A few weeks ago my nephew Gabriel, named after the archangel, was sent to the principal’s office. He had been involved in a “cheese fight”. For his penance, Gabriel had to fill out a form entitled “Think About It” and enumerate ways he could improve his behavior, i.e. “not get [...]
Entries from May 2008
May 28, 2008
Onomatopoeia & a Chinese Kitchen
It’s smokin’ hot in Shanghai, dear readers, from the woks to the pavement to the gossip. Sizzlin’! I cannot (publically) comment on the latter but let’s just say my address has officially changed, once again, from the Jewel Box to Peyton Place. Boo! Hiss! Lordy. What happened [...]
May 23, 2008
Secret Shoe Lady
Thing 1 and I played hooky this past Tuesday, venturing across the river in search of a cobbler. I made the mistake of giving her Benadryl for her silver dollar sized mosquito bites. She slept most of the morning in the car and at the fabric market where she did not have [...]
May 18, 2008
After Shock
What to write? What to write? What I wrote on Monday seems woefully inadequate. Hideously, piteously, pathetically understated. While I stand by my earlier statement that the Chinese are doing everything they possibly can, with so much devastation it is not enough. The earth continues to tremble, every day [...]
May 13, 2008
EQ 7.9
There is nothing funny about earthquakes. (Or shikumen houses*, for that matter.) Just to be clear, as a former insurance adjuster, an earthquake, for insurance purposes, is an “Act of God”; it is usually defined on the declarations page of your homeowner’s policy. For this you are usually uninsured.
I have [...]
May 8, 2008
Snippet
After several days of stellar weather, rain moved in and lashed the city today. Bea Long and I went on a walking tour of shikumen (stone gate houses) with a local celebrated artist and a group of fellow gringos, weaving our way through massive puddles, the rubble of razed houses, and clambered inside several [...]
May 4, 2008
Prizeworthy
I am up and blogging at 4 a.m. because my mother wrote in that she was getting impatient for a post. A continent away, the Radish still holds sway. It has been holiday weekend here in the PRC, May 1 being Labor Day, the biggest date on the communist calendar. We [...]
