Central Party School

This article in Mercury News mentioned the place I used to live. We moved to Central Party School when I was in middle school when my mom got a job there for her research work in comparative socialism. I lived there for only four years, but until a few years ago when my dad finally moved out, it was technically our "home".

"Party" is for the Communist Party of course. This is the place where the best of the best of the Party stopped to polish up before their next great ascend in the power game. The school campus was built behind Summer Palace, the retreat for the royalties in the old days. The size and layout of the campus had a hint of an attempt to copy Summer Palace as well, complete with painted gate, lake, bamboo garden and rocky hills.

I can't believe there weren't many pictures of the campus, since my dad is an armature photographer and he was in high heavens landing in all the nice scenery. These two were taken one year when I was home from school, first heavy snowfall since I left Beijing (might be the last snow I saw in China as well). Can't see much with everything all white!


Usually this kind of gate is on the main road at the entrance of a town, but this one is purely decorative. There is a lake on one side and some bushes and field on the other. Seems like someone decided there had to be a gate on this campus but couldn't find a place for it. I remember throwing Frisbee through the gate.

With my brother in the real Summer Palace. Taken from the same angle as the picture on the right on Wikepedia.

I think this is my dad's attempt to hide the millions of tourists.

Knitting Revelations

Just because I bought a bag of ten balls of yarn for a sweater, I don't have to plan for a sweater that uses up nine and half of those ten balls. The knitting gods will forgive me if I use three balls for a baby sweater and two balls for a hat. The leftover will survive just fine in the stash.

I don't have to wear something butt ugly just because I knitted it. I should not force my child wear something just because I knitted it for him even if he pointed out the pattern in the magazine and shopped my stash for the yarn.

The purpose of keeping yarn in clear plastic containers is so I can see them and keep track of them. 50,000 skeins of yarn tend to hide behind each other and each other's clear plastic boxes.

Not knowing what's in my stash is bliss. I never feel guilty buying new yarn. Discovery its twin a few months later is rather pleasant.

Upon seeing a new pattern I gasp, "oh you'll go so well with that variegated baby alpaca", and promptly put them together. They will be in my knitting queue. It's a guarantee that I won't be knitting it for years.

I brag about my knitting, a lot. On Monday at least five people told me "What a lovely sweater that is! Did you knit it?" The little white mohair top with delicate criss cross stitches and ribbon embroidery was from the flea market, for $1.

The traditional four-piece sweater (front, back, two sleeves) remains the simplest and most elegant, most versatile way for making the best fitting and most comfortable sweater. What else can you ask for?

The knitting gods will be pleased if a knitter is a forever “advanced beginner” and knitted 3,000 baby blankets in the same stitch pattern in her eighty years of knitting life. They would not have cared if she never created a masterpiece of cashmere lace shawl or a fine-gauged Norwegian Fair Isle jacket that required three steeks.

If one sleeve is six inches longer than the other, it doesn’t matter if you used the right increases.

Every other knitter is using two circular needles to knit socks and my socks still fit my own two feet and my Clover bamboo double points still work just fine. Thank you very much.

Knitting will never make you rich, talking about it does.

Parent University

In January Henry's school held a one-day "Parent University", to show parents what they teach the kids in the classroom. Since I never went to school in the US, I figured it was a good chance to see what it's like in elementary school.

You can choose three courses, two in the morning and one after lunch. One of the courses I took was Hands-On, Minds-On Science. I happened to have a science teacher (internal) as my group partner, so she showed me how to dissect an owl pellet. The pellet is owl's spit up with all the stuffs they can't digest (feather, bones, teeth, etc.). As the teacher told me, it's pretty clean and fun, much easier than dissecting a cow's eye which the kids will do in middle school.

Take a look at this picture. Apparently this owl ate two mice in a row, there are two skulls (circled), and various bones in the pellet.

