Nicki Chen's Blog, page 12

Saint Patrick’s Day–Celebrating My Grandmother

I don’t go to pubs, nor have I ever tasted a Guinness. (I prefer red wine.) But every Saint Patrick’s Day I celebrate my Irish heritage and my Grandma Norah by sending cards to my grandchildren. I often choose a card with an Irish blessing like the one written below: Throughout my life my Irish […]

Waiting … What Are You Waiting for?

Waiting for spring. Waiting for a vaccination … or two And waiting for my novel, When in Vanuatu, to be published. I don’t know what winter is like where you live, but here in the Pacific Northwest, by the time February rolls around, especially late February, we’re a little bit tired of everything that’s dull–gray […]

When the Red Gates Opened: my interview with Dori Jones Yang

If you’re old enough, you might remember back to the days when China was inaccessible, locked away from the non-Communist world behind its Bamboo Curtain. My husband and I guessed that we would see a man walk on the moon before we saw China open its doors to the average American tourist. In 1969, Neil […]

A Season of Truth

It’s a sunny day here. Looking out the window, I have a crisp, clear view of the trees on my street. Still leafless, they look dull and ordinary, waiting for spring. That’s the truth of it. And that makes me happy. Truth. I didn’t know how much I valued truth until our country was plunged […]

Waking up to Kalachuchi, Sampaguita, Gumamela

It was a pleasant way to wake up, the words rolling through my head like a song or a poem. Sunny-day flowers on a cloudy winter’s day. Tagalog words, coming back to me even though I haven’t been in the Philippines for more than twenty years. While I lived there, I saw many kalachuchi trees. […]

Making the Most of Grocery Pickup Surprises

I had blueberries and strawberries in the freezer and a bag of delicious little Honeycrisp apples in the fridge. For some variety, I ordered a papaya and a couple of mandarins. Ever since the early days of the pandemic, I’d been ordering my groceries online and picking them up in the supermarket parking lot. Generally […]

The Generosity of Saint Nicholas

December 6, Saint Nicholas Day, is my Saint’s Day–not that I’ve ever celebrated it. But I’ve heard that in some families, children celebrate both their own birthday and their Saint’s Day. Since Nicole (my name) is a form of Nicholas, today is my day. My parents had no idea they were naming me after Santa. […]

Vanuatu’s First COVID-19 Case

He was Vanuatu’s first COVID-19 case, a 23-year-old ni-Vanuatu man who tested negative when he left the United States. He must have thought he was home free. But on November 4th, the fifth day of his quarantine in Vanuatu, he tested positive. Although the man was Vanuatu’s first case, thanks to smart public health measures, […]

My New Website

For the past couple of months, I’ve been working on a new website. And now it’s done. I think the finished product is quite nice. I hope you’ll take a look. I’ve had this website since 2013, but for some reason, when the publisher of my first novel went out of business, they took almost […]

Love Locks

Love locks attached to a bridge railing. Forever. That’s the idea. The keys thrown into the bay or taken away. My daughter and I stopped to read the names scratched, engraved or indelibly painted on the padlocks–lovers and spouses, forever faithful. This being a time of pandemic, some of the names were of a parent, […]