Zinnias rock!

Linda and Betsy like the zinnias in the trellises post; Betsy even said zinnias rock! Here are a few photos (taken today) to prove zinnias indeed rock!

Virginia Woolf’s joy of readings

I checked out “Emily Dickinson’s Reading” from library the other day trying to learn what books she had read.  I did the same thing on Virginia Woolf and wrote this a few years ago. 

Like Lincoln, who was very much a man of letters, Virginia Woolf never had any formal education.  Her father, Leslie Stephen, was a man of letters and British ‘intellectual aristocracy.’  When her father died in 1904 Virginia had her second breakdown and tried to commit suicide. 

In her letter to Vita Sackville-West (2/19/29), with whom Virginia had a brief ‘passionate affair’ in 1925, she described her first-rate education:

“I read English literature when I was young; I like to think of myself tapping at my father’s study door, saying very loud and clear “Can I have another volume father? I’ve finished this one”.  Then he would be very pleased and say “Gracious child, how you gobble!” and get up and take down, it may have been the 6th or 7th volume of Gibbons complete works, or Speddings Bacon [The Life and Letters of Francis Bacon in seven volumes by James Spedding], or Cowper’s Letters.” “But my dear, if it’s worth reading, it’s worth reading twice” he would say.  I have a great devotion for him—what a disinterested man, how high minded, how tender to me, and fierce and intolerable—But I am maundering.”

I do not know at this moment when Lytton Strachey and Virginia first met, but I know he proposed to Virginia for marriage in 1909, Virginia considered it for one evening. (Virginia and Leonard married in 1912)  In her letters to Lytton Strachey, Virginia often talked about readings and literature.  She was an avid reader no doubt; in her letter to Lytton Strachey (10/22/15), she wrote,

“I think it is time we took up correspondence again, . . . I should think I had read 600 books, since we met.  Please tell me what merit you find in Henry James.  I have disabused Leonard of him; but we have his works here, and I read, . . . I am beginning the Insulted and Injured [Dostoevsky, 1862] which sweeps me away.  Have you read it?”

Virginia was taken aback by Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment in 1912 and she read his Insulted and Injured in 1915. On her letter to Lytton Strachey on 9/1/12, she wrote,

" . . . I have now run full tilt into Crime et Chatiment [I think it is French Crime and Punishment], fifty pages before tea, and I see there are only 800; so I shall be through in no time.  It is directly obvious that he [Dostoevsky] is the greatest writer ever born: . . Have you been writing about him?"

On her letter to Katherine Cox (9/4/12), she wrote, " . . .I have thrown aside Crime and Punishment to write to you, . . Leonard here looks up from his composition and sends his love."

Janice was also taken aback by Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment in her high school days and has been trying to sell him to me over the years; pretty soon I may fall and declare “I am sold!”  Janice said “ Dostoyevsky is one of my favorite authors ever. (but the idea of flying through 800 pages seems crazy to me)”

In her letter to Vita Sackville-West (1/8/29), she talked about Anna Karenina, which mom [my blog began with “Letters to my daughters” which is the subtitle of this blog] wanted me to read (who shouldn’t read it?) and I never did.  Joy spent a summer cramming it in her undergraduate days, so she may be able to help me figure out what Virginia meant.  War and Peace and Anna Karenina were touted as the realist fictions, and did Virginia think H.G. Wells and Galsworthy (who went on to get the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1932) were ‘mediocre wishy washy’ realist novelists?

“I have written myself out of breath—30,000 words in 8 weeks [Phases of Fiction] and now want to dive and steep myself in other people books.  I want to wash off all my own ideas, so I have been ready and reading . . . I’ve been reading Balzac, and Tolstoy.  Practically every scene in Anna Karenina is branded on me, though I’ve not read it for 15 years.  That is the origin of all our discontent.  It wasn’t Wells [I supposed H.G. Wells], or Galsworthy or any of our mediocre wishy washy realists: it was Tolstoy.  How could we go on with sex and realism after that?  How could they go on with poetic plays after Shakespeare? . . . Orlando [Virginia’s biography novel] has now sold 13,000 copies in America: that’s the last time I mention him.”

Upon reading Anna Karenina, Dostoevsky declared it “flawless as a work of art.” and upon reading James Joyce’s Ulysses, T.S. Eliot thought “this is on a par with War and Peace!”