De Colores Finale

Started: July 2006

Finished: January 2007

Pattern: De Colores Jacket from Module Magic by Ginger Luters

Yarn: Noro Silk Garden and Paton Classic Wool

Needle: Size 8

Buttons: from Knitting Arts in Saratoga

What I've been doing

Working -- to be specific, every other Friday or Saturday night. Not many extra hours really, but cranking out reports in the middle of the night makes me feel like I'm working 24x7. As Cris said "you wanted a job right? now you got one." so watch out what you wish for.

Listening -- My Life in France by Julia Child; and Who Moved My Blackberry by Lucy Kellaway. You have to love food to enjoy the first, and you have to know the rotten corporate live to appreciate the second.

Stitches! -- Only spent an afternoon in the market, but thoroughly enjoyed showing off my De Colores. It's utterly thrilling to be stopped by strangers and be told "you've done a marvelous job with this jacket." I told at least five people about the Student Fashion Show that night, hope Fae got some good cheering for her few minutes on the runway.

Tahoe -- Took the family to the snow for a weekend, for Henry's birthday. The guys really enjoyed it and I managed to suck in enough air. The dry cold air did a number on me and I'm just feeling back to normal after three weeks. Reminds me why I moved out of Beijing.

Knitting -- Coat is coming along, very slowly. It took me a good part of a week to reorganize my stash to incorporate the purchases from Stitches. After hearing me mutter over and over again -- "where am I going to put all this yarn" -- the wise husband wondered aloud, "well, you might want to start knitting some of them ... " Wishful thinking on both sides.

Family -- Some of you already know that Bill's parents' got into a car accident on Sunday. Their car was totaled, my father-in-law suffered a broken wrist and they are both quite shaken. My mother-in-law is still recovering from her hip replacement surgery a few months ago. They damaged a nerve during the surgery and she cannot walk on her own. They will have to go through a serious lifestyle change, have to count on other people to do most of their caretaking. Something much easier said than done.

Another Tag -- Six strange things about me

You know, when it rains, it pours :-) Just as I finally got around to do the 10 things for Lesley, before I was done I got tagged by Monica to do six strange things about me. I'm happy to oblige.

1. I can wiggle my ears. It's said that this is quite uncommon since the muscles that control the ear wiggling are not active in most people. (by the way, Monica, my son is eight and his blog link is the second on the right -- Otter World. There isn't much going on there since he doesn't write a whole lot yet, but if he knows there is an audience I'm sure he'll be much more motivated to update more often.)

2. Given the opportunity, I can be completely addicted to romance novels, and I always cry buckets at the sad part of the story (there is always at least one).

3. I read old newspaper and magazines. The oldest paper in my current stack is from September, and I have New Yorkers from the late 90s that are still waiting in queue to be read one day.

4. I have close to 9,000 unread emails in one of my accounts, down from over 12,000. I will eventually go through all of them and delete most.

5. I'm completely anal about things going to the right place, especially in my kitchen. Just last night I was brewing over my inlaws putting dishes in the wrong places. I should be glad that they spend time with Henry and even wash dishes for me, but it bugs me to no end to find lids on the wrong pot and soup spoons stacked with tea spoons.

