Nicki Chen's Blog, page 23
July 9, 2017
The Hundredth Anniversary of the Ballard Locks
June 30, 2017
Summer Spotlight
June 25, 2017
Iris varieties. Which Is Your Favorite?
June 21, 2017
Ring in Summer with an Arts Fair
June 18, 2017
Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey.
June 11, 2017
Graduation 2017 and my Granddaughter
May 28, 2017
A Certain Kind of Soldier
May 14, 2017
When Familiar Landmarks Disappear …
I remember Harrison Street.
If you asked me, I could draw you a detailed map of it. The first feature on my drawing would be the little hill in front of our house. The hill would be small enough that a seven-year-old, peddling with all her might, could ride a bike up it. And there would be a river at the end of the street.
I could draw the houses of all the children that lived on that block: Lois and Keith’s two-story house;, Janet and Jerry’s house, where I learned to twirl a baton; and Linda and Dale’s house, where the neighborhood kids gathered on the living room carpet to watch TV for the first time.
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the Harrison Street gang
I could add old Mrs. Torrey’s house across the street and her fish pond and her two big trees filled with cherries we weren’t supposed to pick but did anyway. And the house of the old man whose dog, Puppily, decided he wanted to be our dog instead.
I haven’t seen Harrison Street in a very long time. We moved away a few days after my tenth birthday.
Years later, when my husband and I were in the area, I thought I’d show him where I used to live. I was sure I’d be able to find it. I had a clear mental map of the street, and I knew the surrounding area well. Every school day from first through fourth grades I walked to school and back. I made my way up Harrison Street, around the corner, and down street lined with hawthorn trees. Then I passed the feed-and-seed store and a friendly horse in a small nearby field, continued across the railroad tracks, and walked down the main street to the school.
It should have been a cinch to find Harrison Street. But it wasn’t.
Looking at Google Maps now, I see the problem. Our old house is still there, hidden under some leafy trees. But the little hill and my friends’ houses and Mrs. Torrey’s fish pond are all gone, replaced by a freeway.
So why am I thinking now about Harrison Street?
The other day I was searching for a hotel to use in the novel I’m working on. Early scenes in the novel take place in Manila in 1989, and I wanted my characters to have dinner in a hotel restaurant on Manila’s Roxas Boulevard. So I googled the hotel I had in mind. No luck. In the twenty-seven years since we lived in Manila, the hotel must have changed hands. Maybe it changed hands more than once.
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Roxas Blvd. on a quiet day in 1988
Next I tried a Google satellite map, but Manila had changed so much since 1989 that I had a hard time recognizing anything. I suspect population growth had a lot to do with all the changes. So I looked up Manila’s population and found that in 1990, the population of Metro Manila was 7,973000. Now it’s estimated to be 13,322,000. Quite a change.
So what’s the lesson of Harrison Street and the hotel on Roxas Boulevard? Keep your memories, but don’t use them to navigate around a place you haven’t seen in years. Use your cell phone or Garmin instead.
Interesting related fact: Metro Manila is the world’s most densely populated city. It has 111,002 people per square mile (42,857 people/square meter). For comparison, Mumbai has only 23,000/square meter.
I knew Manila was crowded, but still, this is a surprise. Now I live in a city with a population density of 4,437 people/square mile.
Happy Mothers’ Day to all you mothers out there.
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April 23, 2017
Does Science Really Matter … for You and Me?
an exploding brain hat in Seattle
We already have the wheel and gun powder and the internet. So … Haven’t scientists already invented and explained enough already?
I don’t think so.
I’d like to relate just one family story about a modern scientific discovery that has benefited people all over the world. Unfortunately, it arrived just a little bit too late for my sister.
It was spring, and Sue was barely eight year old when she fell ill. The symptoms were fever, headache, and sore throat. It could have been anything. After a week or two, she seemed to be all right.
A few weeks later, she came down with a bad case of chicken pox. While bathing her and, I suppose, applying calamine lotion, Mom noticed that one of Sue’s shoulder blades stuck out at a strange angle.
