Seventeen Cotton Is Now an International Fashion Center 1

Last month, Brother Ying shared with my sister Hui and me a year-old article entitled 《曾经的’万人大厂’，蝶变为‘时尚地标’》(= "Once a 'Big Factory with Ten Thousand People', Metamorphosed into a 'Fashion Landmark'") . It was a story about how the Shanghai No. 17 Cotton Textile Factory had been morphed from the largest textile factory in the city of Shanghai into an international fashion center.

It was such an exciting article that I promptly shared it with my WeChat Group of Language Training Class. As usual, it sank like a dead rock into the deep sea. It dawned on me once again that such news was way too low-brow for my high-achieving classmates to patronize, especially as it was about Yangpu, one of the lower east-end districts in the city of Shanghai. Successful people should avoid such places like a plague.

Undeterred by the silence, we three siblings were heartily discussing what Shanghai No. 17 Textile Mill had meant to us and our family. In 1922, Nissho Corporation founded its first textile mill in Shanghai, the Nissho Yufeng Textile Co., Ltd., at No. 2866 Yangshupu Road, Yangpu District, along the bank of east Huangpu River. It was a prevailing business practice then in the textile industry to establish its factories in the east end of towns or cities, due to the flow of river from west to east. 

Since its founding in 1922, the Nissho Yufeng had undergone a series of ownership changes. After World War II in September 1945, it was taken over by the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Kuomintang. The following year, it was controlled by China Textile Co. Ltd. under the new name of China Textile Corporation No. 17 Textile Factory. In 1949, the Shanghai Textile Industry Bureau took control and renamed it Shanghai No. 17 Cotton Textile Factory, or simply Seventeen Cotton. Unlike many other textile mills in Shanghai, Seventeen Cotton boasted the largest areas covering about 181 acres in two factory locations separated across each other by Yangshupu Road, one of the major traffic arteries from the east to the west of Shanghai. The two locations, known as South Mill, and North Mill were maned by more than ten thousand employees. 

During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), it was one of the strongholds for the Shanghai Workers Revolutionary Rebels led by Hongwen Wang (1935-1992) one of the members of the Gang of Four. With China opening up after the1990s, the textile industry in Shanghai became increasingly irrelevant, and unsustainable as a state-owned enterprise. Owing to the stiff competition from less expensive and more mobile textile workshops or factories outside the city, a total of 37 textile mills were shut down one after another, and Seventeen Cotton was the last mill to close its doors, and moved to Dafeng, Jianshu Province in 2007.

From 2009 to 2013, the Shanghai Textile Group, a mere shadow of the former powerful Shanghai Textile Corporation, embarked on a makeover project for Seventeen Cotton, in order to revive it into a factory Shanghai would need, to keep up with global fashion trends, and to make Shanghai the sixth largest fashion city in the world, after New York, Paris, London, Milan and Tokyo. By 2013, the Shanghai International Fashion Center had officially been completed, with six self-contained parts, i.e., multi-functional show venue, reception club, creative office, boutique warehouse, apartment hotel and catering, and entertainment. 

Because of the original two-part layout of Seventeen Cotton, the Center has conveniently been divided into the South and North Districts. The former's immediate proximity to the Huangpu River is a great advantage with a unique river view, while the latter has been converted into apartments, offices and parking lots, and other catering and entertaining functions. The conversion is a source of pride for the locals and the government alike. The Center has earned a series of awards, such as the 2013 Excellent Unit of Shanghai Industrial Tourist Attraction Service Quality, 2015 National 4A Tourist Attraction, and 2017 Top Ten National Industrial Heritage Tourism Bases. 

Seventeen Cotton is the only surviving entity standing in the same address.

Visiting Pacific Meadows

Yesterday morning at around 11, Dody, Gail and I embarked on our long planned trip to Carmel to visit Arline and Sheila, our two retired colleagues. Our fourth companion, Diane, was unable to go with us, for she had just contracted COVID after her latest trip to Las Vegas with her daughter.

Despite a lack of the usual loquacious enthusiasm from Diane, and gloomy clouds hanging in the sky, we had a pleasant and safe journey with Dody at the helm. Once outside the county line, we immediately saw familiar stretches of green farmland. Luckily, this part of the world remains pretty much the same, immune from the frenzy of building more housing. 

