First Birthday Week

While Grandpa and Nana were in town for the week, we went to visit around the town. Most importantly we wanted to give them time to get to know Steven better. There are some great shots of Steven! They certainly expose the personality which lurks behind the generally serious manner in his nature, which was present, as I see it, directly from birth. As a parent, you observe the differences in personality among all your children, and, while you try to mold them as you would like, you usually find that your effort is mostly wasted!
 
           

First Birthday Party

It might not have been a very important day for Steven himself from his point of view, especially at the time. But it was certainly very important for the rest of the family. Grandpa and Nana came from Winchester, MA, just to help celebrate. Dr. and Mrs. Hsu were there as well. Pan-pan was very excited, as she knew what birthdays meant! There were quite a number gifts. Steven did get more excited than usual. Since I have quite a number of pictures, I will only show you a few that were taken on that one day! I will show you more pictures later which were taken during the Birthday-week!

Music in my Life

As you might have noticed, music has certainly been an important part of my life. In both junior and senior high schools, I won the top singing prizes and that had kept me interested. While I did not get the proper education to learn any formal music, I always tried to absorb what I could. I learned something in the church choirs, by being a singer in one choir and directing another one, while I was in Taiwan. In Johnson City, TN, and in Urbana, IL, I still continued my music life, singing in choirs for seven years.  Certainly I learned a great deal when I joined the Oratorical Society in Urbana. Our group sang in the opening concert at the University’s Krannert Art Center. See program below:

                        

You might not believe that I kept this program booklet. Yes, I even surprised myself when I found it! As you can see, I considered this event important enough not only to file it in my memory but also to keep the program!

When we moved to Tennessee, we joined the Our Savoir Lutheran Church immediately. In 1972, I first started to direct the Junior Choir. Later I took on the responsibility for conducting the Senior Choir and did so for more than a decade. When my birthday landed on a Wednesday, which was the choir practice night, I would get a birthday card from the choir. See below:

            

I do not need to tell you how important music has been in my life. I could say that music has always occupied a central role, bringing me joy and much happiness!

“I am three!”

It did not seem to take long for Pan-pan to turn three! She was very happy to tell everyone “I am three'”, while trying to bend her thumb together with her pinky so that she could show her three other fingers straight. It was certainly one important accomplishment at her age. Dr. and Mrs. Hsu came for the celebration. Pan-pan was very happy to share the cake and open the gifts. Yes, I took quite a number of pictures.

Travel with Children and a Dog

When both Pan-pan and Steven were young, (somehow we did not use Steven’s nickname Bing-bing for very long) we traveled quite a bit. At that time, our dog, Princess, also traveled with us. We drove with both children and the dog in the back of the station wagon. When we traveled long distance we even put a baby mattress in the back so that the children could take a nap. There was no car seat or seat belts to worry about. It was a different time. We have certainly changed a lot since then and very fast!  Unfortunately, I could not find a good picture to show you here. The picture below, was the only one we have now which shows our dog and Steven in the back of the car. Steven was in a car seat but without a belt. The purpose was to raise him higher so that he could see outside the car! Was Steven a cute baby!

Dancing to Music

Pan-pan loved to dance. Whenever we started some music on our players, she would begin her own movements. It did not matter what kind of music. She would make her dance keep time with it, doing what she considered fitting. Of course, she liked the faster and  louder sounds better, but slower and classical music would be ok as well. Even at that time, she already made some of her movements on the ground, see pictures below. We did not allow her to watch TV yet, she did not learn the movements from any one. It was her creation.

We love to take a bath!

Our new place at West Maple Street, Johnson City, TN had a big bath tub. Both Pan-pan and Steven liked to take a bath and play in the water. It was fun for mother too. So this was a regular event, taking a bath, alone or together. It started in Taiwan. Pan-pan took a bath in a basin there, and we continued to give her a quick bath in a wash basin. Steven liked it too. Bath time was play time! Later we let them take a bath together so they could play for a while in the water.

 

Driving Uncle Ed back!

After the winter break, we drove Uncle Ed back to his graduate school In Morgantown, WV. By this time, Pan-pan was very used to having fun at Christmas time. She was very familiar with having many visitors, both friends and relatives, during the holiday season, and she anticipated many gifts and goodies to eat. Steven was just getting used to all the attention he got and he was learning by watching Pan-pan’s enjoyment. Ed was the third member of the Huang family to come to the USA for graduate school. Kai was the only sibling left in Taiwan, studying in college, while Dean and I had just started our careers in the USA. The pattern seemed to have been established that after first coming here for graduate education after college, then we would find some work in the US. Our trip to take Ed back was quite brief. We got into town, dropped him at the dorm and drove back. These were our pictures of the event:

            

Old Snow Suit

Janice’s Grandma, Baba, made a complete winter suit for her when she was four or five. Quite a while ago, after we were married, Janice showed me the suit. I was very impressed and told her that she had to keep it. Later when we found a custom “Frame it” store in Johnson City, Tennessee, we decided to have it framed. We then hung it in our home as decoration. It is now again hanging in our bedroom in Delaware:

As you can see, it is a well made, complete snow suit, including a hat, for Janice. I always wondered how Janice looked with this suit. Believe it or not, among one of the old pictures left in our possession, I was able to crop out a picture of Janice wearing the suit. I am not as impressed as I was in my imagination, perhaps because it is black and white! What do you think?

           

More Old Pictures

It is not surprising to find more old pictures from Janice’s father’s collection. We have piles of stuff left by Janice’s parents, after they passed away. We had not touched them for so long that we really forgot what we had! The following five pictures deserve to be collected here. The top one is Janice’s mother in a studio picture, which is the only one we have done by a professional photographer. I assume that it was for some special occasion, but we no longer could verify this. Janice’s mother was quite young, and the picture was done carefully by a very skillful person! As a fellow photographer, I am very impressed by the professionalism of this person. 

        

The other four pictures below were done, I believe, by Janice’s father. After many years, at least sixty, they are still very clear, no sign of yellow stains, and no sign of fading. It is clear that Janice’s father had much better equipment than the ones I first used when I was in Junior High School! The first picture is of Janice’s mother and her sister Dot as young girls. The following ones include Janice and her sister Shari and brother Greg.