6. I can only talk about my work in English but if I need to memorize numbers they are in Chinese.

Ten things I say to my kids all the time

Are you getting ready for school? The signature of our morning routine, or morning battle. What on earth can you do to get a kid moving in the morning without losing it? Henry gets up very early, mind you, he reads for at least half an hour before getting out of bed, then wonders around, plays, hugs the dogs, then starts changing only when I nag him. I'd find him fooling around downstairs five minutes before leaving, still hasn't packed his lunch, nor eaten breakfast, nor collected jacket and shoes. Does it look like I'm busy? Say it when Henry bugs me to do something I don't think is very important, such as helping him locate something in the garage while I'm cooking dinner. Occasionally he'd catch me saying that when I play on the computer, but let's hope he doesn't read this. Right, Henry? The correct answer is, Yes Mother, You are absolutely right. In a small family like ours, sometimes we have two against one, and more often than not I'm the One and I'd use my motherly authority to recruit Henry to my side. Works especially well when Henry can't make up his mind which side he should be on, and Bill is too much a gentleman to argue with me. Mommy's not home. Another thing to say when Henry bugs me. Eat you dinner! Anything that doesn't look and taste like mac & cheese requires this sentence repeated at least ten times during the meal. Try a bite, it's not going to kill you. See above. Applies to any meat product (except for chicken nuggets and hot dog) and vegetable (except for green beans and carrots). Go ahead and do it. Henry is a very cautious person. He has to be absolutely sure about what's going on and what's expected of him before taking actions. He requires constant encouragement and patience of a saint from his mentors. Give me a reason why .... He has to convince me if he wants something, good practice for his logical and verbal skills. What's your dad doing? They know they are both in trouble. (This last one is for the dogs since they are my kids too) Take care of the house, take care of each other, be nice to Kat (or Grandpa and Grandma, depending on who's going to pick up Henry later in the day), have a good nap, see you guys later ... It's a big ramble I say to the dogs when I leave the house in the morning, as I'm usually the last to leave and have to close the door in front of the little black noses. The guys think I'm nuts, but I feel better having the last chat with the pups before seeing them again in ten hours.

Recent Reads

I'm on a Bill Bryson spree, a run down of what I have listened to and what's coming:

1. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, read by the author. I liked this book so much that I'm making everyone in the book club read it for our February meeting. Wonder if guys still wonder around the house bottomless in middle America?

2. A Walk in the Woods -- a perfect companion for highway 17 commute. I listened to this book a few years ago and it always brings me a great deal of interest in the Smokey Mountains, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Carolinas, Maine, and of course the Appalachian Trail itself. Bill's family is from South Carolina, but something about visiting relatives makes me hesitate a trip east; and Henry is not quite ready for a hike in the woods yet.

3. Neither Here Nor There, read by the author. His tour in Europe as an adult, with many reference to his earlier travels and his travel companion and high school buddy, Stephen Katz, who was also in the other two books above.

4. Sunburned Country, have the book in the car and yet to be listened to. Another one I listened to a few years ago, a fun travel log of Aussie land. (Larrisa, I'd love to hear what you think of this book.)

5. Notes from a Small Island. Waiting to get the book from the library.

Also listened to recently:

1. Marley and Me, by John Grogan. A memoir about a dog and his people. Every dog person has a book like this, and it's always a sad ending. Interesting enough Grogan's favorite author is Bill Bryson.

2. The Jane Austen Book Club. Just finished it this morning, a fiction about a Jane Austen book club (what else!). Not terribly well written, but I might just start reading Austen again. I've read some of them in high school, in Chinese, so it's worthwhile to do it over in English.

Which brings me to some books waiting to be listened to:
1. Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey
2. Dean and Me, by Jerry Lewis. Bill took me to see Rat Pack over the holidays so I picked up this book in the library the other day, good chance to get to know a bit about Dean Martin and his days.

Quick Update

Henry's eyes are OK. Everything checked out just fine, no glasses, no therapy, no surgery (my biggest fear). My knitting is updated on Coat Knit Along. Pictures to come. See Henry's blog for the latest with him. The crabs' dad (that's my husband, not Henry) did an amazing job setting up the new crab house. Feels like Trinket's first night home, we didn't sleep for a week! Work is busy, pulling some twelve hour days. Not complaining, it's what I asked for. The commute time gives me a great chance catching up on audio books. Love it.

New Year, New Worry

I'm not good at making new year's resolutions, largely because I can't seem to keep them. A few weeks down the road I look back and know I haven't done anything that I made up my mind to do on January 1st -- be it walking every day, spend less money, get more work done -- it just makes me feel like a big failure. Not exactly the best thing to do to oneself. Henry has been complaining about double vision. Given the history of the eye problems in my family, I'm very concerned of course. He's been reading a lot in the past year, sometimes getting up very early in the morning and read in the dark for an hour before we beg him to get ready for school. I made an appointment for him to see my eye doctor in couple of weeks. In the mean time we'll just stick with Mad-eye Moody jokes and pretend Henry has a magic eye as well. He doesn't seem to have a "weaker eye" like mine, so that's a blessing.