An hour later, we arrived at a booth for allowing visitors to drive in, thinking that it must be our friends' place. Looking at the guard's puzzled look, I retrieved my low-battery phone to double-check the correct street number. As it turns out, our address should be #3515 Del Mesa Drive, whereas the place we stopped at was #500, which was designated for the Del Mesa Carmel Community Association. The friendly man told us that we needed to turn back and look for a facility called Pacific Meadows.

After another phone call and a minute of driving, we finally reached our destination, confirmed by the waving of Arline on her third-floor balcony. Once inside, we found ourselves sitting in a garden-like living room, overlooking a long range of emerald green mountains, not in the least bit inferior to Hitler's Berghof. Apparently, Monterey County has done extremely well with its low-income housing for senior citizens. Nearly half a dozen buildings flanked the magnificent Santa Lucia Range. It will not happen in Santa Cruz. Anything with a decent view of water or mountains will certainly be sold to the highest bidder.

It seems that Arline is thriving in such a community after less than two years. Having lived for decades in a land-free trailer on Swanton Road, Arline finally bought a house in a bullet-ridden neighborhood in Stockton, but sold it to follow her daughter to Florida. Once a new home was built from scratch in Port Charlotte, she returned to California, for the destructive hurricanes and divisive politics did not agree with her. Just as she was getting content in her mobile home in Ukiah, her number was called for the Pacific Meadows. Arline is one of the most single-minded friends I have had. Wherever she goes, she can always manage to cultivate a beautiful garden out of the wasteland. It was a truly comfort to see her finally settle down in a secure and affordable community, concentrating on her self-imposed duties to be creative, and to instruct her fellow residents how to play cards and games. 

After our lunch at Woody's in the aforesaid Del Mesa Carmel, we visited Sheila, Arline's former office-mate. It is Sheila that had introduced Arline to the facility. Even though they live in the same community, they hardly see each other. Unlike Arline who likes indoor activities, Sheila is an outdoor lady. In addition to being a docent for the Big Sur Lighthouse, she is a school guard for the local middle school. At the age of 82, she seldom stays in her home for long.

After vising our two friends, we decided to leave at 3:40 p.m., an hour earlier than planned, due to a shortage of parking spaces, which was one of the few issues in the Meadows. Three of us all felt happy and accomplished after the visit. 

Happy Birthday, Gene!

Last Friday evening, February 2, 2024, Paul and I were invited to join an 80th Birthday celebration for Gene, one of our oldest friends in Santa Cruz. The location was at Rosie McCann's Irish Pub & Restaurant on Pacific Avenue.

The celebration impressed us tremendously on multiple levels. First, the food was exceptionally abundant and delicious. It has been a while since we saw such a bounty. Second, Fran, our hostess, was generous and attentive, lavishing us with drink tokens and personal conversation, even though she had to keep an eye on her husband every second. Third, it was truly a reunion of family and friends. Thanks to Fran's organizational skills, the couple gathered together their two children, granddaughter, nephew, two sisters and one brother-in-law, along with lifelong friends from different circles, particularly the Philosophers Club, now semi-active since Gene's illness. The celebration was extraordinary considering Gene's present condition. 

Through Paul, I began to be acquainted with Gene and later Fran in 1989 when just coming to Santa Cruz for my graduate study. In those 35 years, Gene taught, became Dean of Electric Engineering Department, and recently retired from San Jose State University. He used to have an imposing physical presence, tall and robust, always with a ready twinkle in his eyes. He and Fran dated, married and soon had a daughter and son in a quick succession. 

During the same period, Paul and I were busy putting our life together, with the studio growth, graduations, coming of age, weddings and grandchildren. Gene and Fran have been our constant guests and supporters. Even during his fragile moments, Gene who had acted as one of his academic references asked about Nick in great detail, such as where he was working and what he was actually doing. 

Thirty-five years flew like a blink: newer generations have sprung up while the older ones have disappeared. The strong becomes weak whereas the young becomes strong and mature. With an album the hostess brought for the occasion, I saw many a friend gone forever from us. Meanwhile, I began to know a couple of new faces at the celebration, such as Nancy from Aptos and Laura, a former student of Gene's. No wonder, we stayed well past 9:00 pm when we were supposed to leave. It is the occasion for old and new friends to come together.

