The photo just above this paragraph is a visual reminder of the precarious nature of life on this quirky little island at times. There's a little feeling in the back of one's mind at all times that something might happen to affect the daily routine. I was just about to start writing this blog entry when there was a familiar jolt and an unsettling shudder and sway in the building. This huge monolith then set up a short swaying movement with a few plaster cracking retorts and groans from deep within the walls. Its onset is so sudden that you just offer up a little hope that it will stop, race to the doorway in a futile attempt at warding off building collapse and ride out the bucking bronco. Gradually, after what seems an interminable period which is only about 20 seconds, the swaying slows and you let out that breath you realize you've been holding. Will there be an aftershock? Will the earthquake alarm sound the "all-clear" soon? Is the rest of the city still standing? In the end, it's just another six point something earthquake deep in the ocean off the east coast, just a bigger version of the ten we've had in the past week alone! (Here's a poem about this, too...I was really quite taken aback!)
I had my birthday on Tuesday and we went down to Din Tai Feng for our evening meal. It was as delightful as usual and we marvelled again at the efficiency of the service, the quality of the food and the bargain price for such fare. On Wednesday, we both went down to the bag shop downtown where Cassy's leather artisan weaves his magic, only to find that the bag he was repairing was not ready yet! I decided to ditch the contents of my tatty, old canvas bag that I'd bought at the nightmarket eons ago, and ask them if they could replicate the shape and style in a durable, leather version. After a little finessing and selection of clasps and buckles, I ordered one to be picked up at the end of the month, leaving the old bag behind as a floppy template.
As we were out and about, quite decadently(!), on a school night, we decided to have another night out dining. The stop before our regular, Jishan, is a lively hub and hosts all sorts of interesting little spots in the surrounding lanes and alleys. One of our favourites, "Eat Burger", is one such spot, so we made our way there to enjoy a delicious burger and accompaniments, before strolling home in the fading light on a very pleasant evening.
Our weekend was quite unremarkable, and although we managed to do our usual weekly "life chores", there was nothing of any real note. It drummed a percussion concert of rain in the evenings and we took time to stop what we were doing or watching just to listen to the rain pelting down on the tin roofs sheltering the verandahs below our unit: it's such a hypnotic and comforting sound, especially when you're snug and dry upstairs!
Photos: Wal up at Yangminshan garden plot, Wal and a fairly heavily pregnant Annie, "Paul" at SOGO....what??!! My kids in class along with a sweet, acrostic poem that the two girls in the foreground of the photo wrote (I'll forgive some of the errors because of the sentiment!) Cassy is modelling her brand new pink snakeskin shoes (purchased just this month at the vineyards when she was back home), in her classroom, which was set up "stadium style" for her kids to do their Shakespeare recitations. Cass on Wednesday evening at Eat Burger, and I picked up my John Lennon signature and record....it turned out brilliantly!