静水盈盈

Medieval Fair 2012 @ Norman

OKC Museum of Art

We went there for the Exhibition "Illuminations: Rediscovering the Art of Dale Chihuly". He actually got his first degree from University of Washington in Seattle! The collection here at MOA in OKC is one of the most comprehensive one of his glass in the world. In the slide show below, if you watch patiently, you could see several oil paintings in there. They're done by Dale Chihuly, too.

Go check it out when you get a chance.

Philbrook Museum of Art

Simple Gifts

We spent a lot of time in our backyard this weekend, digging up the old dead roots, picking out the rocks and weeds, pulling up the old plants, preparing the soil for the new (winter) vegetables. Sophie was so excited to watch the seeds spilling out of the pods, that she insisted on doing it all by herself. I told her those seeds she helped getting out of the pods will be planted next year, and we'll have a brand new garden! The fresh start is an exciting thing to talk about at this time of the year. That's a good thing to keep in mind, ANY TIME of the year.

It never took much make little kids happy. We ended up listening to the song "Simple Gifts" afterwards, and Sophie even figured out how to play it. We made a short movie using all her recent drawings.

What a Night!

It turned out to be such a fun night at the Seretean Center. The performer was guitarist Edgar Cruz. The first time we saw him play was at the Global Oklahoma International Festival. His complicated technique was an immediate shock to me. You hear melody, you hear bass line, and you hear rhythm. But there's only one guitar! And no picks! He used all his fingers to make it work.

The performance was even more entertaining with a guest flaminco dancer. Sophie just couldn't keep her feet on the floor. The encore piece was his most famous "Bohemian Rhapsody". The "Hagarian Fiesta", which was his own work was my favorite of the night. 

Came home, put Sophie to bed, then did a little surfing on the Internet, then a very loud noise together with the shaking came along. At first, I thought, "What was a dump truck doing in the middle of the night?!" "Oh, wait! It's much louder than that! It's like a jet plane just sweeping right above my house." And shaking continued. Then I said to myself,"Could this be an earthquake?" As I was thinking if I should go get Sophie and run somewhere, the shaking stopped. 

What a night!

Check the news here.

Weekend Hiking/Fishing Trip

Cherries by Marsha Mahan

I bought this cherry magnet, by the local artist Marsha Mahan, at the annual Stillwater Art Festival over the weekend. I'm normally not a fan of paintings of bold, striking and vibrant colors, but I like her work. I like the composition of her work, the use of the compliments of the colors, and the right texture. She actually uses acrylic paints. I talked to her how I first thought they were oil paintings. She told me when she was living in the New York City, the apartment was small, and she didn't like the smell of the oil paints. These pictures were taken in her booth, one of my favorites in this year's festival.

Leonardo's Children Museum

It's our third visit. As usual, girls enjoyed it very much, especially the outdoor "Adventure's quest".

( First Visit in 2008 / Second Visit in 2009 )

 

Fall Weekend @ Global Oklahoma 2010

The Global Oklahoma at Rose State College this year features the country of Ireland. 

I'm so glad I took both girls along. It turned out to be a really fun experience. Laura and her friends did Irish Dancing performance both at Opening Ceremony and the later-on performance. 

It would have been nice if I got to see more performances and took more pictures. They put on some real good shows at the three different stages throughout the day. We checked out a few, but it seemed Sophie was not content just watching --- she's more interested in the hands-on activities for the children. She was proud of her giant paper flower and her cute antenna made out of pipe cleaners became a huge head turner at the festival.

Girls fell asleep fast that night. I couldn't even finish checking my emails. I almost dozed off on my keyboard. But I'm glad I made the trip. One thing I wish I had done was to get the autograph of the artist who created the poster. It was one of the most beautiful posters I've ever seen.

I wish you all had a wonderful weekend. 

Crafts Weekend

Four more days for Laura, one more day for Sophie until school's out for the summer Fuuuuuuuuuuuun! 

Over the weekend, girls were busy working on the end-of-the-school-year-gifts for their teachers and friends.

 

This is Sophie's Gifts --- home-made Butter Pecan Biscuits wrapped with bracelets of teachers' names. Sophie did three bracelets all by herself. Of course, Laura helped her with final steps.

 

Laura's are more "sophisticated":

 

Happy Summer! 

