Bowtie is rest in peace now

Bowtie had been with me for 16 years.  He was smart, friendly, trusting, loving and forgiving.  I have been lucky to have had him.  I would miss him and remember him always.   Facebook sent me a picture of him that I posted 7 years ago on December 20, 2009 without knowing that Bowtie was gone just the day before.  What a coincidence!  Looking at Bowtie's picture the day after brought tears in my eyes.  And it also brought me a sense of gratitude.

Bowtie seven years ago:

Bowtie my sweetie boy always:

Barbara Eidel who helped me to put Bowtie to sleep has been very kind and sympathetic.  Today I received a card from her. Perhaps one day my spirit would meet again the spirit of my loved ones.

Friends of Bowtie at his vet hospital made a donation to the Baltimore Humane Society in memory of him.  Yes Bowtie was such a likable sweet cat!

Bowtie was buried in the backyard of Lyny and Paul's.  So kind of them to allow me to do so.

A visit to Taiwan

From Nov 2 - 17 I was in Taipei, where I was born and raised.  I was not ambitious to travel around the island or venture to high mountain or wide coast.  I just wanted to "live there" for a little while.  Weiling reserved this apartment on AirB&B is located only five minutes from the Daan metro station.  Very convenient, and it was my home away from home for the 16 nights in Taipei.

Visiting with high school classmates:

It is always fun to meet up with the Chin ladies.  This time Kang arranged four of us to do a bit biking before having lunch with the rest.  After lunch, we went to walk on the campus of TaiDa, and end up going to have crushed ice dessert at TaiYi.

 We biked along the river, and I stopped to pose for this picture.  The lunch crowd.

 
The crushed ice delight:

TaiDa campus, the drunken moon lake:

On a separate day, BiFang took YiYi and me to visit the Tea Farm in SherDing, where one finds the "Thousand Islands Lake":

 The tea bushes grown on the slopes

Then at another Saturday, Bifang took Kong, PingBai, and me to see the north east coast. Kong and I hiked the trail along the coast (Bitou Cape Trail) , while Bifang and Pingbai waited for us.

Along the Bitou Trail:

 

The trail was actually in repair.  Kong and I trans-passed, and had a lot of fun:

After a lunch with fresh sea food, the four of us ventured to hike on the "Nan Zi Lin Trail", where one sees mountain meets the sea:

 

 

The tilted tea pot mountain:

Hanging out with Weiling:

Since I was sharing an Air B&B apartment with Weiling, we were hanging out a lot of times.  First of all, we both love the traditional Chinese breakfast.  So going for that was an essential ritual every morning. There is a YonHe Soymilk shop 5 minutes from our apartment, which we visited almost every morning.  But some times we walked a long distance to a place near Weiling's old home when she grew up.  Just look how happy she looked when we visited that breakfast place:

Our "regular" breakfast place:

 

We visited the Lin Garden in BengChow:

 

Walked through the TaAn Park , Wenzhou Jie, then to Taida: My Junior High was behind me in the following picture:

 I certainly thought about my parents.  Father used to work inside this building:

We went to a night market.  Weiling tasted the Oyster Fry for the first time:  Felt so much like a tourist.

We also toured the Taipei Central Train Station, and ate some nice red bean pasted filled wheel, and pigfoot. 

And we went to Meiping's home in LinKow, then together with  Meiping and Wei to Chunggan Retirement Home and ShangSha Old Town:

 The three ladies each bought a hat with Taiwan embroider on it.

 We felt quite groovy!

Weiling and I also took a bus to YeLiu.  We visited the fish port, the park, and ate some local crabs.

 The original "Queen's Head":

Hiking and Shoping with Meiping

The hiking on trails near Taipei was not hard at all, very but pleasant. 

 

 

Visiting Relatives:

I spent some time with Er Jie and Hong Tai's family:

Also I had lunch with Nancy before she headed out to Bali for a vacation:

Two weeks seemed so short.  But I had a very nice time!  Certainly enjoyed all the food.