 

 

Adventure with Neal Stephenson

Neal Town Stephenson (1969-) is an American writer, famed for his speculative fiction. His range of genre forms has expanded from science fiction to historical fiction, cyberpunk, post-cyberpunk, and baroque.

Courtesy of Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle)

It is Neal's Baroque Cycle that has recently put us on a treacherous adventure that is best described as a typical comedy of errors. In August, 2023, a patron submitted to the library staff his purchase request for an audiobook entitled Quicksilver, because he "would like to see this title as audiobook, as he was not satisfied with the print or e-book." Since the author was unknown, the staff placed Dean Koontz as the author. As such an item happened to be in stock, the patron was duly supplied, but immediately returned for it was discovered as a wrong item by the wrong author. He "would like us to purchase either an eAudiobook or Audio CDs of Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver." To satisfy the patron's needs, both CD and digital editions were purchased.

Two months later in October, 2023, the same patron approached the library for the remaining two installments in volume one Quicksilver, for the acquired item was only the first book in the volume. In December, 2023, he somehow reverted to his earlier wish for digital format by asking for the eAudio version of volumes two and three, the Confusion, and the System of the World. His request had to be denied, for from the very beginning he had been advised that the series was unavailable on eAudio, due to the publisher's (Brilliance) prearrangement for not pursing digital format. Even though the first installment in volume one was in digital format, it was published by a different publisher. As a concession, the CD edition for both volumes was promptly purchased and delivered to the patron. In between times, a new error was detected, for the vendor overwrote the library call number specification, causing a potential inconsistency.

Little did we anticipate that a storm was waiting at the end of last month. On receiving a brand-new volume three on CD, the patron was thrown into a total rage, stating that first the Libby version of volume three was abridged, but didn't clearly say that it was abridged. He believed that it was deceptive to patrons and should be remedied. Second, the CD audiobook of the System of the World that we had newly acquired was actually only the final book in the volume, which included multiple books. The complaint that library and patron were cheated on audiobook came to me exactly at 4:57 pm on the eve of my vacation. To complete my work on hand for the day, I put it on pause for the time being.

Once home, I checked first our online reference tool, NoveList. It stated clearly three volumes,

• 1.
  Quicksilver (Oct 2003)By: Stephenson, Neal
• 2.
  The confusion (Apr 2004)By: Stephenson, Neal
• 3.
  The system of the world (Oct 2004)By: Stephenson, Neal

I doublechecked also our vendor's site that listed seven titles in the Baroque Cycle, without offering any volume information, or interrelationships. Every listed title was Part of the Baroque Cycle series.

To alleviate the pain of being cheated endured by the patron, I turned again to Wikipedia that summarized most succinctly, 

• Quicksilver, Vol. I of the Baroque Cycle 
  • Book 1 – Quicksilver
  • Book 2 – King of the Vagabonds
  • Book 3 – Odalisque
• The Confusion, Vol. II of the Baroque Cycle  
  • Book 4 – Bonanza
  • Book 5 – The Juncto
• The System of the World, Vol. III of the Baroque Cycle  
  • Book 6 – Solomon's Gold
  • Book 7 – Currency
  • Book 8 – The System of the World

For some mysterious reason, the breakdown into eight books is only relevant to audiobooks, not print books. Similarly unlike other volumes, the second volume does not have a customary volume title, but a combination of books 4 and 5. As it turns out, information on these unique characteristics is preciously sparse. It is up to users to work everything out in the dark, which may be the part of the fun the author injects into us readers and libraries alike. No wonder, the patron in question was joyful for the first time,

    "First I’ll joyfully make clear that recently the scpl acquired the complete audio CD set of the complete 2nd novel   of the Baroque Cycle trilogy, The Confusion, (comprised of Book 4 and 5 of the series, unabridged on 29 CDs),   which I checked out today and am excited to get started on …"

Where Is This "Illegally" Coming from?