Lunch @ Palomino's

昨晚两个孩子入睡已快午夜，今天周日就起晚了。晚到一起床就是午饭时间了。幸好爹爹不在，不然又要挨批了。

今天继续“腐败”，午饭就定在了Palomino's, 墨西哥餐馆。我们这还是第一次光顾墨西哥餐馆。以前在西雅图的时候，常常在街边的小摊上买Quesadilla吃。一张硕大的面饼，里面卷着厚厚的鸡肉或是牛肉丝，若是再让店主省了奶酪，那是最接近中餐口味的卷饼了。华盛顿湖边有一家俱乐部式的小店，出租皮划艇，代理水上观光，还经营墨西哥风味美食。他们采用的都是当地自产，绿色天然的原料，加上窗外独一无二的西雅图城市风光，经常是门庭若市。这我还是从美食频道(Food Channel)中看来的。

美景加美食，才能相映成趣。Palomino's的室内装潢也不错。一进门正对着的就是一座高高的室内喷水池，正上方是一幅圆形的天顶壁画。四周的墙上挂的都是出自同一个画家的油画奔马图。小蛙认出画上的签名，说那时曾经教过她们水彩画的老师。绕过水池，周围的围廊是便是吃饭的小间(booth)。 

 刚一落座，先送了一套儿童蜡笔和游戏纸，然后就上了一大盘金黄色的corn chips(玉米饼，脆的）, 还有一瓶自制的 Salsa(酱)。这可都是小蛙的最爱呀！乐得她，恨不得抱着corn chips一头跳到 Salsa里！还是我们嗒嗒沉稳，自己闷头画游戏纸上的迷宫。

小蛙忙得已经顾不上看菜单了。不过看也是看不出什么名堂。不是墨西哥卷饼(Taco)，就是墨西哥薄饼(Tortilla)，再不就是煮豆子，烤肉，加上洋葱，西红柿，酸奶油(Sour Cream)，鳄梨酱(Guacamole)什么的。反正是热热闹闹的一大盆，香，辣，酸，甜，都混杂在一起。脆饼，软饼，掰着吃，卷着吃，不用刀叉，直接上手，倒是很适合我们家这两个丫头。

小蛙看菜单，关键字就是鸡肉，嗒嗒呢？ 虾。能在菜单上找到海鲜，倒是真让我意外。不一会儿，就端上来了两大盘儿！还外加一盆，是薄饼。蛙蛙虽然吃corn chips已经吃了个半饱，但正餐上桌，小妮子一点儿可都不含糊！长身体的时候呀！嗒嗒呢，有薄饼，有虾，有菠萝，就搞定啦！

嗒嗒吃得好，我一夸，人家就说了，“妈妈，吃完了饭才能吃甜点心吧(dessert)？” 这菠萝不算？

 吃完饭出了餐馆，门口是两张雕着马头的木头椅子。大概是吃累了，姐妹俩要玩儿看谁能坚持着不动的游戏。这不，一边一个，跟门神似的，还坚持得都挺长！

什么时候要是在家能玩这个游戏就好了！我得多清静呀！

Movie Night

每周六是我们家的电影周末(Movie Night)。我们尽量找大家都能看的题材。开始只是我们和蛙蛙三个人，嗒嗒先睡了。后来嗒嗒越睡越晚，也越来越不好哄，于是就变成四个人一起看，成了名副其实的家庭电影周末。

加上嗒嗒，这题材的局限性就更大了，于是我们就尽量找动画片来看。不过，有时也看过一些“少儿不宜”的，像《我的名字叫顺溜》和《董存瑞》。扮演董存瑞的王宝强那特有的憨厚的笑尤其给嗒嗒留下了深刻的印象。照相的时候，我一说，“嗒嗒，笑一笑！” 嗒嗒就会说，“不能像董存瑞那样傻笑吧！”

这个周末，小蛙跳舞汇报表演回来已经很晚了。等两个孩子洗完澡，就快十点了。我知道要是取消了这电影周末的惯例，她们会多失望。再说小蛙这么卖劲儿地跳，小嗒这么卖劲儿地捧场，还不得奖励孩子们一下！爸爸不在家，咱们就“腐败”一回！ 电影照看，夜点心照常供应，而且都在床上！ 孩子们听后那声尖叫，都能把邻居的狗给吓醒。

我的夜宵？ 照旧，酸辣粉。周末真好！

  

Dramatic Weekend

It was beautiful on Saturday. I had planned on doing some housework, instead, we took girls to the park. 

