It's that time of year again

In which I begin to hate my life because it's winter.

Ode to Winter Hatred
by Sally

Snow. I hate you.
Cold. I hate you.
Frost. I hate you.
Hot Chocolate. I hate the necessity of you.
Sledding. I hate you.
Snowmen. I hate you.
Ice. I hate you.
Winter Wonderland. I think there is absolutely nothing wonderful about you at all. And I hate you.
Eileen. I hate you because it is 90 degrees where you live and I mistake extreme jealousy for hatred.
People who live between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. I hate all of you for the same above reason.
Late October. I hate you.
November. I hate you.
December. If it wasn't for Christmas I would hate you. I almost hate you anyway.
January. I loathe you.
February. I hate and loathe you.
March. I hate you because you NEVER go out like a lamb. You are lion through and through.
Any temperature below 65 F. I hate you.
Winter. Apparently some people like you, but I don't.
I hate you.

It seems I remember one time my brother-in-law telling me that he just could not stand to put gas in his car. So he had his mom do it. At the time I thought, "What a doofus." But I completely take back my unuttered criticism because now I understand. It was The Chore That Broke The Camel's Back. My Chore is uploading pictures on the computer. Previously I said it was because I was pregnant and hated bending over, but now I know that was a lie. I just hate it, pregnant or not. So from now on I will post pictures completely sporadically. They may or may not have anything to do with what I am posting. Also, I will be posting sporadically. Oh, wait...I already do that.

I bought a piano last week and it arrived Monday. After almost 20 years of only brief exposure to pianos I am more than a bit rusty, but I have been playing happily all week nevertheless. It is 47" tall, black, shiny and I am in love with it. Right now my favorite to play is Minuet in G by Bach from his Anna Magdelena Notebook.

We've made decent progress in the house remodel. Recently finished are the floors upstairs and most of the balustrade. If you are ever considering refinishing a hardwood floor with one of those big floor sanders, I would reconsider. It turns out beautifully, but ... the dust. I don't want to talk about it.

A few weeks ago my angelic son, Alma, cut his little sister's hair. It happened while I was in the shower so I did not catch him until he had sheared her of about three fourths of her gorgeous, mid-back length hair. It was strewn all over the house and they both acted like it was great fun. Until I unleashed my fury. Of which I had a lot. Then it wasn't fun anymore. Alma was sent to bed for the rest of the day (about 10 hours) then I forgave him.

This is my very, very, very, very good friend, Lin Yu Shan. If you need something done, then ask her because she is amazing at getting stuff done.

This is Violet driving the scooter. We are not actually moving at this moment because I am taking the picture and although I do see people taking on cell phones while driving a scooter I don't think picture taking while driving a scooter would be safe. But she did love to stand in front of me and grab the handle bars just like this while I was driving. It's really a shame that fun activities like this are illegal in the U.S.A.

We stayed at Shen Ai Yi's apartment during our stay. I loved getting up in the morning and seeing Shen Ai Yi studying her scriptures. She would go on her daily walk and bring us back a sack full of mangoes for breakfast. Rune ate 3 mangoes for breakfast for a week straight. She would watch Koren drama at night and explain to me what was going on because I couldn't read the sub titles.

This is Li Hai Guang, or John. He is the head guard of the building where we used to live and where we stayed during our vacation because Shen Ai Yi lives there, too. He used to dye his hair black, but has decided to go All Natural and looks fabulous. He was so fun to talk to when we came down to the courtyard with the kids to let them play.

That is one of the really fun things about living in Taiwan. Apartment living with communal space. There are always friends and neighbors to talk to, kids to play with. This is A-mui and Oh Bwa Sa.

This is Oh Bwa Sa and Shu Mama taking the skins off shallots in preparation for the building potluck where they will cook a huge vat of dzung dz. We'll get to the building feast another day.

We were super lucky to have our visit to Taiwan coincide with Jye Ting's visit! Look at Jye Ting's muscles, he's been doing P-90 X.

And the kids run around the courtyard playing to their little heart's content in the beautiful Taiwan sunshine.