The tree was in the wrong place at the wrong time

There was nothing wrong with this poor tree; it was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.  When the summer came last year the lush and dense leaves blocked the sun shine for the Taiwanese pumpkins and luffa, and that was the grave offense.

Katy was holding a rope tying and pulling the tree away from me while I was sawing off the tree.  We also cut off many branches of the other trees in the back of the garden.  The work in the garden has been going on in earnest as the young plants indoors under the artificial sunlight (special plant fluorescent lights) have been growing in vigor.

Why read WWII history?

Justin Beber recently visited Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo thinking it was just a “beautiful site and only a place of prayer”. Justin is really popular and in high demand; the courthouses in many cities (Miami, Toronto and Los Angeles) have all called for his appearance. He probably has limited knowledge about WWII; unfortunately he may not be alone among many of his fans or idolators.

There is nothing wrong in having a shrine memorizing the war dead, but having a war museum defending Japan’s wartime aggression and atrocities is not acceptable and not in the best interest to Japanese people.

Elie Wiesel wrote, “I emphasize that I do not believe in collective guilt.  The children of killers are children, not killers.  We must never blame them for what their elders did.  But we can hold them responsible for what they do with the memory of their elders' crime.”

I was never tired of reading WWII history. How could the highly educated German people follow blindly in delirious excitement to war, to destruction and to death?

In his second wartime speech before he took premiership, Church said of Hitler, “a haunted, morbid being, who, to their eternal shame, the German people in their bewilderment have worshiped as a god.” German people paid the ultimate price.

One needs to read WWII, especially the German and Japanese people so that we will never again have another Hitler or Hideki Tojo.

Tulips of other colors

After posting the blooming red tulips in our garden, I heard a quiet protest from tulips of other colors; they said the bright red ones may be vibrant and vivacious; their colors (purple, yellow and pinkish red) are gentle, noble and calm, exuding an air of equanimity and self-confidence.  Ladies and Gentlemen.  The bright red ones may be 'hot', but they said they are 'cool'.  Here they are!

 

 

 

 

With the blooming tulips in our garden, who needs an outdoor thermometer?

This past winter came early and stayed; severe and harsh.  We could hardly find a day to plant these tulips until mid- December.  They finally began to bloom two days ago; the spring garden came more than one month late.

The first photo was taken on April 27—a very nice warm (60s-70s ºF) day; all the petals of the tulips were wide open.  It cooled down toward the evening and the petals closed, closing the eyes to go to bed.  Next day (April 28) remained unseasonably cold and the petals never opened.

So the opening and closing of the petals of the tulips is determined by temperature, not light.  This much I learned.  Tulips blooming is dynamic, not static.  Looking at the tulips in our garden, I can tell the temperature outside.

The resurrected tulips have risen on Easter

These three photos were taken on Easter Sunday.  The blooming tulips were the ones died in “beautiful reluctance” last year and resurrected on Easter; He has risen!  The two rows of not-yet-blooming Tulips were just planted last December. 

Seeing the perennials coming back every year, we cannot help but ponder the mystery of death and resurrection.  No wonder Emily Dickinson wrote we are “closer to God in a garden than anyplace on this earth.”

It is time to read Gabriel García Márquez

I read A Catcher in the Rye only after J.D. Salinger died in 2010.  I began to read John Updike in 2008, and he died within one year in January 2009.  Most of the books I have read whose authors had been gone long ago.  My daughters suggested me to read One hundred Years of Solitude, but I never did.  I picked up Love in the Time of Cholera last year.  It is time for me to read Gabriel García Márquez; to finish Love in the Time of Cholera and also to read One hundred Years of Solitude as he passed away on April 17.

Over the years I only read books written by American and British authors; Janice kept assuring me that the translation versions of great novels are as good as the original English ones.  Based on reading Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment (still an ongoing ‘open book’ for me) and Marquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera, I think Janice is right.

