Tragedy at Acadia

If you look at the pictures 2 posts back, you'll see W standing on some rocks at the edge of the coast. That's the thunderhole attraction at Acadia National Park. Just over the weekend, Hurricane Bill bypassed the east coast, producing huge crashing waves. Thankfully, the hurricane bypassed Boston, however, at Acadia National Park, thousands of tourists headed towards the rocky coastline to view the magnificent sight of waves crashing upon rocks and there tragedy struck. Some of the tourists were washed off rocks and many sustained fractures. Amongst them, a 7 year old girl, who was washed out to sea with her dad, died. It was pretty shocking and very sad. It reminded me of the tsunami incident in Asia, when people went out to view empty beaches as the sea receded, resulting in high numbers of casualties. I think that many times, we don't respect the power of nature sufficiently. Because we have tamed so much of nature, we sometime forget that nature is much more unpredictable and powerful than we are and we take her for granted.
I guess the same occurs in my walk with God. I frequently forget that He is almighty and omnipotent, just as He is loving and forgiving. That's a sobering and humbling reminder.

This is the link to the story: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/weather/08/24/bill.east.coast/index.html

Kite Day

We chanced upon a kite flying day when we were visiting newport and I saw the largest kites being flown. Newport's by the atlantic ocean (you must have already guessed by now that we love the ocean) and there's a really strong breeze blowing inshore during the day. I think I learnt that somewhere in geography that the winds blow offshore in the night, right? Anyway, it was a really pretty sight and it was makes me happy to see families out together having picnics and fathers teaching their sons the finer techniques of kite flying. My favourite kite was the orange porcupine lying on the ground next to the psychedelic pink pig.

Acadia National Park

Summer's really a bustle of activity. It's all that pent up energy I think. Over the last weekend, we were at Acadia National Park, the only National Park within reasonable driving distance. It was a really gorgeous place! Rocky coastline with great hikes through the mountains. We took a 4 hour strenuous hike on the 2nd day and boy, it was a real challenge (only for me of course). During that hike, W's odac and army training was really apparent. As he skipped and hopped over rocks and granite surfaces, I was huffing and puffing and gingerly treading through the same paths. Don't tell anyone but I was overtaken even by little kids. Sigh...

By the third day, we were poofed and opted for more sedentary activities. We went on a nature cruise that brought us to Frenchboro, an isolated offshore island, where the major industry was lobster fishing. The captain of our boat, Steve, pulled up a few lobster traps and introduced us to the fish eat fish world of lobstering. Did you know that in the 1800s, prisons had a rule that you couldn't feed prisoners lobsters more than 3 times a week because it was considered cruel?? I would have undergone voluntary incarceration :) By the way, we got our fill of lobsters. W had this huge 2.5 pounder from a quaint little lobster shack we found.

Farmer's Market

If my previous post led any of you to think that I was walking around moping, I should correct that :)

Was out last week enjoying the wonderful weather and I chanced upon a farmer's market. It was a really pretty sight though I must admit that I couldn't identify alot of the veggies there. I mean, a turnip is a turnip, right? How do I tell the difference between those that are purple, pink. orange, green or white? Needless to say, I have no idea how they're supposed to be cooked so though they look delicious and fresh, I went home empty handed.

In addition to fresh farm produce, there were many stalls selling potted plants too. I'm really amazed by how well flowering plants do here. It seems like it doesn't take much skill to get plants to flower. I still remember our last encounter with a particular plant back home, which had really pretty white flowers at the nursery. Within 2 weeks, the flowers fell off and we never saw any flowers again.. period. You could say that I apart from homo sapiens, I'm not really good with caring for other animal or plant species...

White chocolate lemon cheesecake

I think I've turned to baking as a form of escape. It's kinda therapeutic actually and interestingly, like pottery, the cakes only turn out well if I'm calm. I think that I'm not too good with handling negative emotions so busying myself with activities seems to provide temporary if only short-lived peace. It's a little dramatic to liken it to the calm before the storm but I think that the problem usually returns to haunt.

I was reminded of my "peacelessness" yesterday when we attended our first cell group. It was good to be back in a cell group plus one of our friends cooked a really delicious dinner and I tried my first beetroot brownie (which was quite interesting).
We talked about joy and how Christian joy persists despite turmultuous external circumstances because it comes from the Holy Spirit. It dawned on me that I've been quite devoid of that joy for some time now and I was wondering how I could "get it back". I think I'm going to spend more time reading the Bible and praying. Reading the bible usually helps me look at my circumstances from a clearer and more macroscopic perspective. Praying, I believe, helps to change that which I have no control over. The interesting thing is that though I know the better solution, I usually persist in my quick fixes. Maybe it's a form of escapism, because being quiet and reading the bible forces me to reflect and face the problems and deal with them. Well, I'm glad we went to cell.

As for this cheesecake, it tastes as good as it looks! Light and creamy with a lemony aftertaste. Credit goes to the Peabody's website, from whom I copied the recipe. For those of you who want to try it (it's simple, no baking involved!), here's the link to the recipe: http://www.culinaryconcoctionsbypeabody.com/2009/05/22/weight-a-minute/

Go Sox!

Watched my first baseball game on Tues!! We were watching it from pretty high up but the atmosphere was really great. The fans would cheer for every red sox player that came up to the plate and there were songs that pp would sing along to in between innings. I would really love to go again and sit closer to the field though all tickets are sold out for the rest of the season.

Both W and I were like little kids attending our first baseball game, plus it was so cool that I got to see the sox players live rather than on TV! My fav players are Varitek, the captain/catcher/ guy who looks out for the team and Bay, left-fielder and Mr. cool, both of whom made really great hits that night, Bay with a homer to left as well.

For your info, the sox won it 5-2!

:D

Cape Cod

I haven't been blogging much because the weather's been gloomy the whole of June. It basically rained the whole of June, which was unusual. June's supposed to be the start of warmer months but as they say, "The only thing predictable abt Boston weather is its unpredictability."

Finally, it got a little warmer last weekend so we headed to Cape Cod, where our landlord stays. We had lunch at a beach club and were brought on a mini tour after that. The house you see on the left was where our landlady's grandfather was born (our landlady's in her 70s now). It's currently being inhabited by her cousin, who owns a cranberry business. She was really proud of the house and had multiple paintings of the house hung up in their current home, and she told us many stories about her grandfather and uncle.

Seeing how proud they were of their heritage made me think of mine. I think it's really sad that I never really found out the story of my grandparents. When I asked my paternal grandmother why she decided to come to SG, she looked really embarassed and didn't want to say much. Now that all my grandparents have passed on, it seems like I've lost a huge chunk of my family history. Now that I'm getting older (yes, I admit it), I seem to be much more interested in my culture and heritage. I think that me being away from home really helps too because I've had to describe SG to many pp here. The more I talk about it, the more I realise how unique we are as a nation. Maybe I just miss the satay and chilli crab....