Spring Wine Party at Linda's Home

The Perfect Finale of 1009 and Beautiful Prelude of 2010 for Goldies

Love puts the fun in together, the sad in apart, and the joy in a heart. ~Author Unknown

From Christmas to the New Year, goldies had the most exciting, joyous, and warmest week since the bond between us was built. It’s a Perfect Finale of 1009 and Beautiful Prelude of 2010 for Goldies. I was wondering what to say or write to conclude 2009 for the goldies blog, then Pamela’s Christmas and Birthday Party and Lydia son’s wedding ceremony and banquet took my worry away. What a smooth and perfect transition!

So, I like to use this chapter to call it a year. My job of maintaining goldies’ blog for year 2009 is done. How time flies! I didn’t accomplish the goal I set for myself, I didn’t do the best I could; yet, I made it to the finish line eventually.

Lydia son’s wedding was the most beautiful, delicate and successful one I have ever attended these years. The beautiful couple charmed everyone. I like to give them my best wishes with the following quote:

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach. ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Below are the words from other goldies given to Lydia with bless:

Irene: Dear Beautiful Lydia, This is the most wonderful wedding banquet I have attended, the newly weds are created by nature, the programs, band, food, setting, and the atmosphere are gorgeous. You really can release your burden and hand over to your daughter-in-law. Soon you will be promoted to grandma like me. 加人加福氣喔!

Michelle: Dear Lydia, after almost one week, the impression of the romantic and splendid wedding party is still in my mind. I am very happy to echo all the wonderful elements other Golden Ladies adored in the party.
In addition, I was mostly touched by the presentation with photos of you and Harry. It showed how attentive Allen and his new bride are. This is one of the great parts in the wedding. Thank you to give me this great chance to witness the glorious moment with so many good friends.

Pamela: Dear Lydia, The wedding is one of the most beautiful, touching, meaningful and well-organized that I’ve ever attended. I admire your family for arranging such a wonderful and incredible wedding at such a short time. Allen is surely a talented diplomat. Frankly speaking, Moses and I won't have the energy and mind to do so.

Sherry: Dear Lydia, What a gracious and modish wedding ceremony and banquet you and Harry gave to Alan! The words of Harry to your elder son were touching on Alan's Big Day! I liked the ballroom dance and guitar singing of Alan and his bride. The band was superb. I wish golden ladies could plan well to sing and dance on stage.

I enjoyed very much the interior design of the wedding venue, from the reception area to the lounge area, an exquisite layout for banquet guests, young and old. The well trained waiters and waitresses provided warm and friendly services. The food and drinks were great! You looked gorgeous at the wedding ceremony and banquet with your secret on! Many congratulations to you and Harry,

Trini: Dear Lydia, It's truly great to attend such a lovely wedding. It was the best way to begin 2010 witnessing the well planned wedding and sharing joy with all goldies and T/Ms friends. You must be quite exhausted now after such a big event. Must say it was the most successful and enjoyable wedding ceremony and banquet I have ever attended. We all had a great time there. Congratulations again to you, Harry and the handsome couple. I believe they will never forget how their parents love them.

What a year! Let me wish all goldies a more fulfilling, joyous and prosperous year!

http://picasaweb.google.com/taipeitmtrini/ABeautifulWeddingHarryAndLydiaGaveToTheirSon#
Trini

Pamela's Gift to Goldies - A Birthday Party of Triple Joy!

“Your birthday is a special time to celebrate the gift of ‘you’ to the world.”













December is a glorious month. Whether it’s cold and frost, or sun and warmth, it’s a time to celebrate Christmas in Christianity, a time to enjoy the harvest what we accomplished, and a time to relax and think of others that are less lucky than us. To goldies it means more. Irene, Linda and Pamela were all born in this glorious month.

It’s definitely the best time of a year. People, especially in western countries, take a long vacation due to the two biggest holidays, Christmas and New Year. Here in Taiwan we don’t have holidays, yet the trees, streets and buildings decorated with lights, and dangling things that make the city amazingly breath-taking at night says a bright, peaceful, joyful and thankful festival is a universal wish.

Pamela took the initiatives to announce a very special and joy-doubled Christmas and Birthday party more than two months ago. She was throwing a whole-night-through party. We all were going to stay overnight together there. When she decided the date, everything was set and put in place. She reserved a beautiful and spacious wooden cottage in a resort area. Everyone was excited over the biggest up-coming gathering. All of us; Gina, Irene, Kate, Linda, Michelle, Pamela, Sherry and I; couldn’t wait for the day to come except Lydia who was busy in preparing her son’s wedding and receiving her relatives, couldn’t make it. We couldn’t hide our disappointment, but understood how busy she must have been.

Pamela wrote again when the day was approaching:

"Good Friends are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget". At the special season, I would like to thank you for your supports, caring and friendship and let's have great fun, gatherings, life experience sharing and many others in the coming new year. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and May peace, love and prosperity follow you always in New Year.