Whenever I hear or read about some celebrates talking about their forefathers entering this country illegally a hundred years or more ago, I cannot but cringe a little. An image of comparing apples to oranges will inevitably pop into my mind.

Such a reaction reappeared yesterday when I was innocently reading one of Ross Eric Gibson's weekly articles in the section of Local History. In his article entitled War in China Felt in Santa Cruz, Gibson writes in details about the family history of two prominent Chinese families in Santa Cruz, George Ow, a local real estate mogul, and Dan Yee, the proprietor of the twice-closed Tea Cup Restaurant located at the upstairs of today's Jamba Juice Building on Pacific Avenue.

Since I was too poor a student 35 years ago to frequent Yee's Tea Cup, that local institution has eluded me entirely. My belated efforts were decisively thawed by the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake that damaged both the building and business in question. 

However, the renowned Ow family is too prominent not to be aware of by anyone in Santa Cruz. On a personal level, George Ow, Sr.'s brother-in-law, the late George Lee, happened to be Paul's mentor, friend, and our wedding photographer. 

George Lee (1923-1998)

Courtesy of Santa Cruz Public Libraries

Gibson's article is interesting also on another level. According to Mr. Ow Jr. in a 2006 article under the title of Ow family invests in the future of South County, "... When I see the young men hoping for jobs, I see my father, who came into this country illegally and then served in the U.S. Amy during World War II and was able to become a citizen under an amnesty program in the 1950s." Contrary to the Jr's claim, Gibson states that the Sr., born in 1919 in Canton, China, was adopted in 1924 by the wealthy Lam Pon who made his fortune at the turn of the 20th century, and settled in Santa Cruz with his California-born wife and daughter in 1925. In 1930, the family returned to Canton and put their adopted son in private school. When the Second Sino-Japan War broke out in 1937, the Pons sent George Ow Sr. to safety on the SS President Hoover. The journey was quite pleasant, with a stop in Honolulu, and finally in San Francisco. A $2.00 train ticket brought the Sr. from San Francisco to Santa Cruz, to join uncle Lam Sing, the cousin of Lam Pon. 

From Gibson's narration of the Sr.'s sea journey, I do not detect any harrowing experiences by migrants as are often encountered with today. Nor do I find any suspicion of illegals at the port of San Francisco. Instead, the 17-year-old Ow Sr. arrived in California safe and sound, with an $8.00 ukulele purchased in Honolulu. Armed with his adoption paperwork, he was in fact a full American citizen, ready to start the next chapter in his life.

Unintentionally, Gibson succeeds in demystifying the claim that Ow forefather was an illegal immigrant. Where is this "illegally" coming from? Is it out of future generations' fertile imagination, or empathy for their customers/clients?

Starting December with a Bang

The last month of 2023 has started with a bang. On the first day of December at 10 a.m., I was picked up by Gail and Dody to go over the hill to attend Mitch Albom's talk about The Little Liar. Gail was a little stressed over the traffic delay on the Frontage Road. It turned out that her car clock was 40 minutes fast. Thanks to the light traffic on Highway 17, we made it on time for the 11 o'clock event.

Beginning of the Author Visit

Organized by the Santa Clara County Library (SCCL) District, the book talk took place at Orchard City Banquet Hall, 1 W Campbell Avenue. It was a well-attended meeting, packed with people sitting and standing around. Despite his soft voice, Mitch described his own life and charity work in Haiti, and his new book about 11-year-old Nico Krispis in Salonika, Greece in the summer of 1943. Under the controlling duress of German officer Udo Graf, the angelical boy who had never lied was walking around the train platform, telling local Jewish prisoners that they were going to have a better life with new jobs and prospects of family reunions in the north. His lies were stopped by a large man, and by the sight of his whole family rounded up to be sent to the concentration camp in Poland.

The author analyzed in detail about the lies and about forgiveness/hope. According to the author, lies never die, but will creep out every few decades. The "illusion of truth" effect was augmented by Joseph Goebbels' law of propaganda, "Repeating a lie often enough and it becomes the truth." To counteract lies are forgiveness and hope. Also according to him, forgiving hearts expect nothing in return, while hope is a sliver of life and one good thing in our life. 