Virginia read lots of Thomas Hardy.  In her letter to Janet Chase (12/10/14), she wrote,

“Have you read Thomas Hardy’s new poems [Satires of Circumstance 1914] They’re quite the most beautiful things I’ve read since—certainly since [George] Meredith, . . Also Arnold Bennett’s Price of Love [1914] is good.”

“Leonard is reading the poems of John Donne: I’m half way through the Return of the Native, a novel by Thomas Hardy.”  (letter to Lytton Strachey on [Boxing Day of 1912])

“Just got this letter from Thomas Hardy, I wrote to thank him for his poem about father—will you keep it for me.”  (letter to Janet Chase on 1/26/15)

Virginia read in Latin, Greek, French and Italian and may be more.  In her letter to Vanessa Bell (2/23/18), she wrote,

“You must teach Julian [Vanessa’s young son] Greek.  I find my chief consolation now in making out Greek plays, and even with what I know its quite worth while.  Besides, it would be something to break his teeth against.  He [Julian] wrote me a very charming letter.  I think he has the Stephen gift of language (not that its much to boast of—) . . . “

Julian Bell [Vanessa’s son, Virginia’s nephew, a poet] taught in Wuhan University [a relatively famous University] in China in 1935 and participated in the Spanish Civil War; like Hemingway in WWI, Julian was an ambulance driver and was killed in a battle in 1937.  Hemingway’s ambulance driver experience gave us A Farewell to Arms—the only novel I read twice. He was also in Spanish Civil War and that's why we have For Whom the Bell Tolls.  If you haven't seen Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman's movie, you have no idea what you've missed!

In her letter to Margaret Llewelyn Davies (9/30/15), she wrote, “I am reading Latin, and French."

In her letter to Saxon Sydney-Turner (12/31/16), she wrote,

“Now I am going to read the Greek Anthology (in a copy you gave me once) which I find very hard and absorbing.”

In her letter to Saxon Sydney-Turner (2/3/17), she wrote,

“As to William Watson [knighted in 1917 for his patriotic poems], I prefer his pomp to his wit. . . . as to Aeschylus [an ancient Greek playwrite, touted as the father of the tragedy] on the other hand, I’ve been reading him in French which is better than English;  Aeschylus however excited my spirits to such an extent that, hearing my husband snore in the night, I woke him to light his torch and look for zeppelins {German bomber during WWI, this letter was written in 1917 during WWI}  He then applied the Freud system to my mind, and analysed it down to Clytemnestra [a female character in Aeschylus’s play, and became the prototype of femme fatale—using beauty, charm, or sexual allure—leading to ‘fatal attraction’] and the watch fire, which so pleased him that he forgave me.  All the morning I have been reviewing with great labour an American essayist.”

In her letter to Saxon Sydney-Turner (8/10/16), she wrote,

“I am reading Count Carlo Gozzi’s [Italian dramatist] in his own tongue, and don’t find it very difficult, but then they only use about 16 words.”

In VW's diary of 8/20/30, she wrote,

"I am writing while my potatoes boil. . . .  I am reading Dante; I say, yes, this makes all writing unnecessary.  This surpasses 'writing' as I say about Shre. [Shakespeare]  I read the Inferno for half an hour at the end of my own page: [ Waves]; that is the place of honour; that is to put the page into the furnace--if I have a furnace.  Now to mash the potatoes. L [Leonard] has laid my carpet."

(In the diary above she was writing that she was revising her novel, Waves, and upon reading Dante's, she felt she can burn the pages of Waves, which was thought to be one of her best, if not the best, novels.)

During her last bout of depression and breakdown, she went mad, “hearing inside her head a chorus of birds singing in Greek, before she walked into river Ouse with stone in her pockets in 1941.

“Death is the enemy. Against you I will fling myself, unvanquished and unyielding O Death! The waves broke on the shore.” is the last line of her The Waves and is also her epitaph.  One can imagine how heroically she fought the death; she flung herself to the fight with all her being.  Nobody succeeds fighting death, but she failed tragically.

Water spinach (空心菜): to Jo with love

One of our fellow gardeners in Pittsburgh has a daughter living nearby. Their daughter came home to harvest the produce every so often and they always let Katy know when that happened. And that is our envy; nothing more gratifying than having our daughters share the produce in the garden. Our daughters are far away in Michigan and Boston; they can only enjoy our garden from the distance.