How touching! Here’s a rough picture of how she arranged the party .

Place: High up in the beautiful mountain, 陽明山菁山露營場遊憩區
A wooden cottage: spacious enough for ten people to get wild and sleep cozily overnight.
Time: Dec. 25th beginning in the afternoon
Food, drinks and party ornaments: Pamela plus everyone’s input
Car pool: to make sure we will all be there before dinner time.
Entertainment: chatting, photo shooting, singing, dancing, hot spring, etc. .. just being spontaneous.

It turned out that the three who were born in Dec. spent the most time to prepare more-that-we-could-gulp finger-licking food. Linda’s chicken hot pot was seasonal and sensational; Irene’s cold dishes, green onion pan cakes plus a big birthday cake exceeded the volume we can digest. The other food brought to the party was left aside; no enough room in our stomach to touch them. Nevertheless, I did my best to consume the best I could regardless of my limited stomach, never being able to
resist scrumptious food.

To make it short, we had an extremely wild, crazy yet perfectly under-control party. I didn’t know if the roof stayed intact since we made such a big noise. Was the cottage sound-proof enough? We couldn’t tell. Sherry explored her imagination to take numerous incredible group pictures for us including a few taking from outside the cottage. Pamela and Michelle brought their lap tops and speakers to play the songs and music we need. Gina and Kate showed again how Chinese opera has done with their posture. I contributed a little bit with the Christmas ornaments along with Pamela’s carnival props to make the party both Christmas and party like.

When it was deep in the night, our body clock struck against our will. We had to call it a day. Before we hit the sack, goldies tried the hot spring except Irene and me. We two are the ones who don’t find hot spring especially alluring.

By seven the next morning, we woke up and got washed for the breakfast. After taking some more photos at the restaurant, we had special guests of Pamela, a couple with two lovely young twins, coming from Belgium to join us for an hour. Another excitement for the party, teasing the twins and having short chat with the couple. Time flew so fast, it was about noon time. Before we packed things up, Linda surprised us by some more clam soup. When we left the cottage, our stomachs were filled with contentment, yet our heart yearned for more. It convinced all of us we can have more birthday parties like this in the coming years.

Thank you again, Pamela, for bring us the most joyous and warmest Christmas and a memory-filled night to conclude year 2009!

Trini
http://picasaweb.google.com/taipeitmtrini/PamelaLindaIreneSBirthdayInTheGloriousMonth#

A New Born Baby in Linda's Family

A new baby is like the beginning of all things - wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities. - Eda J. Le Shan

Sweet-hearted Linda invite goldies to her home to share the joy of her family. They just had a little cut baby joining the family. We can tell how significant it must be to her. She is the most capable housewife and understanding mother anyone can tell.

All the goldies were happy for her, yet not everyone could make it to the gathering. It's on Saturday, some goldies already had programs arranged. Only Pamela, Sherry and I made it to join Linda and her hustand.

To make sure I would not waste any time on the road, she thoughfully explained the route in every detail. I owed her a million thanks that it was the first I managed to her home smoothly without wasting a min. The trip was enjoyable, too, having Pamela sitting beside for me to catch up with her during her long absence from Taipei.

Linda is also a great cook, she prepared hot pot for us. She prepared a wide assortment of delicacies which are enough for ten people. With her husband at the table, we also had a wonderful chat. The baby and her mom were in the nursing center, we didn't have the chance of seeing them. But from Linda and her husband, and the photos they took, we knew they were just swell.

We knew how busy this couple were, and how precious the holiday was for them, we couldn't take too much time of theirs though we loved to linger for another moment after the feast.

Waving goodbye to Linda, we were also happy for her to fit herself in the role of both a wife and a mother so impeccably.

Trini
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http://picasaweb.google.com/taipeitmtrini/PamelaLindaIreneSBirthdayInTheGloriousMonth#

The Queen's Birthday

We are happy as we choose to be happy.

We had been expecting Lydia’s birthday party for more than a month. When there is a chance created for us to loosen up, we’d certainly embrace it. All of us arrived at the party around 7:00 pm.

Lydia, being the birthday star and the host, prepared a lot of fruit. When it was put on the table, we were lured to it and no other food could please our stomach like the fruit did. Nevertheless it was Michelle’s bread that filled up our stomach.

It was a casual party just for fun. The only disappointment was that Linda couldn’t come and Pamela was still in ShangHai. Eating, drinking, posing, singing, dancing and chatting were the
only things we did. We were all worry-free, we sang out loud and danced to the music.

When Lydia’s better half, Harry, entered the recreation room, the atmosphere reached its climax. Being a successful business man and T/M, Harry was warm and hospitable just the same. He helped take a lot of group photos for us.

It was almost midnight when we called it a day! Happy birthday to you, Lydia! And thank you for bringing us such a wonderful night.

Trini
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http://picasaweb.google.com.tw/taipeitmtrini/LydiaSBirthdayParty#

Getting old or growing up?

