the mad one...

Peter O'Toole 1932·8·2 — 2013·12·14

They danced down the streets like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!" —Jack Kerouac

Gertrude Stein Said So

6:19pm How curious.

6:20pm I had no idea!

6:21pm Today has ended.

I feel the pain of a falling tree

wounded tree

still not quite recovered

like an loss arm lying on the ground

A heavy thunder storm hit the city on the night of August 29th. I have been live in Vancouver for 12 years now that I have never seen one so powerful like it. The next day I stroll around the neighborhood and found this tree. It has been over a month now. The wound still not quite healed.
It sadden me so much. How would we know for sure that the trees feel no pain?

Is That So?

A Zen master Hakuin was praised by his living a pure life.
A couple and their daughter lived next to Hakuin. One day they discovered their daughter was pregnant. She would not tell who the baby's father was, but after much harassment by her parent at last she named Hakuin. In great anger the parents went to the master.
"Is that so?" was all he would say.
After the baby was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took good care of the baby. He obtained milk from his neighbors and everything else the little one needed.
A year later the girl couldn't stand it longer. She told her parents that the real father of the child was a young fisherman. The parent of the girl went to Hakuin to ask his forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the baby back again.
Hakuin gave them the child, and he said: "Is that so?"

Indigo

Blue Butterfly

Blue Willow China

My Daughter's beautiful work

Blue Mountain Lake

What's your favour colour? As a watercolour artist, mine is Indigo, I often team it up with Burnt Sienna, Cadmium Orange or Yellow. Indigo is one of the seven colours of the rainbow, the colour between the blue and the violet. The colour Indigo was named after the Indigo dye derived from the plant Indigofera tinctoria and related species. India is believed to be the oldest centre of Indigo dyeing in the Old World. It was a primary supplier of Indigo dye to Europe as early as the Greco-Roman era. And of course our love for the Jeans. Denim is the colour of denim cloth, which after being dyed with Indigo dye, is used to make jeans.

Grilled Sardines

A perfect summer outdoor fare

Grill 5 minutes on each side.

Marinate in olive oil, lemon juice, onion, salt and pepper.

Frozen sardines from Portugal

What does your bookshelf say about you?

Bookshelf can hold a reader's history and future at the same time

Read for knowledge? Read for wisdom?

We can all hide all day long behind good stories…

I've always had an obsession with seeing a person's bookshelf, to get a sense of what they've brought inside their home and their head. Bookshelves are universal in that almost everyone has one, and unique in that no two collections are the same. They reflect much more than just the book-buying habits of their owner...

You are what you are

Queen Elizabeth Park III

Queen Elizabeth Park II

Queen Elizabeth Park I

More Films about Taste, Good Taste

Julie & Julia is a 2009 American film
written and directed by Nora Ephron.
The film contrasts the life of Julia Child
in the early years of her culinary career
with the life of  New Yorker Julie Powell,
who aspires to cook all 524 recipes in
Child's cookbook in 365 days.

Like Water for Chocolate is a 1992 film
in the style of magical realism based on
the popular novel by Laura Esquivel.
Tita, a young woman is forbidden to
marry because of a family tradition.
So she puts her feelings into cooking.

Ratatouille is a 2007 American animated
film by Walt Disney Pictures.It' s about
Remy, an young rat gifted with senses of
taste and smell. Inspired by his idol, the
chef Auguste Gusteau, Remy dreams of
becoming a cook himself.

Tampopo (タンポポ) is a 1985 Japanese
comedy by Juzo Itami. About an pair of
truck drivers help a widow to learn the
technique to make a perfect bowl of noodle.

The Ramen Girl is an 2008 American–
Japanese movie about a girl who goes
to Japan to learn how to cook ramen.

Films about Taste, Good Taste

A Touch of Spice is a 2003 Greek film,
about a  professor of astronomy and
astrophysics, recalls his childhood
memories in Istanbul. His grandfather
was an owner of a general store with
a specialty in spices.

Babette's Feast  is a 1987 Danish drama
film based on the story by Isak Dinesen
( Karen Blixen). Babette's Feast was the
first Danish film of a Blixen story. It was
also the first Danish film to win the Academy
Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Big Night is a 1996 American film set in a Jersy Shore
in the 1950s, tells the story of two Italian brothers who
own and operate a restaurant called "Paradise." Despite
its magnificent food, their restaurant is failing.

Cooking with Stella is a comedy
about a Canadian diplomat  and
her husband living in New Delhi,
and their cook, Stella.

Eat Drink Man Woman is a 1994 Taiwanese
film directed by Ang Lee. The title is a quote
from the Confucius, referring to the basic
human desires and accepting them as natural.

Had I the Heavens' Embroidered Cloths

84 Charing Cross Road is a 1987 British-American film directed by David Jones. A very touching and warm story of two never met friends correspondence between New York and London. In one scene Antony Hopkins as Frank Doel reading this poem... Anne Bancroft play Helene Hanff, his pen pal in New York.

Belong to the museum or junk shop?

40 years old Pioneer turn table, still in perfectly working condition!

Only Led Zeppelin music well worth it…. and perhaps Miles Davis,
Billie Holiday, Bill Evans, Dave Brubeck, Bob Dylan, Beatles, etc…

The olds become new again!
It's a new trend for the youth these days. All they have to do just look at their parent's house attic, basement or garage. I'm sure they have a good chance to find one.

April is Poetry month

Remember   — Christina Rossetti
Remember me when I am gone away,
         Gone far away into the silent land;
         When you can no more hold me by the hand,
     Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
     Remember me when no more day by day
         You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
         Only remember me; you understand
     It will be late to counsel then or pray.
     Yet if you should forget me for a while
         And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
         For if the darkness and corruption leave
         A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
     Better by far you should forget and smile
         Than that you should remember and be sad.

Autumn — Walter de la Mare
There is a wind where the rose was;
cold rain where sweet grass was;
and clouds like sheep
stream o'er the steep
grey skies where the lark was.
Nought gold where you hair was;
nought warm where your hand was;
but phantom,forlorn,
beneath the thorn,
your ghost where your face was.
Sad winds where your voice was;
tears, tears where my heart was;
and ever with me
child,ever with me,
silence where hope was.

I am Like a Rose — D.H. Lawrence
I am myself at last; now I achieve
My very self, I, with the wonder mellow,
Full of fine warmth, I issue forth in clear
And single me, perfected from my fellow.

Here I am all myself.  No rose-bush heaving
Its limpid sap to culmination has brought
Itself more sheer and naked out of the green
In stark-clear roses, than I to myself am brought.

New Year 2013

Venice, New Year 2013

Amritsar, New Year 2013

Baku, Azerbaijan, New Year 2013

1st day of 2013

A day just like any other day, and yet was not like any other day... I took the annual New Year Day walk, through Adanac, Union then Main and Pender, Chinatown. The Sun came out briefly this morning but later turn kind of foggy and cold. If only the weather was warmer that I could ride my bike. Same day last year I was with Phoebe. We picked up a book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson from the road side with the FREE sign in Strathcona. This year on the way back I found more boxes of free books again... No I couldn't find The Girl who Played with Fire... I miss Phoebe.