The doctor didn’t know what to make of it, so he just shrugged and prescribed massage. Eventually, however, it dawned on him what the problem was. My sister was suffering from the effects of polio.
A brilliant diagnosis? Not really. In 1955, polio wasn’t a rare disease. In fact, in 1952, there were 58,000 cases of polio in the US and more than 3000 deaths.
My sister and mother spent the next three years traveling thirty-five miles each way to see a specialist who examined Sue and oversaw her treatment and physical therapy. In another section of his clinic, the doctor oversaw the care of some of the most tragic victims of polio, children who had to spend the rest of their lives inside iron lungs.
(The picture below is from wikimedia.)
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iron lung ward, Rancho Los Amigos Hospital
Years earlier, our Great-uncle Wes and Great-aunt Doddy also had polio. Aunt Doddy was about the same age Sue was when she got sick. Hers was a more serious case, and she spent the rest of her life in a wheelchair.
Science to the rescue … just a little late for Sue.
In 1953 Dr. Jonas Salk announced that he had successfully tested a vaccine against polio. In 1954, clinical trials began. And in the spring of 1955, (the exact time when Sue was coming down with polio) a nationwide inoculation campaign began.
If you and your family have been spared this terrible disease, you can say a big “thank you” to science.
Here’s a sign being carried in yesterday’s March for Science in Seattle. (Photo courtesy of sister Sue)
Sue and my daughter both took part in marches for science yesterday. Here are a few of their photos:
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Make America logical again
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brainy hats
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standing up for science in Richland, WA
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Sue and Jan in Seattle
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Seattle Science march, umbrellas, hoods, and bare heads
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band playing Bill Nye the Science Guy song in Seattle
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some future scientists at the Seattle march
Does science matter to you in a personal way?
Neil deGrasse Tyson put out a new four-minute video that I think sums up nicely the crucial importance of science in America today.
https://www.facebook.com/neildegrassetyson/videos/10155195888806613/?pnref=story
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April 16, 2017
Easter Then and Now
[image error]Back then, I wore a new dress every Easter. I usually had a new hat too and sometimes a new lightweight matching jacket. We called it a duster. (I was in eighth grade in this photo, out in the backyard by the playhouse our dad built.)
On Easter we celebrate new life, in particular, Christianity’s celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
My mom loved the Easter symbols of new life, eggs: bunnies, and especially new clothes. She was a talented seamstress, and every year at Easter, she made use of her skills by sewing new dresses for my sister and me and also for herself.
That was then. As for now, I’ll just have to look through my closet and find something suitable to wear to Mass and afterwards to brunch. (My sister and I have reservations at Anthony’s Homeport.)
Not being a seamstress like my mom and sister, I haven’t sewed anything in decades. And now it seems to be getting harder to find a dress to buy that I like (and that looks good on me).
My next big challenge is to find something lovely to wear to my granddaughter’s graduation in June. Wish me luck! Although I have two grandsons, C is my only granddaughter, and she’s a very special girl.
I’ll leave you with photos of some of the new life that’s been springing up around here in recent days. We’ve had a cold, rainy winter in the Pacific Northwest , and spring is making a slow, cool entry. Yet, new life won’t be kept down.
[image error]Lent may be over, but these Lenten roses in my flowerbed are still going strong.
[image error]Daffodils are springtime early birds. I found these on a rainy day walk in the planters around Anthony’s.
[image error]Tulips and pansies[image error]
[image error]Tulips and pansies living in harmony on my deck (or at least I choose to think of it that way).
Skunk cabbage beside the brook. It actually does smell like skunks, although not nearly as strong. In fact, you have to make an effort to catch the scent.
The rhododendron is the state flower of Washington. It’s also the national flower of Nepal. I found this one on the edge of the Edmonds City Park.
[image error]Fresh new leaves in the woods
Tender new life emerging from the forest floor
I love these tiny English daisies that spring up in the grass. I found this one in the Edmonds City Park. I suppose it’s considered a weed, but as you can see, it’s not the only one.
Happy Easter and Happy Passover to everyone.
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