Play with Beads 玩珠珠

These days, I indulged myself playing with beads.  I love stones, jades, crystals, and pearls.  I enjoy shopping around those stores. I can not deny that I love diamonds too.  But they are far beyond my budget, so I'd tried not to look at or even think of them.

Last month, I ordered 2 books teaching how to chain beads and make ornaments from beads, crystals and stones.  Then I started studying them.  They seemed very difficult for me to understand, but I was determined to make something out of it. So I ordered some precious materials and made pendants and a ring.  It took me much time to go over the steps, tear things apart and and redo them.  I am glad that I finally learned how to read and follow the steps.  Last time I was so worried about my knitting because the instructions in the books seemed so hard to understand.  But I tried anyway and made some clothes wearable. So I knew very much this time that I just need to try. On the process, it was like solving a puzzle, difficult but fun.

Here are my finished works~

A ball-Shaped pendants

The Ring

 

A smaller ball-shaped pendant

Pendant can be tied to a cell Phone or a Bag

The Puzzle

Grab the Tail of Spring 抓住春尾巴!

去年我苦等春天，結果感覺春天才剛到，夏天就來了。

今年我終於明白，這就是江南之春： 狂風、細雨、霧濛濛， 時常酷寒、偶爾溫暖。如果以為冬天還沒走 ，春天還沒來，就錯了。害怕錯過一年之春，我們把握少見的春陽，踏青去!

The Spring in Suzhou is mixed with rain, fog, wind, coldness and warmth. According to my observation from last year to this year, in one typical spring week, we have only 2 days good weather (with sun shine) and 5 days bad (rain, fog, dark clouds, coldness)  on average. That means we can only enjoy fewer than 30 nice days, then Summer will soon arrive.  Last week we had temperature drop from 20 to 3 degree Centigrade. We experienced ice rain on Wednesday. Knowing it is spring, I mentally felt OK in this terribly mixed weather.

Last year, I made some plans for spring.  But the weather was so unexpectable.  My plans were always re-planed or cancelled. This spring, I do not make any plan. We grab every chance to go out whenever the sun comes out.

 

Saturday (4/17) Winston and I rode out bikes to take pictures of the statues around Gold Chicken Lake.  I also took some pictures of the flowers and maple leaves in our neighborhood.

Ancient Man watching the modern girl using a computer

                    Ancient Vs. Modern     Men Vs. Women

Sunday (4/18) morning we accidentally found a tulip field and rape flower field on the way to Lotus Island.  We were very surprised at the big field of flowers. We walked around the fields and ran out of time. So we canceled our visit to the place nearby-- the lotus Island. Maybe save it for next time.

 

 

Picture taken by Winston

At noon time, we went back to our neighborhood and took a walk at a newly constructed area --the Moon Light Deck & Port. Few minutes later, it started to rain, and we ate in an Indian (Hindu) Food Restaurant.  We enjoyed the Indian decoration inside and the food which was rich with Hindu herbs flavor.

 

The Door handle --Winston found it and took a picture of it.

The bronze faucet outside the rest rooms---Picture taken by Winston

Checking what we got for the morning.

In the evening, we went swimming and had supper in a Germany Food Restaurant. We called it a great Spring Sunday.

Spring comes and goes in a glimpse. The rains stop many people from outing.  The one-day sun or half-day sun comes sometimes unexpectedly, and people easily miss the chance to go out. The good thing about living in Suzhou is that we can reach many nice places in 20 minutes. So we are not fooled by the weather. We live and play with it.

~Enjoy~

Naievte

Winston's Stuffed  Pals

We all possess the naivety from childhood, but some hide it and some don't.

I am very much a naive person. Sometimes I don't like to be surrounded by people who consider themselves more mature and more right. There is nothing wrong about being naive.

As a mom, I want my child to grow mature but I treasure the moments while he was a child and naive.

Winston is quite naive , maybe a bit more naive than his peers at this age.
He likes to preach to his pals, teach them English and Math.  It is cute to watch him punish the pals.

When we two are alone, we are both very naive.  Many times I pretend to be a student and he is the teacher.  He likes to be a wizard and turns me into a lady frog. Sometimes, when I was angry, he used his magic wand to change me into a dumb mom.

We read stories in turn, talk and act like we were in the stories.   Kids and Moms together, they know how to please each other. I guess it is because of "Naivete".

I feel guilty that I take advantage of his naivety to let him play piano and violin to the big audience---his pals and me ( I really enjoy his music).  I also pretend to be a silly violin and piano student of his.

After the pretending game, he already gets his music homework done and, the fun. Then he moves on playing his Wii and I am the housekeepking mom again.

So is it this time.  Winston asked me to knit a Rabbit for him.  I told him that I would knit more if he would practice music more.

So this week, without my pushing or yelling, he went to the piano and got the violin on his own. I knitted the rabbit by his side. 

He checked my progress once a while and happily went on his work.

I want to knit some pals for him while he still talks to them. Winston needs the patience to practice his piano and violin.

I call this a win-win game.

After creating this rabbit pal, Winston asked me: what is the sound a rabbit make? 

I saw rabbits, but I did not remember they even make any sound.  

Now we have to think of one cute little sound for Rabbit to make. 

Because when teacher Winston asks questions in his pals' class, rabbit has to make sound to answer.
 

New Pal-Rabbit