Taipei Life

I basked in the reflected glory from the triumphant Lower School Golf team this weekend. After a lot of trash talking for the past few weeks (mainly from the opposition I might add), the lower school boys whipped everyone up again, for the second year in a row and the only two years the divisional golf trophy has been fought for. I'm not on the team of course, as a complete non-golfer, however all my close mates are. The great Gurecki and Big Wol along with Dave M are the mainstays of our Friday night social club and all three are also members of my book club. Apart from that, I also work with Wol and Dave on Grade 3! Ando is the 4th member of the team, a long time friend and an irregular member of our social nights as well. I gained a great deal of vicarious pleasure on Saturday night after the big day as they had a few celebratory ales down at patio 84 andf their golf heroics became bigger and better with each passing anecdote! The sour note was the lack of anyone other players: the spoilsports had all suddenly found other things they had to rush off to, but regardless, the four champions still managed to have a great time. As you can see above, they made quite an entrance in their custom tailored uniforms: no doubt setting the sartorial as well as sporting benchmarks for next year's teams at the tournament.

Cass has succumbed to a virulent bug of some type this week so has been taking it kinda of easy this weekend. Despite her weakened state, she still seems to be insisting on doing all sorts of jobs; she just can't help herself! We did get over to Takashimaya on Saturday after the doctor's, so Cass decided she'd get just "a couple of things" at Jason's supermarket. Time and heavy bags later, we staggered up the stairs to the waiting scooter and home!

I went to the magnificent Monet exhibition again today, leaving Cass to have a restorative afternoon nap on the lounge in the slowly rising, drowsy heat of the early summer here. I took the scooter and after fueling up, I eventually found my way to the car-park, tucked around behind on a new entrance road at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. The endless gigantic works from the Marmottan, our favourite gallery in Paris, just have to be seen to be believed. After innumerable viewings both here, in France and Italy and also back home, there is just something quintessentially "Impressionist" about Monet's works. A touch of easy class just burst from the canvases and it's impossible to identify what the "x factor" exactly is. Anyway, I'm always keen for a chance to lap up more of this type of genius, so there I was again today. We'll probably try to sneak another visit in before we go back for the summer (here) winter break, as the exhibition finale is the same date that we fly out in early June.

We've seen some great sites this week, not the least of which are tiny birds nests nestled under the eaves of buildings we pass as we walk to school each day. The baby birds are wide mouthed squawkers and mum flies in with juicy morsels for them at regualr rapid intervals. It's enervating watching the mother, but fascinating to see how quickly the screaming offspring grow and crowd the tiny nests. The photo above is really grainy, but you get the general idea. Also, check out the super young, plump baby strapped to mum's back as she cycles away from us on the way home: safety first?! Official soldier boys on their big bikes appear to mesmerize the average scooter guy beside them! The golf champions are resplendent in their tweed and dots, the Coldstone Creamery gets an awful long queue forming in the first burst of summer heat and some fine arts photos including an unintentionally "arty" shot taken illegally in the exhibition hall!