We know we're getting old when the only thing we want for our birthday is not to be reminded of it. - Author unknown

To me birthday was just like any other day, and I’ve never been eager to celebrate it. It was always my daughter who reminded me of the date. But when it comes to our friends’ birthday, I like to celebrate it for them giving my best wishes and bringing them happiness.

Today we goldies got together not only for the monthly reading but also for celebrating Kate’s birthday. Kate wanted to keep a low profile, still Lydia reminded everyone of us of the special day and volunteered to buy a birthday cake. So exciting that we had two aims in one gathering. Like always we changed the date several times before concluding it. Finally Kate, Lydia and Michelle cancelled their clogging class to make it happen and for more goldies to join. No other day was perfect as Kate and Lydia will go abroad for their long planned trip this weekend. We also changed restaurants several times. The one we finally walked in was decided on the spot.

Irene and Kate were already there when I stepped in. Good to see Kate was in a jolly mood. The first surprise came before I sat down. Irene bought everyone two scarves, one golden and one black, always so sweet. Next time, we shall all wear them as our dress code. Michelle, Lydia and Sherry arrived respectively.

We began with a light chat; Michelle’s trip to Hawaii, Michelle father’s health and Irene’s calendar plan. The air became hot when Lydia talked about her birthday party. We were so excited about the upcoming fun. Then Sherry dropped a bomb talking about her unusual encounter, and created an even hotter atmosphere. She is so good at becoming the center of attention.

After enough chat came camera moment. Posing, teasing and making a scene put a sensational period to our reading. Can’t wait for Lydia’s Birthday Party to come!


Trini
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A Long-waiting hike of 14.2 km of distance up to the Peak of Bamboo Mountain

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. ~John Muir


Embracing mountains and embracing nature is my cup of tea, and hiking with friends always excites me. Today over 150 people joined the hike! The biggest group I have ever joined.

The hike to the Radar Tower on Bamboo Mountain was first announced on Aug. 18th. I waited for the day to come for exact two months. My excitement is indescribable when it finally came. Eight months passed since my last hike. The Radar Tower belongs to the military, and normally it’s guarded and exclusive for the military. Today they made an exclusive exception for YMSNP volunteers and opened the gate for them to hike there to enjoy the breathtaking scenery and the awesome view around the mountain because it’s the 2nd highest peak of YMS. Thanks to Virginia and Sherry who are YMSNP volunteers, we Toastmasters got the privilege of joining them. .

When the day was around the corner, reminders from Virginia and Sherry kept rolling in:

1. Car pool arrangement.
2. Be punctual!
3. Be aware of the distance challenge, it’s 14.2 km!
4. Get necessary gear ready.
5. Weather warning, warm clothes and raincoat are a must.
6. No photos taking. It’s a military base!
Etc.

Wow! They are really nervous being responsible for the safety of 150 people. Everything went very well as planned. I arrived at the gathering place before the schedule. After Sherry joined me, we took a few photos to record the moment. Then we headed for the mountain in order to get a good parking place.

I did get an excellent parking place. Being the very early birds, we waited for others to come. An hour passed, the place was getteing more and more crowded, the atmosphere was getting warmer and warmer and we were getting more and more excited. Toastmasters belonged to group two. We set off first after all the members arrived.
I kept staying in the first few ones during the whole trip. My naughty and competitive genes were so compelling that I couldn’t help but act and walk fast. I wanted to prove to myself that 14.2 km is nothing. I was so inconsiderate of others, but just couldn’t resist the urge of enjoying the moment and have fun.
Gradually and unconsciously we first four left all others behind. When I told Moses proudly that we may be the first to arrive the tower, four hikers of another group passed through us. Giving our accomplishment up? Moses was kind enough to play along. We over-passed them and made it the first to the tower.

Then we waited for lunch for almost two hours! The military crew didn’t expect that we finished it so fast, either, and tried to help us kill the extra two hours. I was so impressed. We, kind of intruders that disturbed their routine, were received such a warm welcome.

After lunch and some more group photos, we hit the road. Moses strode even faster than he did in the morning. To prove I was not a lamb duck, I kept the same pace and left our group far behind. When we reached the destination, we could do nothing but wait. Sherry showed up one hour later after other hikers left one by one. Next time, I should consider to follow other’s pace. I am used to walk fast, but waiting is not fun.

In the end, must thank Virginia, Sherry and all YMSNP volunteers to make this hiking possible. The distance was perfect for me to enjoy a good exercise, the sky was clear, the air was clean, the mountains were alluring, the view was broad, and the people were warm and passionate. I am a mountain person, hope there will be more hikes for me to join. What a perfect Sunday!

Trini http://picasaweb.google.com/taipeitmtrini/ALongWaitingHikeOf142KmOfDistance#
Virginia http://picasaweb.google.com.tw/vlee1009/091018#
Yi Hsin http://www.flickr.com/photos/flying_hsin/sets/72157622493176115/
Sherry http://photo.xuite.net/ymsblog/3567971
Trini
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