Our Master Calligraphy teacher, Shantien 'Tom' Chow recommended a new translation of Lao Tzu's 'Tao Te Ching'. He said, "This is one of the latest, and possibly one of the best translations, originally credited to Lao Tzu's teachings, with commentary. Interesting...

Yes, it's true. On Monday we took Amtrak to San Juan Capistrano to lunch with out dear friends, Maj. Gen. Ray Cole and his lovely wife Gwen. Charles had asked me how I met the Cole's and I said, "hmmmmm, I was flying back from Paris stopping to see Mom in Chicago and...

We were delighted to hear that Charles Jr. was flying in from Houston for an 'Investment Seminar'. The bonus round was that we'd take a day off just like that!Since Charles was staying in Santa Monica, we went to 'Anisette' a new French brasserie that is so...

Last month, three people in the Calligraphy class gave their dynamic calligraphy to Shantien 'Tom' Chow, our Master Teacher, to have their work mounted onto Chinese scrolls. Saturday's class was priviledged to see the results which are staggering. Tom said that he...

It's amazing, our master teacher, Shantien 'Tom' Chow demonstrated for us that a powerful energy is created when two people combine and together they create a powerful work of calligraphy. This 'Synergy' happens when Tom holds your hand and guides you through the...

"Not me" says the persistent little bird, determined to peck his way thru our glass window. Every morning and afternoon this little thing comes by and peck, peck, pecks away to no avail. We began to worry that he'd peck his little bird brains out so Charles had the...

Yuki, our 95 pound Japanese Akita has, after all these years, figured out how to extract 'cookies' from visitors. (She already has us nailed.) Here's the routine; when you come to the door, she will bark at you like crazy, follow you in and actually 'lead' you to the...

I want to be a Lion Dancer! WOW, what a party they bring. Saturday night we had a reunion for the China adventurers and although it's not even been two months, one would think we hadn't seen each other for a year. It was marvelous, what a harmonious group and what a...

Well, the second Wednesday of the month Calligraphy class met for the first time and as with the Saturday class, everyone was enthralled and did wonderfully. This is opening up a whole new world and we are all thrilled. If you've never watched a Calligraphy master do...

There is no doubt, judging by their Calligraphy, that the Chinese are brilliant! The images are so complex and really are word pictures. The simplest way to describe it is to say that the written language is created by mental pictures rather than definitions of...