Silentium Amoris - Oscar Wilde

As often-times the too resplendent sun
Hurries the pallid and reluctant moon
Back to her sombre cave, ere she hath won
A single ballad from the nightingale,
So doth thy Beauty make my lips to fail,
And all my sweetest singing out of tune.

And as at dawn across the level mead
On wings impetuous some wind will come,
And with its too harsh kisses break the reed
Which was its only instrument of song,
So my too stormy passions work me wrong,
And for excess of Love my Love is dumb.

But surely unto Thee mine eyes did show
Why I am silent, and my lute unstrung;
Else it were better we should part, and go,
Thou to some lips of sweeter melody,
And I to nurse the barren memory
Of unkissed kisses, and songs never sung.

So well

You love me so well.
What we have is incredibly good.
It's the million little things;
your caring nature, your big warm heart;
your loving ways; and the "I miss yous"
when we're apart.
You love me so well, that I can only express it from my heart.
I love you so much. I really do.

By K.Y.B

The Night of Sevens

 The story of the cowherd and the weaver girl

In late summer, the stars Altair and Vega are high in the night sky, and the Chinese tell the following love story, of which there are many variations:

A young cowherd, hence Niulang (Chinese: 牛郎), came across a beautiful girl--Zhinü (Chinese: 织女 weavergirl), the seventh daughter of the Goddess, who just had escaped from boring heaven to look for fun. Zhinü soon fell in love with Niulang, and they got married without the knowledge of the Goddess. Zhinü proved to be a wonderful wife, and Niulang to be a good husband. They lived happily and had two children.

But the Goddess of Heaven found out that Zhinü, a fairy girl, had married a mere mortal. The Goddess was furious and ordered Zhinü to return to heaven. (Alternatively, the Goddess forced the fairy back to her former duty of weaving colorful clouds, a task she neglected while living on earth with a mortal.)

On Earth, Niulang was very upset that his wife had disappeared. Suddenly, his ox began to talk, telling him that if he killed it and put on its hide, he would be able to go up to Heaven to find his wife.

Crying bitterly, he killed the ox, put on the skin, and carried his two beloved children off to Heaven to find Zhinü. The Goddess discovered this and was very angry. Taking out her hairpin, the Goddess scratched a wide river in the sky to separate the two lovers forever, thus forming the Milky Way between Altair and Vega.

Zhinü must sit forever on one side of the river, sadly weaving on her loom, while Niulang watches her from afar while taking care of their two children (his flanking stars β and γ Aquilae).

But once a year all the magpies in the world would take pity on them and fly up into heaven to form a bridge (鹊桥, "the bridge of magpies") over the star Deneb in the Cygnus constellation so the lovers may be together for a single night, which is the seventh night of the seventh moon.

The seventh day of the seventh lunar month falls on:

    6 Aug 2011
    23 Aug 2012
    13 Aug 2013
    2 Aug 2014
    20 Aug 2015
    9 Aug 2016
    28 Aug 2017
    17 Aug 2018
    7 Aug 2019
    25 Aug 2020

Why she changed into a stupid hair style on this day if he was still mad at her? A sign.

Cloud Sea Terrace

Unkai Terrace of Tomamu: Above the Clouds

Tomamu, Hokkaido is an hour or two away from Shin-Chitose Airport and Obihiro Airport by car, and also about an hour from Furano, a popular tourist spot. Located at the southern end of Kamikawa region (Asahikawa area), visitors can enjoy the illusionary world of unkai in this area until the end of September. Unkai (means sea of clouds) is a miraculous sight created by the spectacular nature of Tomamu which only appears under certain weather and terrain conditions. If you get up early, enjoy the morning sunlight and hop onto the gondola which will take you to a mystical space you have never imagined before; a vast site of “Unkai Terrace.”

The Unkai Terrace in Alpha Resort Tomamu fascinates the visitors with the white carpet of cloud and the spectacular panorama of the Hidaka and Tokachi mountain peaks. As unkai only appears in a particular climate, some travelers even visit the terrace many times, waiting for the very moment to come. The unkai entry ticket also works as a postcard so that you can write down the memories and excitement of your trip and send it over to your friends and family. After enjoying breakfast (reservation required) at the Terrace, why don't you take a walk around the gondola station?

Should go before die? How lovely having coffee with someone special over there?