A New York Times article says “he read intensely — the Americans Hemingway, Faulkner, Twain and Melville; the Europeans Dickens, Tolstoy, Proust, Kafka and Virginia Woolf.” But Márquez once said, “I’ve never tried to imitate authors I’ve admired. On the contrary, I’ve done all I could not to imitate them.”  This may be why he is an original in perfecting the “magic realism” style.  It is safe to say that he has the caliber of the likes of Dickens, Tolstoy and Hemingway.

He was politically left-winged; a good friend of Fidel Castro, who may be a lesser of two evils comparing with the Latin America’s dictators, such as General Augusto Pinochet of Chile.

Sorry, Wei-Chung Wang (王維中), if you pitched against the Pirates you are in the wrong team

Pirates crushed the visiting Milwaukee Brewers 11-2 on April 17.  After being swept by Brewers in Milwaukee last week, Pirates was trying to return the favor in kind (報一箭之仇).  Andrew McCutchen’s first home run of the season at the bottom of the 1^st inning gave Pirates a 2 to 1 lead.

I had a mixed emotion watching Brewers’ left-handed pitcher, Wei-Chung Wang (王維中, who is from Taiwan, who had been in Pirates Minor League, and was very recently picked up by Brewers who may have second thought about him now) was mercilessly destroyed by ferocious Pirates at the 8^th inning.  Wang gave up six runs, including a 3-run homer by Pedro Alvarez, his 6^th for the season, which is still fairly young.  Pirates’ Volquez tossed seven respectable innings.

Wang did pitch a scoreless inning against St. Louis Cardinals the other day, but based on tonight’s performance, he may not be ready for the big time at the Major League; he might be sent back to the Minor League.  Sorry, Wang, if you pitched against Pirates you are in the wrong team, a Taiwanese though you may be.

A house without books is bare, empty, dull and lonely

Janice said she is trying to unload some of her books as she has been collecting digital books, moving to invisible “digital clutter”.  I am beginning to order digital books from time to time here and there, but I just cannot let go my books.  A house without books is bare, empty, dull and lonely.

Katy needs more space with plant fluorescent lights, I have to move the books to make room for the young plants; one got to have priority.  One can see the pile of Churchill books is higher than that of Lincoln, and I am beginning to have Churchill digital books.

The only reason I do not like gardening is I cannot read while working in the garden.  I think I need a Google Glass.  Google has expanded the so-called Glass explorers to 8,000, but I’m not willing to spend $1,500 for a prototype.

Tower of London—the saddest place on earth

The history of the Tower of London is as old as that of England; it has been nearly one thousand years old.  William the Conqueror built it by the River Thames as a fortress. It has been a tourist attraction since at least sixteenth century.  Rarely did I travel, I am always falling far behind in going places; in this case I am already 400 years late to the early tourists to the Tower.

 

The Tower has notoriety as a prison where famous people, traitor or martyr, lost their heads.  But, it is not always so in its one thousand illustrious or notorious history.  It was initially used as the fortress and palace for the kings and queens.  Many include Henry VIII and Queen Catherine, left the Tower to Westminster for coronation.  Elizabeth I (Henry VIII’s daughter) spent two months as a prisoner under the order of Queen Mary (her half-sister).  When she returned to the Tower four years later, she was to leave for Westminster for coronation, beginning the nearly 45 years of reign that comes to be known as Elizabethan era that also gave us Shakespeare.

It was not until Tudor Dynasty (especially Henry VIII) that the Tower gained the notoriety as a prison for the famous and the powerful.  John Adams was worried about ending up in the Tower when he was sent to France to replace Benjamin Franklin as the Minister to France in 1778.  His 10-year-old son (John Quincy, our sixth president) went with him, but not his wife.  Many years later Adams said, “I never would have gone anywhere without my wife.  Nothing but the deadly fear that I might be in the Tower [of London] and she not permitted to be there with me prevented my taking her.”  Abigail did join him some years later.