Swing and slide didn't seem to work the magic this time. Nature indeed turns out to be the best playground. Girls spent a full hour playing on the summer grass, running, chasing, picking up wild flowers, and making bouquets. They even seemed to have more fun than in the Disneyland. Daddy relaxed lying on the grass, with a bunch of purple flowers tucked neat in his shirt pocket. I sat on the grass, looking out to the lake not far away. The sunshine felt warm and fuzzy. And for a long time I had, in spite of the morning drama of finding my very first white hair, been able to put it behind and feel quite pleased with my life. After all, it's not like I'll need a denture the next day. Remind me of a line from Verve Pipe's "Colorful": You stayed for the drama though you paid for a comedy.

Later in the day, girls helped Daddy wash the cars on the driveway.  To them, it was not a job. It's a splash of fun.

One Busy Saturday

The "Trilogy" goes like this: morning hiking with friends at Lake McMurtry; afternoon work in our vegetable garden; After-nap play in the backyard. We managed to squeeze as much fun as possible this past Saturday, thanks to the early wake-up call from my husband, who happens to have a very strong early-riser gene. But by far, it seems that neither of our girls have inherited it.

Free photobook customized with Smilebox

Spirit Jog 2009

I cannot believe this is the 22nd year of "Juke Joint Jog". I mean for a small college town like Stillwater, 22 years almost sound like, well, a life time. 

The name "Juke Joint Jog", I guess, comes from the sponsor of the race, Eskimo Joe's, who became known as "Stillwater's Jumpin' Little Juke Joint" back in the 70's. "Eskimo Joe's opened July 21, 1975, serving ice-cold beer, red-hot music, and great big smiles". 

It's a 5K race, together with a one-mile Fun Run, benefits Stillwater Area United Way. It's a fundraiser event for good cause. 

"Great Job, Daddy!"

秋日的午后

放晴的午后，天蓝蓝的，风轻轻的，暖暖的秋日泻在孩子们的头上和身上。聚焦的一刹那，镜头里阳光在跳，孩子们在笑。定格的一瞬间，留下的是永远的记忆。就好像现在，夜深了，风停了，闭上眼睛，眼前仿佛仍旧晃动着秋日午后斑驳的光影，和孩子们会笑的眼睛，一点一滴，历历在目，没有比这更让人安心的感觉了。

An Hour's Drive to Adventure

Two days before Sophie's 3rd Birthday, we treated BOTH girls a trip to the Leonardo's Discovery Warehouse & Adventure Quest in Enid, which was an hour's drive from Stillwater. THis was our 2nd visit. 

Laura has been asking for a 2nd visit ever since our first visit last Spring. The giant Adventure Quest outdoor playground left really a nice impression on her, on me as well, to be honest. So almost 2 hours' play up and down the 3-story castle-style playground this afternoon, surely was something they both would remember for a long long time. 

The garden behind the playground, which was not done during our last visit, was another reason I loved this place very much. Either a picnic around the table, a chess game under the shade, or a quiet walk around the flower bed, a wild chase over the lawn, I'm sure everybody can find a reason to be here.

An hour's drive wasn't that bad, at all!

Stone Bluff Lavender Festival

Something a little different and unexpected here at Oklahoma? If you were here, you would know what I'm talking about. I see rolling pastures, grazing cows, galloping horses only a few minutes' drive from our home. So for that something different and unexpected, we took girls to visit the Stone Bluff Lavender Festival at the Lavender Hill Farm, which was about two hours' drive (from Ponca City Herb Festival, yes, that's a lot of herb experience for one day, & a lot of driving ). 

We had enjoyed the Sequim Lavender Festival back in Seattle while we were there. And Laura has such fine memory of the beautiful purple patches stretching far into the horizon. When choosing the color for her Irish Dancing cape, she picked the lavender purple. 

The field here couldn't compare to that of Seattle. We soon found Laura wandering off to see the vendors. But to little Sophie, the small patch was big enough to win her woos, ahhs and wows. After all, it's her first encounter with this beautiful plant up close. To me, I would be lying if I said I was not a little bit disappointed. But amazingly, I enjoyed every minute of it. I loved being surrounded by those delicate purple flowers under the blazing June sky; I loved that unmistakably lavender perfume in the summer air; I just loved being there. What a beauty! 

