Nicki Chen's Blog, page 21

Book Reviews and Other Acts of Kindness

This week I had a group of writers over for a meeting. It was nice having them here. They brought food and flowers. They volunteered for upcoming projects. They sprinkled our time together with good will and all those small … Continue reading →

Images from the Bahamas

It snowed this year in Seattle for Christmas … or so I’ve been told. I wasn’t here. I escaped to the Bahamas. I’m back home now, grateful for my week in the sun with my family and hoping you’ll enjoy … Continue reading →

The Trials and Joys of Traveling on the Holidays

  I woke up this morning to bright sunshine. Bypassing the coffee pot, I stepped out onto the patio and checked the thermometer. It was cold, 39o, but it felt warmer with the sun shining. Coming back inside, the first … Continue reading →

Christmas Cards–Keeping in Touch and Losing Track

  I’m all in with Christmas cards. Even in these days of emailed Christmas letters, I still do the cards and the enclosed printed letters and the personal notes. I know. There are other simpler ways to do this. And … Continue reading →

Stories to Go with My Paintings

 Three weeks after we moved to the Philippines I started taking Chinese brush painting classes from Professor Chen Bing Sun. Four years later, I could pretty well handle the basics. I’d learned to paint bamboo and plum blossoms, chrysanthemums and … Continue reading →

Halo-halo Especial

The main characters in the novel I’m writing are a husband and wife. I’ve set the scene for them in lots of different places. They talk and fight in the car and at the beach. They talk and laugh and … Continue reading →

Another time, Another Place

 I’ve always liked autumn—the bright colors, the golden tint of the light, the scent and crackle of newly fallen leaves. You’d think I would have missed it when we lived overseas. Somehow, though, it never occurred to me. For more … Continue reading →

Bookcases and Hot Air Balloons

  This past weekend I drove across the mountains to spend some time with my daughter, T, on her birthday. When I left home on the coast, it was raining, sprinkling when I reached the pass. Even with the sprinkles, … Continue reading →

Don’t Forget about UN Day … Not This Year.

  For twenty-two years my late husband worked for an international organization, the Asian Development Bank. He and his colleagues, men and women from every continent except Antarctica, devoted themselves to the economic development of developing countries in Asia. As … Continue reading →

Keep on Learning.

Monday morning, and Jane, one of my favorite clerks at QFC, was scanning my baby spinach and ground beef and avocado. “How was your weekend,” she asked. “Good. I went to Write on the Sound.” “Oh!” It was an upbeat … Continue reading →