day Express

Blizzard last night turned out to be a chaos to the city transportation. When I struggled to get up this morning, I thought about calling the office to check out if it's a snow day off today, but I let this thought slipped.
So,

• cons: there're only 3 people coming to work in the office and a boss arriving at noon makes 4 of us;
• pros: I brought my D80 and got chance to wander around midtown Manhattan in a very special work day.

A memo on the door,office building is closed for today.

Q and D80 in front of Roosevelt Island subway station, taking F to work.

People passing by are helping to push a poor car out of snow in 5th Ave. midtown Manhattan.

(Consider brave driver for the day.)

New York Public Library at 42nd St. & 5th Ave.

Pedestrian's world in midtown today.

All information boards are blank and all lines are suspended in Grand Central Station.

Only this little guy doesn't really care.

another Christmas, another year

Christmas weekend, it's so called "Blizzard" outside now. The sidewalk downstairs has been covered by snow, a late white Christmas fairy tale. In yellow dim light, surrounded by Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, those pieces left somewhere in the corner are coming back together, all about holiday...

"Christmas 2006, Light Rain, 5:03PM

This is the first diary after I came here, I think maybe I should use English to record my life here, though it’s possible to filter out some subtle feeling in this second language. But anyway, it’s at least a real situation for me. (...) I found it here, and could enjoy it most of the time in this small space in 66 square feet. (...) But, now I want to ask myself a question __ is this what I’m looking forward to. (...) The more peaceful the surrounding environment is, the more complex my mind is. I don’t know why I’m going on typing these words. One year ago, I… "

A file was digged out from my old laptop, it started with these words. I guess I was trying to catch some thoughts. But as the broken sentences, whatever feeling behind has got too blur to recall. It's like reading someone else's words, except it was about my first Christmas in New York, four years ago.

The file didn't continue as it supposed to be as a diary. Words are not really my thing, and I'm not a "diary person" after all. However, with the help of images, I got pretty fresh memory in the two following X'mas, both in the Cathedral of St.John the Divine.

2007, a flickr pro membership as X'mas gift led me to my La La Land. Thank you, J!!! 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8499133@N02/sets/72157603569427157/

I spent the whole afternoon in the cathedral, listening the story of how Jesus was born and watching angels passing by.
This was my first Christmas in a church.

People were waiting outside the church for very limited seats (only one third of the cathedral was open to public then).
This was my first time in a Christmas Eve Mass.

2008, a heavy raining Christmas Eve before I left for my first vacation back home.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8499133@N02/sets/72157611624726376/with/3135190638/

People were sharing Body and Blood of of Jesus during ceremony.

Then it came the 2009, a pure white Christmas after a lovely Eve in country house, just as I had always dreamed about since I was a kid.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8499133@N02/sets/72157623090826228/
  

It was like two days ago, we were in this house.




Just passed midnight.
Sidewalk has blended into the street. Only a trace of footprints can define where it used to be.
Tomorrow is another day, next week is another year. I'm wondering how is my next Christmas going to be...

"poise"

After almost three months of post-travel posts, I'm feeling a midterm break now, with zero possibility to wrap up my travel series in this calendar year anyway... [shame on myself :(  ]

However, life is still going on. Since I got a smartphone this summer, I have been growing a new habit for myself - reading news (serious news not just celebrity gossip or wacky/miracles...). It's actually an old habit taking time to recover, but instead of on newspaper or TV, I'm now on a 4.2" screen.

I noticed the word "poise" while ago. Just like how I treat all the other unknown English words, I guess its meaning out . The difference this time is that I'm running into it almost every day recently, across politics and business sections. Furthermore, the context in the article can never tell me if the action was taken in a positive or negative way, everytime when I'm so itchy curious to see which way to go regarding the national-wide new policy or global economy. So I finally got over my laziness and looked this word up in Merriam-Webster. Here comes the best definition,

"balance; to hold supported or suspended without motion in a steady position"

Seems I was all silly about trying to pick a side and follow the lead in this unpredictable world.
(By the way, this reminds me an old Chinese saying - " Handle all changes by no change".)