Lime Rock

From the willow walk projected a slight wooden pier ending in a sort of pagoda-like summer-house; and in the pagoda a lady stood, leaning against the rail, her back to the shore. Archer stopped at the sight as if he had waked from sleep. That vision of the past was a dream, and the reality was what awaited him in the house on the bank overhead: was Mrs. Welland's pony-carriage circling around and around the oval at the door, was May sitting under the shameless Olympians and glowing with secret hopes, was the Welland villa at the far end of Bellevue Avenue, and Mr. Welland, already dressed for dinner, and pacing the drawing-room floor, watch in hand, with dyspeptic impatience-- for it was one of the houses in which one always knew exactly what is happening at a given hour.

What am I? A son-in-law--" Archer thought.

The figure at the end of the pier had not moved. For a long moment the young man stood half way down the bank, gazing at the bay furrowed with the coming and going of sailboats, yacht-launches, fishing-craft and the trailing black coal-barges hauled by noisy tugs. The lady in the summer-house seemed to be held by the same sight. Beyond the grey bastions of Fort Adams a long-drawn sunset was splintering up into a thousand fires, and the radiance caught the sail of a catboat as it beat out through the channel between the Lime Rock and the shore. Archer, as he watched, remembered the scene in the Shaughraun, and Montague lifting Ada Dyas's ribbon to his lips without her knowing that he was in the room.

"She doesn't know--she hasn't guessed. Shouldn't I know if she came up behind me, I wonder?" he mused; and suddenly he said to himself: "If she doesn't turn before that sail crosses the Lime Rock light I'll go back." The boat was gliding out on the receding tide. It slid before the Lime Rock, blotted out Ida Lewis's little house, and passed across the turret in which the light was hung. Archer waited till a wide space of water sparkled between the last reef of the island and the stern of the boat; but still the figure in the summer-house did not move.

He turned and walked up the hill.

(From Chapter 21, The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton)

Martian Mystery

In the next few hours Nasa will attempt to land its Curiosity rover on the Red Planet to study the possibility that this world may once have hosted microbial life.

Two-thirds of all missions sent to the Red Planet have failed, a good many lost on entry into the thin but unforgiving Martian atmosphere. Is this one better?

Assuming the robot lands safely, it will spend 98 (Earth) weeks scouring Martian soils and rocks for any signs that current or past environments on the planet could have supported microbial life.

Gale Crater was chosen as the landing site because satellite pictures had spied sediments in the depression that looked as though they were laid down in the presence of abundant water.

This mission goes one step further by trying to understand whether the environments in which the water persisted were habitable. Were there basic ingredients for life there? We're going to understand what the conditions were like when life was most likely in Mars' ancient history.

The rover is equipped with 10 advanced instruments. It also has a plutonium battery and so should have ample power to keep rolling for more than a decade.

(A) Curiosity will trundle around its landing site looking for interesting rock features to study. Its top speed is about 4cm/s

(B) This mission has 17 cameras. They will identify particular targets, and a laser will zap those rocks to probe their chemistry

(C) If the signal is significant, Curiosity will swing over instruments on its arm for close-up investigation. These include a microscope

(D) Samples drilled from rock, or scooped from the soil, can be delivered to two hi-tech analysis labs inside the rover body

(E) The results are sent to Earth through antennas on the rover deck. Return commands tell the rover where it should drive next

Will martian welcome this little one to tickle its funny surface and explore what mystery hidden within her playground? We will find out if it is in spring or winter now :-)))))))

Edith Wharton's Influence

The Novel:

The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton's 12th novel, published in 1920 (first edition cover - left). The story is set in upper-class New York City in the 1870s. The novel is lauded for its accurate portrayal of how the 19th-century East Coast American upper class lived, and this, combined with the social tragedy, earned Wharton a Pulitzer Prize — the first Pulitzer awarded to a woman. Edith Wharton was 58 years old at publication; she lived in that world, and saw it change dramatically by the end of World War I. The title is an ironic comment on the polished outward manners of New York society, when compared to its inward machinations. Part of the novel reflected her own life.

Somewhere in this book, Wharton observes that clever liars always come up with good stories to back up their fabrications, but that really clever liars don't bother to explain anything at all. This is the kind of insight that makes The Age of Innocence so indispensable. Wharton's story of the upper classes of Old New York, and Newland Archer's impossible love for the disgraced Countess Olenska, is a perfectly wrought book about an era when upper-class culture in this country was still a mixture of American and European extracts, and when "society" had rules as rigid as any in history.

