Summers were very busy!

Over the years, I took a lot of pictures with many cameras, both old and new. The first camera I had was an old camera someone had left with my mother when I was in junior high school. Somehow I fixed that one and took pictures with it until I entered the university. Then I started to use Miss Jones's camera, which was brand-less as far as I was concerned. Over the years, I bought and was given many cameras of various types and makes. As long as I had something with which to take pictures I was satisfied and very happy. I might only to take one roll of pictures from January to May. But when our kids started to have more activities in the summer months, I would take ten to fifteen rolls. And when we traveled the number of pictures dramatically increased. Certainly 1981 was a year when we had so many pictures to sort out after the summer that we had to catch up with some of them many, many months later. Some of the pictures taken before May were not collected until even later. Here, I would like to show you a few pictures which I took in the spring of 1981. I like them because they were so representative of that time!

1981 was a very busy Year!

The summer of 1981 was certainly a very busy one. By the time we reached Chicago, at the end of our trip, we had forgotten many of our activities at the begining of the summer! (See some earlier posts elsewhere: http://jat.esmartweb.com/china-1981/china_1981.htm). In Chicago we visited my sister Kai, who was working in Schaumburg at the Quaker Oats Company. (That was her first job after graduate school, where she created her first cereal named "Oh's".) Our former Lutheran Church minister and his wife, Carl and Faith Kalkwarf, were living in that town and we met them there and had a great visit. He was the minister who had baptized Margaret in the Lutheran church in Champaign. My father had traveled to Chicago for a visit with Kai and we met him there. At the time, Ed and Judy were living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They joined us, as did Dean coming from Kansas. So we were able to have a picture of all of us together! Unfortunately, Maria was not able to be with us. It was amazing that we were able to have that many of us in one place! Before the reunion, we went to the zoo as a family and took some pictures there first:

 
 

 

More Activities at Yellowstone

We had quite a few activities at this wonderful National Park. We walked many trails and we took a horse back ride along the rims of several canyons. We certainly appreciated how hot this place was in the month of August! We ate most of our meals at the park cafeteria where some of us enjoyed the grilled  trout from the local waters. We took a few guided tours, including one under the moon light on a path where you could hear the geysers hissing and bubbling in the dark!

Yellowstone National Park

Before leaving for China, we had reserved a small cabin in Yellowstone National Park to celebrate Steven's tenth birthday. On our way back to Tennessee, we stopped there - driving our station wagon which by then had an air conditioner, installed at the beginning of our trip in Knoxville, Tennessee. We stopped at the Yellowstone River Water Fall and everyone took a picture there. We walked around the whole area. It was a very good experience for all of us, individually and as a group. Both of our children were at a great age to appreciate the beauty and the natural wonder before their eyes. 

Our family friends Ginger and Bill Francis

Our old friends from Illinois Graduate School time, were living in Salinas, CA. We went to visit them whenever we could. They were not only friends but also our daughter's God parents. In 1981, after we came back from Taiwan, we went to see them and they took us to visit the Monterrey area. It is a very beautiful place near the California coast. We drove along the ocean, ate some great sea food, and picked up some shells and rocks. We had a lot of fun there. We also visited the harbor where there are many activities. We took a few nice pictures to remember the day spent with our old friends.

Last family trip to Taiwan

After our trip to Mainland China, we flew to Taiwan via Hong-Kong. It turned out to be our last trip as a family to Taiwan. When we said good bye to my mother at the end of our trip, it would be for the last time for all of us, as she passed away in 1984. These are the few pictures we took when we said good bye to her and others.

Later in August, my father joined us in Los Angeles, California. We took some pictures with him while he was there visiting with Shou Jie at her children's place. 

Mr. and Mrs. Li, 李毓芳

We had quite a number of "family" friends, who had maintained a close relationship with my parents since the beginning of the war with Japan, even before I was born in 1939. Mr. and Mrs. Li were a couple who, in particular, were very close to us. They lived nearby us in Taipei also, only a couple of blocks away! When we visited my parents during  our many trips to Taiwan, they always brought a few dishes of cooked food to help my parents and to treat us. They were also my parents mahjong friends. They would often come to play with my parents, especially my mother, although she was not in their caliber of very good players. Mrs. Li was especially skilled, so good that she was able to read her tiles by using the tips of her fingers to feel them. Yes, she would read her tiles just by touching their surface! The Li's were like our extended family. Both Janice and our children were very used to their visits and took pictures with them on a regular basis.