YEAR OF THE TIGER

 Hello, friends.  Welcome to February.  For once it didn't seem as if the month flew by.  In fact, January seemed very long to me.  February seemed a long time in coming.

But here it is.  And it starts off with the celebration of the Lunar New Year.  It's the Year of the Water Tiger.  Let me tell you a little about it.

The tiger is the third in the twelve-year cycle of animals in the Chinese zodiac.  Its element is wood which is associated with bravery, courage and strength.  It is also an uplifting animal that can give people hope.  A good animal to have in this time of Covid-19.

Besides years being divided into twelve animals, each animal has four attributes.  This year is water.  Water brings confident and authoritative energy.  Sounds good to me.  

Tiger people are courageous and energetic and love a challenge.  They are prepared to take risks.  They love excitement and crave attention.  They can also be rebellious, short-tempered and outspoken.  They prefer to give orders rather than take them, which often leads to conflict.  I think a lot of us have this tendency.

I was just reading that interestingly the tiger is never mentioned in the Bible.  Hmm...

The best colors for this year are cerulean blue, fiery red, mint green and imperial yellow.

Now you know all that I know about this year.

Because of all the ice and snow, we didn't go out to get Chinese food.  Or even call to have it delivered.  The driving is still pretty bad.  Instead, I made peanut noodles for lunch.

For dinner I made fried rice.  The little bit of leftover rice I had from last night turned into an entire meal.

We are still waiting for our new dishwasher to arrive.  Now it looks like the end of this month.  We have been waiting since November.  I am getting tired of washing loads of dishes by hand.  But I am thankful that I have that option.  And that I have the food to eat off of those pots, pans and dishes.  Since all of the appliances in our kitchen are white, we ordered a white dishwasher.  It seems that is the most popular color and is the one that is out of stock and back ordered.  It would probably be March or April before we could get one.  I talked to the customer service person yesterday and now we are getting a stainless steel one that is in stock.  That is fine with me.  Maybe I will end up changing all of our appliances to stainless steel.

Well, I need to go and get some sleep,  I will be talking to you soon

Until later,,.

Kathy

CHINESE NEW YEAR -- THE YEAR OF THE METAL RAT

Happy Chinese New Year!  A few days late, but the sentiment is the same.  I so enjoy celebrating Chinese New Year even though this year was sort of low key because of all the things going on with me.  This is the year of the White Metal Rat.  Sounds sort of gross doesn't it?  But that's not how the Chinese feel about it.

Since the rat is the first animal in the series of 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, it is viewed as the year of new beginnings and renewal.  The last 12 years are put behind you and you are starting your life fresh.  The Metal Rat year is known as a prosperous year for everyone.

According to Chinese beliefs, it is a great year to invest in real estate and start investments of all kinds.  Hmm...  maybe I should look into this.  But beware because this will only succeed if things are carefully planned.

The first week of February is full of creative energy and motivation.  It is the gift of a clean, fresh new year with no errors or regrets.

So maybe a metal rat isn't all that bad!  All of this information came from the website "thechinesehoroscope.org".

With my Chinese heritage I usually celebrate the new year.  But this year I was just too sick.  And broke.  I have spent so much money on doctors this month.  I didn't even go to a restaurant to get my "lucky" food of long noodles and potstickers.  I did, however, make my fried rice to celebrate.  Joe really likes my fried rice and so do I.  I have never found anyone else's rice to match mine.  So I was happy with that for dinner.

But the next day, Sunday, Joe and I stopped at the Asian Bar at Shoprite after church.  I got an egg roll, some long noodles (lo mein) and some chicken and broccoli.  It was very good and just hit the spot.

I finally made it to church on Sunday.  It was so good to go even though I kept coughing through the message.  We had our annual business meeting after the service and I really wanted to get to that.

The weather has been pretty cold lately, but it is going to be in the 40s for the foreseeable future and I can live with that.  I won't go out if it is too cold unless I absolutely have to because I have cold induced asthma.  Not fun.  The other Kathy at church also has cold induced asthma.  Maybe it comes with the name.  Ha, ha!