Albom's Orphanage in Haiti

This is the second time we have attended author visits organized by SCCL. A decade ago, we sat in the same place for The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. It was a resounding success and exerted a huge impact on our awareness of  Asperger's. Gail was the organizer!

After declining a friendly invitation to attend an Aladdin Nursery evening event, Paul and I decided to take it easy after my slow recovery from the RSV vaccination on the previous Wednesday. Around 3:30 pm, we walked leisurely along the railing of Seabright Beach. We saw sparse tourists and locals alike, and an all but empty ocean for a warm and beautiful Saturday, except for a couple of Harbor Patrol vessels. Once we reached the jetty of Walton Lighthouse, the hustle and bustle greeted us, with flags flying, and a bake sale table doing a briskly business. We assumed that dozens of people in their folded chairs on the wooden outlook and along the jetty were family members of  Sea Scouts as shown by a flag on one moored boat boasted. 

As usual, we made our two laps of the jetty. On the last one back, we were indecisive about leaving right away or sticking around to join Sea Scouts families. Strong curiosity got the upper hand. We found one spot on the jetty, but moved towards left a little bit to avoid a view-blocking bush. Our close neighbor were a family speaking English with a foreign accent. Paul thought it was German, and I surmised Irish, until the lady of the family heard us and declared that they were from Germany. 

The anticipated Sea Scouts event turned out to be a holiday Lighted Boat Parade, a 34-year-long tradition in the celebration of Christmas by the Santa Cruz Harbor known to all, except for us two. The parade would start at 5:30 p.m., our friendly neighboring lady told us. Shortly before the opening, a number of lighted boats started to move, perhaps to do their rehearsal run. Then the parade officially started with the Boardwalk boat leading, followed by a slew of brilliantly decorated sail boats. Opposite to them was an ominous but magnificent pirate boat coming into the mouth of the harbor. The crowds cheered on both sides of the harbor. 

In the darkness, one would be impressed not only by lights, but also the familiar music and ingenious designs, complex vs. simple, multi-themed vs. one diamond-colored sail. Seeing us sitting on the cement jetty for a long duration, the kind-hearted German lady offered us hot wine. We graciously accepted. If a multitude of Christmas lights were candy to our eyes, her hot beverage was a real treat to our bellies and soul. She asked us to guess what wine it was. After our several failed attempts, she told us that it was her home-made wine. It was one the most delicious and heartwarming wines we had ever tasted, reminding me of Shaoxin Wine my uncle used to drink.

After watching boats made three rounds, Paul and I decided to leave. We needed to conserve our energy for our trip to Filoli scheduled on December 11. Once standing, we saw the true scale of the parade spectators on the land. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of people around us. On the face of a hillside, numerous kids were sitting and watching the ongoing parade. What a turnaround from a quiet and sparse Saturday afternoon! And we were still only at December 2nd. 

Joyful and Musical Weekend

Paul's 2023 birthday was celebrated over a joyful and musical weekend.

On the evening of November 2, 2023, the eve of his birthday, we were at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium to see the 50th Anniversary Tour of Devo, a band from his home state, Ohio. This is at least the second time the band had performed in Santa Cruz. The first time was New Year's Eve in 1979 at the same Civic Auditorium. Paul went to the first concert, but was still full of excited anticipation for its latest and perhaps last performance here in Santa Cruz.

.

Waiting for Devo at Civic Auditorium

November 4, the day after his birthday, I joined Tom, Dody, Gail and Dee to see Ain't Too Proud -- the Life and Times of the Temptations at San Jose Center for Performing Arts.

Before the Curtain Rises at Center for Performing Arts

Being a total stranger to American music, I have managed to detect a number of dissimilarities between the two musical bands. Needless to day, both of them are popular and successful, but they attract different audience. Devo is experimental, intellectual, and political while the Temptations is soulful, emotional, and progressive. Devo is an American new wave band formed in Akron, Ohio in 1973. It went to American mainstream music with its single Whip It as No. 14 on 1980's Billboard chart. In general, Devo can be characterized by its homogeneity, with members consisting of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales, and Alan Myers, the fifth member. Fifty years later, Devo is still intact in its five-member band.