St. Peter Ad Vincula

The 19^th century historian Thomas Macaulay (who is buried at Westminster Abbey) wrote “In truth there is no sadder spot on the earth than that little cemetery.”  He was referring to the St. Peter Ad Vincula, a chapel inside the Tower compound, where Thomas More, Bishop John Fisher, Thomas Cromwell, Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey and Catherine Howard were buried after their executions.

Elizabeth Walk

Many came to the Tower via River Thames and entered through the Traitor Gate, as did Princess Elizabeth (future Elizabeth I).  She refused to enter claiming she was not a traitor.  She was sent to the Tower because of Wyatt rebellion against Queen Mary I.  The history I read indicates Elizabeth was indeed innocent; her only “crime” was that she was next in line if Mary I was overthrown.  She was imprisoned in Bell Tower facing the river.  I am hoping the “Elizabeth Walk” (see photo) is opened to the tourists.  One needs to walk here and walks into history.  Walking here during her imprisonment, Elizabeth I couldn’t help but thinking how soon she would meet the same fate as her mom (Ann Boleyn—Henry VIII’s second wife) who lost her head when Elizabeth was one and one-half years old.

Money talk in Major League Baseball: Improbable win for Volquez against Wainwright

One of the reasons I was not too optimistic going to PNC Park this past Sunday was the comparison of the pitchers.  It was the first start for Pirates Edinson Volquez, whose ERA of 5.71 was the highest/worst among the 81 major league pitchers who qualified for the ERA title last year.  Pirates signed him up at $5 million for one year.

Volquez faced Cardinals’ ace, Adam Wainwright who got a $97.5 million/5 years contract last year.  Thus Wainwright is worth nearly four times more than Volquez is moneywise. Of course money cannot buy a win or victory, but statistically Wainwright would have more chance to win against Volquez.  The $97.5 million/5 years and $5 million/one year are based on the statistics after all.  A win is a win, probable or improbable, we will take it.  We cannot claim the credit as Cardinals beat Pirates when we’re in PNC Park last time 2 or 3 years ago.

 

Cardinals also boast Matt Holliday, who signed a 7-year contract for $120 million in 2010.  Holliday, like Detroit Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera ($292 million/10 years), is like what Duke Ellington said of Napoleon, who was worth 50,000 soldiers on battle field.  I may exaggerate, but not much.

 

Speaking of big money in MLB, I have to mention the new Yankees import, Masahiro Tanaka ($155 million/7 years).  A legend in Japan he is, he is not unhittable in MLB, though; in his debut against Blue Jays in Toronto a few days ago, he gave up a homer in the first inning; he quickly settled down and won the game; a great pitcher is one who can pitch in facing adversity.

 

Take me out to the ball game: a day at PNC Park

St. Louis Cardinals came to town Friday (April 4) and collapsed (2 to 12) in rout and ruin under the weight of the tremendous offense from the Pirates; Alvarez had two home runs, and Ischikawa one, and everyone else seemed to have a hit or two.  So it is almost a relief to know that Cardinals beat Pirates (6 to 1) yesterday, as we’re going to PNC Park on the last day of the series (April 6).  The chance to sweep a team like Cardinals is remote, as Cardinals is not sissy like a little bird; it is formidable, if not menacing.  Cardinals went to the World Series 4 times (twice as the champion, twice as a contender) the past ten years after all.

Andrew McCutchen doubled at the 4^th inning and scored on Neil Walker’s (Pittsburgh hometown boy) two-out double.  Cardinals tied it at the 6^th inning; at the bottom of the 7^th inning; Cardinal’s Wainwright walked Alvarez, and Tony Sanchez’s double sent Alvarez home; it proved to be the winning hit.  More often than not did a pitcher pay when he walked someone.

Pirates has won the first two series (Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals) at 4-2; let’s hope a good beginning is half the success. Let’s go, Bucs!