I am going to see my cardiologist this afternoon.  I am hoping he will change my high blood pressure medicine.  I don't see how I can go on living with this one I am on because of all the side effects.  I spoke to the pharmacist and she told me to cut down on the dosage and see if the doctor would change it.  There are hundreds of different medications that won't give me itching, rash, swollen legs and feet and make me so sleepy and depressed.  So there has to be something else I can take. 

I don't have a lot of pictures to show you today, but let me end with a few pictures from the lion parade that I got off of the internet.  Someday I will get to see it in person again.  Those people familiar with Philly's Chinatown will recognize the Peace Gate in the first photo.

Hope you all have a wonderful day.  I'll be back to see you soon.

Kathy

CHINESE NEW YEAR -- THE YEAR OF THE EARTH PIG

Gung Hay Fat Choy!  Happy New Year!  And welcome to the Year of the Pig.  This is in fact the year of the Earth Pig.  People born in this year (1959, 2019) are good at socializing and maintaining relationships.

The pig is the 12th in the 12 year Chinese Zodiac cycle.  It is a sign that signifies wealth.  People who are born in the year of the pig tend to be considerate, responsible, independent and optimistic.  They show generosity and mercy to others.  However, they are lazy at times.

This Year of the Pig is a year of fortune and luck.  It is a great year to make money and to invest.

Having said all of that the people who know me know that I take this all in fun and don't believe any of it.  But having a Chinese heritage I always celebrate.

And we did today.  Joe was the speaker at the nursing home today.  We picked up Rick and went together.    After the service, we headed to the Chinese buffet for dinner.  I haven't been there in so long and it was great to get some of their good food.  I had sushi (even though that is Japanese), chicken and broccoli, and glass noodles (rice noodles).  I had one dumpling but it wasn't very good.  The dough was too thick.  We got there in time to have the lunch special and saved some money.

Needless to say, we were too full for dinner.  But that was fine.  I will have what I planned for today for tomorrow's dinner.

I didn't get to see the Lion Parade in person, but here's some pictures I got from google of this year's celebrations.  You can see the Peace Gate which straddles 10th Street in the second picture.  I love that gate!

The parade is always very colorful and very loud!  Lots of firecrackers going off all over the place.

And now I have to get going and do some things before I go to bed.  It's been a long day.  Hope you have a good evening.

Kathy

CHINESE NEW YEAR -- THE YEAR OF THE DOG

Happy New Year!  Or should I say Gung Hoy Fat Choy?  I love Chinese New Year.  I celebrate it each year.  This year was sort of low key, however because Joe is still sick.

Let me tell you what I found out about this year -- the year of the dog.  Although each of the twelve animals gets an outing every dozen years, there are different varieties -- and 2018 will be the first Year of the Earth Dog since 1958.  The other dogs are earth, fire, wood and water.

Anyone born in an Earth Dog year will be communicative, serious, and responsible in the workplace.

Often the Chinese New Year is a time for families to gather for a Reunion Dinner.  All the family members possible come together for a special meal.  It is also a time for thoroughly cleaning the whole house to sweep away bad fortune and make room for good luck to come into your home.  (A total fail for me on that one!)  Windows and doors are decorated with red colored paper cut out shapes and poems with popular themes of "good luck", "happiness", "wealth", and "longevity".  Other activities include lighting firecrackers and giving money in red paper envelopes although many young people these days have set up "Red Accounts" at their bank so their relatives can send them money electronically.  Ah the pleasures of modern life.  Many people (including us) eat dumplings.

Even though Joe wasn't feeling so good, we still had "lucky" food for dinner.  I went to the Chinese restaurant down the street from us and got pork lo mein and dumplings.  Long noodles for long life and the dumplings look like money bags for wealth.  It was really good and we finished the whole thing.  But...  when I opened my fortune cookie there was no fortune.  It was completely empty.  Does that mean I have no fortune?  This is not a good thing.  Joe offered to share his with me but it's not the same.

I'll end for today with some pictures of the Lion Parade here in Philadelphia.

Happy Sunday!  I'm heading for church now.  We are accepting a new member into our fellowship today and I want to be there to see it.

Kathy

Weather in Philadelphia:

Sunny

High:  46*F     Low:  33*F

Sunrise:  6:49 a.m.     Sunset:  5:39 p.m.