Like Devo, the Temptations is also a five-member music group. Formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1960, the original Classic 5 (Otis Williams, Paul Williams, David Ruffin, Melvin Franklin, and Eddie Kendricks) underwent an all but complete lineup change. With Otis being the last original member standing, the other four members succumbed to various misfortunes, such as drugs, alcohol, illness and suicide. 

Gail, Dee, Tom and Dody at the Intermission of  Ain't Too Proud

Apart from birthday immersion in music, we had a joyful gathering with family, and friends. Nick came to join our Friday birthday dinner, serenaded by Lee Anne, Leni and Paul via FaceTime. Our Saturday trip to San Jose was preceded by a lunch at Willow Street in Los Gatos. Yesterday, November 5th, Ed and Fernando treated us to a scrumptious post-birthday dinner at La Posta. It was hard to imagine that we had not see each other for more than half a year. While we were chatting at the dinner table, it gradually dawned on us what family and friendship really meant to us. 

Happy Birthday, Paul! Your birthday has inspired all of the above.

No Longer Able to Keep Them Long Enough

Santa Cruz Public Libraries (SCPL) appears to be unable to keep their directors for long after Minerva Waterman (1876-1952) who held the head librarian position from 1890 to1941, Charles K. Atkins (1920-1997) who was the director of libraries from 1969 to 1982, and Anne Turner (1941-) who succeeded Atkins as the new director from 1983 to 2008.

Compared with their combined 89 years in office, the three subsequent directors only accumulated 12 years combined in their tenures at SCPL. In December 30, 2008 when Turner retired from the position, Teresa Landers replaced her in July 2009, and retired in May 2015. She was replaced by Susan M. Nemitz who became the library director in June 2016 and promptly retired in August 2021. Yolande Wilburn succeeded Nemitz in January 2022, but retired in October 2023 to accept a position of executive director for Evanston Public Library in Illinois. 

For reasons unknown, Turner's famous departure quote stopped being effective, "The town is like Casablanca. You come for the waters and you stay to die." Such ineffectiveness might be due to it's being outdated. The saying of staying to die could be true with the mentality of library directors in the 19th and 20th centuries, but apparently not so with those in the 21st century. Even Turner herself left for San Francisco for her retirement shortly after the passing of her husband in 2012.

Another possible reason that succeeding directors retire so quickly might be attributed to being ill or misinformed about the job by their common recruiter, June Garcia. Santa Cruz people look laid back, living and working contentedly in their simple little houses, and old buildings. Like typical Californian residents, they are neither slow nor uneducated. Their leisurely and relaxed appearance belies a sharp and shrewd mind. They choose to stay in Santa Cruz because they want to hold on to a slow-changing oasis. If any newcomers want to make big waves, they will be confronted with an unpleasant awakening, and endless rail-trail like long debates.

A further possibility might lie in the professional satisfaction and reward of being a library director. But fascination and monetary incentive can only satisfy us human beings to a certain degree. The tiny and unimposing library system can be a true deterrent to new library directors. "It's old and tired," as stated Landers when she was first interviewed on scene by Sentinel, a local newspaper.

A final but not ultimate reason is that it takes a certain personality and lifestyle to be truly at home with Santa Cruz. In our decades’ living locally, my husband Paul and I have seen so many friends and acquaintances coming and going. The quick turnover of library directors is but one instance.

Distressed Surfers and Emergency Rescuers

Despite our utmost efforts in mental concentration and physical exertion in our drives or walks, Paul and I often find ourselves in the midst of unexpected events. For instance, last Sunday, September 3, we turned onto Harper Street, but had to inch forward, as four Capitola police vehicles were parked on the left side of the road, separating two young male drivers who had apparently been engaged in a heated confrontation. As known to everyone, Harper is one of the quietest and most uneventful streets in Santa Cruz.

The next day, we spent most of Labor Day leisurely attending to many delayed projects, such as answering and fulfilling patron requests for Rosanne Parry's titles, re-potting two overgrown orchids, replacing a lost credit card, etc. We did not leave the house until after 2:30 p.m.

