Happy New Year!

Been lazy for quite a long while.

First day of 2012, decided to write something since I am on line. Really miss the days we were "writing" with a real pen sometimes,  feel the surface of different kinds of paper, sniff the aroma and so on.....





Not sure why I am in such a weird mood. Just got back from a trip? Nothing new to discover in Taipei? Longing for hopping around the world again?

Honestly, there shouldn't be anything to complain about. Life here is easy, peaceful, safe, healthy, and I am enjoying almost everything I wish with my family and my cats. So what is there?

The weather?

There are indeed too many rainy days this winter, depressing!

Including my birthday: couldn't sleep very well the night before, got up late in the afternoon tired, and also, raining and raining and cold.

Not in the mood to do anything, Dan dragged me to the nearby Japanese restaurant, the diner and the ambiance were delicious and warm, which cheered me up a bit, but not much.

Went out the night before X'mas Eve. Was supposed to take my nephew to Sam Lee's concert (Dan was playing with them) but he injured his arm so he couldn't go. Walking alone in the most pristine area in Taipei, around all kinds of flourishing decorated Christmas trees, It was fun, but slightly lonely. (Could feel worse if Dan wasn't performing nearby.)

The problem is, after all these years, it's getting harder and harder to feel impressed and touched by anything you like. Getting too finicky?

Well then, since there's nothing new, maybe we can chat a bit about this one small area in California, between LA and Ventura, about where you can at least have some fun while you are visiting in-laws for some 17, 18 years.

Most commonly, there are Delicatessens, Health food stores, Mexican restaurants, good hamburgers and steaks.(I am from Asia so I don't go to Asian restaurants while I am visiting.) Of course, also the famous wine country and the recently very popular brewery restaurants.

But the breweries are nothing new in Oregon, it's been famous along with it's coffee culture since a long time. There's a bit of everything here apart from beer and coffee and gourmet food and wine country: theatre, biggest book store in States, multi-culture and hippie ambiance, very nice and helpful people who are concerned about the earth, and the surrounding mountains, rivers and coastlines which provide great scenery and outdoor activities. We didn't have time to cover the whole Oregon coastline, but got to sample several days of Portland, a few wineries in the Willamette Valley and part of some interesting towns along the coast, at least we can share a bit of all this.