11 hours and 50 minutes of daylight!

CHINESE NEW YEAR -- YEAR OF THE ROOSTER

Happy Chinese New Year!  It's the year of the Rooster.  The Year of the Rooster will start from Jan. 28, 2017 and last to Feb. 15, 2018.

Rooster is the tenth in the 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac sign. The Years of the Rooster include 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029...

Rooster is almost the epitome of fidelity and punctuality. For ancestors who had no alarm clocks, the crowing was significant, as it could awaken people to get up and start to work. In Chinese culture, another symbolic meaning of chicken carries is exorcising evil spirits.

People born in the Year of Rooster according to Chinese zodiac have many excellent characteristics, such as being honest, bright, communicative and ambitious. Most of them are born pretty or handsome, and prefer to dress up. In daily life, they seldom rely on others. However, they might be enthusiastic about something quickly, but soon be impassive.

If you google "Year of the Rooster", you will find out a lot more.  Such fun although I believe none of it.

Yesterday Joe and I went to the Super China Buffet for lunch.  It was disappointing.  The variety and amount of food has gone way down.  But I got the best chicken egg drop soup.  And long noodles for good luck.  They didn't have any beggar's purses though.  Looking at the list of "lucky" food I notice that Joe got a lot of them without even knowing it.

Lucky food to eat during this 8 day celebration are:  fish (an increase in prosperity), dumplings (wealth), spring rolls (wealth), sweet rice balls (family togetherness), fruit with a golden color (fullness and wealth), long noodles (happiness and longevity).

After we ate, we went to Rite Aid to get a few things.  While we were in the store I began to feel sick -- dizzy, headache, my blood pressure went up and my heart started pounding.  I left Joe in there and went out to the car.  I just felt worse and worse.  By the time we got home my head was pounding.  I think they must have put aspartame in the iced tea.  I get severe side effects to it and those are the symptoms I have when I eat or drink it.  I took a couple of Tylenol and laid down on the sofa.  I woke up 7 1/2 hours later feeling much better.

I got the church bulletin together and went to print it and it wouldn't print.  I did everything.  I cleaned the nozzles, aligned the heads, tested everything.  All the tests turned out right but it wouldn't print when I sent things through to it.  I NEED MY PRINTER!

I got up early today and ran to Wawa to get something for Fellowship Time.  It was my week to bring the treat.  I had meant to bake, but I slept instead.  Then we went to church early so I could print out the bulletin over there.

We were going to go to the parade in Chinatown today, but I am still feeling under the weather, so we took Sunday afternoon naps instead.  I have always loved my Sunday afternoon naps, even when I was a teenager.  Probably mostly when I was a teenager.  I slept a lot in my teens.  So anyway, here are some pictures of the parade instead.

 There's a lot of the week left, so hopefully I will feel better and we can do some more things to celebrate the new year.

 Kathy

Sunrise:  7:11 a.m.

Sunset:  5:17 p.m.

10 hours and 6 minutes of daylight

(Yay!  It's over 10 hours!)

Sunny and scattered snow showers

Temperature:  43*/30*

CHINESE NEW YEAR

Happy New Year!  I love celebrating Chinese New Year.  It is so loud and colorful.  I do miss getting my red money envelopes that I got when I was a kid though.

 
I read the other day that the money envelopes are given to children and retired people.  Hello!  Here I am!  I'm retired!  Oh where is my Uncle Herbert when I need him?

Sunday was the Lion Dance Parade in Chinatown.  It is loud and noisy.  Especially if you are standing next to a fireworks strip hung from a utility pole.

2016 is the Year of the Monkey.

People born in the Year of the Monkey are characterized as lively, quick-witted, curious, innovative and mischievous, but it is also believed to be one of the most unlucky years in the Chinese calendar.  I'm glad I don't believe in luck or the horoscope.  It's just a fun thing to do.


We were going to go out today, but Joe wasn't up to it.  So I made peanut noodles for lunch and fried rice for dinner.  Both of them turned out good.

My friend, Marion, came over the other day with a Valentine's Day gift for me.  It was a box of candy held by of all things a pink monkey.  So I hung the monkey on the bannister as a New Year decoration.