Ponca City Herb Festival

The festival was worth the drive. It is our first time to the Herb Festival at Ponca City, which is about an hour's highway from Stillwater. We arrived at around 9 o'clock, thinking we were the early birds ( we got up before 7am!) , but this was what we saw while we tried to pull the car into the already crowded parking lot. 
What a fabulous idea! With a beautiful bow tie, these could make a cute little gift for a keen gardener! This was exactly what you would feel when you were at the festival.  Held on the first Saturday of June each year, the Ponca City Herb Festival is a 10-acre showcase of color, fragrance and music. Located right in the Cann Memorial Botanical Garden, you will see the finest rose archway, lovely water ponds, and cute little ornamental fixtures at every turn of the lamp post-lined brick walkways. Big trees provide enough cool shade for almost every vendor, who bring their handmade baskets, candles, soaps, stoneware, yard ornaments, even furniture to the festival. Of course, the big crowd was always around the herb plants. The biggest? 

Festival seldom goes without music and dance. For this Herb Festival, The Hill Irish Dance School was invited again. Along with 10 other girls, Laura really enjoyed dancing under the shades, in front of the pleasant audience (the biggest), and amidst the fragrant air.

远足

“嗒嗒，妈妈牵手。”

“不想。嗒嗒自己走！”

“妈妈，你是不是有点儿不敢走呀？”

“嗒嗒牵着妈妈，妈妈就不怕了。” 每到沟沟坎坎，容易摔倒的地方，这是唯一能牵到嗒嗒手的方法。只是妈妈的形象。。。

出来前抹足了防晒霜，可林子里枝叶茂密，很是凉快。就这样，小嗒竟然一口气走了快一迈半！当然，时不时的得向姐姐要点儿给养 －－－ 小糖豆儿。

妈妈落在最后，是有原因的。 

照照花，照照草，还有“压阵”的作用呀，万一。。。 

倒是在回来的路上，真的碰上了“万一”：一个骑山地车的人，告诉我们前方见到响尾蛇。嗒嗒上了爸爸的肩膀，小蛙一步不拉地跟着爸爸，我呢，收起了相机，再也不敢“沾花惹草”。

嗒嗒一手拿着她的Puppy Blankie，一手搂着爸爸的脖子，累得连糖豆儿都想不起要了。倒是小蛙，一路又是跑，又是跳的，也不怕“打草惊蛇”。

蛇呢，当然是没见着! 走了这一路，晚饭可是做了多少，就吃了多少。估计如果有蛇羹，也剩不了！

Weekend Collage

Counterclockwise from Sophie on Scooter: 

-- Sophie "takes wing and soar" on her new scooter;

-- Family enjoys a warm early summer morning at the local Boomer Lake park;

-- Laura enjoys her "Pho" noodle after her St. Patrick Day Irish Dance Performance at OKC;

-- A new vegetable patch takes form after Daddy's 2-hour work hard;

-- View at Boomer Lake;

-- Both girls bring home what they like from Barnes & Noble at OKC;

-- Sweet smile after the Dance Performance, and Laura earns a new Jumper Dance Dress after mastering the "Gypsy" steps, which means she's advanced to a new level in Irish Dance. 

天下无双

我从来就不是武侠小说迷。从中学到现在，一直“小心翼翼”地和金庸小说保持着相当的距离。这个距离最近终于被打破了。

周末是全家（暂时还不包括疙瘩）一起看电视的时间。以前有好长一段时间周末是在“白龙马”的歌声中度过的。孙悟空虽说是七十二变，最后还是“敌不过”金老笔下的大侠们。如今，什么乔峰的降龙十八掌，黄蓉的打狗棒法，段誉的六脉神剑，扬过的黯然消魂掌，小蛙说起来可是如数家珍。每次看完总要问，“是真的吗？”

不是真的，可手上拿着遥控器，就是不想去按“停止”的按钮。小蛙也总是有问不完的问题：
“爸爸，最后谁是天下第一？”
“爸爸，小龙女为什么从崖上跳下去了？”
“爸爸，郭靖和扬过谁厉害？”
。。。 。。。

