Not quite curled

Gotcha. (This morning.)

I guess that makes you not quite a good cat by my father's standards. (But we'll cut you some slack for the hot weather.)

Camera-phone series #11.

Perfectly curled

According to my father, good cats are those who are considerate enough to curl their tails around them when they sleep.

Camera-phone series #10.

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones

There is some truth to most of »your article, but to conclude with “only losers kill themselves” was highly presumptuous. You and I, through a looking glass, have no way of knowing the intensity of one’s desolation, and therefore what brings one over the edge of the cliff.

Besides, in life, there is some room for 宁为玉碎，不为瓦全。

Camera-phone series #9.

Floating leaf

Camera-phone series #8.

Stamford House

Puff the Magic Dragon

On Friday night at a shisha bar, we found ourselves staring admiringly at Puff the Magic Dragon.

Puff was a magnificent Middle Eastern man who could emit billowy clouds of white smoke. (As opposed to our best-effort, but straggly little streams.) In fact, he is so impressive that we thought he should be hired at weddings in place of the unromantic dry ice machine.

* * *

This is the version of Puff the Magic Dragon that I read with my niece many years ago (we are only seven years apart). I think we picked it up from an abandoned bag of stuff at the lift lobby. Update: Cousin Ms T told me that this was a prize that she won in kindergarten! It was pretty much in the same condition that you see below - weathered with weakened spine. Sadly, it got lost over years of growing up and spring cleaning.

When Mr S tried to suggest a few weeks ago that my childhood book was "the same" as »the popular song by Peter, Paul and Mary, I protested loudly. My book is the 1965 edition by Paul Newman and Tony Tallerico and he is not the same Paul of the song ok?

After some research, I now reluctantly concede that my book is probably inspired by the song.

I love them both, but they are still not the same.




Note: I believe my Newman version is already out-of-print. In modern versions of Puff the Magic Dragon, Peter Yarrow from the trio and »Lenny Lipton - who wrote the poem which later becames the song's lyrics - both have a stake.

「海角七號」

やっと三ヶ月前の»「海角七號」を見た。

日本語。その懐かしい詩情と音。

夕方、日本海に出た。
……
台湾で冬を越す雷魚の群れを見たよ。
僕はこの思いを一匹に託そう。
漁師をしている君の父親が、捕まえてくれることを願って。
友子、悲しい味がしても食べておくれ。
君には分かるはず。
君を捨てたのではなく、泣く泣く手放したということを。
皆が寝ている甲板で、低く何度も繰り返す：
捨てたのではなく、泣く泣く手放したんだと。


黄昏，我们進入了日本海
……
遇見了要往台灣避冬的雷魚群
我把對你的相思寄放在其中一隻
希望你的漁人父親能捕獲到
友子，儘管它氣味辛酸
你也一定要嚐一口
你會明白
我不是拋棄你，我是哭泣地离开你**
我在眾人熟睡的甲板上反覆低喃：
我不是拋棄你，我是哭泣地离开你

**注：电影的字母把这句译成 “我不是抛弃你，我是捨不得你”。虽然听上去很有押韵，但语义有点说不通（不舍得似乎在为抛弃自圆其说），更重要的是没有正确地表达 “泣く泣く手放したということ” 中的哭泣与放手。

Blue rose and the twin birds

This day, Princess Amina holds the exquisite blue rose and asks of the twin birds:

"Go forth, and bring this healing rose to Karim. Take a picture of each passing cloud in Thailand, and pin them to the tree of memory."