Pleasure Point was our mutual choice of destination. It was a pleasant afternoon, sunny and breezy, with enough locals and tourists around. We walked to and from the Hook. On the way back, we saw a Live Oak Fire Department truck approaching. As usual, I waved enthusiastically at the fire truck, and received a reciprocal hand wave back. But not as usual, Paul asked me to stop, for he saw one of their comrades waiting with a clipboard in hand near the cliff rail. 

Paul's prediction turned out to be correct. Before long the fire truck parked a short distance before the popular tanning cove beach, with one fireman quickly taking off his uniform and changing into a wetsuit. He grabbed a surfboard and a red floatation device, and went down the slippery rocks to the turbulent water. Some distance away in the ocean, we saw two surfers remained where they had been stranded for sometime. The high tide and riptide had prevented the two novice surfers from landing. The first fireman approached them and was quickly joined by another one. Instantly, there also appeared a rescue jet ski manned by a driver and rescue swimmer. Two surfers started to move toward the tanning cove, with one on the rescuer's surfboard. The surfers were not alone in such distress. According to the local bystanders, they had rescued five surfers that same morning.

One fireman and the rescue crew on the jet ski remained in the water for a while, for there were still clusters of surfers around. Apparently, they were experienced and supported collectively, except one female surfer who was helped to the cove. After circling several times to make sure that the surfers were safe, both the jet ski and fireman finally left. 

So did we, feeling both secure and immensely grateful to those brave, hardworking rescuers. Meanwhile we are not so sure if it is really a good idea to merge several fire stations into one gigantic organization, especially on holidays when traffic is heavy both locally and on the highways. It will surely slow down the response time when every second counts to save a life. 

Another Busy Summer with Leni

This is a second summer our granddaughter Leni has stayed with us, from June 3rd to August 7th. She has managed again to turn Papou Paul into a slavish milkman, footman, bicycle trainer, and strawberry preparer. As for myself, my role remained the same as a dedicated cleaner, cook and delivery driver.

Shortly after her arrival, we quickly established a regular schedule with Leni. On weekdays, I would wake her up at 7:00 am, feed her breakfast and make her a peanut butter sandwich lunch, and then drive her to the Santa Cruz Boys and Girls Club after 8:00 am. At 5:15 pm, we or I would pick her up at the Louden Nelson Park, and then go home to have our dinner. Before going to bed at 9:00 pm, Leni would take a shower, sit down to have her bowl of strawberry laced with whip-cream, floss and brush teeth supervised by Paul, and then read one to three chapters from Lauren Tarshis' I survived series. 

On the weekend, she would wake up still at 7:00 am, but keep to herself for a couple of hours before rousing one of us. She would like to go the Chanticleer Leo's Haven and then the dog park. Prior to her departure, she apparently outgrew the children park, but dogs remained her constant interest.

Unlike in the previous summer, Leni has grown into a more mature student. She is able to listen and learn. She has obtained her Advanced Swimming Certificate issued by the Boys and Girls Club; learned to ride her bike with Coach Papou. To our great delight and surprise, she actually read 11 books this summer, of which eight were from Tarshis' series. By the end of her stay, Leni was duly rewarded with gift books, certificates and Penny ice-cream coupon given by the Summer Reading Program of Santa Cruz Public Libraries (SCPL). The only snag is that she did not really enjoy the library ice-cream, for the coupon was run out last Wednesday when she signed off. At the time of this writing, the coupon in question is still in the mail via SCPL's office mail.

While in Santa Cruz, Leni might feel bored, as she has often claimed, but by no means idle. She went to the Boardwalk twice, once for bowling, and then other riding rollercoasters last Thursday, totally exhausted  and excited. She strolled along the West Cliff and East Cliff with the Municipal Wharf in between. She took the water taxi in the Santa Cruz Harbor, and revisited Santa Cruz Natural Museum, Monterey Bay Sanctuary Exploration Center, and finally Monterey Aquarium!

Reunited with her parents and little brother, Leni is now home, leaving behind her two slaves bemoaning and reminiscent of a fast and busy summer just gone by. In our quiet house, the doting Papou especially misses her laughter, singing, dance, and intense attitude toward art creations. Paul and I also find ourselves adaptive and flexible to her whims and whimsical ideas by not taking offence, when she wanted her Mommy and home on Liberty Drive. What a magic girl in a magical summer!