Knowing Jo and family may be coming home in early August a few weeks ago, we almost got “panic”, as water spinach (空心菜) may will have “declined and fallen” by that time. And water spinach is Jo and Sean’s favorite. It dawned on me one day that we can re-plant by using the branches. These photos show water spinach in various stage of growth and we’ll be ready for Jo and Sean whenever they come home.

Trellises on the air in the garden

You may have seen many trellises of various forms and sizes, and of wood and metal in our garden. We like the metal ones although we’re well aware of the potential problem. The sun beats the metals which became very hot and that may have stunt the growth of the vines or tomatoes.

We also use the chain-link fences as the trellises for the vines and that proves not enough as the vines outgrow it. Katy made the trellises on the air by connecting strings among the posts; we have to admit that they are not as pretty or elaborate as the spider webs.

With the trellises on the air, shading places are created; we found the home for the begonia, which cannot tolerate the full sun. The hanging basket of the impatiens also rests in comfort under the trellis, but the sun-loving zinnias hate it.

Katy’s report to World Journal (世界日報): OCA picnic

Katy's report to World Journal (世界日報) was published on July 28, 2011.  You may read the online version with two photos directly by clicking the following link.

http://www.worldjournal.com/view/wjnjpanews/14865908/article-%E7%BE%8E%E8%8F%AF%E5%8D%94%E6%9C%83%E5%8C%B9%E8%8C%B2%E5%A0%A1%E5%88%86%E6%9C%83-%E5%A4%8F%E5%AD%A3%E9%87%8E%E9%A4%90%E6%A8%82?instance=panews 
 

The annual member appreciation picnic of the Overseas Chinese Americans (Pittsburgh Chapter) was held at the Hale Park (in Greentree) on July 24.  The foods were provided by OCA and the members brought in appetizers and desserts; good food and good company, everyone had a happy getting together.

OCA president, Andy Ai (艾元方), the second generation Chinese American, was in charge.  There usually has more than 100 attendees every year, but fewer people attended this year as many were away on vacation or “summer laziness”  and the picnic was held on a Sunday noon time.

The annual member appreciation picnic of the Overseas Chinese Americans (Pittsburgh Chapter) was held at the Hale Park (in Greentree) on July 24.  The foods were provided by OCA and the members brought in appetizers and desserts; good food and good company, everyone had a happy getting together.

OCA president, Andy Ai (艾元方), the second generation Chinese American, was in charge.  There usually has more than 100 attendees every year, but fewer people attended this year as many were away on vacation or “summer laziness”  and the picnic was held on a Sunday noon time.

該會會長、華裔第二代艾元方(Andy Ai)表示，以往舉辦戶外野餐活動總是超過100多人參加。今年因為活動在周日中午，不少人利用暑假去旅遊，因此人數略見下滑。

協 會提供主菜炸雞、大白菜豆腐煲、涼拌大蝦與熱狗還有各種涼飲等。大家則各自帶來拿手菜。醫師蔡哲元把他家種的芹菜、莧菜、空心菜與葫蘆瓜帶來分送大家。最 後大家票選出最受喜愛的小菜，是魏白蕙(Dorothy Lee Green) 做的茶葉蛋；最特殊的甜點是張瓊月的冰梅脆桃。

海爾公園是有完善設備的社區公園。內有網球場、籃球場與幼兒遊樂場。九歲的林文玉(Kiara Lin)剛拿到巴特勒年輕小姐后冠，與家人一出現，馬上成為會場焦點人物。

陳靈芬與李大立剛結束參與慈濟人在油市(Oil city)的露營活動，馬上開車兩小時轉來參加美華協會的野餐活動，算是當天最遠道的參加者。

陳靈芬已經在策畫8月下一個活動「龍舟賽」，以及9月13日「台灣無雙女子女樂團」巡訪匹茲堡的準備事項。陳飛希望屆時能獲得大家的合作與支持。

艾元方呼籲大家報名參加美華協會8月4日至7日在紐約市君悅飯店(Grand Hyatt)舉辦的年會。提早報名350元，可以節省100元。有意參加者可與他聯絡。（張瓊月）

Small but Stunning: Moss rose

After learning I posted “Big is Beautiful”, the newly planted tiny Moss rose whispered to me that I have neglected them. I rarely mentioned the newly developed (or the developing) section that houses the two air conditioners. The Moss roses are planted next to the new air conditioner. The thumb-tip sized Moss rose is inconspicuous, small, but stunning under the sun.