这做爸爸的，平时辅导数学，讲解科学，还得通晓武学！好在“年轻”时拜读过所有金老的小说，如今早就把里面的人物和故事“融合领会”，“融会贯通”了，“张冠李戴”也就不足为怪了。就这样，终于又看完了〈神雕侠侣〉。问小蛙最喜欢谁，小蛙就是龙年出生的，当然最喜欢小龙女！说实在的，我不想说喜欢她，可是却被她的痴情所感动。（古墓）外面的天地可以很广阔，可她的心里只有她的过儿（扬过）。她或许过于单纯，甚至幼稚，不通世物，可既然金老刻画出了这么一个至情至性的人物，我们又何必苛求呢？何况她帮我们又圆了一个天荒地老，至死不渝的爱情的梦。

至于小蛙，她最爱的该是跌宕起伏的故事，精深玄妙的武功，还有小龙女那亘古不变，白衣如雪的造型。这张白描人物画一开始她还不愿意让我们看呢。

附上张靓颖唱的主题歌〈天下无双〉：

穿越红尘的悲欢惆怅
和你贴心的流浪
刺透遍野的青山和荒凉
有你的梦伴着花香飞翔
今生因你痴狂
此爱天下无双。。。

Nature Up Close

An unexpected Thanksgiving day hiking turned out to be one of this year's best up-close with the nature.

Just as we started to believe that family hiking would soon become a memory, we found our new trail, right at the Lake McMurtry Park, which is only 20 minutes away from our home.

Laura always loves outdoors. I still have the vivid memories of hiking as a family of the three in the Wallace Falls mountain when she literally walked 7 miles mountain trail all by herself. She was 5 then. Of course, the fresh berries along the way did quite a good job sustaining her. 

We haven't been able to do the hiking as family ever since we left Seattle. Especially after Sophie was born, we kept our weekend destination mainly around the swings and the slides. So when the sun was shining warm on our pumpkins in the front yard, we decided to hit the trail. 

Holding her dear little "day-time" puppy, Sophie was walking merrily, as she humming a song of "Finding Friends" in Chinese (找啊，找啊，找朋友...), only the lyrics was different: Friend was changed to Turkey. She was told we might be able to find a wild turkey along the trail. But obviously, this was the last place to look for a turkey on Thanksgiving day. Not the season for fresh berries, either. But the girls were excited as we explored through the trail. The fallen leaves carpeted the forest floor, making each step crispy and crunchy. Almost all the leaves were gone. The small creeks, the big hollows in the tree, and the little flying blue bird were all visible through the bare branches against the wintry sky. 

We didn't find the turkey. Sophie didn't seem to mind. She had a handful of those white fluffy grass Laura had picked up for her. They were simply too lovely to leave behind. 

As to our Thanksgiving dinner, we ate hot pot and spaghetti instead. 

姊妹葱油饼

周末是喝粥，吃葱油饼的日子。刚刚从中文课回来的蛙蛙，显然心情好的很，主动提出要自己做葱油饼，连朋友打电话来让她出去玩儿都回绝了。
粥在炉子上小火儿咕嘟着，我赶紧和面。里屋传来欢快的钢琴声，疙瘩一声“Rudolph!”，就一溜烟儿跑没了。蛙蛙圣诞表演的曲目是“红鼻子麋鹿鲁道夫”，这些天一直在练习，疙瘩早就听熟了。
面醒好，粥出锅。下面就是蛙蛙的活儿了。擀面，刷油，抹葱，卷皮，盘圈，擀平... 系着白围裙，满手油亮亮的，小蛙干得是津津有味。做完了，还意犹未尽，嫌我和面和少了。那明天再做？人家皱皱白鼻头，笑着摇摇头。
疙瘩先是一直在玩儿她的Puppy Blankie，后来看姐姐这边这么热闹，也凑过来。那就捡葱吧！直捡到小人儿鼻涕一把，泪一把！幸亏爷爷奶奶不在，不然看到我们这么“欺负”疙瘩 --- 小人儿都哭得稀里哗啦了，我们还在笑个不停 --- 做爷爷奶奶的不会袖手旁观！话说回来，爷爷奶奶在，哪会让小蛙自己做饼呢！

A Day @ Pumpkin Patch (video)