[35-Days Trip 2010] Bamboooooooo

I guess what I would like to say here has beyond my limited vocabulary, Chinese and English. So, let the picutre speak for me...

[35-Days Trip 2010] Refresh @ HongCun and more [continued]

Overwhelming memories and flash-backs had soon been taken over by a fresh morning in the next day. This was the start of a new day when I opened my eyes...

Slightly surprised to see solar panel and A/C units in this unique scene framed from the attic.

Rice cake, fried dumpling, congee and home-made soy milk, my breakfast menu hadn't been so long and yummy for years...

Life in these coutyards are just as relaxed and peaceful as my breakfast.

Athough the flying time has been recorded well in all these pieces.

I'm not sure how long this couple has remained in the village, and in which corner of the world they will settle down after leaving this antique store.

[35-Days Trip 2010] Déjà vu @ HongCun

A friend told me that when someone starts recalling memory and feeling nostalgic, that means he/she is getting old. Somehow I remember this conversation happened when I was in junior high, on the way walking back home along the street in front of my home in Shanghai, where Phoenix tree's branches and leaves covering the sky above.

Summer in 1996, I was on the top floor of LiuHe Tower in HangZhou, leaning against the brick wall more than 850 years old. Sudden passion made me a plan to go back in 10 years, I thought it would be easy, because HangZhou is like a step away from Shanghai. While, 10 years later, summer in 2006, I was struggling through my first semester in Columbia, HangZhou is more than 10,000 miles away, I couldn't stick to my plan.

I spent the whole day of my 20's birthday on the train to HuangShan. That night I stayed in a small village called, HongCun, so did the next 20 days. And look, nothing seems changed ever since...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8499133@N02/sets/72157625335003166/with/5155550265/

The lane is deep and narrow.
I was one of them, sitting there entire day, painting.

Except  in the corner of my painting, it shows "01.8.31".

Almost forgot Oscar winner "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Unlike Avatar introduced HuangShan in a fancy science-fiction way, this one told a pure Chinese heronic story. Ancient village plus legendary kongfu caught eyes from all over the world.

However, what brought its name all the way to UN, is its water system.
The smaller central lake and bigger outside lake resembled cow's two stomaches in shape when our genious planner designed it hundreds of years ago.
Furthermore, rainwater collected by gutters in every single courtyard runs into these two lakes through underground ditches across the whole town. This circulation is still alive and being used in daily life.

(to be continued)

[35-Days Trip 2010] HuangShan, a trip late for nine years [continued]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8499133@N02/sets/72157625209578339/with/5155162763/
Huangshan has been famous in Chinese literature and art works for hundreds of years, while a Hollywood movie "Avatar" somehow brought it to the 21st century's global screen.
When the cable tram crossed hills above peaks and valleys, the mysterial lands beyond cloud easily blended the boundary between reality and "the other world". What's interesting was, unlike hiking in the wild mountains in US, which makes me feel exploring the unmanned deep nature, here the same kind of isolation led to the sense of some unknown poet or scholar walking along where I just passed by, only long long long time ago .

Chinese ink painting with ultra real angle of view makes much more sense here to represent even raise the spirit of nature, which can hardly be reached by classical western 3-point perspective.  

Are you wondering what kind of world behind in the bright light?

Thanks the guide and her wise advice (see previous blog)! At least she left us the opportunity to enjoy the moutain itself, instead of as a "world class tourist spot".

By the time we were up to 1650 meter above sea, the mountain had almost got back to peace after waves of tourist groups. What's left were the fresh air after later summer rain and mystery wrapped within fog.

After a long walk up and down and up... between the hills. It was a real surprise to see bunks of 3~4 stories hotels hidden deeply inside, complex after complex, while thousands of tourists were actually going to spend the night here, which made me have to believe that "tomorrow will be another day..."

(Yes, the rest of pictures were all taken among dozens to hundreds of tourists along the entire scenic path. I tried my best to focus on the breathtaking view, instead of choking crowds )



So, this day began as - 

I didn't leave a picture with me and that most famous "welcome" pine. I don't want to hold the memory of squeezing through long line and crazy crowd to make an awkward pose in nearly chaos.
Instead, this is indeed the kind of memory I would like to keep after nine years waiting.