Big is Beautiful: Hibiscus

The beauty of the neighborhood and the surrounding area of our garden is no less important than that inside. We planted these two hibiscus below a window in the area adjacent to the garden last year.

We cut the spent canes to just above the ground after the wood has died before the winter came. It came back alive when the spring came and flourished along with the summer days.

I have praised the rich and opulent peony, the noble and stately rose & lily, the brilliant and vibrant zinnia, glorious morning glory, the vivacious and fragrant hyacinth, the exuberant hydrangea, the bright and vivid celosia, the exotic and fuchsia (denotes color) Fuchsia and the flamboyantly crimson dianthus or salvia or pentas or . . . You see I have run out of the suitable adjectives for our flowers.

But for the hollyhocks-like deep rose and pink hibiscus flowers—larger than Katy’s palm, let’s just say “Big is Beautiful”.

Katy’s report at 世界日報:Dr. Ishun Huang (黃怡舜醫師) is to return to Taiwan

(This is Katy’s report at World Journal, 世界日報, published on July 27, 2011)

Dr. Ishun Huang, an otolaryngologist (ENT doctor) has studied for a Ph.D. at University of Pittsburgh, will return to Taiwan at the end of July.  His medical practice will be at the ENT Dept. of Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital (長庚醫院) at Kaohsiung (高雄), Taiwan.

Unlike most research fellows from Taiwan spending a year or two at UPMC, Dr. Huang matriculated for a Ph.D, supported by a five-year scholarship provided by Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, in return Dr. Huang promised his service for the next ten years.  He’ll also assume teaching responsibility and his research experience will help excite and elevate the level of medical research in the university hospital.

Dr. and Mrs. Huang are kind and easy-going, and are happy in giving others in need a hand; they have two lovely children.  Their friends in the greater Pittsburgh area felt sad in seeing them off.  Mr. & Mrs. Edward Hwang (黃呈昌) and Professor & Mrs. Charles Hwang (黃正傑) gave them farewell parties.

Mrs. Huang (育瑛/Sophie) is a science teacher teaching physics and chemistry; she will return to her teaching career.  She is concerned as to the language issue that her two children will face right after returning to Taiwan.  Her eight-year-old daughter must make extra effort in learning Chinese to catch up with her schoolmates.

Many UPMC research fellows coming from Taiwan are very pleased, upon their returning, that they have this valuable life experience, not only can they gain advanced medical knowledge and skill, but also enjoy American quality family life style, making weekend leisure trips with family.

A related news is that David Wang, M.D. Ph.D. (王健晴) at UPMC will have a get-together gathering with friends at his home on August 27.

(The following is Katy’s dispatch)

黃怡舜醫師將返台服務

【賓州匹玆堡訊】 世界新聞網 北美華文新聞、華商資訊

July 27, 2011 06:00 AM 

匹茲堡大學醫學院醫師黃怡舜，將於7月下旬與家人重返台灣高雄長庚醫院耳鼻喉科服務.

一般由台灣外派到匹茲堡大學醫學院的醫生，都是接受一年短訓，黃怡舜獲長庚醫院提供五年獎學金，到匹茲堡大學醫學院修讀博士學位，現在必須返台為長庚醫院服務十年。

由於黃怡舜夫婦為人隨和，且樂於提攜後進，小孩也非常可愛，匹茲堡的朋友都非常不捨他們離去，一再為他們設宴餞別，其中包括黃呈昌、黃正傑教授等。

黃怡舜妻子陳育瑛是理化老師，將回高雄楠梓重執教鞭。她擔心兩個子女返台後馬上面臨中文教育問題，八歲大女兒必須惡補中文才能跟上進度。

不少自長庚醫院來匹大醫學院接受培訓的醫師，返台前都一致表示，能在匹大醫學院受訓，是一種難得的人生經驗。不但有機會比較中美醫療，還向美國同行學習到不少知識，而且在美國比較有家庭生活品質，周末經常全家出遊。

另外，目前正在匹茲堡大學醫學院攻讀醫學博士的王健晴(David Wang)， 也邀請大家8月27日晚到他家聚餐。(張瓊月)