Of course when Snowy saw the camera she wanted her picture taken.  She comes right up to me and poses.  What a ham!  But she's still my little baby.

 I have things to do before I go to bed, so I have to run.  Hope you all have had a good day.

Kathy

CHINESE NEW YEAR

This is the year of the goat.  Or sheep.  Or ram.  The word in Chinese means "horned animal" so it could be any of these.  I always knew it as sheep, but goat seems to be the animal this decade so goat it is.



I ended up calling out sick from work and going to the Emergency Room.  I have been having what I thought were heart palpitations ever since Sunday.  I called the doctor and she told me to go to the ER and then come see her tomorrow.  So I did.  I knew it was not my heart, and it wasn't.  It turned out to be esophageal spasms.  Why my esophagus decided to start spasming every time I swallow something is beyond me.  The doctor in the ER seems to think it is stress that caused it.  But he isn't sure.  It could have been my asthma attack on Sunday that set it off.  When it spasms it hits my chest wall and makes it feel as if it is my heart.  They gave me a cocktail of several different medications to calm it down.  So far so good.  It is still acting up, but not as much as it did earlier.

So I am going to try to eat my "lucky food" for dinner -- pork lo mein and steamed dumplings.  Yum!  They are food I was able to eat when I had my stomach surgery in 2010 so I know they go down easy.  And I am definitely going to take it easy.

Here are a few pictures from the Lion Parade in Chinatown last night:

Chinatown's Friendship Gate

Chinese Lions

Always lots of firecrackers.  It's very noisy.

Chinese Dragon

I love Chinese New Year.  It was cool when I was little and my uncle would give me money in a red and gold envelope.  *sigh*  No one is handing me money in any kind of envelope these days.

I'm going to take a nap before ordering my Chinese food from the place at the end of my street.  So I wish everyone...

CHINESE NEW YEAR

Welcome to the year of the Horse!

Google image

People born in the year of the horse are said to act a bit like horses -- annimated, active and energetic.  They love being in a crowd and are quick to learn independence.  They have a straightforward and positive attitude toward life.  They are known for their communication skills and are very witty.

The lucky colors of the horse are green, red and purple.  The lucky numbers are 3, 4, and 9.

The year of the horse is supposedly one in which people will stand firm on their principles making negotiation difficult.

Famous people born in the year of the horse are Genghis Khan, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Louis Pasteur, Neil Armstrong, Aretha Franklin and Cindy Crawford.

Of course all this means nothing, but it is a bit of fun.


Last night was New Year's Eve in Chinatown with the big Lion Parade.  I wanted to go but it began at 11:30 p.m. and I had to get up for work today.  Maybe someday.

Picture of the lion from last night's parade.

Another picture of the lion dance from the parade.

The horse.

We were going to go out for dinner tonight, but were both too tired.  Instead we ordered out from the Chinese restaurant a block from us.  We got egg rolls, fried dumplings and pork lo mein (all "lucky" foods).  So good.

Now I'm going to try to do a few things before bedtime.  Another day of work tomorrow.

Until later...
-------------------------------------
Friday's weather:
Partly cloudy
High:  46 degrees  (a heat wave!)
Low:  28 degrees
Sunrise:  7:10 a.m.
Sunset:  5:18 p.m.
10 hours and 8 minutes of daylight
Loving it!  I can watch the sunsets on the way home from work.

CHINESE NEW YEAR

Happy New Year!  This is the year of the snake.  I'm a snake on the Chinese Zodiac.  According to the Chinese Zodiac, the people born the year of the snake are smart and can be unscrupulous. Is that me?  Well, maybe the smart part.  Ha, ha.  Lucky colors are yellow and red.  I like the way yellow and red look together.

 

We celebrated by having  Chinese take out from the restaurant down the block from us.  We had "lucky" food: 

dumplings for prosperity and

long noodle lo mein for long life.

The noodles were not all that long in the lo mein so does that mean short life?  Everything was good.

     Here is a picture of the parade from Philly's Chinatown.  It's always a big event.