American Movie:

 
The Age of Innocence movie was made in 1993. The film was released by Columbia Pictures, directed by Martin Scorsese, and stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Winona Ryder. The film won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, and was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Winona Ryder), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score and Best Art Direction.

Movie Plot:

Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) is an affluent lawyer in 1870s New York, engaged to May Welland (Winona Ryder), a beautiful but conventional socialite. Newland begins to question the life he has planned for himself after the arrival of May’s cousin, the exotic and sophisticated Countess Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer). Ellen is a passionate lover who is seeking a divorce from her abusive husband, a Polish count, which has made her a social outcast and greatly displeases her family, who are afraid of scandal. As Newland grows to love and care more and more deeply for Ellen, having convinced her not to press for a divorce, he becomes increasingly disillusioned with the society to which he belongs and the idea of entering into a passionless marriage with May. The question at this point, is whether he will follow society's dictates, or those of his heart.

From Novel:
"I want - I want somehow to get away with you into a world where words like that - categories like that - won't exist. Where we shall be simply two human beings who love each other, who are the whole of life to each other; and nothing else on earth will matter."

 

Newland hoped she turned around as a sign, then he will walk to her. She never did.

 

Twenty six years later (May died with thoughts of her good life), when Newland and son visited Paris where Ellen lived, Newland watched the top floor windows was shut with reflection of sun flashing over his face. Imagined as a sign, he didn't walk up the floor to see her. In his mind, she finally turned around and smiled at him from the remote river side. They gave up their love many years ago. They could now, but they wouldn't. Nothing could be restored anymore.

Note:

She is reading the novel now after seeing the movie 18 years ago, requested by a remote friend. The younger she thought there were two victims then. Now she realized there are three victims in this sad story: Newland, Ellen, and May as well.

Notebook & Adele

Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am home again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am whole again

Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am young again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am fun again

However far away, I will always love you
However long I stay, I will always love you
Whatever words I say, I will always love you
I will always love you

Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am free again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am clean again

However far away, I will always love you
However long I stay, I will always love you
Whatever words I say, I will always love you
I will always love you

However far away, I will always love you
However long I stay, I will always love you
Whatever words I say, I will always love you
I'll always love you, I'll always love you

'Cause I love you

>>Is that the first movie he loan to her? it seems long long time ago ...... the old sweet days. Although the P word was banned, he makes her to think about it - is that really true?

Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am young and happy again

I Wish You Love

Rachael Yamagata (born September 23, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist from Arlington, Virginia. She began her musical career with the band Bumpus before becoming a solo artist and releasing four EP's and three studio albums. Her songs have appeared on numerous television shows.

I wish you bluebirds in the spring
To give your heart a song to sing
And then a kiss, but more than this
I wish you love

And in July a lemonade
To cool you in some leafy glade
I wish you health, but more than wealth
I wish you love
 

My breaking heart and I agree
That you and I could never be
So with my best
My very best
 

I set you free
I wish you shelter from the storm
A cozy fire to keep you warm
But most of all when snowflakes fall

I wish you love
But most of all when snowflakes fall
I wish you love
I wish you love

I wish you love, love, love, love, love

I wish you love

 

Diamond Lighthouse

Cape Lookout Lighthouse was first built in 1812, later rebuilt in 1859 which is a 162-foot tower with diamond shape. The block diamonds indicate north-south, while the white ones point east-west.

This pretty diamond lighthouse can be accessed by private ferry only. It took us about 1.5 hour via a boat from beaufort, NC. It is located on Core Banks Island, which is part of Cape Lookout National Seashore.

This is the first light house that I climb to the top. There are about 13 lighthouses in North Carolina, about the similar amount in Maryland and Virginia. Not sure if all of them can be accessed by public transportation. It seems this diamond lighthouse is among the most beautiful lighthouses in America.

In the island gift shop, I got a book about American Lighthouses (A comprehensive Guide to Exploring Our National Coastal Treasures) by Bruce Roberts (photographer), and wife Cheryl Shelton-Roberts (lighthouse historian).

You can imagine how long it will take you to find all these lighthouses along American coast lines, photograph them, and document history of each of them.

Stairs inside

window with beach view from inside

island view from the top

top lights made of mirrors

white sand beach is good for shelling