Joe has not been doing well.  Yesterday he slept all day, didn't even eat.  He was having a hard time waking up.  When he got up for dinner he had a hard time keeping his eyes open.  He finished eating and said he had to go back to bed.  He started upstairs holding a bottle of water and couldn't lift his foot high enough to get up the stairs.  I had to take the bottle from him and walk behind him holding on to him and lifting his feet for him to get up the stairs.  When he got to the bedroom door, he started to lean forward.  I grabbed him and told him he wasn't to the bed yet but he kept insisting he was because he could see it and ended up falling on the floor.  I couldn't pick him up so he had to get himself into bed.  I was never so happy to get him laid down, take off his glasses and cover him up.

Today we didn't go to church because he could not wake up and get up.  I wasn't feeling all that good myself, so I just laid around today too.  He got up to eat dinner again, but that was the first time he was up all day. It ended up with him laying on the sofa sleeping because he couldn't wake up.  I got him up enough to eat (although he didn't eat much) and then he went back to bed again.  He did watch about half of Downton Abbey on TV but then turned over to go to sleep.  I asked him if he would be OK tomorrow if I went to work and he started talking nonsense.  I kept saying I was serious and to answer me but he talked about running a video when he was "good and ready and not before."  Now he is asleep again.

I am very worried about him.  He is acting the way he did when we were first married and he was being poisoned by one of his medications.  I don't know what to do.  I think I am going to try to talk him into going to the Emergency Room in the morning.  So if you are a praying person, please pray for us.  I will let you know what happens. 

P.S.  After I wrote this post, I was watching TV and fell asleep on the sofa.  I woke up to a bang and found Joe laying in the hallway where he had fallen.  I had a really hard time getting him up.  He said he was heading for the bathroom and didn't know how he got on the floor but his head hurt where he had hit it.  I am definitely getting him some medical help tomorrow. 

THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON

Happy Chinese New Year.  This is the year of the Dragon.  Guess what Joe and I did for dinner.  I stopped on the way home at this great Chinese take-out that Joe and I love.

We celebrated by having "lucky" food for dinner.  Pork, long noodles and dumplings (money bags) mean moving forward, long life and wealth in the new year.  We had pork lo mein, egg rolls and almond cookies.

I had a really pretty picture of the sunrise today that I wanted to share with you but I can't find my camera!  I know it is around here somewhere.  When I find it, I will share it with you.  Fortunately, I know where my other camera is so I can take the sunrise tomorrow.  Sigh.  I am so disorganized.


At least I have an excuse today.  I spent last night in the emergency room (from midnight to 3:00 a.m.).  I was OK until I ate dinner.  Then I started feeling nauseous.  I laid down and had a hard time breathing.  Then I got chest pain and pain in my shoulder and arm.  By this time I started panicking which made everything worse.  I know that since my surgery last year I have gas pockets in my chest.  Usually if I burp it relieves the pressure and the pain goes away.  This time, though, nothing was helping and the pain was getting worse.  Then I started gagging and retching.  So Joe took me to the hospital.


After some tests and an exam the doctor determined that it was not my heart, it was a severe case of trapped gas.  While I was in the waiting room, the pain started to slowly go away.  But I was still very sick to my stomach and felt like I was going to throw up any minute.  My blood pressure and heart beat were up also.  They gave me some medication for the nausea and when I felt better, they sent me home.

After 3 hours sleep we got up to go teach our Bible Study.  We had four ladies show up today.  Joe is on part 2 of "Searching for God's Will".  The ladies really got into it and the two newest ones are just eating it up and telling him what a good teacher he is.  Joe is really into leading this group, but likes me to help out because it is mainly women that show up.

I went to work, but left early because I was having trouble staying awake.  I feel as if I have lived this day in a fog.

We had another special event for the kids.  "The Amazing Mr. Q" came.  He is a comedian, storyteller and does amazing things with balloons.  The kids absolutely loved him!  Here are some pictures.

Mr. Q began with a funny sequence with a puppet.

A boy cut a piece of rope in half which Mr. Q then put back together in one piece.

This trick was where he put different colored handkerchiefs in a box and a boy from the audience pulled out this large hankie.

He did lots of things with balloons.  This is the beginning of a magic trick  He put this spike through the balloon without breaking it..

At the end he made annimals, hearts, swords and snakes from the balloons and gave them to the kids to take home.